Website Functionality of Convention and Exhibition Centers: Important Performance Dimensions and Attributes

Abstract

A convention and exhibition center (CEC) offers spaces and services for various events. An effective website is important for a CEC because event site selection involves extensive long-distance information searching and communication. However, despite ample website evaluation studies conducted in the tourism and hospitality field, very few studies can adequately reflect the business environment of the CECs and the decision process of selecting a CEC. This study builds on the existing models for hotel website performance and identifies the important dimensions and attributes of a CEC website through a focus group discussion with multiple stakeholders on the selection of event venues. A framework with four dimensions and 41 attributes is developed. The results show that CECs websites should focus on Venue Facilities and Services (VFS), Contact Information (CI), Website Management (WM), and Destination Information (DI). Functions related to reservation and payment, which are very important for hotels, are found not value-added for CECs. The study expands the literature on website evaluations and e-marketing. Managerial insights are also provided to CEC operators and other related industry practitioners.