To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management,
we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on
business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical
findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase
in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the
importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.