Abstract:
Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become an important determinant of hotel
booking intentions for tourists as online platforms are expanding at a rapid pace.
There is, however, a dearth of research on the responsiveness of tourists in Sri Lanka,
which is a country with a fast-growing domestic tourism industry, in the context of
how these attributes relate to eWOM. The primary objective of this study is to
examine the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on domestic tourists’
intention to book hotels in Sri Lanka. To achieve this, the study specifically
investigates the influence of four key eWOM attributes including volume, credibility,
timeliness, and usefulness on domestic tourists’ booking decisions. A cross-sectional
survey was conducted between May 30th and June 20th, using a quantitative,
explanatory research approach. A standardised questionnaire using a five-point Likert
scale was employed to gather primary data from 384 respondents. Snowball sampling
was chosen because of the unknown number of people. The analysis of data was done
using SPSS software through multiple regression, correlation, reliability and validity
testing, and descriptive statistics. The findings suggest that all four eWOM
characteristics influence the booking intentions of the tourists in a significant and
positive way. Among them, usefulness of reviews exerted the strongest influence,
followed by volume, timeliness, and credibility. Such results demonstrate the
importance of timely, reliable and informative reviews in influencing consumer
decision making. The research adds to the body of knowledge by offering an
empirical investigation on the domestic tourism context of Sri Lanka and offers
practical suggestions to hotel marketers and online tourism sites to serve the nature
of reviews and their reliability in order to boost the booking rates.
