Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Destination Marketing & Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jdmm

Research Paper

Understanding the web maturity of Polish DMOs T

a,⁎
Łukasz Stokłosa , Elena Marchiori , Lorenzo Cantoni b b

a
University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Sucharskiego Street 2, 35-225 Rzeszow, Poland
b
Università della Svizzera italiana, Giuseppe Buffi Street 13, CH-6904 Lugano, Switzerland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In recent years, online communication has become an integral part of the functioning of different institutions and
eTourism enterprises. This includes the area of tourism. Due to the immense marketing opportunities offered by in-
Web maturity formation and communication technologies, it can be argued that destination management organizations
Online marketing (DMOs) around the world should rise to the challenge of climbing to the next level of ‘web maturity’. The aims of
DMOs
this study are focused on investigating and comparing the online marketing activities of selected Polish DMOs in
Poland
the years 2012 and 2016, as well as discovering and explaining the main motivations, facilitators and barriers to
conducting such activities. The study is also an attempt to identify how any barriers encountered that are en-
countered may be overcome, and presents some potential solutions and good practices for DMOs to learn from.
The results of the study show that Facebook is still the most popular social media platform used by Polish tourist
organizations. Current trends are mainly focused on mobile applications development. In turn, there is a lack of
relevant skills, financial and human resources, which are the main barriers related to the increased use of web
marketing.

1. Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having
more and more influence on the way tourism destinations communicate
with their potential and actual customers. Hence, tourism managers in
charge of promoting destinations should take up the challenge of using
online channels and tools (e.g. websites, blogs, social media pages,
mobile apps, etc) in order to increase the stature of their brand by
enhancing online communication processes. Moreover, such tools can
be a useful resource in managing the reputation of destinations in on-
line media (Marchiori, Pavese, & Cantoni, 2012; Munro & Richards,
2011), as they allow for an increase in the online presence of the des-
tination.
Through online channels, tourists can find favorable and easy clues
to guide their decision-making and purchase processes (Buhalis & Law,
2008), this process should generate favorable perceptions before the
visit has taken place, and complement the organic perceptions experi-
enced during the visit (Gunn, 1988). Moreover, online communication
contributes towards establishing relationships between destinations
and visitors by developing perceptions that might influence a visitors’
decisions prior to travelling to the destination and creating additional
value for brands.
In this context, destination management organizations (DMOs) have
to manage their official tourism destination websites in order to ensure
a good online relationship with their potential and actual customers. In
particular, official DMO websites have undergone a rapid development,
and constitute an essential channel for destination marketing and
communication (Choi, Lehto, & Oleary, 2007; Fernández-Cavia,
Marchiori, Haven-Tang, & Cantoni, 2016; Li & Wang, 2010; Palmer,
2005; Park & Gretzel, 2007). Depending on their content, resources and
design, websites can contribute to conveying place strengths and
emotional values (Fernández-Cavia et al., 2016), this may be accom-
plished by providing virtual experiences and seizing the attention of the
user (Lee & Gretzel, 2012; Luna-Nevarez & Hyman, 2012).
Official websites are not the only online channels a DMO can use for
interacting with (potential) customers. More and more attention is
being given to social media, which are intended to act as platforms
where people can easily connect and share their experiences. Social
media are apparently challenging more traditional forms of tourism
communication and destination branding (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). By
facilitating two-way communication and dialogical relationships among
the users themselves, social media are composed of a bundle of chan-
nels that transform users from the passive recipients of content into the
creators of their own content. Travelers can upload and share images
and videos related to their experiences quickly, easily and in an at-
tractive layout (Lim, Chung, & Weaver, 2012). The shift from in-
formation culture to mass communication conversation culture allows
for the exchange of comments concerning destinations, services and

