From e‐tourism to f‐tourism: emerging issues from negative tourists' online reviews

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to advance their knowledge on the extent to which tourists use social networks for both achieving information on possible destinations and for expressing negative judgements, in order to figure out the main consequences for tourism marketers and possible solutions, as well as to describe and detail the current shifting from e‐tourism to f‐tourism (from tourism based on e‐channel to a new tourism based on Facebook). Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative analysis was conducted in order to make the tourists' perspective emerge. The content analysis of respondents would figure out important data on the phenomenon for outlining possible organization practices for replying to negative tourists' reviews posted online. Findings – Findings show the still limited usage of social networks like Facebook as an informative channel, but a large usage of this medium as a direct complaining channel. Practical implications – This paper addresses some lines for supporting tourism managers to improve their usage of social networks in order to enhance their relationships with tourists. Originality/value – The emergence of a new phenomenon involving tourism: the shifting from e‐tourism to f‐tourism.