The role of prior experience in the perception of a tourism destination in user-generated content

•Exposure to UGC tends to increase positive beliefs about a destination.•Lack of prior experience with a destination can affect change of beliefs based on .UGC.•UGC about values related to value for money and weather mostly affect a belief change.•Young and less-educated people are more prone to change opinions after exposure to .UGC.•Smart destinations should design intelligent systems that make effective use of UGC.

This study presents a critical reflection on the effect of prior experience of a destination and the change in users' perceptions following exposure to user-generated content (UCG). Among a panel of 2505 American internet users, people who had and had not visited particular destinations were exposed to the same stimuli materials derived from UGC and the results compared. The findings show that having visited a destination does reduce the likelihood that users will change their opinions after being exposed to online social media content; the same can be said about people who are more educated. Meanwhile younger and less well-educated people, and those who have not visited a given destination, are more likely to change their opinion about it based on a brief exposure to UGC. The results of this study contribute to recent studies on social media and smart tourism, in that tourism providers can take advantage of online data to better design and deliver their products and services to tourists. This might include, for example, better directing specific UGC to relevant audiences. Moreover, this study provides evidence for future research on the role of UGC and its effects on end-users.