Virtual Visitor’s Behavior in Tourism Destinations’ Online Portals: Analysis of Spain.info Website

Abstract

The incorporation of information technologies (ITs) in the tourism sector has enabled marketing actions to be enhanced through websites. In this context, destinations' online portals have become a key tool to promote territories. Vast amount of money is invested in developing these virtual sites and lately, also increasing interest has been put towards their performance analysis. This study has been applied to Spain.info website in order to track virtual visitors' digital footprint. The analysis conducted through the Destination Web Monitor (DWM) system has allowed taking into consideration the behavior of visitors in the website in order to obtain results on their interests when visiting the portal. The article mainly focuses on Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC), considered as markets of opportunity for the tourism sector in Spain. Results provided insights on to whom, when, and how to develop potential e-marketing campaigns.