Evaluating the effectiveness of telepresence in cultural tourism … · 2017-01-10 · of a better online experience, due to its capability of intensifying user experience in virtual

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Telepresence in Cultural Tourism Websites: Panoramic Virtual

Tours for the Promotion of Tourism and Cultural Identity in Taiwan

Yu-Hui Tu Swinburne University of Technology

Faculty of Design DDes

ABSTRACT

Within the context of globalisation, cultural identity has been emphasized by nation-

states to differentiate themselves from others in global tourism markets. To be

successfully positioned in the competitive global marketplace, a destination must

create, as its key component, a favourable and appealing perception or image. As the

Internet has become the predominant channel for tourism marketing, the

establishment of successful online destination images is urgently needed. Destination

images and positive online experiences have been found to correlate with the

decision-making and behavioural intentions of tourists. In the physical world,

travelling is a direct experience enabling tourists to observe and feel the exotic

atmospheres of different places. Virtual experience, the verisimilitude of direct

experience, has been recognised as an effective approach in tourism marketing. Its

impact on user attitudes towards a destination can be enhanced via advanced website

features. Telepresence, an experience of being metaphorically transported to another

place, and a sense of presence in mediated environments, may facilitate the creation

of a better online experience, due to its capability of intensifying user experience in

virtual environments. Researchers have indicated that telepresence has positive

effects on users’ attitudes toward websites. However, no empirical study has been

carried out to examine the effectiveness of telepresence on tourism websites.

Panoramic photography has been developed and utilised in the tourism area for many

years, based on its feature of creating an interactive virtual experience. Using Taiwan

as a case study, this research investigates the effects of interactivity and vividness,

the major determinants of telepresence, on users’ attitudes toward the website.

Panoramic photography is employed as a key feature of the website, and there is a

focus on Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) theory as the guiding principle of the

experiment. Two websites with different levels of interactivity and vividness are

developed for the experiment (http://www.culturaltaiwan.com/high/index.php;

http://www.culturaltaiwan.com/low/index.php). Users are then tested in a post-

experiment questionnaire, assessing the value of attractiveness, informativeness,

enjoyment, and telepresence. The results indicate that significant differences were

only found in enjoyment value, which conflicts with the assertion of previous studies.

It is suggested that the notion of experimental reality should be taken into

consideration and that NDM may provide a useful model for application in tourism

web marketing.

ACKNOWLEDEGMENT

I would like to express my special thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Simon Jackson who

guided and encouraged me over the years, and Professor Allan Whitfield who guided

me through the experiment part for this research. Both of them contribute to my

study a lot that I am so grateful for their help. I also like to thank Bill Trikojus for the

technical support of my design work, which achieves the practical implement for this

research.

I would like to acknowledge the Australians Studying Abroad and Faculty of Design,

Swinburne University, for the online survey support for this research. I would also

like to thank Walker Young for the provision of panorama used on the design work.

Most importantly, I would like to thank my family. Their continuing love and

encouragement sustained me to go through the entire procedure to finish this work.

DECLARATION

This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for award of any other

degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. To

the best of my knowledge, this thesis contains no material previously published or

written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.

Signed

Yu-Hui Tu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES i

LIST OF TABLES iii

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Research Scope

1.3 Contributions of the Research

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CHAPTER 2. CULTURAL IDENTITY AND TOURISM WEBSITES

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Globalisation and Cultural Identity

2.3 Globalisation, Tourism and Cultural Identity

2.4 Cultural Tourism

2.5 Cultural Tourists

2.6 Cultural Tourism in Taiwan

2.7 Identification of Target Market

2.8 Destination Images and Destination Marketing on the Internet

2.9 Evaluation of Tourism Websites

2.10 Tourism Website Design

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CHAPTER 3. USER ATTITUDE AND TELEPRESENCE

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The Measure Construct from Users’ Perspectives

3.3 User Experience

3.4 Virtual Reality and Presence

3.5 Telepresence

3.6 Interactivity

3.7 Vividness

3.8 Web-based Virtual Tours

3.9 Research Model

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CHAPTER 4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 Experimental Approach

4.2 Online Survey

4.3 Questionnaire

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CHAPTER 5. EXPERIMENT

5.1 Stimuli

5.2 Participants

5.3 Procedure

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CHAPTER 6. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Results 1

6.3 Summary 1

6.4 Results 2

6.5 Summary 2

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CHAPTER 7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