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: lstoklosa@wsiz.rzeszow.pl (Ł. Stokłosa), elena.marchiori@usi.ch (E. Marchiori), lorenzo.cantoni@usi.ch (L. Cantoni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2018.01.010
Received 25 January 2017; Received in revised form 21 January 2018; Accepted 22 January 2018
Available online 22 February 2018
2212-571X/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Ł. Stokłosa et al.
personal experiences (Jacobsen & Munar, 2012). This range of content
originates from the users themselves who want to exchange experi-
ences, opinions and information with others (Bronner & Hoog, 2011).
Social media allows users to easily produce user-generated content,
intended as a digital counterpart to word-of-mouth (referred as eWOM,
electronic-Word-of-Mouth), which tends to create (for the reader of
such content) a higher degree of confidence, reliability and credibility
than the usual destination communication messages. To this extent,
destinations are constantly determined through networked dialogues
within the online communities.
Interpersonal interaction and word-of-mouth are presently among
the most influential information resources and channels, and are highly
relevant to tourism-related purchase decisions (Ayeh, Au, & Law,
2013). One of the reasons for this is the fact that tourism services are
generally intangible and can only be evaluated once they have been
consumed. Moreover, traveling is among the most costly activities
within an individual's annual budget. Hence, interpersonal commu-
nication, such as the exchange of personal experiences and opinions
have a primary role in reducing the degree of risk perception and un-
certainty and in influencing the decision making process of potential or
current visitors to a destination (Litvin, Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008). On
the other hand, negative comments among users tend to be a threat to
DMOs, since they carry the potential of harming the destination's image
and reputation.
The increased use of mobile devices poses another important chal-
lenge in the area of destination management (Tussyadiah, 2013).
Smartphones and tablets constitute an important input during any stage
of the entire ‘customer journey’, namely before, during and after the
trip to a destination. This is why DMOs should pay special attention to
this communication channel (Hyun, Lee, & Hu, 2009; Stienmetz, Levy,
& Boo, 2012; Wang, Park, & Fesenmaier, 2012). Even though their
utilization has not reached its full potential yet (Fernández-Cavia &
López, 2013; Kwon, Bae, & Blum, 2013), mobile applications are among
the most potent communication platforms of the future.
To deal with these challenges, it can be argued that DMOs should try
to adapt their communication strategies by increasing their presence by
utilizing means that are popular with their potential customers.
Youtube channels, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram institutional ac-
counts, interactive websites and mobile applications are among the
most common means of communication between the promoters of
destinations and their potential or current visitors.
Despite their high level of importance, there is still a lack of wider
knowledge (Hays, Page, & Buhalis, 2013; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010) re-
garding how DMOs perceive all these new tools, how they think they
should be used, as well as the level of development and sophistication
particular organizations are at in the context of the adoption of new
technologies. The last aspect is related to the concept of ‘web maturity’
which is intended to allow for a kind of self-determination and com-
parison with competitors in order to facilitate self-improvement and
provide better services for tourists. The concept is explained in detail
later in this study.
Until now, the research outlined above has mainly been carried out
in developed countries, highly advanced in the use of new technologies
in tourism, such as the US and Switzerland. However, there is still room
for studies involving emerging destinations. This study focuses on the
specific case of one of them – Poland, and its various DMOs. The
country is a European destination receiving more and more attention
from a tourism flow perspective. In 2015 about 77.7 million foreigners
visited Poland, 5.4% more than in 2014 (Tourism in 2015, 2016).
Therefore, the case of Polish DMOs seems to be relevant to any com-
prehensive analysis of online communication development in Europe
under the conditions of a growing tourism economy.
There is some evidence that Polish DMOs are trying to keep up the
pace in terms of the use of online marketing. One example of this is the
official regional tourist website of Podkarpackie voivodeship –
‘Podkarpackie.travel’, which represents the south-eastern region of
193
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199
Poland. The new version of the website was created based on the latest
trends. It is more functional and user friendly as opposed to the old
system that was based on catalogs for searching for information and
contained very few movies, photos and other promotional materials, as
well as ways of communicating with tourists such as different language
versions of the site, social media plugins and mobile applications
(Stokłosa, Krupa, & Wątroba, 2013).
It should be added that the role of DMOs in the tourism system in
Poland is fulfilled mainly by regional and local tourist organizations
(Stokłosa et al., 2013). They are organizations of cooperation of local
government and the tourism industry in the area of promoting in-
dividual regions and creating tourism products founded in the form of
associations. There are 16 regional tourist organizations corresponding
to the 16 provinces in Poland as well as 126 local tourist organizations
covering smaller areas (Polish Tourist Organization, 2017).
The topics covered in this introduction are the background of this
research whose aim is to contribute to the body of knowledge on ICTs
and DMOs. Therefore, the following research questions have been for-
mulated:
(1) Whic online marketing activities have already been implemented,
are part of a plan for future implementation or are not taken into
account by Polish DMOs, and what are the differences between the
years 2012 and 2016 in terms of their usage?
(2) What are the main motivations, facilitators, and barriers to the use
of online marketing activities by Polish regional and local tourist
organizations?
(3) How can Polish DMOs overcome these barriers and take advantage
of the opportunities offered by new technologies to a greater ex-
tent?
2. Literature review
2.1. eTourism and DMOs
eTourism can be considered to be the domain in which the appli-
cations related to the ICTs are applicable in the field of tourism
(Buhalis, 2003). From a strategic perspective, eTourism includes
eCommerce, through which the use of ICTs maximizes the efficiency
and effectiveness of the organization. However, at the strategic level
eTourism revolutionizes the entire value chain and the strategic con-
tacts between all stakeholders.
Tourism has always been conceived of as eminently part of the in-
formation domain (Sheldon, 1997). According to Inversini and Cantoni
(2009), it is an experience that needs to be communicated. Nowadays,
ICT allows the dissemination of the communication and information
within the domain of tourism to a larger scale (Buhalis, 2003;
Steinbauer & Werthner, 2007).
Tourists usually search for information when it comes to making a
purchase decision (Vogt & Fesenmaier, 1998) or to learn more about
specific attractions (Moorthy, Ratchford, & Talukdar, 1997). Potential
travelers seek out information on the Internet mainly reviewing social
media platforms and looking through search engines. They prefer to
gather information online instead of going to traditional tour operators
or travel agencies (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). For many people it is easier
and more convenient to gather information online. Potential travelers
can also find on the web a wider range of alternative products (Yoon,
2002) and use the Internet to diminish the perceived risks related to
their purchases (O’Connor & Frew, 2002). According to Beldona (2005)
such factors as diffusion of innovation, an increase in rapid Internet
services as well as the maturation of Internet-related technologies have
contributed to the acceleration of the pace at which tourists search for
information and make travel arrangements online.
The appearance of so-called Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005) and different
