Diving into Tripadvisor.com: Analysing tourists’ perspectives towards Layang-Layang Island, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

For countries that are geographically blessed with islands, island tourism is a potential segment that can be exploited, especially in view of the intense competition in attracting tourists to the Southeast Asian region. Layang-Layang Island, Malaysia, which is located in the middle of the South China Sea is a renowned diving destination known for its hammerhead sharks and other pelagic marine life. Despite having hosted tourists (particularly divers) for nearly two decades, Layang-Layang Island is much under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the tourist experience in Layang-Layang Island by utilising online reviews extracted from the TripAdvisor website. Leximancer software was utilised to analyse the data and generate concepts out of words. Five themes were derived from the data analysis which flight, resort, diving, day and reef. The findings provide insights into the positioning of Layang-Layang Island from the tourists’ perspectives and maybe a useful reference for its future development.