7.1 Discussion

7.2 Conclusion and Limitation of the Research

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REFERENCES 161

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Figure 2.3

Figure 2.4

Figure 2.5

Figure 2.6

Figure 2.7

Figure 2.8

Figure 2.9

Figure 2.10

Figure 2.11

Figure 2.12

Figure 2.13

Figure 2.14

Figure 2.15

Figure 2.16

Figure 2.17

Figure 2.18

Figure 2.19

Figure 2.20

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2

Tourism Research Area

Design Research Area

Cultural Tourism: Variation of Components

Toward a Typology of Cultural Tourism Attractions

Cultural Tourism Resources

Degree of Consumer Motivation for Cultural Tourism

A Cultural Tourist Typology

A Screenshot of the Language Selections on Taiwan’s

Official Tourism Website (2005)

A Screenshot of the First Page of Australia/New Zealand

Version Website (2005)

A Framework of DMOs’ Websites (English version)

A Screenshot of E-cards Page

A Screenshot of 360° Panorama Page

A Screenshot of Game Page

A Screenshot of Downloadables Page

A Screenshot of Interactive Photo Gallery Page

A Screenshot of Multiple Images and the Map

A Screenshot of E-newsletter Page

A Screenshot of Videos Page

A Screenshot of 360° Panorama Page

A Screenshot of Webcams Page

A Screenshot of E-cards Page

A Screenshot of PDA Download Page

Original Images from Fisheye Lenses for Making A

Panorama

Stitched Panoramic Image from the Above Original Images

Research Model

The Flow-chart of the Low-UCV Website

The Flow-chart of the High-UCV Website

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Figure 5.3

Figure 5.4

Figure 5.5

Figure 5.6

Figure 5.7

Figure 5.8

Figure 5.9

Figure 6.1

Figure 6.2

Figure 6.3

Figure 6.4

Figure 6.5

Figure 6.6

Figure 6.7

Figure 6.8

Figure 6.9

Figure 6.10

Figure 6.11

Figure 6.12

Figure 6.13

Figure 6.14

Figure 6.15

Figure 6.16

Figure 6.17

Figure 6.18

Figure 6.19

A Screenshot from the “Home” Page of the Low-UCV

Website

A Screenshot from the “Home” Page of the High-UCV

Website

The Interactive Flat Panoramic Images of the High-UCV

Website

Control Over the Slideshow

Control Over Photo Selections of Architectural Features

Control Over the 360 Degree Panorama

Animated Rollover Buttons

A Screenshot of MySQL Database

ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Attractiveness Question 1

ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Attractiveness Question 2

ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Enjoyment Question 1





ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Telepresence Question 1



Binomial Test Chart of Informative Question 1








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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1

Table 2.2

Table 2.3

Table 2.4

Table 2.5

Table 6.1

Table 6.2-1

Table 6.2-2

Table 6.3-1

Table 6.3-2

Table 6.4-1

Table 6.4-2

Table 6.5-1

Table 6.5-2

Table 6.6-1

Table 6.6-2

Table 6.7-1

Table 6.7-2

Table 6.8-1

Table 6.8-2

Table 6.9-1

Table 6.9-2

Table 6.10-1

Table 6.10-2

Table 6.11-1

Table 6.11-2

Table 6.12

Table 6.13

Table 6.14

Website Addresses of 14 DMOs

Website Features

Evaluation Criteria on Tourism Research

Critical Success Factors for Effective WWW Sites

Design Parameters of Web Sites

Sample Demographics and Prior Experience

ANOVA (by Website) of Attractiveness Question 1




ANOVA (by Website) of Enjoyment Question 1










ANOVA (by Website) of Telepresence Question 1






ANOVA (by Website) of Informative Question 1



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Table 6.15

Table 6.16

Table 6.17

Table 6.18

Table 6.19

Table 6.20-1

Table 6.20-2

Table 6.21-1

Table 6.21-2

Table 6.22-1

Table 6.22-1

Table 6.23-1

Table 6.23-2

Table 6.24-1

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Table 6.25-1

Table 6.25-2

Table 6.26-1

Table 6.26-2

Table 6.27-1

Table 6.27-2

Table 6.28-1

Table 6.28-2

Table 6.29-1

Table 6.29-2






ANOVA (by Panorama) of Attractiveness Question 1




ANOVA (by Panorama) of Enjoyment Question 1










ANOVA (by Panorama) of Telepresence Question 1






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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Tourism is as an important economic activity for many countries in the globalised

world. Like many countries, Taiwan has been engaging in the development of

tourism, and its government has implemented several tourism strategies over the last

decade. In order to successfully develop the industry, tourism marketing has been

emphasised in various disciplines in which design is one of the key elements.

