Trains or Planes? An Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis of Travel Satisfaction

The tourism industry strives to find ways to transport passengers in a more environmentally considerate fashion to meet the Net Zero target by 2050. To achieve this goal, there is a pressing need to understand passengers’ experiences and their expectations while waiting at airports and train stations. One element of this requirement is to identify those key areas of passengers’ concerns, in order to provide reasonable options to improve the service quality and increase the appeal of long-distance journeys taken by trains instead of planes. By conducting an aspect-based sentiment analysis of google maps reviews, the study gains an understanding of the public perception of airports and train stations and the key aspects which shape a passengers’ travel experience. The results suggest that the courtesy of staff is a primary consideration. At regional airports and train stations passengers often comment in a positive fashion about staff (more than 77%), while those at major airports most often comment with a negative sentiment (61%). Other key aspects across all reviews include queues, toilets, baggage, seats, food, parking and signage. The sentiment towards those aspects varies, for example, passengers at regional airports comment positively about queues, in contrast to other passengers. The opposite applies to the food and other retail outlets.