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Abstract
A scenic area website is playing an increasingly important role in tourist decision-making process. On the basis of SERVQUAL scale and by taking the features of scenic area website into account, a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach is introduced to evaluate the service quality of the website. The evaluation system comprises five dimensions: usability, effectiveness, responsivity, reliability, as well as empathy. Users of scenic area website identify dimensional indicators using evaluation surveys. Furthermore, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is used to assess the service quality of scenic area website. Data provided by 292 travelers show that the service quality of Jiuzhaigou website stands at medium level. At the end, the importance-performance analysis method is applied to upgrade the service quality of scenic area websites from the above five dimensions: empathy is in key improvement area, usability and responsivity are in continue-to-be-optimized area, reliability is in positively expanding area and effectiveness is in the moderately adjustment area.
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Effectiveness of destination advertising to potential tourists has been enhanced with the use of personalized orientation. After an online search for information about a destination, individuals are exposed to advertisements related to the destination on their social media newsfeed. However, further understanding is warranted in terms of how these destination messages should be crafted. Thus, our research aims to uncover how destination advertising design, message appeal type, and language abstraction level interact with a message recipient’s psychological distance to his or her trip to influence consumer response to the advertising. Based on construal level theory, we conducted a scenario-based experiment, using manipulated messages and psychological distance state to assess message effectiveness. The findings show that the type of message design respondents favor can vary either by perceived temporal distance to their travel plans or spatial distance to the travel destination.
The paper presents an interactive electronic guide application prototype able to recommend personalized multiple-day tourist itineraries to mobile web users. The proposed application relies on an evolutionary optimizer that allows the determination, in an acceptable time, of a near-optimal user-adapted tour for each day of the visit by considering different conflicting objectives. The tour optimizer automatically plans the itinerary by selecting the sights of potential interest based on user preferences, the available visit time considered on a daily basis, opening days and hours, visiting times, accessibility of the places of interest and weather forecasting. The interactive functionalities and facilities provided by the application are illustrated along with the model used to adapt the tourist itinerary to user preferences and constraints. An experimental qualitative and quantitative evaluation has been performed to assess the validity of the guide prototype. Particular attention has been devoted to the usability of the application and its graphic unit interface along with user satisfaction.
Abstract Background: Recent technological innovations which adapted from tourism sector have a decisive impact on the traveler experience. The rapid growth of the Internet usage, confirms that websites consist a critical competitive resource for tourism firms. In this dynamic environment, it is important for online travel agencies to fully understand what aspects of the website affect the perceived quality and to provide web services that fulfil online consumers’ needs. The main goal of the study was to investigate the effect of perceived quality on customers’ overall satisfaction, and purchase intentions of online travel agency services. Methods: The sample consisted of 346 internet users who had visited an online travel agency in less than one year, 192 of whom were women (55.5%) and 154 men (44.5%), and their age ranged from 18 to 62, with the majority of participants belong to the age category of 18–25 years old (26.6%). Data collection was performed through an electronic questionnaire, which was based on WebQual of Loiacono et al. (2007). The results: Results indicated that among all the quality factors, the ease of understanding, response time, and the website intuitive operation (ease to use and navigation) emerged as the most important. Quality perception was significantly
different in terms of gender, age and educational level. Also, the perceived quality needs and purchase intentions were different for browsers and purchasers. With regard to the Internet user profile, the annual amount spending on online booking, the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website, seemed to influence the perceived quality. Correspondingly, purchase intentions were found to be affected by the reasons of booking and the reason of visiting the website. Finally, a positive correlation was found between the overall perceived quality and purchase intentions. Conclusions: The results of this study are considered important for practitioners in the online travel sector, by identifying significant factors that affect online consumers’ willingness to purchase and will also contribute to building the concept of online travel agency quality performance.