Globalisation has compressed the world as a whole with information technology

playing an important role on the linkage of global networks (Fox 2001). Several

researchers have pointed out the relationship between information technology and

the formation of globalisation (e.g., George 2006; James 1999; Wahab & Cooper

2001). Globalisation brings with it increasing interaction between nation-states and

has reinforced the relationships among them. This fosters the development of the

international tourism industry (Das & Cassandra 2009). Tourism has become one of

the big global and globalised industries that are dominated by information (Werthner

& Klein 1999). In fact, tourism and the Internet, a global communication technology,

are two of the major factors of globalisation (Pechlaner & Raich 2001). The

2

intensification of global access increases the competitiveness of global markets,

where destinations are striving to construct and promote distinct identities to position

themselves competitively (Dredge & Jenkins 2003).

Tourism has become a major economic factor in the world (Lanfant 1995), and the

phenomenon of globalisation has changed the trends in tourism supply and demand

(Vanhove 2001). The new tourism involves niche markets that emphasise the

uniqueness of destinations in terms of culture, ethnic heritage and natural resources

(Das & Cassandra 2009). Therefore, cultural tourism has become one of the fastest

growing tourism market segments, in which ethnicity and diversity are the central

concerns (Hoffman 2003). Information technology and the Internet play an important

role in both tourism supply and demand, by enabling destinations to communicate

with their target markets globally, and by allowing tourists to access information

more conveniently than by traditional methods (Buhalis 2001). Researchers indicate

that new information technology is even more important for cultural tourism

(Pechlaner & Raich 2001), and online cultural tourists tend to be highly involved and

active in information acquisition (Cardamone & Rentschler 2006).

In this digital age, tourists not only seek travel information from traditional media,

but have also come to rely on information provision from the Internet. The

importance of the Internet in travel and tourism has been emphasised in existing

literature (Law & Wong 2003), and the use of the Internet as a distribution channel

for travel information has significantly grown (So & Morrison 2003). More and more

tourists use the Internet for travel information searching (Gursoy & McCleary 2004).

According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau (2004a), more than half of international

tourists prefer to obtain travel information from the Internet in their home countries.

Tourism branding enhances the overall competitiveness of a country’s tourism,

which relies on government agencies (Das & Cassandra 2009), that is destination

marketing organizations (DMOs). The integration of information communication

technologies (ICTs) into the DMO marketing framework, especially the Internet, is a

critical key to success (Gretzel, Yuan & Fesenmaier 2000). DMO websites possess

salient marketing responsibility on destination promotions. It is found that all of the

3

national DMOs in East Asia have developed websites that are integrated into their

marketing strategies (So & Morrison 2004).

Due to the importance of cultural tourism, most DMO websites provide specific,

culture-related information on the destinations. The implication of successful Web

marketing for DMOs depends on the implementation and coordination of three

interrelated aspects: an efficient use of the right combination of ICTs, an effective

marketing strategy, and promotion of the website (Wang & Fesenmaier 2003).

Information obtained from DMO websites induces the formation of destination

images and plays an important role in the tourists’ decision-making process (Kao et

al. 2005). So and Morrison (2003) indicate that DMO websites have a positive

impact on tourists’ behaviour intentions. Therefore, it is crucial for DMOs to

understand how to build an effective website.

Due to its unique characteristics, website design has become more important for the

tourism industry. The website is a recognised advertising form (Sicilia, Ruiz &

Munuera 2005), and its performance may influence tourists’ decision-making via the

communication process. Skadberg, Skadberg and Kimmel (2005) indicate that

websites play an important role in stimulating tourists’ emotional responses to a

destination. The function of a website is to provide information and promote

awareness in order to influence users’ attitudes and behaviours by creating positive

experience (Skadberg & Kimmel 2004). Website features play an important role in

communicating with potential tourists, by enhancing users’ comprehension and

experience, and thereby facilitating their evaluation and selection of destinations

before the real visitation (Sigala 2004). Researchers indicate that website features

have an impact on changing users’ beliefs and expectations about a destination

(Zahedi & Song 2009). Despite the growing interest in the success factor of tourism

websites, little is understood about the outcome of website features and their

contribution to user attitude. It is still an open question whether increased user

interest is correlated to the different levels of website feature adoption. Jeong et al.

(2009) claim that website features not only expedite users’ decision-making, but also

create an enjoyable online experience. They suggest more advanced product

presentation may effectively increase experiential value of a website. The use of

advanced technologies enhances website performance, which not only sustain the

4

website, but also increase website success in a competitive marketplace (Park,

Lennon & Stoel 2005). Given the importance of web marketing in this information

age, it is necessary to investigate the effectiveness of advanced website features.

1.2 Research Scope

This research is located within a broad range of tourism research, particularly in the

area of tourism marketing, Internet marketing, and tourism websites (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Tourism Research Area

It is also placed within the area of design research, and especially looks at the notion

of telepresence, in which interactivity and vividness are the major determinants of

greater virtual experience (see Figure 1.2). The main focus is on website features that

5

create higher interactivity and vividness, and are situated in the area of panoramic

photography.

