Tourism Destination Web Monitor: A Technological Platform for the Acquisition of Tourist Information through the Web Presence of the DMOs

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1 Tourism Destination Web Monitor: A Technological Platform for the Acquisition of Tourist Information through the Web Presence of the DMOs Rebon F 1, Gerrikagoiti J.K 2, Ochoa Laburu C 3 Abstract In order to measure, analyze and model the behavior of visitors to the different virtual spaces, CICtourGUNE (Centre for Cooperative Research in Tourism) has created a pioneer platform, Tourism Destination Web Monitor. This article describes the platform, its structure and its potential as a support for possible subsequent research. Keywords: Tourism Destination Web Monitor, Tourist Destination Image, Web Analytics, User Behavior 1 Introduction The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO 2012) foresees that world tourism will continue to grow between 2% and 4% in 2013, and is expected that by 2030 the tourism industry will generate 9.6% of world GDP with 300 million direct jobs (OMT 2012). Before the current situation of economic crisis, Governments were aware of the importance of tourist economic activity and the crucial role that tourism plays in 1 Fidel Rebón ( fidelrebon@tourgune.org) CIC Tourgune. Paseo Mikeletegi 71-3.planta, Parque Tecnológico de Miramón, 2009 San Sebastián 2 Jon Kepa Gerrikagoitia ( jonkepagerrikagoitia@tourgune.org) CIC Tourgune. Paseo Mikeletegi 71-3.planta, Parque Tecnológico de Miramón, 2009 San Sebastián 3 Carlos Ochoa Laburu ( carlos.ochoa-laburu@ehu.es) Escuela Politécnica, UPV/EHU, Plaza de Europa 1, San Sebastián 825

2 the development of regions (Wanhill et al. 1998). Today, it is vital to make efforts in this sector; since it has a great capacity of influence in the social and economic development. To have great tourist resources is not enough to attract visitors to a destination. It is the image that tourists have and their attitude toward that destination, the two factors that trigger their choice (Ahmed 1996). Baloglu & McCleary (1999) defined the image as the mental representation of beliefs, feelings, and the overall impression of the individual on a destination. Bulnes (2008) offers us a more precise definition: "is the individual or holistic perception of the individual on a specific destination, highlighting its functional and psychological components". This image is created by means of stimulation and personal factors. The first relate the amount and nature of the information to which individuals are exposed and the seconds to the motivations, the sociodemographic characteristics and its cultural geographic origin (Santana et al. 2004). There are several works that demonstrate the variety and the type of information that have to be used in order to have significant effects on the image of a destination (Andrade 2010). In recent years there have been modifications on the habits of information consumption by tourist consumers when they plan their tourist activities. There has been a shift from traditional consultation sources towards the employment of new technologies. It is here where the study of destination web sites emerges as a source of information and its significant influence on the perceived image. The creation and management of a distinct and attractive image of tourist destinations is a key component in the process of positioning a tourist destination in the minds of individuals (Calantone et al and Kotler et al. 1993). Therefore, the DMO, Destination Management Organization, should act as a "promoter of destination", facilitating and catalyzing the tourism development from the competitive and sustainable point of view (Presenza 2006). CICtourGUNE has created a pioneer platform, Tourism Destination Web Monitor with the compromise of measure, analyze and model the behavior of visitors to the different virtual spaces. This article defines the platform, its structure and its potential as a support for possible subsequent research. 2 Tourism Destination Web Monitor Nowadays the study of tourism cannot be based only on data generated by statistical institutes or the traditional studies of collecting census data or samples in place. The digital fingerprint left by companies, institutions, visitors, tourists and travelers interested in any potential destination allow the approach to the knowledge of the tourism phenomenon from a new and long rang point of view. The content generated by users on the web through social media, the access to 826

3 websites of destination and the brokerage websites, as well as another activities in a virtual environment, allow to know patterns of behavior, consumption or particular circumstances, to analyze the creation of brands and carry out analysis of impacts or the opinions expressed spontaneously among others. This way, the knowledge about customers or consumers and tourism markets can be improved, as well as the way the different actors of the tourism sector interact with them more efficiently and effectively. The aim of the platform is to measure, analyze and model the behavior of visitors in different virtual areas (region, territories, tourist brands, associations, capitals, districts, municipalities) in which a destination is promoted. To do this, there is a tool of tracking that captures the interaction of visitors to websites, getting automatically the information of the digital fingerprint that they are leaving. The platform helps to know the network system comprising the various sites and the relationships between them through visitor interactions. So that we can achieve a holistic understanding of the destination as a whole and in a disaggregated way. The holistic positioning of the destination will depend on the traffic that the network it is capable to capture. And the monitor will help to define strategies to capture it. In Fig.1 we show the general stages of the process that the Tourism Destination Web Monitor perform. First the user's data are acquired through different platforms available on the market. This will depend on which the user is using at that time to interact with the website of the tourist destination: a desktop PC, a smart mobile, a tablet or a pda. The collected data are processed on external servers to later convert them into useful information that will be monitored. Once that the monitored results are available, we proceed to analyze and evaluate the in order to draw conclusions about the consumer profile of those destinations. Fig. 1 General stages of Tourism Destination Web Monitor 827