The important influence of e-service quality (e-SQ) on customer satisfaction and loyalty has been demonstrated in many contexts, but has not been examined in telecom settings yet. The current study aimed to construct a measurement scale for e-SQ in telecom settings, as well as to investigate the relationship between e-SQ, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. In this study, we analyzed self-reports from 9249 respondents (74.55% were male) between the ages of 19 and 45. A scale consisting of five user experinece dimensions (functional completeness, performance, interface and interaction quality, content and information, support or service) was developed to measure e-SQ in the telecom industry. The scale was proven reliable and valid. The analysis confirmed a positive relationship between e-SQ, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, e-SQ was found to be a core predictor of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Moreover, customer satisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor of customer loyalty.
This paper presents an analysis and implementation of a service for the deployment of events in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) category, to answer the question: how can Near Field Communication (NFC) and mobile applications contribute to the development of tourism in the MICE category? First is an analysis of the applications that are currently on the market and an extraction of the features of greater relevance; later, we define the functionalities for our service, and finally we provide a performance test in a MICE-type event, the seventh Seminar on Emerging Technologies in Telecommunications “TET 2016” developed in Popayán, Colombia and the results of the experience are analyzed. The use of NFC technology with a mobile application allows the experience to be improved when a MICE event was made, for both the user and the organizer.
Elsevier journal. The attached copy is furnished to the author for non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the author's institution, sharing with colleagues and providing to institution administration. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, and to develop a reliable and valid measurement instrument. The concept of an e-service quality construct is first clarified and the processes involved in scale development are then presented. Five core components of e-travel service quality are identified, namely, information quality, security, website functionality, customer relationships and responsiveness. The reliability and validity of this five-factor scale are verified using empirical data, and it is found that the e-travel quality service scale has strong predictive capability in relation to online customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. Moreover, a second-order factor is constructed due to the high correlation among the five factors. Finally, the managerial implications in regard to the research findings are discussed. r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Destination marketers increasingly rely on the official tourism website as an early point of contact with potential tourists. This research examined the effect of Uganda’s official tourism website on interest in traveling to Uganda, travel motivations, and travel constraints. Novelty preference and gender were included as moderators. A two group randomized experimental design was used (N = 278) with exposure to Uganda’s official tourism website as the intervention (n = 139). Pre-test results show that interest in traveling to Uganda was greatest among novelty seekers. Gender had no influence. Pre-test motivations were learning, culture, novelty, and an interest in travel. Pre-test constraints were perceptions that Uganda is not safe and unfamiliar. Post-test results show that exposure to the website significantly increased interest in traveling to Uganda among all groups. And, this occurred by mitigating travel constraints rather than by stimulating travel motivations. Generalized implications for destination marketing are discussed.
The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale.
This paper reviews tourism studies published from 1996 to July 2009 that pertain to methodological approaches to website evaluation. The paper analyzes the initial work and continues up to recent developments in website evaluation. In general, prior research can be divided into five evaluation approaches: counting, automated, numerical computation, user judgment, and combined methods. The strengths and weaknesses of each method are examined. Research gaps and opportunities for future studies are discussed.
Tourism destination websites contribute significantly to the competitiveness of a tourism destination. Websites and mobile technology are their main digital marketing contributors by providing tailored and up-to-date information. Since limited research has been done about non-commercial travel websites, this study aims to identify whether selected Peloponnese destination websites apply integrated quality as a mean to raise their brand competitiveness. Methods: A content analysis was performed in order to assess the destination websites quality performance. The used website quality assessment consists of a set of 42 parameters covering content and usability characteristics. The selected tourist destination websites were chosen according to two criteria: (1) their ability to provide at least two options in language Greek and English and (2) their main destination will be either Peloponnese or a region of it. The results: The analysis of the data revealed that tourism destination websites average performance level was weak. In total they seemed to perform better in content than in usability. According to the result, leading quality indicators of destination websites found to be the audience, the page load time and advertising. However, there is still room for improvements with relation to information accuracy, access, navigation as well as interactivity. Conclusions: As indicated by the results, there are elements to the selected destination websites that may be improved targeting an excellence quality performance. The destination websites will keep on playing a basic role in tourism communication, thus quality excellence should ensure the optimization of tourist experience and increase the intention for visiting these destinations.
