Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
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benchmarking against visual appeal and Bahrain for technical features. Once Dubai begins to close its performance 
gaps with Singapore, it can benchmark against 'best-in-class' DMO websites from around the world. 
It was noted that Dubai received the lowest ratings among all the websites in technical aspects. It had the 
highest load time at 67 seconds and also received the low score of 1 (on a scale of 1 to 5) for HTML validity due to 
bad tags and syntax that would prevent visitors from reading the site the way it was intended. Furthermore, it 
received a low score of 2 (on a scale of 1 to 5) on browser compatibility. The reason for these low scores could be 
the use of unsupported HTML tags and attributes that block viewing the site on specific browsers. DTCM officials 
should take care of these technical shortcomings by firstly ensuring optimized graphics and images are used on the 
homepage and subsequent pages thereafter in order to reduce load time. Next, regular audits of the website should 
be conducted using tools such as NetMechanic to automatically find and repair HTML errors. Given the 
international markets for tourists to Dubai, DTCM should look into a website redesign to make certain that its 
website is compatible with all browsers available in today's market place. 
During recent years, the travel and tourism industries have experienced globalization. Tourism 
organizations headquartered in countries as diverse as Germany, the United States and Hong Kong compete 
aggressively in markets such as Singapore and Japan. The result is a fiercely competitive international market with 
DMOs fighting for their share of travelers. To succeed, these tourism organizations must invest in research that will 
reveal what their target market wants, which factors are important to them while choosing a travel destination, and 
how they research and purchase travel products. With a visibly increasing trend of online marketing by DMOs, it is 
crucial that Dubai adopt an effective online strategy to meet the needs of potential tourists worldwide. As suggested 
by Baggio (2003), tourism organizations may be conceding market share to close competitors because their websites 
deliver a poor quality of experience. 
While the purpose of this study was to benchmark Dubai's website against websites of its five main 
competitors; the study demonstrates the value that other tourism destinations can gain from competitive 
benchmarking and provides a practical model for comparative website research.