Travel communities, innovative tools to support decisions for local tourism development

In cultural heritage and tourism, the web 2.0 and in particular the online reviews collected in travel communities are tools that Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), policy makers and operators can increasingly use for searching information, learning consumer behavior, making decisions and planning cultural offers and tourism of territories. The paper presents some results of an empirical analysis carried on the TripAdvisor database in order to assess the level of attractiveness of the cultural and tourist resources of the Campania Region. The results confirm that the travel communities provide useful information for marketing and cultural and tourist planning; thus constitute a valuable, innovative tool for analysis and evaluation to support decision making.