This study empirically investigated the effects of temporal construal upon the compromise effect; the extent to which the importance of price and quality attributes to selecting a compromised option changed over time; and the malleability of the influence of the temporal construal heuristic by changing the time parameters. Three hundred and ninety-four questionnaires were used for further data analysis. The study's results suggested that the compromise effect was present in the tourism context, but with weakened effectiveness when the time frame in which the purchase can be used was moved back. The importance of price and quality was different between those groups who selected each of three options. The importance of price level in selecting a middle option was not different in terms of temporal construal, but the quality level was a more important consideration in selecting a middle option for future use than for use today.
A standardized website evaluation model is needed in the tourism sector. This research article aims at revising previous models and updating them to contribute with a unified evaluation model for the analysis of web quality that incorporates a three-dimensional approach on usability, since usability is closely related to graphic design
and navigability. This perspective has not been stated before. To test this correlation, a model to evaluate User Usable Experience (UUX) which integrates this three-dimensional approach on usability is proposed and a set of indicators that have been devised from a close bibliographic revision of previous web analysis models is shown.
Its application to a purposive sampling verifies the positive correlation among the three above mentioned parameters by means of a multiple linear regression model. The results confirm the need to analyse UUX from a three-dimensional perspective on usability.
Along with the rapid development of internet and mobile devices, the integration of navigation systems and travel service apps has become very popular. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and external variables, experiential marketing and mobility, this study applies mobile devices in convenient guide services to develop an online-purchase behavioural model for travellers when using the travel app. Surveys are used to investigate travellers through convenience sampling, and a total of 495 valid surveys were collected for a rate of 96%. The study data yielded the following findings: (1) experiential marketing positively influences purchase intentions through perceived usefulness and use context; (2) mobility does not positively influence purchase intentions without through perceived usefulness and use context; (3) perceived usefulness and use context positively influence purchase intentions; (4) use context plays a mediating role between perceived usefulness and purchase intentions. Finally, this study proposes a current travel model of mobile guide app services, and provides managerial implications for travel agencies and app developers.
The article aims to evaluate the official destination website of Maharashtra, the leading tourism state in India, through user judgment approach. After extensive review of literature, the researchers have proposed the instrument to measure the performance of the destination website from customer perspective. The instrument developed, namely “Destination website evaluation scale”, measured website on the basis of five critical success factors: quality of information, ease of use, customization and interactivity, identity- and trust-building components and online booking. Reliability and validity tests applied confirmed the usefulness of the instrument. User ratings (collected from 300 respondents) have made the researcher to understand the preferred attributes of the website. Statistical “t test” was used to compare the gap between importance and performance of attributes. The findings revealed that, except the factor “identity- and trust-building components”, there is a huge gap (significant difference) between the importance and performance of various website attributes. Therefore, constructive suggestions were given for improvement of the identified critical success factors of website. The findings are helpful for destination marketing organization to acknowledge online information preferences and e-consumer behavior.
E-commerce has grown considerably with increasing access to the Internet. As a means of e-commerce, websites play a vital role in the hotel industry. The most important task of any website is the provision of tailored information and services to satisfy client needs. This research aimed to evaluate the status of websites and e-services provided by five-star hotels. For this purpose, initial criteria and subcriteria for evaluation were determined using the fuzzy Delphi method. The weight of the criteria was calculated using the Shannon entropy method. Finally, PROMETHEE and GAIA methods were utilised to rank and develop the visual aid of websites. Once these perceptions were captured, amongst the four criteria determined for the evaluation of websites of hotels, customer orientation was the most important criterion, followed by marketing, security and technology. Moreover, the websites of the five-star hotels of Mashhad were evaluated and ranked to validate the proposed model.
