Ketchikan Gateway Borough Publishes Online Travel Review Report

Ketchikan’s growing popularity, especially as a cruise destination, is bringing a steadily growing number of visitors to its shore every year. While tourism growth has brought many economic benefits, it is putting a strain on the community, its infrastructure and natural resources. The destination is now facing a range of interrelated challenges: over-reliance on cruise tourism, traffic congestion and aging infrastructure, persistent workforce shortages and limited workforce housing, among others. To address these challenges and avoid consequent impacts from unmanaged tourism, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough (KGB) spearheaded a participatory planning process. The planning process brought together about 1,600 residents, businesses, non-governmental organizations, public sector and community leaders across all local jurisdictions to develop a community vision and strategies for staying ahead of uncontrolled tourism. The Ketchikan Tourism Strategy (KTS) is the result of the yearlong participatory planning process.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough is releasing research findings that have contributed to the development of the KTS, due to be published in spring 2023, these are the Resident Sentiment Towards Tourism Survey Key Findings, and the Online Travel Review Report.

The Online Travel Review Report of tourism attractions is loaded with information about visitors’ opinions and appraisals of amenities such as facilities and transportation for getting to, from and around; environment-related factors such as scenery and crowding; and key aspects of their experience such as interactions with locals and tour guides. Online travel reviews also reveal visitors’ sentiments–their level of satisfaction and any emotional or memorable connection created.

Tracking, analyzing and using visitor reviews to improve the level of satisfaction expressed in reviews, surveys and online content is critical for managers of attractions and tourism destinations. By analyzing the visitor reviews of individual tourism attractions and the destination overall, managers can improve their sites and attractions to meet the needs and expectations of tourists and marketers can create tailored campaigns that entice travelers to book a trip and educate visitors about how to minimize their footprint.

Researchers at the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies worked with the Ketchikan Gateway Borough (KGB) to assess entries posted on Tripadvisor, the industry’s largest website for traveler reviews, over a four-year period (January 2018 to September 2021). In addition to being the world’s largest consumer-facing travel site, Tripadvisor has become the most popular and reliable online travel review platform for researchers in the travel sector. The analysis of these reviews provides a holistic picture of Ketchikan’s tourism assets and areas for improvement, focusing primarily on visitor experience issues and the emotional responses of visitors. The data analysis took place between February and April 2022.

A total of 2,862 visitor reviews for 18 tourism attractions were analyzed. The attractions were organized into three tourism attraction types: nature and outdoor recreation, cultural heritage, and leisure and entertainment. Table 1 provides a complete list of the attractions included in this study.

The Online Travel Review Report can be viewed here: https://ktntalk.com/15682/widgets/63621/documents/41809