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Current efforts in destination recommendation systems research and design are based on the assumption that user preferences have to be captured in the most accurate way possible in order to be able to provide useful recommendations. However, leading the user through a series of mind-puzzling diagnostic questions is often cumbersome and, therefore, discourages use. This paper explores travel personality categories as a possible shortcut to classifying users. The results of this study suggest that travel personality types selected by the survey respondents can, indeed, be matched up with certain travel behaviors. Implications for future research as well as systems design are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface metaphors are credited with the capability to facilitate interface usability and Iearnability from the human-computer interaction perspective. In tourism, they can help travelers' carry out online information tasks, and also make the information search process more entertaining and engaging. This paper discusses interface metaphors and their roles in traveler's online information experience. A conceptual model is proposed in order to evaluate interface metaphors. Finally, implications for travel website design are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet marketing is becoming an inseparable, oftentimes determining part of destination marketing organizations' (DMO) overall marketing efforts. This study attempts to contribute to the understanding of DMOs' Internet marketing strategies by examining the Web marketing practices of the DMOs in the United States. The results of a path analysis indicate that both hierarchical and nested relationships exist between the three groups of variables included in the Study: 1) organizational characteristics (i.e.. innovativeness and organizational size) and organization technology climate (i e., management support and organization Internet literacy); 2) Web marketing strategies (including Web technology application, website marketing strategy, and website promotion strategy); and 3) the overall successfulness of Web marketing strategy. Discussion and implications are provided based on the study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travel information search is a complex, dynamic and contingent process. Travel information search and planning on the Internet becomes more and more prevalent nowadays along with the development of information technology. However, the usability of the Internet as a travel information source still remains as a problem. This research intends to explore the interaction process between a travel information searcher and the Internet based upon the assumption that travel information searchers search through the tourism information space following their semantic mental models and the mismatch between their semantic mental models and the conceptual model of online conceptual tourism information space contributes to the futile and unsatisfactory travel information search process. An experiment of travel planning on the Internet was conducted and the results confirmed that the overall tourism information space is huge, travelers appear to have a different mind sets as compared with the information on the Internet, and this discrepancy contributed substantially to the usability problem of the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents Dietorecs, a novel case-based travel planning recommender system. Dietorecs has been designed by incorporating a human decision model that stresses individual differences in decision styles. Dietorecs supports decision styles by means of an adaptive behavior that is learned exploiting a case base of recommendation sessions that are stored by the systems. Users can enter the system through three main functional doors that fit groups of decision styles, but they can eventually switch the type of support required. The dialogue (questions) is personalized using both the user model (cases) and statistics over the data available in the virtual catalogues provided by two DMOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Destination marketing Websites remain largely focused on the communication of functional attributes such as price, distances, and room availability. However, it is argued that a model of embodied cognition, which assumes that consumers derive experiences largely from patterns of sensory input, better reflects the actual construction of tourism experiences in the minds of consumers than these purely cognitive approaches. Acknowledging the importance of senses for human cognition has implications for marketing real world experiences as well as creating experiences online. The paper presents an exploratory analysis that investigates whether information about colors, scents, and sounds expected during vacations in the Midwest United States can be categorized and bundled in meaningful ways, and consequently used in the context of online destination marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to provide meaningful guidance for the development of human-centric travel decision-aid systems (TDAS). Issues related to TDAS are framed by who, why, when, what, and how questions and a summary model for designing a TDAS is proposed. It is suggested that TDAS needs to be adaptive to individual and dynamic in terms of what to recommend and how to make experiential aspect tangible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on semantic network analysis as a means to investigate issues of usability of the Internet for travel information search. Usability of the Internet is viewed as the degree of match between mental models of information providers and information users, which are based on their understanding of information structure and information content on the Internet. The mismatch of mental models between the tourism marketers and the travelers contributes to the poor usability of the Internet as a travel information source. This preliminary study focuses attention on one actor, the travel information provider, in order to gain insight into how they use the Internet for marketing purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to contribute to the understanding of online community by extending and empirically testing a conceptual framework of online community member needs. Members' views and perceptions on participating in online communities are examined; in addition, the relationships between members' needs and their level of involvement in online communities are identified. Factor analysis and reliability test indicate that the proposed conceptual framework is valid. The results of the regression analysis shows that social and psychological needs have positive effects on level of involvement while functional need has a negative effect. Discussion and implications are provided based on the study results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of knowledge-based tourism B2B communities requires the adoption of a multi-dimensional, multi-level perspective on system design that incorporates processes of knowledge creation and transformation and takes organizational stages of effective technology use into consideration. This paper illustrates how the Illinois Tourism Network (ITN) as an example for an interorganizational, knowledge-based tourism information system/community has successfully integrated the management of information and knowledge flows in a way that appeals to tourism organizations in different stages of effective technology use and fosters capacity building among community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism enterprises communicate with their potential customers through various communication channels including call centers. The conversation between travel counselors and the tourists can be seen as one type of directed information search. The analysis of the records of caller dialogue indicates that travelers mainly search information through two simple heuristics: search by location (SBL) and search by interests (SBI). The implications of this finding for the design of information technology and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests a conceptual framework for designing an effective collaborative filtering (CF) approach for tourism marketing. Building collaborative filtering for tourism destination bundling means understanding tbe process of how people bundle multiple destinations on a trip. The proposed approach for bundling attractions within a region provides a dynamic framework for building a personalized system for recommending multi-destination travel. Such a system offers the potential for extending more traditional travel websites and enabling potential tourists to begin to process the huge amounts of travel destination information available on the Internet.

The notion of community has a central element of the Internet since its inception. Though research on virtual community has been extensive, the concept remains to be ill defined and the understanding of members' needs remains fragmented, given the importance of virtual community development. The purpose of this article is to lay a theoretical foundation of the concept of virtual community providing clarifications of the core characteristics of virtual communities and the fundamental needs of community members. Perspectives of how we should define and interpret virtual communities are discussed and issues related to the functions of virtual communities are explored from the member's viewpoint. Implications are made to virtual communities in the travel industry from marketing and design perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring effective IT use becomes crucial as more and more tourism organizations use Internet technologies but only few actually experience an impact on the way their organizations operate. Effective technology use requires more than investments in technology; it involves knowledge creation and learning that have to be carefully managed. This paper proposes a measurement scale for effective IT use that includes the extent and sophistication of IT use as well as the level of knowledge management realized within an organization. The scale was tested in a study among American convention and visitors bureaus. The results provide useful managerial implications for effective IT use in tourism organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]