Outcomes of Destination Marketing Organization Website Navigation: The Role of Telepresence

This study explores how informative and entertaining features of destination marketing organization (DMO) websites affect a sense of telepresence, and how these features affect visitors\u27 evaluation of the utilitarian and hedonic performances of such websites. This study further examines how DMO websites affect visitors\u27 familiarity with, interest in, and knowledge about a destination and their consequent intention to visit the destination. A total of 433 responses from United States (US) Internet users were collected in an online survey. The study results suggest that informative and entertaining telepresence is crucial in DMO web performance, making a destination appear more familiar and interesting to prospective visitors. This increases the likelihood that potential tourists will plan a trip to the destination

Destination Marketing Organization Website Visitors’ Flow Experience: An Application of Plog’s Model of Personality

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This study investigates the relationships among website features (i.e. informativeness, design, and interactivity), flow experience, and the user’s intention to seek and use travel information provided on destination marketing organization (DMO) websites. It incorporates the moderating effects of personality into those relationships. Respondents (n = 433) were asked to visit and explore a DMO website and then to respond as if they were planning to travel to the destination. The results show that three website features relate positively to flow experience and that flow experience contributes to behavioral intention. This study also finds that personality moderates the link between web features (informativeness and interactivity) and flow experience, the implications of which are discussed at the end of the paper