  Citation: Guzzo, T.; Ferri, F.; Grifoni, P. What Factors Make Online Travel Reviews Credible? The Consumers’ Credibility Perception-CONCEPT Model. Societies 2022, 12, 50. https:// doi.org/10.3390/soc12020050 Academic Editor: Simon Darcy Received: 29 December 2021 Accepted: 9 March 2022 Published: 16 March 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). societies Article What Factors Make Online Travel Reviews Credible? The Consumers’ Credibility Perception-CONCEPT Model Tiziana Guzzo , Fernando Ferri and Patrizia Grifoni * Institute for Research on Population and Social Policies, National Research Council, 00185 Rome, Italy; tiziana.guzzo@irpps.cnr.it (T.G.); fernando.ferri@irpps.cnr.it (F.F.) * Correspondence: patrizia.grifoni@irpps.cnr.it Abstract: Online reviews have become a fundamental element in searching for and buying a tourism service. In particular, in the phase of post-pandemic caused by the COVID-19, social media are important channels of inspiration of dreams and encouragement to begin envisioning future trips. However, the growing trend of fake reviews is becoming a big issue for consumers. This study proposes and empirically validates a new model that enables predicting consumers’ Credibility Perception of Online Reviews (CPOR) related to tourism, considering all integrated factors of the communication process. A survey was carried out via a structured questionnaire. In particular, 615 answers from Italian travel groups were collected, and correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that the website brand, advisor’s expertise, reviews’ sidedness and consistency, and consumer experience are significant predictors of CPOR. Website usability and reputation are instead weak predictors. This study provides the design and test of a credibility model, contributing to the theoretical and empirical advancement of the literature and enhancing the knowledge on consumer behavior. Keywords: credibility; trustworthiness; online travel reviews; website quality; message quality; consumer attitudes 1. Introduction The last two years (2020 and 2021) have been very problematic for the tourism sector; indeed, the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a strong slowdown for travel and the entire tourism industry in Italy and around the world. The difficulties experienced by the sector have also represented a great engine of change and digital in- novation in tourism, bringing out new trends in the tourism sector. Digitization of travel agencies and tour operators is one of the first recovery trends, changing how consumers and sellers interact in the marketplace. Old models of word-of-mouth marketing based on one-to-one relationships changed toward a model based on one-to-many amplification of key brand messages, information, and reviews from customers [1]. Crowdsourced reviews enable consumers to collect information concerning products and services they intend to purchase. In particular, with the exponential growth of social media use, people’s behaviours are increasingly influenced by other consumers’ opinions and suggestions, mainly in the case of purchasing decisions [2–4]; therefore, the online reviews’ persua- siveness, connected with credibility, is crucial. These concepts also characterize the online travel communities, as consumers usually share their travel experiences and search for information and suggestions from other travellers [5–7]. A Google search also confirms this trend: during May 2021; indeed, online travel and accommodation searches grew on average by +200% compared to 2020 [8]. In this context, it will be essential for travel agencies, tour operators, accommodation facilities and operators in the tourism sector to improve their presence online and on social media. Societies 2022, 12, 50. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12020050 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/societies