Can Spiritual Tourism in India be Marketed Properly? Learnings from an Analysis of Twitter

Abstract

The tourism sector is an economic powerhouse for any country and tourism growth improves the quality of people�s lives by providing employment of diverse kinds. Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) has emerged to become a highly influential strategy of modern marketing and a significant medium as harnessed by travel marketers. Sentiments are a representation of human emotions and present a wide spectrum of varying intensity. The objectives of this research paper are to examine what propels a spiritual traveller towards Indian sites of interest, to appreciate the function of beliefs and where does it yield fruits? It also analyses the value of sentiments regarding Indian spiritual destinations. The focus is an exploration of spiritual tourism knowledge including systems of belief and values that motivate a tourist. Rather than criticising any existing ideographic knowledge, the purpose is to yield a dynamic understanding of perceptions and beliefs. Qualitative and descriptive data analysis is used in this research using Twitter sentiments related to Indian spiritual destinations. The results highlight that Indian spiritual destinations are not fully engaged or marketed properly on social media to attract global tourists.

Keywords

• spiritual tourism
• belief
• sentiment
• destination marketing organisation
• travel