kinds of social media based on user-generated content (Brake & Safko,
2009) has changed the behavior of Internet users, especially how they
Ł. Stokłosa et al.
create, exchange and use information (O’Connor, 2008). Furthermore,
online conversations within social media about a tourist destination
may have an impact on building the place brand of the destination
(Govers & Go, 2009). Therefore, as Buhalis and Law (2008) have stated,
DMOs should monitor and capture changes occurring in the field of web
communication as well as developing customized services in order to
meet the growing expectations and needs of tourists. Nowadays tourism
organizations need to be more dynamic and competitive because the
constant innovation of hardware and software as well as the develop-
ment of networks have made the tourism market more and more de-
manding.
2.2. Web marketing of tourism destinations; adoption and maturity
The concept of maturity derives from stage theories, where the main
assumption is that there are organizational elements in a system, which
move toward different levels of development in a certain period of time.
By definition, maturity is intended to fit into a scale composed of
evolutionary levels where organizations can be classified, according to
their preparation concerning processes performed within a specific
operational area (Nolan, 1973). Likewise, a maturity model is a sche-
matic framework, structured in pre-defined evolutionary levels, which
describes the development of an organization, along the lines of certain
tasks, competencies and behaviors within a time period (Mandelli,
Marchiori, & Cantoni, 2012).
Within an organization, the concept of maturity, as well as related
models, can be used to implement prescriptive analyses for the future
development of information technology and information systems.
Studies of maturity within the electronic environment, related to the
tourism industry, have taken note of the similarities between e-
Commerce and e-Government domains, regarding both functional and
institutional aspects (Kalbaska, Janowski, Estevez, & Cantoni, 2017).
In the e-Tourism domain various applications of maturity models
can be found. An example of such an application is the Doolin, Burgess
and Cooper Model, which was developed in 2000. Within this model,
the research interest focuses on content and site functionalities, rather
than on the analysis of managerial processes, confirming the applic-
ability of the staged approach to the analysis of a tourism-related
website. The model, apart from allowing the investigation of the
functionality levels offered by a certain website, also provides a useful
tool to evaluate the level of development of the website compared to its
competitors (Doolin, Burgess, & Cooper, 2002).
Gretzel and Fesenmaier (2004) carried out a similar study in the
field of knowledge management in the tourism domain. The authors
used a systems perspective to build the Illinois Tourism Network, an
interorganizational knowledge-based tourism information system/
community that integrates the knowledge flows and the management of
information in different stages of effective technology use within the
tourism organization, and enhanced capacity building within the
community (Gretzel & Fesenmaier, 2004).
For the analysis of technology adoption and use in tourism organi-
zations, three different levels have been identified: Level 1, low level
adoption/use of IT and knowledge management; Level 2, moderate
adoption/use of IT and knowledge management; Level 3, high level
adoption/use of IT and knowledge management. At the third level,
functions are quite interactive and more likely to support the strategic
goals of the organization.
A more recent study, contributing to the investigation of the concept
of maturity in the online tourism domain proposes the eTcoMM
(eTourism Communication Maturity Model, Marchiori et al., 2012). In
particular, the eTcoMM applies the maturity framework as a tool
needed for the systematic investigation of the online communication
processes within a DMO. This perspective assumes that in order to reach
a level of maturity, an organization should take into consideration the
usefulness of the adoption of a certain activity, and the defined man-
agerial processes. These activities and managerial processes are divided
194
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199
into operational areas encompassed by the model: (1) Staff training, (2)
Promotion activities using search engines, (3) Promotion activities
using back-links, (4) Usage analysis and (5) e-word of mouth analysis.
Each of the operational areas can be evaluated based on five levels of
maturity: (I) Unrecognized level, (II) Recognized level, (III) Considered
level, (IV) Implemented level, as well as (V) Integrated /level. In order
to evaluate a certain operational area each level has its own attributes
of maturity. The attributes are measurement indicators whose existence
confirms that given activities are taking place within a process. They
are measured based on the level of each attribute.
3. Methodology
This study was conceived in 2012, on the basis of a previous study
carried out in Switzerland (Zach, Marchiori, & Cantoni, 2012). The
present study was based on the same questionnaire. The areas of ex-
pertise (which consist of several web marketing activities) used in the
survey comes from the eTcoMM (eTourism Communication Maturity
Model, Marchiori et al., 2012) but they were adapted for research
purposes, e.g. the area of mobile applications was added.
This study was conducted with the support of the Polish Tourist
Organization. At the beginning of 2012 the survey was translated into
Polish (and translated back into English for validity) and distributed
electronically to all 142 Polish regional and local tourist organizations’
directors/CEOs. Two reminders were sent six days after the initial
distribution and after the first reminder, with a last call following two
days after the second reminder. A total of 34 usable responses (24%
response rate) were obtained.
The observable rapid growth of the use of new technologies in
tourism in the recent years, as well as visible online activities (devel-
opment of websites, increased use of social media, also new ones) un-
dertaken by Polish tourist organizations – as in case of the portal
‘Podkarpackie.travel’ mentioned in the Section 1 (Stokłosa et al., 2013)
– allowed for the assumption that significant changes have occurred in
the field of Polish DMOs and that the results of comparative studies
between the years 2012 and 2016 which could illustrate these changes
would be of interest.
Based on these premises, the idea of repeating the research was
developed in 2016. The same survey and method of distribution was
used. Moreover the questionnaire was enriched with three additional
questions related to motivations, barriers and facilitators of web mar-
keting use adapted from the studies conducted in Switzerland
(Adukaite, Marchiori, Fabi, & Cantoni, 2013) and in Italy (Fabi,
Marchiori, & Cantoni, 2014).
Compared to 2012, the total number of organizations has not
changed. However, some local tourist organizations were liquidated
and new ones have been created. To trace the changes that have taken
place within four years, in 2016, the survey was only sent to those
organizations that responded in 2012. Some of them were unreachable
(they no longer existed or it was not possible to contact them)(: thus
only 22 organizations were selected and the same number of surveys
were sent. Finally ten responses were received (around 45% response
rate), and used to make a comparison with the data gathered in 2012.
The main focus of the survey was on the use of the Internet and web
maturity regarding the DMOs' approaches to web activities and eWOM.
In particular, DMO directors were asked to identify if several web
promotion operational areas were implemented, if implementations
were planned or if they were not taken into account. The web promo-
tion operational areas investigated were: social media (which platforms
are used or planned to be used), eWord of Mouth activities (such as
monitoring and interaction with followers), promotion activities using
search engines, website usages analysis, as well as the presence of
mobile applications (Fabi et al., 2014; Marchiori et al., 2012).
The results were presented on tables and divided into three options:
(1) Adopted – activities implemented within the past 12 months or
more, (2) Will plan to adopt – activities the organization planned to
Ł. Stokłosa et al. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199

