An evaluation of websites quality factors in agro travel and ecotourism

Abstract

Tourism is an information intensive industry and as a service industry, information is the most significant quality factor for the industry. E-tourism is part of electronic trade that includes the fastest developing technologies that assist to the hospitality and tourism strategic planning and management. The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the quality of 3 Internet sites and detecting their strong and weak points by analyzing quality into its constituent dimensions. Research was carried out by personal interviews and via electronic mails to a sample of 413 persons and internet users, out of which 157 responded. Statistical analysis included simple and multiple comparisons ANOVA and t-tests. Research detected some medium quality ratings, as well as, some more positive evaluations of certain individual factors. The Internet sites that collected the highest ratings are Agrotravel (5.32), Guest inn (5.08) and Ecotourism (4.26). Elements considered important in all three web portals are the lack of interaction facilities and conversation sections and personalized options with user personal accounts. Emphasis must be paid on the design, information, interaction and overall quality of a web site.