Indicators of Website Features in the User Experience of E-Tourism Search and Metasearch Engines

Trinidad Domínguez Vila,Elisa Alén González,Noelia Araújo Vila,Jose Antonio Fraiz Brea

doi:10.4067/s0718-18762021000100103

Trinidad Domínguez Vila, Elisa Alén González + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-18762021000100103

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Abstract

The continuous growth of e-commerce, combined with new trends in the tourism sector, creates an imperative to conduct analyses and establish suitable models for improving the experience of users who seek tourism products online, using search and metasearch engines. However, few studies analyze web design variables and their impacts on the user experience. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the influence of content, usability, functionality, and branding for determining user experiences with search engines and metasearch engines dedicated to tourism. The methodology used in this research followed a mixed approach to fulfill the proposed dual perspective, that is, to collect data from websites and evaluate the user experience. To determine the variables to be modeled, the authors use a General Additive Model. Main results reveal two determinant factors that enhance the user experience: usability and branding. With this foundation, this study proposes basic premises of the digital strategy that tourism platforms should follow. As implications for the tourism sector, suggest that e-commerce search and metasearch engines in the tourism industry should devote substantial efforts to implementing interactivity, memorability, personalization, privacy, and security.

Highlights

Access to the use of the Internet produces changes throughout people’s daily lives
It is concluded that on one hand, the tourist search and metasearch engines and based on the current researches, the consumers’ behavior is very similar and does not distinguish them. One of these papers shows that the level structure of both types of browsers are similar, even if the interface of metasearch engines can be better than search engines in terms of privacy, security, and personalization/customization [47]
The offer content level as a function of the type of offer and the component shows that the number of search engines is not a determining factor [47]

Summary

Introduction

Online marketing and the growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce) have altered how business gets conducted, everywhere around the world With this tool, companies have gained a new way to perform tasks, interact with users, and manage their business [112]. E-commerce supports buying and selling and a wide range of pre-purchase activities [58], such as searching for information about tourist activities or gathering recommendations [70]. In this context, research into online information searches [71] has expanded substantially, especially in the travel and tourism field [103]. A key question pertains to how best to ensure that users can locate correct and relevant travel and tourism information within the online tourism domain [140], spanning the online space that can be accessed from users’ preferred Internet gateways, in the form of search and metasearch engines

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