From Urban heritage resources: social media analytics of Johor Bahru tourists’ experience and motivation for exploring heritage buildings

ABSTRACT

Assessing tourists’ social media perceptions is crucial in today's digital age. Due to its industrial reputation, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, has been overlooked for heritage tourism. This data mining study examines tourists’ experiences and motivations for visiting Johor Bahru's heritage buildings of 2,369 Google Review and Tripadvisor comments using web crawlers scripted in Python. The content analysis identified six themes associated with tourist motivation: activity, accessibility, diversity, attachment, inclusivity, and appearance. Even though their aesthetics are subdued, Johor Bahru's public historic sites thrive on accessibility and active activities, unlike magnificent royal edifices. Despite their architectural value, royal structures attracted fewer tourists due to the absence of diversity, inclusivity, and activities and restrictive measures. Maintaining the city's legacy and architectural identity requires highlighting these buildings. This study accentuates social media-driven popular views. The findings may encourage local authorities and stakeholders to strengthen Johor Bahru's identity and promote heritage tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban heritage
• social media
• data mining
• motivation
• experience

Acknowledgements

We express our sincere gratitude for the financial support received for this research under grant number Q. J130000.5052.10G11. This grant has been instrumental in facilitating various phases of our study. We also extend our appreciation to all those affiliated with the granting agency whose unwavering commitment to research and development made this project possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received funding from the UTM Research Grant. Grant number Q.J130000.5052.10G11.