Web analytics: more than website performance evaluation?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the status quo of the use of Web analytics tools by European destination management organizations (DMOs) and to provide guidelines in using these metrics for business intelligence and tourism design. In addition, the goal is to improve destination management at the city level using Web analytics data. Design/methodology/approach In this exploratory study, the authors analyze how European DMOs view Web analytics data through the lens of the “data to knowledge to results” framework. The authors analyze the use of Web analytics tools by DMOs through the theory of affordances and “data-to-knowledge framework” developed by Davenport et al., which incorporates several factors that contribute to a successful transformation of data available to an organization to knowledge, desirable results and ultimately to building an analytical capability. Findings The results show that European DMOs mainly use Web analytics data for website quality assurance, but that some are also using them to drive marketing programs. The study concludes by providing several suggestions for ways in which DMOs might optimize the use of Web analytics data, which will also improve the management of destinations. Originality/value Web analytics tools are used by many organizations such as DMOs to collect traffic data, to evaluate and optimize websites. However, these metrics can also be combined with other data such as bednights numbers and used for forecasting or other managerial decisions for destination management at the city level. There is a research gap in this area that focuses on using Web analytics data for business intelligence in the tourism industry and this research aims to fill this gap.