Sense of Security in LGBT+ Tourism

The present study analyses user-generated content from Tripadvisor to identify critical factors influencing LGBT + tourists’ sense of security. A total of 34,658 relevant online reviews were collected in September 2024 through the Outscraper platform. The ROBERTA language model was then used to categorise the reviews into positive, negative, or neutral sentiments and examine keywords. Security emerged as a key factor in LGBT + tourists’ satisfaction, which was primarily influenced by quality of service and accommodation infrastructure. Terms such as “friendly” and “welcoming” were frequently found in positive reviews, whereas words like “fear,” “risk” and “discrimination” appeared in negative ones. The paper concludes that, in contrast to common assumptions, LGBT + tourists’ sense of security is not a static attribute but rather a negotiated outcome of the complex interaction of symbols and social signals.