implement within 12 months or beyond, (3) No plans to adopt – ac- local and regional tourist organizations (around 80% of organizations
tivities that are not to be implemented. Thus, unlike in the eTcoMM, the had their profiles on this social networking site). YouTube and Google
levels of maturity were not calculated and clearly specified but the main + were also used, but in the case of the latter, 50% of the DMOs did not
attention was focused on the differences between 2012 and 2016 within plan to use it. The percentage of organizations that had adopted,
particular operational areas. planned to adopt and had no plan to adopt Twitter in their online
Furthermore, previously mentioned motivations as well as barriers marketing activities in 2012 and 2016 is similar. Many organizations
and facilitators of web marketing use were investigated. Categories of declared and continue to declare that they do not plan to use tools such
these three issues of study come from similar research conducted in as Linkedin, Foursquare, MySpace, Flickr and Tumblr. IgoUgo, SCVNGR
Switzerland (Adukaite et al., 2013), and Italy (Fabi et al., 2014). Re- and Gowalla have never been popular in Poland thus it is not surprising
spondents were asked to choose the most relevant answers from a list of that these social media attracted little interest. Furthermore, now they
six motivations, 11 facilitators and 9 barriers. Moreover, for each redirect to other websites (IgoUgo to Travelocity, SCVNGR to LevelUp)
question there was the possibility of adding an answer that was not or were closed (Gowalla). In the second survey, four new social media
listed. platforms were included in the list as they emerged during recent years:
Due to the fact that the sample size considered was constituted by namely, the use of destination blogs, which appeared to receive a re-
just ten DMOs gathered in 2016 which represented a relatively small levant level of interest (43% of respondents declared that the organi-
sample, it was decided to conduct additional research to collect quali- zation adopted blogs). Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat are examples
tative data. These studies were carried out in the spring of 2017 in the of the growing platforms of social media. Indeed, one quarter of Polish
form of individual telephone interviews with DMOs’ directors or em- local and regional tourist organizations use Instagram and Pinterest,
ployees responsible for internet marketing. Of the 22 organizations that however, Snapchat is not yet used, but 43% of respondents plan to
the survey was sent out to in 2012 and 2016, 15 were available and adopt this application in their future promotional activities.
agreed to conduct an interview. Among them were both local and re- Telephone interview respondents confirmed the dominant role of
gional tourist organizations. To validate the data gathered through the Facebook among social media used by Polish regional and local tourist
online survey in 2016, the organizations were asked to describe their organizations. Some of them have highlighted a significant increase in
development in terms of types of social media used, eWord of Mouth ‘likes’, comments and fanpage tracking in recent years, especially since
activities, promotion activities using search engines, website usages 2014. More and more organizations are also planning to take advantage
analysis as well as the presence of mobile applications over the past of Instagram and Pinterest, but in general, they are not willing to use
years (if possible starting from 2012). They were also asked to try to many social media platforms because they claim that functioning in the
estimate their web maturity level on a scale from 1 to 5 corresponding most popular ones is sufficient.
with the scale from the eTcoMM. Then the organizations had to list the As for activities related to social media and eWOM, DMOs responses
main barriers inhibiting the implementation of web marketing activities from 2012 were very similar to those of 2016 (Table 2). Particularly in
and potential solutions that they recommend to overcome the indicated the case of monitoring social media for conversations about a given
barriers. The final question was related to plans for the future in terms destination, interaction with virtual friends as well as using findings
of online marketing use and how their strategy will be developed. from social media to improve organization's strategy. Only one major
Final conclusions and recommendations were elaborated on the change was observed in the case of monitoring what others post about
basis of similar studies conducted in Switzerland (Adukaite et al., the destination: the percentage of DMOs that have adopted this activity
2013), and Italy (Fabi et al., 2014), the eTcoMM framework and has increased from 70% to 90%.
especially its guidelines for the highest levels of maturity, as well as Interviews with DMO representatives also confirmed that the or-
comments of the telephone interview respondents. ganizations try to monitor and investigate the web as well as being
active in this area. However, most DMOs do this simply by browsing
different websites and social media. Only some organizations, espe-
4. Results
cially regional, use special analytical tools. Additional questions asked
during the survey studies and telephone interviews have proven that
Among the social media platforms used by Polish DMOs (Table 1),
social media and eWord of mouth activities are not formalized, but
Facebook appeared to be the most popular social media used by Polish
implemented in a rather ad hoc fashion. Also, the results and findings
harvested from this source are not always integrated into organization's
Table 1
Adoption of social media applications by Polish DMOs.
web marketing processes and used for strategic business decisions.
Table 3 shows that search engine activities are not fully im-
DMOs' responses in 2012 (%) DMOs' responses in 2016 (%) plemented by Polish tourist organizations. Moreover, there are sig-
nificant differences between them, taking into account mainly their
Social media Adopted Will No plan to Adopted Will No plan to
type. The most common (more than 50% adopted) activities related to
adopt adopt adopt adopt
search engines observed in 2012 and 2016 are SEO (Search Engine
Facebook 83 13 4 80 0 20 Optimization), monitoring the search result ranking of websites, free
YouTube 43 30 26 29 43 29 placement of the website URL on other websites as well as link ex-
Google+ 30 30 40 38 13 50
change with other websites. Besides, attention should be paid to a
Twitter 9 22 69 14 29 57
Linkedin 4 9 87 0 29 71 significant increase in the use of such activities as monitoring compe-
Foursquare 4 9 87 0 14 86 titors' website search result rankings (an increase of 20 percentage
MySpace 0 17 83 0 14 86 points) and analyzing keywords used to search for the destination (an
Flickr 0 13 87 0 14 86 increase of 33 percentage points). Finally, the results clearly show that
Tumblr 0 13 87 0 14 86
IgoUgo 0 9 91 0 0 100
paid activities such as purchasing of ad space in search engines and paid
SCVNGR 0 9 91 0 0 100 placement of the website URL on websites other than search engines are
Gowalla 0 9 91 0 0 100 used very rarely (research from 2012) or not at all (2016).
Blogsa – – – 43 14 43 Most of the telephone interview respondents declared that the or-
Instagrama – – – 25 38 38
ganization's website is well positioned and that the DMO does not need
Pinteresta – – – 25 13 63
Snapchata – – – 0 43 57 to take any further action in this regard. However, unlike the survey
results, one of the regional tourist organizations admitted to using paid
a
Social media not included in the survey in 2012. campaigns on the Internet through Google AdWords as well as

