PurposeThe purpose of this research is to help tourism marketers maximize the persuasiveness of their websites toward the objective of increasing visitation to their destination.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes a two‐part research project: a content analysis of websites to determine the most frequently used elements; and an experiment wherein respondents view one of ten randomly assigned websites and complete a survey about the credibility, message strength, and persuasiveness of that site.FindingsResults support the importance of message credibility to message strength, and that both may impact on change of propensity to visit a destination. It also points out new information about website elements. While more organic website elements such as testimonials and web cams are expected to affect the most change, they do not. Rather, information on fundamental elements such as accommodations and attractions has the most effect on message credibility, and on respondents' change in propensity to visit a destination.Originality/valueSubstantial differences exist in the persuasiveness of various tourism websites. Website elements concerning basic information seem to induce the most positive changes. Therefore, funds and energy to develop and maintain novel website elements such as web cams, guest books, message boards and e‐cards may not be worth the effort when it comes to increasing visitation.
This research explores two of the basic tools used by tourism marketers: advertising and publicity. Message stimulus is the independent variable and consists of two parts: message presentation (i.e., publicity or advertising) and message sequencing (i.e., publicity only, publicity then advertising, advertising only, or advertising then publicity). Four dependent variables are organized in two categories: message acceptance (i.e., perceived credibility, message strength) and message response (i.e., attitude toward the destination, purchase intent). Results of the study show that publicity, in either presentation or sequencing, created significantly higher mean scores than advertising for credibility, message strength, and purchase intent. This study reaffirms that publicity is an important element in the tourism marketing mix. Furthermore, it suggests that a publicity-then-advertising strategy is most effective at persuading potential tourists to visit a specific destination.
This research examines the two promotional strategies most commonly used by destination marketers: traditional advertising and Web sites.While research concerning both advertising and the Internet is abundant, studies comparing tourism marketing strategies, especially those that target the Millennial generation, are limited. In this study a print advertisement and the official Web site for the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau are experimentally tested with a sample of members of the Millennial generation. Four dependent variables are examined: (1) attitude toward the destination, (2) message strength, (3) credibility, and (4) purchase intent. Results reinforce the importance of the Internet to tourism marketing and destination selection. Six strategies deduced from the research are written for tourism marketers.
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