An Integrated Approach to Measure Web Site Effectiveness in the European Hotel Industry

This study employs a novel method of Web content extraction and analysis to investigate the evolving competitive landscape in an important business-to-consumer (B2C) area: travel and tourism. Findings from a comprehensive Web mining endeavor and a supplier survey shed light on the effectiveness of tourism Web sites. Important dimensions of the automated measurement are ease of navigation, interactive elements such as reservation and booking features, volume of textual and graphical information, number of available languages, and the textual diversity of documents. Precise textual information and interactive features are crucial to the success of a hotel Web site, measured in terms of tourists’ awareness, electronic inquiries, and online bookings. The article discusses differences between four European destinations and the implications of benchmarks for Web site management.