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Abstract
This study examines the roles of media sentiments on Chinese tourists' demand to travel to Switzerland. We consider the effects of media sentiments for Switzerland (destination), competing destinations, and China (origin) by utilizing the innovative news database RavenPack. The initial results show that the media sentiment for Switzerland has a significant positive effect on Chinese tourists’ arrivals in Switzerland and that this positive effect remains strongly significant even after controlling for the media sentiment for the competing destinations in the eurozone, the price competitiveness, and the travel cost. The results also suggest that the Chinese travelers visit more than one country in the neighboring area when they visit Switzerland, and thus, the media sentiment for the overall area is also important for their travel decisions. Finally, the results suggest that the Chinese tourists become sensitive to the media sentiment for travel destinations only when they are influenced by the negative media sentiment in their home country. The results of this study will provide important implications for the Swiss tourism industry in making public relations strategies effectively by understanding when and how such strategies should be implemented.