EWOM IN TOURISM: SELECTION OF PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION FOR HOLIDAYS
Electronic word of mouth is a more recent form of word of mouth used by internet users who share and benefit from worldwide information. Online reviews are a very important source of information for tourists. They represent a more modern and a more reliable source of information in decision making process when compared with the content published by the foreign travel agencies. Previous research has shown that the online reviews on websites specialized for hotel ratings made a significant impact on the total number of hotel reservations. The majority of tourists find online reviews very useful and more than half of them will not make a hotel reservation if a hotel has no reviews. Since the private accommodation is quantitatively the most significant accommodation type in Croatia, the goal of this paper is to analyze the impact of electronic word of mouth on the tourist selection of private accommodation for holidays.