4 With the availability of analytical data from different target sites in a disaggregated way, we can compare them and make joint policies between different DMOs. Also, this is a scalable solution that it can evolve over time as the DMOs generate new questions to the platform. 2.1 Architecture of Tourism Destination Web Monitor The technical platform (Fig. 2) begins to capture data before the visitor enters the web page of the destination, recording the search engine and the web searched word that has led to the destination, in the case that the entry is not direct. It is possible by means of the incorporation of a small code that must be hosted on each destination website. User data are obtained using an open source web analytics platform and stored in a MySQL 4 database. Once data are stored in the MySQL database, they are processed and stored in a SQL 5 Server database through an ETL (Extract, Transform and Load). This is a daily process, although it could be adapted to any temporality, where data are recorded the previous day not to saturate the server. In order to interact with the data, a cube with dimensions and fact tables is generated through an Analysis Services 6 project. The project will provide the design, creation and management of multidimensional structures that contain data aggregated from the SQL Server database where we have located our data. This information is displayed in a simple and clear way through reports and / or graphics that are incorporated into a Sharepoint 7 solution. This solution allows fast web access from any place and platform. Once the information is accessible, it will be treated using indicators to answer to the questions that we formulate. In Fig. 3 we collect a series of those questions. 4 It is database of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates 5 It is database of Microsoft Corporation 6 It delivers online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining 7 It is the business collaboration platform to manage content through the Office interface 828

5 Fig. 2 Architecture Tourism Destination Web Monitor Fig. 3 Some of the questions you should reply Tourism Destination Web Monitor 2.2 Indicators With this the platform we can design a series of basic indicators as well as a series of complex indicators resulting from a more elaborated and deep study of data extracted from the digital fingerprint of the visitor. These indicators provide an overview that allows us to compare indicators across different web sites of destinations becoming possible to implement benchmarking processes. Simple indicators: Total visits: the number of visits which has received a tourist website in a given period Unique visitors: the number of different visitors who have accessed the website in a given period Bounce rate: the percentage of visitors who access the web, which does not perform any additional action and remain on it less than 15 seconds Total of actions: the total number of actions within a page 829

6 Total visit time: it is the sum of the duration of all visits made by visitors on the website in a given period. The unit of measurement is seconds Complex indicators: Input s URL versus output s URL: area through which the user enters and area through which the user exits the Web Number of links between DMOs: the total of visits coming from other DMOs in a specific period Ratio of image perception: ratio that valued the image of the destination with respect to the culture of the visitor in a specific period Economic valuation of the destination: ratio that valued economically the web site of the DMO in a specific period Visitor profile: category of consumer's web site during a time slot Other indicators 3 Implementation of Tourism Destination Web Monitor The implementation of the technological platform has detected four major levels of complexity: a) it has a large number of actors. There are many virtual spaces which should attend the Tourism Destination Web Monitor and each of them with their particular vision (region, territory, tourist marks, associations, capitals, districts, municipalities), b) the interactions and influences between different DMOs. These virtual spaces are set up hierarchically in an explicit or in an implicit way c) the dynamics of the relationship of the parties concerned. It is a very fragmented sector, with little cohesion which must work to recognize the parties and maximize joint profits, d) the interactions between different levels of Government. Currently there is not a proper interpretation about what administrative models, centralized or decentralized, can be the most effective in managing the complex interactions between different organizations. Currently the platform is in the implementation phase; therefore we can t provide the scientific community with results. We can anticipate that the Tourism Destination Web Monitor will be implemented in the Basque Tourism Observatory and in Medellin (Colombia), through an international project of technology transfer. If the data are integrated with Social Media Monitor, the platform can study jointly the image projected, perceived and shared. We must not forget that tourism is "a powerful collective imaginability creator" (Ruiz & Menero 2011), and that it is there that the real revolution occurs in the conception of a tourism destination brand. That image is often in the memory even when products have disappeared (Costa 2004). 830

7 In the future, within the lines of research of this monitor, we should contemplate the capability to analyze the association between culture and the influence on the perceived tourist image, the impact of the internet as a source of information induced, if the investment made over the image of the destination is profitable or be able to contribute in the comparison of the perception of the image between different media: web, social media, brochures, surveys,... In addition to being, a selflearning expert system that allows the creation of destination s websites dynamically adapting to consumer profile. 4 Conclusions At the current juncture, as a strategic sector of the economy, tourism should be a priority commitment by its cross-cutting nature and its ease to be oriented toward markets that show the first signs of recovery. Manage and communicate a positive image of a destination generates three basic benefits: (1) increased future demand based on communication, (2) an increase of tourist satisfaction and loyalty to the destination, facilitating the identification of improvement aspects of the destination, and (3) allow the correct positioning of the destination, identifying its competitive position relative to other competing destinations (Moreno Gil et al. 2012). Virtual spaces are an important channel of marketing for institutions and business network of the destinations, providing enormous volumes of information accessible for potential tourists (Wang & Fesenmaier 2006). Its emergence as an intercommunication tools has allowed tourists and resident population to amplify their traditional channels of influence as prescriptors of the benefits or shortcomings of products, business entities or tourist destinations (Buhalis & Law 2008). The Tourism Destination Web Monitor will help us to develop a good management and communication of the image, because it allows to know what the users want, what pages are they looking for, what products or contents are those that most interest them and what their behavior is. Finally, it enables us to stimulate the consumption of the site by showing contents aligned with the real needs of potential visitors and digital surveys focused on strategic objectives and segments. 831

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