Visitors' experience at Angkor Wat, Cambodia: evidence from sentiment and topic analysis

ABSTRACT

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also consistently rated as the top Global Landmark by travelers in TripAdvisor. This study employed big data analytics to examine visitor experience via sentiment and topic analysis, given the popularity and volume of visitors annually. The process involved an examination of 32,394 online reviews about Angkor Wat posted between January 2015 and October 2019 on Tripadvisor’s website. The analysis was conducted for reviews with one, two, and three-star ratings, and those with four and five star ratings separately. Results showed highly skewed positive ratings, while similar positive sentiments dominated the reviews. Topic analysis disclosed that sunset and sunrise experience, attraction structure, guided tours, and temple experience were topics attributed mostly to positive sentiments. Conversely, crowding, persistent selling, clothing style, and expenses were illustrated as negative topics. Such insights are useful for managers at Angkor Wat to develop various marketing and management interventions to effectively manage the site and to optimize visitor experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Visitors
• sentiment
• topic
• cultural heritage
• tourism
• data analytics

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Associate Professor, Andrei Kirilenko and Aarti N Tolani for their contribution in the study.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rojan Baniya

Rojan Baniya is a doctoral candidate and a graduate fellow at the Dept. of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at University of Florida. His current research focusses on tourism and hospitality marketing, sustainable tourism and destination marketing.

Humeyra Dogru-Dastan

Humeyra Dogru-Dastan is a doctoral candidate and a research assistant at the Dept. of Tourism Management, Faculty of Business at Dokuz Eylul University. She was a visiting scholar at the Dept. of Tourism, Recreation and Event Management at the University of Florida during the conduct of this research. She has worked in online travel industry in the areas of online marketing and customer relationship management. Her current research focuses on tourist behavior, tourism marketing, and user-generated contents.

Brijesh Thapa

Dr. Brijesh Thapa is a Professor and Head of the School of Hospitality and Tourism at Oklahoma State University. His research theme is within the nexus of tourism, conservation and sustainability.