Does language make a difference? Exploring the hiking experience of a nation-specific online community

IF 4.4 3区管理学 Q1 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism-Research Planning and Management Pub Date : 2025-07-18 DOI:10.1016/j.jort.2025.100927

Peng Yang, Juho Pesonen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study explores hiking experiences of Finns within a nation-specific online community. Understanding hiking experiences is crucial for outdoor recreation and tourism management. Academic research on the topic has so far predominantly focused on English-language content and often overlooked the contextual factor of online communities. This study aims to increase our understanding of the hiking experience by comparing two groups of Finnish reviewers: those who wrote their reviews in Finnish and those who wrote in English.

The online hiking community of our research comprises 272 individual reviewers on Tripadvisor. Among them, 155 posted reviews only in Finnish, 110 posted only in English, and 6 contributed to both languages. At the end, a total of 329 hiking-related reviews were collected, including 144 in English and 185 in Finnish. The two language groups are compared regarding contribution level, types of hikers, image sharing, travel month, satisfaction ratings, and hiking region. In addition, qualitative content analysis examined the reviews in terms of focus, tone, and audience.

Findings show shared trends such as peak hiking in July, high satisfaction levels, and frequent use of photos. However, differences emerged in engagement patterns, types of hikers, and preferred regions. English reviews often used expressive and tourist-oriented language and address broader audiences. Finnish reviews focused on practical trail details and used a nostalgic tone. Their reviews appeared more oriented toward experienced local hikers.

The study contributes to understanding hiking experiences by showing that the language of reviews matters significantly. It supports the development of multilingual communication strategies and complements socio-economic analyses. For park management, the results suggest practical strategies.

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语言有影响吗？探索一个特定国家的在线社区的徒步旅行体验

这项研究探讨了芬兰人在一个特定国家的在线社区中的徒步旅行经历。了解徒步旅行体验对户外娱乐和旅游管理至关重要。到目前为止，关于这一主题的学术研究主要集中在英语内容上，往往忽视了在线社区的语境因素。本研究旨在通过比较两组芬兰评论者：用芬兰语写评论的人和用英语写评论的人，来增加我们对徒步旅行体验的理解。我们研究的在线徒步社区由Tripadvisor上的272名个人评论者组成。其中，仅用芬兰语发表评论的有155篇，仅用英语发表评论的有110篇，同时用两种语言发表评论的有6篇。最后，总共收集了329篇与徒步旅行有关的评论，其中144篇是英语，185篇是芬兰语。两种语言群体在贡献水平、徒步旅行者类型、图片分享、旅行月份、满意度评分和徒步旅行地区等方面进行了比较。此外，定性内容分析从焦点、语气和受众等方面考察了评论。调查结果显示了一些共同的趋势，比如7月份的登山高峰、高满意度和频繁使用照片。然而，在参与模式、徒步旅行者类型和首选地区方面出现了差异。英语评论通常使用表达性的、以游客为导向的语言，面向更广泛的受众。芬兰的评论注重实际的路线细节，并使用怀旧的语气。他们的评论似乎更倾向于有经验的当地徒步旅行者。这项研究表明，评论的语言很重要，有助于理解远足经历。它支持多语文传播战略的发展，并补充社会经济分析。对于公园管理，研究结果提出了切实可行的策略。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism-Research Planning and Management HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM-

CiteScore

6.70

自引率

5.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism offers a dedicated outlet for research relevant to social sciences and natural resources. The journal publishes peer reviewed original research on all aspects of outdoor recreation planning and management, covering the entire spectrum of settings from wilderness to urban outdoor recreation opportunities. It also focuses on new products and findings in nature based tourism and park management. JORT is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary journal, articles may focus on any aspect of theory, method, or concept of outdoor recreation research, planning or management, and interdisciplinary work is especially welcome, and may be of a theoretical and/or a case study nature. Depending on the topic of investigation, articles may be positioned within one academic discipline, or draw from several disciplines in an integrative manner, with overarching relevance to social sciences and natural resources. JORT is international in scope and attracts scholars from all reaches of the world to facilitate the exchange of ideas. As such, the journal enhances understanding of scientific knowledge, empirical results, and practitioners'' needs. Therefore in JORT each article is accompanied by an executive summary, written by the editors or authors, highlighting the planning and management relevant aspects of the article.