195
Ł. Stokłosa et al. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199

Table 2
Adoption of social media and eWOM activities by Polish DMOs.

DMOs' responses in 2012 (%) DMOs' responses in 2016 (%)

Social media and eWOM activities Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt

We monitor social media for conversations about our destination 74 9 17 78 11 11

We participate in conversations about our destination 61 17 22 50 20 30
We interact with our virtual friends through social media websites 65 17 17 70 10 20
We monitor what others post about our destination 70 17 13 90 10 0
Findings from social media conversations are used to improve our web promotion strategy 65 17 17 60 20 20

informing the interviewer that it also helps local tourist organizations in
this area.
Regarding the adoption of website usage statistics (Table 4), the first
activity, monitoring page views, is fairly constant comparing the results
from 2012 and 2016. On the other hand, other activities recorded a
significant increase in the last four years. However, most organizations
still do not plan to adopt click-through from paid advertisements. As in
the case of activities related to search engines, there is a noticeable
reluctance to adopt activities that require payment. The telephone in-
terview showed that most of regional and local tourist organizations in
Poland use Google Analytics to check their website's usage statistics.
As can be seen in Table 5, at the time under consideration, the
percentage of organizations that adopted activities related to mobile
applications in each case increased almost three times. This is the most
significant change of all web marketing activities considered in this
study. It is striking that a large percentage of local and regional tourist
organizations in Poland still do not plan to implement mobile appli-
cations for smartphones and table PCs. This may be related to the
higher costs of such projects. Telephone interviews indicated that or-
ganizations, however, plan to adopt mobile applications to a greater
extent and even if the costs of such investments are high, there are some
possibilities to solve the problems, such as using EU funding or devel-
oping applications in collaboration with other stakeholders, for ex-
ample, creating one application within a few local tourist organizations.
This approach may be considered as similar to the model presented in
the Section 2 – Illinois Tourism Network (Gretzel & Fesenmaier, 2004)
but on a small-scale.
Referring to the question about self evaluation of the level of web
maturity, organizations were rather reluctant to estimate their position,
but usually located themselves at Level 3 or 4 (on a 1–5 scale). This
shows that there is still an untapped potential in the field of online
marketing use in Polish local and regional tourist organizations and that
DMOs are aware of this fact.
During the study motivations, barriers and facilitators related to the
use of web marketing activities were also investigated. Among their
motivating factors, each of them marked ‘market imposes a greater
online presence’. The next most frequently mentioned answers were
‘thanks to them (web marketing activities) we better understand the
expectations of our customers’ (60%) and ‘to increase the profits of my
organization’ (40%). When it comes to the facilitators, the most
common were: ‘keeping updated, informed’ (80%), ‘benefits for the
organization’ (70%), ‘more training’ (60%), ‘more HR’ as well as ‘ben-
efits for destination’ (50%). These results indicate that respondents are
aware of the large role that new technologies play in the management
of tourist destinations.
However, of particular interest are the results associated with the
barriers. Table 6 demonstrates which factors most limit the im-
plementation of web marketing activities in Polish DMOs. As can be
seen, there are four main barriers and among them, the most frequently
specified were a lack of sufficient skills and a lack of financial resources
(both factors at a level of 67%). The next most frequently cited barriers
are a lack of sufficient human resources (56%) and a lack of time (44%).
Furthermore, the decision making process and bureaucratic issues have
a vestigial significance. It is important to note that no organization has

Table 3
Adoption of search engine activities by Polish DMOs.

DMOs' responses in 2012 (%) DMOs' responses in 2016 (%)

Search engine activities Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt

Search engine optimization 64 14 23 56 22 22

Monitoring our website's search result ranking 68 14 18 78 11 11
Monitoring competitors' website search result rankings 36 32 32 56 22 22
Analyzing keywords used to search for our destination 45 32 23 78 11 11
Purchase of ad space (e.g. Google AdWords) in search engines 23 23 55 0 22 78
Paid placement of our website URL on websites other than search engines 18 18 64 0 22 78
Free placement of our website URL on other websites 55 32 14 67 11 22
Link exchange with other websites 77 14 9 78 22 0

Table 4
Adoption of website usage statistics by Polish DMOs.

DMOs' responses in 2012 (%) DMOs' responses in 2016 (%)

Website usage statistics Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt

Page views 73 18 9 78 11 11
Time spent on web pages 55 27 18 78 11 11
Repeat visitation 50 36 14 78 11 11
Origin of visitors (by region, country etc.) 55 23 23 89 0 11
Click through from paid advertisements 18 27 55 33 0 67
We use usage statistics to improve our website 55 23 23 78 22 0

