Tourism-marketing Performance Metrics and Usefulness Auditing of Destination Websites: Volume 4 (Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research)

Annotation This volume provides specific answers to hard questions about how to create valid metrics to measure the effectiveness of tourism advertising and the usefulness of destination marketing websites. An extensive literature review describes 40+ years of research on the effectiveness of tourism advertising and the slow advancement to using valid impact metrics & ndash; field experiments with alternative ad treatment and placements. Several authors undertake information-usefulness audits on DMO (destination management office) websites and provide practical check lists. Tourism website comparisons include: Maine, Massachusetts and New York; Genoa, Marseilles and Valencia; France, Spain and Portugal; and China, Poland, Russia and Thailand, against each other as well as the Lonely Planet websites. Content analysis of consumer-generated advertisements that promote visits to third places, in this case Starbucks coffee shops and Chipotle restaurants, makes an intriguing study. The final paper gives a thick description of the dynamics of the government's role in shaping China's domestic, inbound, and outbound tourism industry and contributes to building a behavioral theory of government-firm relationships Preface......Page 1 ADVANCES IN CULTURE, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH......Page 3 3......Page 4 Editorial board......Page 5 List of contributors......Page 9 6......Page 10 Tourism advertising and marketing performance metrics......Page 11 Introduction: what CEOs and legislators want to know about tourism marketing programs......Page 12 Standard practices in measuring tourism advertising and marketing effectiveness......Page 13 Fatal flaws in conversion studies as indicators of advertising causing visits......Page 14 Additional serious flaws in conversion studies for comparing alternative campaigns and media vehicles performances......Page 16 Quasi and true experiments useful for measuring the impacts of advertising and marketing programs......Page 17 Do destination marketing websites provide useful information for their website visitors?......Page 21 DMO executives and scholars working together......Page 22 References......Page 23 Information usefulness auditing of tourism destination websites: Assessing Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco’s performance......Page 25 Los Angeles......Page 26 San Diego......Page 27 Booking a vacation......Page 28 Digital and print materials......Page 29 Media components: social media and video......Page 33 Conclusion......Page 34 References......Page 35 Six drivers for high-user satisfaction of tourism websites: Performance auditing of Maine, Massachusetts, and New York’s direct marketing strategies......Page 37 Introduction......Page 38 The six drivers of user satisfaction......Page 39 Rating Method......Page 43 Tourist Details Results......Page 44 Appearance and Usability Results......Page 46 Deals and Promotions Results......Page 47 Segment Marketing Results......Page 48 Foreign Focus Results......Page 50 Social Media Results......Page 51 Conclusions, limitations, call for future research......Page 52 Second Analysis to Check for Reliability......Page 53 References......Page 54 Are tourism websites useful for travelers? Applying an information audit rubric for Mediterranean tourism destination websites......Page 56 Literature......Page 57 Valencia, Spain......Page 59 Marseille, France......Page 60 Genoa, Italy......Page 62 Ranking......Page 63 Conclusion and implications in tourism market......Page 65 References......Page 66 Introduction......Page 68 Tourism through the Internet......Page 69 Study of three different Web sites......Page 70 France......Page 71 Spain......Page 73 Portugal......Page 74 Conclusions......Page 75 References......Page 77 Usefulness of Government and Private Destination Websites......Page 78 Introduction......Page 79 Visa versus nonvisa required destinations: The traveling American’s dilemma......Page 81 Government DMO websites in comparison to private sector websites......Page 82 Internet marketing success - Poland defies odds while China meets expectations......Page 85 Market mediums fail to address handicap and disabled tourism......Page 87 Reflections and conclusion......Page 88 Websites:......Page 89 For China......Page 90 China Private Sector Rubric......Page 96 For China......Page 101 For Macau......Page 103 Residence Permit......Page 104 Poland Government Rubric......Page 105 Poland Private Sector Rubric......Page 112 Thailand Government Sponsored Rubric......Page 118 Thailand Private Sector Rubric......Page 127 Russia Government Sponsored Rubric......Page 132 Russia Private Sector Rubric......Page 137 June......Page 138 Visas......Page 143 Registration......Page 144 Business Visa......Page 145 Visa Extensions & Changes......Page 146 Consumer-generated advertisements: Examining and creating executions for Starbucks and Chipotle commercials......Page 147 Literature review......Page 148 Propositions......Page 150 Results......Page 151 Discussion......Page 154 References......Page 155 Toward a behavioral theory of government-firm relationship behavior: Thick description of the dynamics of government’s role in shaping China’s domestic, inbound, and outbound tourism industry......Page 156 Introduction......Page 157 Study background......Page 158 Evolution of travel agency regulations in China......Page 159 Major changes in the 2009 Travel Agency Act......Page 163 Impacts on regional tourism......Page 165 Conclusion and implications......Page 168 References......Page 169