디지털 커뮤니티 내 글로벌 MZ세대의 여행 경험 인식: Reddit 기반 토픽모델링 분석

Travel Experience Perceptions of the Global MZ Generation in Digital Communities: A Reddit-Based Topic Modeling Analysis

Purpose - This study explores the travel experiences and perceptions of the global MZ generation by analyzing user-generated content from Reddit. The research seeks to identify key themes in how MZ travelers view and value their travel experiences. Design/methodology/approach - Unstructured text data were collected from the r/travel subreddit, a global online community. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling was employed to identify the primary themes in the discussions of MZ travelers. Findings - The results reveal six main themes: travel preparation and expectations, administrative tasks prior to departure, digital engagement and local experiences, air travel and social concerns, nature tourism and safety, as well as diverse experiences. These findings suggest that the MZ generation views travel as more than just simple consumption or movement; they perceive it as a value-based experience influenced by factors such as convenience, authenticity, social justice, safety, and cultural diversity. Research implications or Originality - This study advances tourism research by using Reddit as a significant data source for examining genuine discussions among global MZ travelers, an area that has been underexplored. Applying topic modeling to organize unstructured digital texts presents a new methodological approach and offers practical insights for the tourism industry and policymakers.