Chinese Customers' Evaluation of Travel Website Quality: A Decision-Tree Analysis. Issue 4 (18th May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sun, Ping; Cárdenas, David A.; Harrill, Rich
• Is Part Of: Journal of hospitality marketing & management. Volume 25:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 476
• Page End: 497
• Publication Date: 2016-05-18
• Subjects: travel agency -- decision tree -- website evaluation -- information quality; Hospitality industry -- Marketing -- Periodicals; Leisure industry -- Marketing -- Periodicals; 338.47910688
• DOI: 10.1080/19368623.2015.1037977
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1936-8623

Abstract

Abstract : Web design in tourism organizations has become one of the key factors in maintaining a successful travel business. With questions of sustainability plaguing travel agencies, questions on how they should allocate their limited resources for website development to meet changing consumer needs while producing an effective and efficient website linger. This study provides a new technique and tool, decision trees and Weka, that identifies critical attributes that influence quality levels of a customer's experience when visiting a travel agency's website. The exploratory study derived eight evaluation attributes based on the attention, interest, desire, and action model. The study generated decision trees via Weka, a data-mining open-source software platform, to analyze the datasets from a web-based experiment. Results indicate that information quality is the most important attribute in designing the website of a travel agency. Then, attributes that enhance the simplicity of websites, such as ease of use, personalization, and flexible reservations, are considered by the customer when evaluating the website quality. Attractiveness can only contribute to evaluations of a website's quality after usefulness and website simplicity have been determined. Keeping the website useful, simple, and attractive—in that order—will give managers of travel agencies the guidance to design their websites and improve company performance. This study confirms prior research and indicates that decision trees and Weka are viable techniques in evaluating travel agency websites and promotional materials.