A strategic website evaluation of online travel agencies

Online travel Web sites have been the most frequently visited online information facilities by travelers. To evaluate the effectiveness of a travel Web site, the Web site manager should regularly check whether or not it is fulfilling the objectives that were established for it. This research uses a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tourism management (1982) 2011, Vol.32 (6), p.1463-1473
Main Authors: Chiou, Wen-Chih, Lin, Chin-Chao, Perng, Chyuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Online travel agencies
Strategy consistency
Website evaluation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Online travel Web sites have been the most frequently visited online information facilities by travelers. To evaluate the effectiveness of a travel Web site, the Web site manager should regularly check whether or not it is fulfilling the objectives that were established for it. This research uses a strategic Web site evaluation framework to introduce a five-stage process for examining the consistency of Web site’s presence and its intended strategies. Two leading online travel agencies with different business strategies are selected to demonstrate methods of implementing a strategic evaluation framework and to compare the evaluation results. A hierarchical evaluation structure is introduced to explicitly delineate the two Web sites’ different strategy intentions and related evaluation criteria. Results show that an individual Web site’s strategy-inconsistent criteria can be easily identified through a gap analysis and criteria performance matrix. A strategy-inconsistent dimension can be discovered through a radar chart analysis of the 4PsC (Product, Promotion, Price, Place, and Customer Relationship) dimensions and a transaction phases analysis.
ISSN:0261-5177
1879-3193
DOI:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.12.007