The rise and spread of the Internet has led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM): electronic word of mouth (eWOM), considered one of the most influential informal media among consumers, businesses, and the population at large. Drawing on these ideas, this paper reviews the relevant literature, analyzing the impact of traditional WOM and eWOM in the field of consumer behavior and highlighting the main differences between the two types of recommendations, with a view to contributing to a better understanding of the potential of both.

Cultural tourism is a fundamental element for the economic development of some local communities. There are many factors that can influence the success of this type of tourism, but any action or strategy implemented should be closely tied to ensuring tourist satisfaction. This research focuses on a heritage destination of an archaeological nature, and aims to analyse the destination image formation as well as the influence of this image on tourist satisfaction. The results show that the affective component is more relevant than the cognitive in the image of this destination formed by the tourist. The data were collected by means of a closed-ended questionnaire administered to tourists aged 18 and over, and were analysed using P.L.S.-S.E.M. methodology. These analyses provide useful information for the planning of future tourism marketing strategies; to that end, recommendations have been made regarding how to improve the provision of services and the management of these types of heritage sites.

The aim of this study is to examine the effect that visitor satisfaction with traditional restaurants has on perceptions of the local gastronomy, the overall image of a city and loyalty to that destination. Fieldwork has been carried out in Córdoba, a city in southern Spain famous for being a UNESCO World Heritage city and for its traditional gastronomy. The methodology used is based on structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). This paper makes a novel contribution in that no previous studies to date have explored satisfaction with traditional restaurants, with respect to the food, the service and the atmosphere. To achieve the proposed objective, a structured questionnaire has been used to find out the opinions of diners in renowned restaurants that base their cuisine on traditional dishes made with quality local ingredients. The results obtained confirm that a satisfactory experience with the food of a traditional restaurant has a positive effect on the image of the destination and the gastronomy of the place, as well as on visitors’ intentions to recommend and repeat the visit to said destination. Based on the analysis carried out, effective strategies are suggested to help manage these types of restaurants. The study provides theoretical and practical implications from a gastronomic perspective, which can enable tourism managers to employ new strategies to retain tourists visiting a city, based on increasing their post-experience satisfaction with restaurants featuring local cuisine.

Sustainable tourism, in the cultural context, is a fundamental element for the economic development of some local communities. There are many factors that can influence the success of this type of tourism, but any action or strategy adopted should be closely related to the satisfaction of the tourist. This research focuses on a heritage destination of an archaeological nature, and is aimed at analyzing the profile of the cultural tourist and his/her level of satisfaction after visiting the site. Information was collected using a closed questionnaire given to tourists. An ANOVA analysis has been used to determine the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and satisfaction, with significant results found in relation to gender and income level. This study has helped to highlight what underlies the differences in tourists’ post-visit satisfaction. These analyses have provided information that can be used in the planning of future sustainable tourism marketing strategies; thus, this study provides some recommendations on how to improve the provision of services and the management of these types of heritage elements.

A destination’s image is a critical factor in tourists’ perceptions and evaluations of said destination. This paper analyzes the formation of the tourist destination image of Segóbriga Archeological Park, a cultural destination located in the province of Cuenca (Spain) that holds great heritage value. To this end, the paper adopted a multidimensional approach and used PLS-SEM to analyze the destination image, taking into account not only its cognitive and affective components, but also the unique image component. The latter has received less attention in the literature and is a novel factor among cultural destinations. The results show that this component is essential to the overall image of an archeological destination, but is not influenced by information sources.