Perceptual Differences of Urban Destination Websites

It s you! - In 2006 the Time Magazine declared the
Internet user the Time s Person of the Year.
Considering that in March 2007 there were more than
1.1 billion people using the Internet, which is in
fact a sixth of the world population, this election
is not surprising. This should be reason enough to
take the Internet user serious and to not
underestimate his demands and expectations.
However, even though there are numerous guidelines
as to how to make a website successful, the provider
and the user may have different perceptions of the
website. Up to now substantial research has been
carried out about the usability, the design and the
image of websites. However, it has not been
investigated whether a website is perceived equally
by the provider (destination manager) and the user
(potential tourist) or what the possible differences
in these perceptions are. Consequently, the
empirical part of this study aims to investigate
whether there is a significant difference in these
perceptions and if yes, where these differences can
be found using the example of the capitals of the
nine Austrian provinces.

Autorentext
Mag.(FH) Karin Wimmer hat Tourismusmanagement und Freizeitwirtschaft studiert und ist derzeit als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin und Lektorin an der IMC Fachhochschule Krems am Institut Exportorientiertes Management tätig.

Klappentext
"It's you!" - In 2006 the Time Magazine declared the Internet user the Time's Person of the Year. Considering that in March 2007 there were more than 1.1 billion people using the Internet, which is in fact a sixth of the world population, this election is not surprising. This should be reason enough to take the Internet user serious and to not underestimate his demands and expectations. However, even though there are numerous guidelines as to how to make a website successful, the provider and the user may have different perceptions of the website. Up to now substantial research has been carried out about the usability, the design and the image of websites. However, it has not been investigated whether a website is perceived equally by the provider (destination manager) and the user (potential tourist) or what the possible differences in these perceptions are. Consequently, the empirical part of this study aims to investigate whether there is a significant difference in these perceptions and if yes, where these differences can be found using the example of the capitals of the nine Austrian provinces.