196
Ł. Stokłosa et al.
Table 5
Adoption of mobile applications by Polish DMOs.
DMOs' responses in 2012 (%)
Mobile applications Adopted Will adopt
We have a mobile version of our website 23 36
We have an app for smartphones (e.g. Iphone) 14 45
We have an app for tablets (e.g. Ipad) 14 41
Table 6
Barriers inhibiting the implementation of web marketing activities in Polish DMOs.
Barriers Response rate 2016 (%)
Lack of sufficient skills 67
Lack of sufficient HR 56
Lack of time 44
Lack of financial resources 67
Not suitable for our business 0
No interest/no need 0 Summing up the results of the research presented in the previous
Everything already implemented 0 section, it is concluded that in most cases, the data obtained in 2012 are
Decision making process 11
Bureaucratic issues 11
Other 0
chosen the response related to the interest/need or suitability of web
marketing usage or responded that ‘everything is already implemented’.
This shows that organizations are aware of the important role of new
technologies in tourist destinations management. Although the re-
spondents could introduce additional, not listed barriers, none of them
opted for this possibility.
Qualitative research has shown that the biggest problems facing
organizations in terms of online marketing are indeed financial issues
and a lack of skills and knowledge. Some of the organizations also
mentioned a lack of time and insufficient human resources. There were
also comments about the lack of support in this regard from the Polish
Tourist Organization as well as a lack of understanding of tourism is-
sues by local authorities – marshals of voivodeships, mayors of cities,
etc and unreasonably spent money (according to the interviewees too
much money is spent, e.g. on leaflets, gadgets). During interviews the
respondents also claimed that knowledge is available at conferences,
training sessions, as well as on the Internet. However, in their opinion
more tailored and in-depth training sessions related to the promotion of
tourist regions as well as ready-made solutions, for example, how to run
a profile in social media, could be very useful because self-education
and ‘own experiments’ requires a lot of time and can expose organi-
zations to making mistakes. On the other hand, raising funds from EU
programs or working with other entities may, to some extent, solve
problems related to insufficient funding for the organizations.
Comparing the results of research conducted in Polish DMOs with
those in Swiss and United States DMOs (using the same survey ques-
tionnaire), as in the previous research done by Milwood, Marchiori, and
Zach (2013), Zach et al. (2012), and Fabi et al. (2014), it may be stated
that while all Polish, Swiss, and US DMOs are generally financed
through bed taxes or their members and private-public contributions
and thus all have similar operating conditions, US organizations ap-
peared to be in 2013 the most active ones in implementing and in-
tegrating social media activities in their businesses (especially in terms
of the diversity of social media used, top management support and
created procedures). Most of the DMOs also declared their desire to
increase their web marketing activities in the future. However, in recent
years, Swiss organizations have been active in implementing several
advanced solutions, from virtual reality to the offer of a free open
eLearning course for travel agents which has been promoted by the
Swiss national tourism organization. Therefore, it is argued that in
2017, Swiss (and US organizations) increased their activities online.
197
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199
DMOs' responses in 2016 (%)
No plan to adopt Adopted Will adopt No plan to adopt
41 60 20 20
41 40 30 30
45 40 20 40
Overall, it can be stated that as the advances in technologies are con-
tinuous (i.e. as the recent virtual and augmented reality solutions in
tourism), the level of maturity might vary every year (as new digital
activities need to be added and tracked), and needs to be adapted and
reconsidered accordingly for each country.
5. Discussion and conclusion
similar to those of 2016. Thus, given the researched group of organi-
zations, it can be said that their web maturity has not significantly
evolved over the years. Nevertheless, significant differences exist in the
case of mobile applications and most activities related to the usage of
statistics as well as certain parameters from other activities, such as
monitoring of what others post about the destination, monitoring
competitors' website search result rankings and analyzing keywords
used to search for the destination. In these cases, the increase of im-
plementation between 2012 and 2016 is observable. These results
suggest that Polish DMOs understand the importance of monitoring
online dynamics (e.g. an increase in the usage of statics and eWOM
monitoring), and an overall exploration of the new channel represented
by mobile applications. It is also noted that paid activities are still not
widely used. This can be explained by the results of research conducted
by Zach et al. (2012), who found that paid activities do not achieve
desired outcomes. Besides, web marketing success is driven mostly by
eWOM and search engine monitoring activities. Moreover, according to
Hays et al. (2013) nowadays social media are an important element of
the marketing strategy of DMOs, especially when the public sector is
faced with cuts in their funding and they are required to seek greater
value as well as reach a global audience with limited resources.
However, understanding the cause of missed opportunities asso-
ciated with social media and eWOM use in the Polish regional and local
tourist organizations is still an open question. The investigation con-
cerning the barriers to web marketing adoption performed in 2016
underlined how the lack of financial resources should not be considered
as the main reason for not using such web resources. Indeed, it emerged
from the results that there is an overall lack of sufficient skills by cur-
rent DMO managers in charge of the online channel, lack of human
resources, and an overall lack of time to devote to web activities. These
three reasons together with the financial issue were also most often
mentioned by the respondents participating in the similar studies con-
ducted in Switzerland (Adukaite et al., 2013), and Italy (Fabi et al.,
2014). This shows that Polish tourist organizations encounter the same
problems as DMOs elsewhere.
Since the answers to the first two research questions (related to the
use of online marketing in 2012 and 2016 as well as motivations, fa-
cilitators, and barriers to its use by Polish DMOs) were already given
above, the next question arises: how can DMOs overcome the barriers
encountered? Are there any developed solutions and good practices that
could be implemented by DMOs (not only Polish but worldwide) to deal
with these problems?
A good example of cost reduction and optimization of the available
resources in the processes related to web marketing is the creation of
‘regional centers of expertise’ which could represent several smaller
(local) DMOs and help them to implement web activities as well as
Ł. Stokłosa et al.
exploit some of the benefits of online communication. Such an out-
sourcing solution was implemented in the area of Canton Ticino
(Switzerland) and this good practice may inspire other DMOs to join
forces to improve their online performances (Marchiori et al., 2012).
Furthermore, the inclusion of external partners enables organizations to
share risks, access usually unattainable resources, develop new services
(Stuart, 2000; Zach et al., 2012) as well as adding value to destination
competitiveness and overall marketing success (Wang & Fesenmaier,
2006; Zach et al., 2012). Moreover, cooperation in the field of acquiring
external sources of funding, such as European funds mentioned during
telephone interviews, may help to solve financial problems.
Undoubtedly, important issues that emerged during the interviews
are barriers related to the understanding of the role of internet mar-
keting by local authorities as well as unreasonably (in the eyes of the
tourist organizations) spent money. Also, assistance from the Polish
Tourist Organization in this regard is not sufficient. Research conducted
