Exploring Attributes of “Good Places” for Urban Tourist Shoppers: A Content Analysis of TripAdvisor Forums

Shopping is a key element of urban tourists’ consumer behavior. Today, social media and travel-specific online platforms provide plentiful information on urban retail opportunities, enhancing tourists’ shopping experiences. TripAdvisor, one of the most popular online travel platforms, enables tourist shoppers to gather information about the quality of retail experiences, shopping locations, and merchandise, thereby helping them identify “good places.” Despite the theoretical and managerial potential of the “good place” concept derived from Oldenburg’s third place theory, it remains underutilized in both retail and tourism research. This exploratory study addresses this gap by examining the occurrence of the term “good place” in the context of retail consumption on TripAdvisor, offering insights into how urban shopping tourists interpret this concept. A qualitative content analysis was carried out using tourist-generated communications on the TripAdvisor forum platform concerning 18 European cities. The findings reveal that shopping tourists on this platform interpret a “good place” as a retail environment where their needs are met in alignment with their expectations. The study contributes to extending Ray Oldenburg’s third place theory into the realm of tourism, promoting its conceptual integration into tourism studies.