ASSESSING THE INITIAL STEP IN THE PERSUASION PROCESS: META TAGS ON DESTINATION MARKETING WEBSITES
META tags can be used as information snippets to provide navigation cues for trip planning on search engines. It is argued that, from a marketing perspective, they are useful means by which destination organizations convey persuasive messages to travelers. This study examines the extent
to which “description” META tags are used on websites owned by destination marketing organizations in the Northeastern US. Content analysis of these META tags clearly confirms this argument and identifies the persuasive nature of these messages. Finally, managerial implications
and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Destination marketing; META tags; Persuasive communications; Search engine; Trip planning
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: National Laboratory for Tourism & eCommerce, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Publication date: 01 June 2005
- Information Technology & Tourism is the first scientific journal dealing with the exciting relationship between information technology and tourism. Information and communication systems embedded in a global net have profound influence on the tourism and travel industry. Reservation systems, distributed multimedia systems, highly mobile working places, electronic markets, and the dominant position of tourism applications in the Internet are noticeable results of this development. And the tourism industry poses several challenges to the IT field and its methodologies.
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