An Analysis of Online Reputation Indicators by Means of Geostatistical Techniques-The Case of Rural Accommodation in Extremadura, Spain

The advances achieved in ICT in recent years have led to numerous changes in a multitude of sectors including tourism. The origin of a new communicative reality which allows interaction between users by means of various web portals should be emphasised. In this sense, online reputation arises, which corresponds to the recording of the opinions which the tourist expresses on the Internet of the various tourist destinations and accommodation. This reputation has a significant influence on the processes of planning and choice of the final destination, in such a way that the recording of a number of negative mentions can lead to a decrease in the number of tourists visiting a place. It is for this reason that this study aimed to determine the situation of the online reputation of rural accommodation establishments located in the Autonomous Region of Extremadura by means of an analysis of the opinions recorded by the rural tourist on various web portals of some of the services provided. To do so, we resorted to the application of spatial statistical techniques to determine which districts show an aggregation of high or low values of both positive and negative mentions. At the same time, the strengths and weaknesses of the online reputation of these accommodation establishments were detected.