Comparative Evaluation of the Official Destination Websites from the Perspective of Customers (original) (raw)

Impacts Caused by the Web in Tourism Marketing

International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media, 2019

As foreseen by Cooper, Fletcher, Wanhill and Shepherd (2002), Internet has continuously increased the importance of marketing for public and private tourism organizations, especially on what concerns to attracting and retaining customers. Web-based resources have been integrated into marketing strategies within all sectors of economy, including tourism. As Bouzon and Bermejo-Berros (2015) point out, the new information and communication technologies allow all actors to actively participate in innovation, and thus, meet the increasingly specific demands of modern clients. In this context, as evidenced by the studies published in this special issue, tourism marketing has gained a digital dimension. This present issue also integrates relevant contributions on tourism consumers’ purchasing decision process and motivations, as well as on special interest tourism resources, such as wine. As pointed out by Pinho (2001), although wine is not essential for human life, it has played a special role in the great Mediterranean civilizations’ cuisine. Therefore, it is not surprising that it increases visibility and positively affects the image of producing regions, playing an essential role to local tourism. This special issue of the International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media (IJMCNM) publishes seven relevant contributions for both academics and practitioners who are working with tourism products and services...

Web Marketing Tourism Destinations

Ecis, 2000

Abstracl-Destinations emerge as umbrella brands that need to be promoted as one entity for each target market they try to attract in the competitively fierce world of travel and tourism. A Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) plays a crucial role in the promotion and management of a tourism destination, mainly through an effective use of its Destination Marketing System as a marketing tool. Due to the fast growing importance of the Internet as an information and communication medium, these systems have been modified in order to be Web-based. However, it is no longer enough for a DMO to just have a Web site. Successful Web Marketing requires an articulated approach to three critical tasks: web site design, promoting the web site, and assessing the web site marketing effectiveness. This paper aims to provide a set of useful guidelines required for DMOs to achieve successful marketing on the Internet. In order to offer empirical evidence of the Web sites that fit within the guidelines provided, official Web sites of ten European DMOs were analyzed.

A Comparative Analysis of the Use of the Web for Destination Marketing by Regional Tourism Organisations in Chile and the Asia Pacific

2005

The information-intensive nature of the tourism and travel industry suggests an important role for Web technology in the promotion and marketing of tourist destinations. With reports of travel purchases and reservations being one of the fastest growing segments of the Internet community , it is no surprise that the number of tourism operators on the Web has increased considerably in recent years. This paper presents the results of a study of the use of Web technologies by Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) in the Chilean tourism industry. The Extended Model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA) is used to assess the web sites of RTOs to determine the extent of adoption of web technologies for destination marketing. A significant finding of this study is the number of RTOs sites offering Stage 3 functionality ( transaction processing). The results of the study support the findings of earlier studies, that is, in developing commercial websites, businesses in this industry sector typically start simply by establishing a presence on the Web and build on functionality over time, as their experience and expertise in the use of Internet technologies increases.

Eylin Babacan ve Nahit Erdem Köker (2008). Managing Destination Website as a Marketing Communications Tool: Comparative Website Analysis of Turkey, Spain and Dubai. International Journal of Management Perspectives. 1 (1):5-20

In the lure of attaining competitive advantage, not only companies and public institutions but also countries as tourism destionations, introduce some level of differentiation. Attaining competitive advantage particularly in tourism industry, where the compation if fearce, requires answering the following questions successfuly, ‘what is the most affective way of promoting the existing tourism product to the targeted market”. The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of internet usage especially for marketing communications through analyzing websites of three selected destinations namely Turkey, Spain and Dubai. Comparative analysis of these websites may be useful not only for destination marketing literature but also for these countries in increasing the communication effectiveness by using internet. The most important reason of including these three countries in the research is that they are located in one of the most important tourism regions of the world in Asia and Europe. The methodology of the research is based on scoring system of Gibson et al. (2001). Results of revealed that Spain is utilizing its internet related resources better than Dubai and Turkey in terms of promotional effectiveness. Discussion of research findings and managerial implications are given.

Tourism Promotion through Web

Strategic Marketing in Fragile Economic Conditions, 2014

This chapter studies the application of information technology in tourism promotion, particularly through Internet. In the context of tourism management, this chapter penetrates different usage of Web technology to disseminate maximum level of information for tourism promotion. This chapter is designed to determine the conditions of Websites as well as application of different application of Web technology like Virtual Reality (VR), CRS, etc. used in tourism promotion to identify the obstacles faced in this type of promotion via Web. The chapter adopts a survey from 200 respondents. Collected data is analyzed through different statistical tools like correlation analysis, simple average method, and Cronbach Alfa for reliability of the data. The results show that tourism promotion through the Web helps to increase competition as well as tourism demand if Web design helps to disseminate information about the tourism offers to the tourists' desire. Both sexes consider the Website design as a means helps to ensure the information veracity of tourism offers. The chapter recommends continuing development of the role of tourism promotion through the Internet in spreading information about tourism offers, so as to achieve the greatest possible benefits. This study also indicates how to develop and upgrade Web for promotion of tourism information and offer better tourism service excellence, while promoting less popular tourist spots.

Traveling Through the Web: A First Step Toward a Comparative Analysis of European National Tourism Websites

Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 2011

Inspired by the evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the present study describes the way ICT are used by destination marketing organizations during the destinations' website design (incorporating several website features). Relevant descriptive analysis is conducted, based on a number of case studies from the European tourism market (Official National Tourism Sites-ONTS). Following a qualitative research design, the study aims to provide a platform (consisting of a set of website characteristics) upon which a comparative analysis among various ONTS may be applied. Finally, some preliminary findings are presented and implications pertaining to destination marketing strategies are also discussed.

Use of the Web for Destination Marketing by Regional Tourism Organisations in the Asia-Pacific Region

2002

The information-intensive nature of the tourism and travel industry suggests an important role for Web technology in the promotion and marketing of destinations. This paper evaluates the level of Web site development in Asia-Pacific Regional Tourism Organisations. The study uses the extended Model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA) , and highlights the utility of using interactivity to evaluate the relative maturity of commercial Web sites.

Internet-Tourism: A Complex Relationship

Tourism, being a service trade, has inevitably had the same development in the virtual field. What reasons would have persuaded tourism companies to expand or to start a business in the virtual space? Here is an answer to this question that the article tries to decipher it, although the Internet world is full of offers, exciting, accessible. E-tourism as well as E-commerce has grown with the boom of computer technology and the emergence of computer web pages. The premises of electronic commerce emergence are: the innovations in computing technology, the huge offline competition, the lower online costs, the speed of sale and purchase, the increased comfort of the buyer (no longer having to look in several stores, favourable elements capitalized by tourists, constantly running out of time or inspiration, the internet offering a wide range of offers with a simple click... This article examines the complex relationship Tourism-Internet and mutual benefits they provide.

The Role of Internet in Successful Marketing in Tourism Organizations

Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 2019

Tourism has been dealt with continuously since the earliest times. This was done without entering into the essence of the motive of satisfying the needs of individuals and groups then and now. Various tourist destinations need to be introduced to the wider public. Therefore, a range of information needs to be distributed to the public by agencies, tourism operators, and other participants in tourist activities. The use of the internet has become a daily routine guiding tourism organizations’ marketing, including hospitality and tourism oriented towards meeting the demands of tourists and clients in general. By analyzing the trends in terms of the use of the internet and factors affecting marketing in tourism and hospitality, this paper focuses on its role and importance in the tourism business. The use of internet technology in hotel marketing activities was also analyzed.