Identify the Marketing Potentials of Hot Air Balloon Riding as a Destination Promotion Strategy

Abstract

Traveling by hot air balloon will undoubtedly create an unforgettable experience for a lifetime. Hot air ballooning offers an exceptional perspective of the stunning landscapes, heritage sites, lakes, rivers, cultural landmarks, and wildlife of the picturesque region known as Sri Lanka. The hot air balloon trip in Sri Lanka is renowned as an outdoor activity at Dambulla cultural heritage, owing to its exceptionally tranquil and reliable conditions. This study aims to investigate and analyze travelers' experiences during hot air balloon journeys. TripAdvisor is a prominent online brand community in the travel sector, facilitating visitor behavior through electronic word-of-mouth communication. The qualitative research method employed content analysis, utilizing data derived from 286 TripAdvisor reviews. The data were transferred to the qualitative analysis software NVivo for data analysis completion. The study's findings indicated that travelers are seeing ecological beauty, cultural immersion, escapist experiences, the aesthetics of memorial celebrations, archaeological expeditions, and inspirational customer service throughout their hot air balloon journeys in Sri Lanka. This outcome further reinforces the hypothetical model incorporating qualitative variables related to post-travel behavior following a hot air balloon experience, including satisfaction, memorability, advocacy, recommendation, and intention to revisit. This tourism strategy can be utilized to enhance the destination's image within Sri Lanka's tourism sector.