by Zach et al. (2012) indicated that in addition to collaboration with
partners, another major driver of adoption and improvement in orga-
nizations is just leadership. This factor definitely contributes to orga-
nizational and destination success providing internal support for new
products, services and processes through the allocation of resources, top
management support, openness, as well as an understanding of new
technologies (Gretzel, Yuan, & Fesenmaier, 2000; Zach, 2012; Zach,
Gretzel, & Xiang, 2010). Therefore, issues such as leadership and top
management support are critical for DMOs in terms of the adoption of
new technologies and processes (Marchiori, Milwood, & Zach, 2013)
and must be taken into account during deliberations concerning the
progress and development of institutions related to tourism marketing.
One of the crucial operational areas from the eTcoMM that de-
termines the success of web marketing is staff training. Indeed, results
from the study underlined how most of the respondents declared more
training as a facilitator of web marketing implementation. This aspect
was also mentioned by interviewees as a possible solution to overcome
barriers related to the lack of knowledge. Therefore, preparing and
disseminating in-depth tailored training sessions for DMOs’ employees,
especially those responsible for web marketing issues, seems to be a
good way to increase knowledge and raise the level of skills in the use of
new technologies in tourism. Besides, according to both the respondents
as well as experts in the field – researchers and practitioners involved in
the implementation of ICT in tourism – using such practices in a poor
manner could be even more detrimental than not understanding or
adopting social media practices at all (Hays et al., 2013; Schegg,
Liebrich, Scaglione, & Ahmad, 2008; Wang, Quaehee, & Fesenmaier,
2002). The training sessions could be prepared in different forms, in-
cluding collaboration with experts and consultants as well as creating
online courses which would give participants greater flexibility and the
opportunity to participate at any time.
Overall, this study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on
ICTs and tourism destination management organizations. In particular,
the use of the web maturity construct appeared to be an effective aid to
presenting the current state of maturity of a given DMO. It is also useful
when it comes to achieving a better understanding of DMO's perception
of the relevance of web marketing activities as well as how they are
integrated into their business decisions. Section 4 suggest that DMOs
might benefit from performing self-assessments of their own online
communication maturity using the web marketing area indicated and
the related scales. Indeed, an organization which knows where it is in
terms of the implementations and understanding of web marketing
tools, can better understand its internal processes and then implement
some improvements in its online marketing activities, e.g. drawing in-
spiration from the best practices which are located at the top maturity
level. For example, this may be Level 5 from the eTcoMM where the
processes for online communication are integrated with all other
management procedures within the organization as well as the results
obtained by these processes and activities are used to find solutions and
improve the performances of the organization (Marchiori et al., 2012).
198
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199
Moreover, the maturity models are useful tools for benchmarking re-
search. Thanks to them, the organization can position itself among
competitors and be more aware of areas in which it can compete more
effectively, or where more efforts are needed. The above mentioned
solutions and good practices are only a few possibilities but could
provide valuable suggestions and recommendations for Polish as well as
other DMOs around the world which encounter similar problems re-
lated to web marketing adoption.
This study presents several limitations that need to be addressed.
First of all, the sample of 10 DMOs gathered during the online survey in
2016 is very small thus it undoubtedly has an impact upon the com-
parability of the data. For this reason, additional qualitative studies in
the form of telephone interviews were carried out. Nevertheless, the
limited size of the sample should be enlarged in future research in order
to increase the reliability of the findings. In addition, the study only
presents the main web marketing areas, however, other activities could
also be undertaken by DMOs. Therefore, future research should further
analyze the actual online presence of destinations in order to integrate
all possible activities. There is also a possibility to use eTcoMM to
measure the exact level of web maturity of Polish local and regional
tourist organizations. Moreover, the study investigated only the supply
side, future research may also consider the inclusion of the demand side
in order to compare what is projected by the destinations and what is
actually perceived by the tourists.
References
Adukaite, A., Marchiori, E., Fabi, C., & Cantoni, L. (2013). Barriers and facilitators in
implementing knowledge and skills acquired during a training on online commu-
nication: The view of hotel managers. In Proceedings of the EuroChrie 2013. Freiburg,
Germany.
Ayeh, J. K., Au, N., & Law, R. (2013). Predicting the intention to use consumer generated
media for travel planning. Tourism Management, 35, 132–143.
Beldona, S. (2005). Cohort analysis of online travel information search behavior:
1995–2000. Journal of Travel Research, 44, 135–142.
Brake, D., & Safko, L. (2009). The social media bible. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons,
Inc.
Bronner, F., & Hoog, R. (2011). Vacationers and eWOM: Who posts, and why, where, and
what? Journal of Travel Research, 50(1), 15–26.
Buhalis, D. (2003). eTourism: Information technology for strategic tourism management.
Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Buhalis, D., & Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism manage-
ment: 20 Years on and 10 years after the internet – the state of eTourism research.
Tourism Management, 29, 607–623.
Choi, S., Lehto, X. Y., & Oleary, J. T. (2007). What does the consumer want from a DMO
website? A study of US and Canadian tourists' perspectives. International Journal of
Tourism Research, 9, 59–72.
Doolin, B., Burgess, L., & Cooper, J. (2002). Evaluating the use of the web for tourism
marketing: A case study from New Zealand. Tourism Management, 23, 557–561.
Fabi, C., Marchiori, E., & Cantoni, L. (2014). Barriers and facilitators in the maturity
process for web promotion of Italian tourist destinations. AlmaTourism, Journal of
Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development, 5(1), 1–12.
Fernández-Cavia, J., & López, M. (2013). Communication, destination brands and mobile
applications. Communication and Society, 26(2), 95–113.
Fernández-Cavia, J., Marchiori, E., Haven-Tang, C., & Cantoni, L. (2016). Online com-
munication in Spanish destination marketing organizations. The view of practi-
tioners. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 1–10.
Govers, R., & Go, F. (2009). Place branding: Glocal, virtual and physical identities, con-
structed, imagined and experienced. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gretzel, U., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2004). Implementing a knowledge-based tourism mar-
keting information system: The Illinois tourism network. Information Technology &
Tourism, 6, 245–255.
Gretzel, U., Yuan, Y.-L., & Fesenmaier, D. (2000). Preparing for the new economy:
Advertising strategies and change in destination marketing organizations. Journal of
Travel Research, 39(2), 146–156.
Gunn, C. (1988). Vacationscape, designing tourist regions. New York, NY: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
Hays, S., Page, J., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Social media as a destination marketing tool: Its
use by national tourism organizations. Current Issues in Tourism, 16(3), 211–239.
Hyun, M. Y., Lee, S., & Hu, C. (2009). Mobile-mediated virtual experience in tourism:
Concept, typology and applications. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 15(2), 149–164.
