User-Generated Content Sources in Social Media: A New Approach to Explore Tourist Satisfaction

The study focuses on sources of user-generated content (UGC) in social media: strong-tie sources, weak-tie sources, and tourism-tie sources and their effects on tourist satisfaction with the destination. It is separated into the pre- and post- travel processes. First, it addresses the influences of sources of UGC on tourist expectations about core resources and supporting factors, and then analyzes tourist satisfaction by concentrating on tourist expectations and perceptions of core resources and supporting factors. Findings suggest that UGC sources have an indirect effect on tourist satisfaction since most UGC sources have an influence on tourist expectations, which will later be compared with the real tourist perception. Main conclusions and some recommendations and limitations are provided.