Discovering cities with peer-to-peer local-guided bike tours: tourists’ experiences and perceptions

Abstract

This study explores tourists’ experiences and perceptions of peer-to-peer (P2P) local-guided bike tours using a netnography approach. The content of reviews of tourists regarding P2P local-guided bike tours offered by a sharing economy platform – Withlocals – in different destinations was analysed. The results show that tourists’ experiences of P2P local-guided bike tours include discovery, hedonic, safety and comfort, edutainment, local interaction, and memorable aspects. In addition, tourists perceive P2P local-guided bike tours in various ways. Our findings illustrate that P2P local-guided bike tours can be defined as engaging activities that provide multidimensional and rich experiences and help explore a destination. Due to the lack of research on P2P local-guided bike tours and the increasing demand by tourists for these tours, this study fills the gap by exploring tourists’ P2P local-guided bike tour experiences and perceptions. Furthermore, although this research will guide scholars and practitioners, future studies could shed more light on the subject.