Inversini, A., & Cantoni, L. (2009). Cultural destination usability: The case of visit bath. In
W. Hopken, U. Gretzel, & R. Law (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies
in Tourism 2009. Proceedings of the International Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands
(pp. 319–331). Vienna: Springer.
Jacobsen, J. S., & Munar, A. M. (2012). Tourist information search and destination choice
in a digital age. Tourism Management Perspectives, 1, 39–47.
Ł. Stokłosa et al.
Kalbaska, N., Janowski, T., Estevez, E., & Cantoni, L. (2017). When digital government
matters for tourism: A stakeholder analysis. Journal of Information Technology &
Tourism, 17(3), 315–333.
Kwon, J. M., Bae, J., & Blum, S. C. (2013). Mobile applications in the hospitality industry.
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 4(1), 81–92.
Lee, W., & Gretzel, U. (2012). Designing persuasive destination websites: A mental
imagery processing perspective. Tourism Management, 33, 1270–1280.
Li, X., & Wang, Y. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of destination marketing organi-
zations' websites: Evidence from China. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12,
536–549.
Lim, Y., Chung, Y., & Weaver, P. A. (2012). The impact of social media on destination
branding: Consumer-generated videos versus destination marketer-generated videos.
Journal of Vacation Marketing, 18(3), 197–206.
Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E., & Pan, B. (2008). Electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality
and tourism management. Tourism Management, 29(3), 458–468.
Luna-Nevarez, C., & Hyman, M. (2012). Common practices in destination website design.
Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 1, 94–106.
Mandelli, A., Marchiori, E., & Cantoni, L. (2012). Tourists and destination management
organizations facing social media and eWord-of-Mouth. A research in Italy. In U. S.
Karmarkar, & V. Mangal (Eds.). UCLA Anderson Business and Information Technologies
(Bit) Project: A global study of business practice (pp. 225–247). World Scientific
Publishing Company.
Marchiori, E., Milwood, P., & Zach, F. (2013). Drivers and benefits of analyzing
DMOs’ eWOM activities. In L. Cantoni, & Z. Xiang (Eds.). Information and commu-
nication technologies in tourism (pp. 107–118). Vienna-New York: Springer.
Marchiori, E., Pavese, G., & Cantoni, L. (2012). eTcoMM – eTourism communication
maturity model. A framework to evaluate the maturity of a DMO when it comes to the
online communication management. The case of canton Ticino and Lombardy. In M.
Fuchs, F. Ricci, & L. Cantoni (Eds.). Information and communication technologies in
tourism (pp. 215–226). Vienna-New York: Springer.
Milwood, P., Marchiori, E., & Zach, F. (2013). A comparison of social media adoption and
use in different countries: The case of the United States and Switzerland. Journal of
Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1–2), 165–168 (Special Issue: Social Media).
Moorthy, S., Ratchford, B. T., & Talukdar, D. (1997). Consumer information search re-
visited: Theory and empirical analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 23(4), 263–277.
Munro, J., & Richards, B. (2011). The digital challenge. In N. Morgan, A. Pritchard, & R.
Pride (Eds.). Destination brands: Managing place reputation (pp. 141–154). (3rd ed.).
Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Nolan, R. L. (1973). Managing the computer resource: A stage hypothesis.
Communications of the ACM, 16, 399–405.
O’Connor, P. (2008). User generated content and travel: A case study on Tripadvisor.com.
In P. O’Connor, W. Höpken, & U. Gretzel (Eds.). Information and communication
technologies in tourism (pp. 47–58). Vienna: Springer.
O’Connor, P., & Frew, A. J. (2002). The future of hotel electronic distribution: Expert and
industry perspectives. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly,
43(3), 33–45.
O’Reilly, T. (2005). What is web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next
generation of software. Retrieved 10.01.2017 from: 〈http://www.oreillynet.com/
pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html〉.
Palmer, A. (2005). The internet challenge for destination marketing organizations. In N.
Morgan, A. Pritchard, & R. Pride (Eds.). Destination branding: Creating the unique
destination proposition (pp. 128–139). (2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier.
199
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 11 (2019) 192–199
Park, Y., & Gretzel, U. (2007). Success factors for destination marketing websites: A
qualitative meta-analysis. Journal of Travel Research, 46, 46–63.
Polish Tourist Organization (2017). Retrieved 19.04.2017 from: 〈https://www.pot.gov.
pl/〉.
Schegg, R., Liebrich, A., Scaglione, M., & Ahmad, S. F. S. (2008). An exploratory field
study of web 2.0 in tourism. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism,
5, 152–163.
Sheldon, P. J. (1997). Tourism information technology. New York, NY: CAb International.
Steinbauer, A., & Werthner, H. (2007). Consumer behavior in e-tourism. In M. Sigala, L.
Mich, & J. Murphy (Eds.). Information and communication technologies in tourism (pp.
65–76). Springer: Vienna.
Stienmetz, J. L., Levy, S. E., & Boo, S. (2012). Factors influencing the usability of mobile
destination management organization websites. Journal of Travel Research, 52(4),
453–464.
Stokłosa, Ł., Krupa, J., & Wątroba, Ł. (2013). Portal internetowy jako narzędzie komu-
nikacji i promocji obszarów recepcji turystycznej – analiza porównawcza na
przykładzie województwa podkarpackiego i szwajcarskiego kantonu Ticino.
Gospodarka turystyczna w regionie. Wybrane problemy funkcjonowania regionów, gmin i
przedsiębiorstw turystycznych: 303, (pp. 265–275). Wrocław: Prace Naukowe
Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu.
Stuart, Toby E. (2000). Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: A
study of growth and innovation rates in a high-technology industry. Strategic
Management Journal, 21(8), 791–811.
Tourism in 2015 (2016). Statistical information and elaborations, Central Statistical Office,
Statistical Office in Rzeszów. Retrieved 10.01.2017 from: 〈http://stat.gov.pl/en/
topics/culture-tourism-sport/tourism/tourism-in-2015,1,13.html〉.
Tussyadiah, I. (2013). When cell phones become travel buddies: Social attribution to
mobile phones in travel. In L. Cantoni, & Z. Xiang (Eds.). Information and commu-
nication technologies in tourism (pp. 82–93). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Wang, D., Park, S., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2012). The role of smartphones in mediating the
touristic experience. Journal of Travel Research, 5(4), 371–387.
Wang, Y., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2006). Identifying the success factors of web-based
marketing strategy: An investigation of convention and visitors bureaus in the United
States. Journal of Travel Research, 44(3), 239–249.
Wang, Y., Quaehee, Y., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2002). Defining the virtual tourism com-
munity: Implications for tourism marketing. Tourism Management, 23, 407–417.
Vogt, C. A., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (1998). Expanding the functional information search
model. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(3), 551–578.
Xiang, Z., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of social media in online travel information search.
Tourism Management, 31, 179–188.
Yoon, S. J. (2002). The antecedents and consequences of trust in online-purchase deci-
sions. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16(2), 47–63.
Zach, F. (2012). Partners and innovation in American destination marketing organiza-
tions. Journal of Travel Research, 52(4), 412–425.
Zach, F., Gretzel, U., & Xiang, Z. (2010). Innovation in the web marketing programs of
American convention and visitor bureaus. Journal of Information Technology and
Tourism, 12(1), 47–63.
Zach, F., Marchiori, E., & Cantoni, L. (2012). Web marketing and social media: The case of
adoption and outsourcing by Swiss DMOs. In Conference Proceedings from the 43rd
Annual Conference of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA). ISBN 978-0-
615-64086-0.