Digitalization has increased the importance of online marketing as compared to its traditional counterpart. Over the years, the number of customers using online portals for booking tickets and hotel rooms via online travel agencies (OTAs) has shown an increasing trend. This may be due to the discounts and add-on services provided by OTA retailers. Quality of the website attracts customers to make a visit and henceforth a purchase. Since the satisfaction of online customers impacts the success of a website, a model is proposed to rank OTA websites on the basis of factors that affect website quality. The website quality criteria considered are trust, ease of use, tangibility, ease of booking, navigation, customization, system availability, responsiveness, and interactivity of ewom (electronic word-of-mouth) systems. The model combines the multi criteria group decision making (MCGDM) techniques of intuitionistic fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP) and intuitionistic fuzzy preference ranking order method for evaluation enrichment (IFPROMETHEE). A case study is provided to validate the model. The results of the case study show the higher ranking given to the OTA website with most efficient service quality attributes.
Website evaluation has gained considerable attention from academic researchers since the emergence of hotel websites in the late 1990 s. Previous studies have developed and adopted various methodologies and approaches for website evaluation. However, studies tracking changes in hotel website evaluation along with their rapid development have been scant. This study traces the chronological changes in website evaluation models and provides future research directions. The main findings indicate that information quality has been the main focus although different terms or expressions have been used to represent the concept. In addition, many diverse website evaluation models have been advocated in the past decade. Findings of this study can provide practical implications for hotel managers to ensure online hotel information quality and achieve high-level information communication.
Information in the field of tourism is an essential element for making one’s travel a more satisfying experience. As smartphones have been activated in recent years, more and more tourism information is provided via smartphones. Therefore, tourism information providing services using smartphones, also known as mobile tour information services (MTIS), have become more important. However, questions as to which of the diverse functions of MTIS are important and how MTIS affects tourists’ intention to travel to a destination have not been sufficiently addressed. Therefore, using a structural equation model, the perceptions of 196 tourists who used MTIS in Gyeongbok Palace in South Korea were examined in this study. According to the results of the analysis, system quality, history and cultural knowledge quality, and interface design quality, which are major functions affecting MTIS, had significant effects on tourists’ continuance intention to a travel destination. In addition, this study empirically showed that as tourists’ expectations of the performance of these functions are confirmed, they form perceived usefulness and satisfaction with MTIS in forming continuance intention to a travel destination.
As online travel shopping rapidly increases, consumer responses to travel websites need to be better understood. The authors integrate the perspectives of flow experience and perceived shopping value to explain those consumer responses and incorporate website design characteristics
into their model. Data were collected from consumers with browsing or purchasing experiences on Taiwan's travel websites. The results show that website attractiveness and interactivity have a positive influence on flow experience. Website reliability positively affects utilitarian value, whereas
ease of use has no significant effect. Flow experience is positively associated with utilitarian value and consumer attitude towards the website; conversely, purchase intention from the website is not affected by flow experience. Furthermore, the findings reveal that perceived utilitarian
value positively and significantly influences consumer attitude towards the website and purchase intention. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) has had a large impact on tourism industry. In Mainland China (hereafter known as China), the increasing popularity of Internet applications to its tourism industry is evident by the rapid growth of Chinese tourism websites. In 2005, e‐tourism in China has reached an income of RMB12.5 billion or US$1.63 billion, showing that although a small percentage of Chinese use the Internet, their online consumption is still considerable. While the e‐tourism market seems promising, there exist a limited number of prior studies on website evaluations in the context of China. This research explores usability, a contemporary issue of website design, and focuses on the provincial Destination Management Organization (DMO) websites in China. Research findings include a checklist of criteria for assessing DMO website usability. Findings showed that China's DMO websites had medium problems, and the best and worst performing destinations were Beijing and Ningxia. In addition, the usability indices had no significant relationship with website performance and level of tourism regional development which was represented by total tourism income in the destination. Findings of this study would be of interest to readers for better understanding the current development of DMO websites in China. Industrial practitioners may consider adopting a similar approach to evaluate their websites.The authors are grateful to the constructive comments offered by the three anonymous reviewers about an earlier version of this article.This project was partly supported by a research grant funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (A‐PG87).
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