Figure 1.2 Design Research Area

1.3 Contribution of the Research

Tourism website design is vital for tourism marketing within the context of

globalisation, and the effectiveness of websites is an important consideration for

tourism marketers and designers. Information provision has been recognised as the

most significant aspect of web marketing (Cardamone & Rentschler 2006). When

looking at a website, the user’s cognition of the information access is broken into

five stages: exposure, attention, comprehension and perception, yielding and

acceptance, and retention (Gretzel, Yuan & Fesenmaier 2000). A vital concern for

DMOs within the competitive field of virtual tourism marketing, is how to present

information in ways that allow users to go through the five stages needed to respond

favourably to a website. Tourism researchers have developed numerous evaluation

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criteria and have proposed varied success factors in tourism websites. However, there

has been little concern about information presentation, that is, the way tourism

products are delivered to users. Kwon, Kim and Lee (2002) indicate that information

presentation is a critical website design factor in information processing theory.

Website features influence the format of information presentation, which includes

different levels of interactivity and vividness of website content. It has been found

that information presentation influences user response and its importance has been

emphasised in tourism research (e.g., Qi, Buhalis & Law 2007). Jeong and Choi

(2004) examine the effects of pictorial presentation on customer’s online behavioural

intentions, using 203 hotel websites in New York City. The results show that

customers tend to have a more favourable attitude if the hotel website provides a

variety of pictures, because they can imagine an actual experience. As ICTs have

been developed to benefit e-commerce and various fields of advertising, researchers

suggest that tourism websites should also consider utilising these unique features of

the Internet to create a favourable and satisfactory user experience.

The importance of users’ online experiences has been emphasised by researchers

(e.g., Ballantine 2005; Chen & Yen 2004). Virtual experience empowers users to

experience their travel destinations on the Internet (Wan et al. 2007). Telepresence

virtually transports the user to a location that is another place, rather than the

physical body location (Biocca 1997). Therefore, telepresence is an appropriate area

of investigation for this research, as the nature of tourism involves transportation. It

is believed that when users visit a DMO website, the website features enhance

tourism product presentation in terms of interactivity and vividness, which create the

feeling of telepresence, so that users can have a simulated direct experience on the

Internet, as if they are transported to the destination and having a real visitation.

Most of the existing tourism website evaluations focus on expert assessments or

predetermined benchmarks (Park & Gretzel 2007). Hence, an empirically reliable

measurement of the application of innovative ICTs on DMO websites from the users’

perspective is needed.

A few researchers have examined the effects of interactivity and vividness in

creating the feeling of telepresence on commercial websites of tangible products.

However, there is no empirical research focussing on how telepresence can be used

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to create a virtual experience on tourism websites, which seek to promote an

intangible and experiential product. The objective of this research is to contribute to

tourism research in the area of information communication technology, focusing on

destination marketing organizations’ implementation of effective website design by

employment of the concept of telepresence. The research structure is presented as

below:

1. Clarifying the relationship between globalisation, tourism, and cultural

identity;

2. Identifying contemporary tourism trends within the context of globalisation;

3. Introducing and defining the definition of cultural tourism and cultural

tourists;

4. Identifying the development of cultural tourism in Taiwan, and the target

group in this research;

5. Explaining the importance of Internet marketing in the tourism industry as

well as existing evaluation of tourism websites;

6. Identifying the underlying dimensions of tourism website design from users’

perspectives;

7. Identifying the concept and employment of telepresence in relation to user

experience;

8. Operationalising an experiment by using a naturalistic setting and a real

group of people as the sample to assess the proposed measurement;

9. Exploring the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of tourism website design in

terms of the theory of telepresence due to its possibility of facilitating the promotion

of cultural identity. It attempted to disclose the impact of interactivity and vividness

for potential cultural tourists on tourism websites to promote cultural identity

successfully in the competitive global market. The related literature in the field has

been gone through to identify the research problem. In order to overcome the

potential problems in the laboratory research, a naturalistic experiment has been

conducted. Two tourism websites were developed professionally as the stimuli by the

researcher, and the online survey was used to reduce the unrealistic of laboratory

8

settings. In addition, participants were selected from specific groups to increase the

validity of experiment. The survey results were then analysed and discussed.

The following chapters will be based on the research structure and focus on a number

of specific areas of study. Chapter 2 first explores the issue of globaisation and

cultural identity, and its relationship with the tourism industry. The situation of

tourism development in Taiwan will be explained, and the importance of tourism

marketing on the Internet and website design will be discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 3 identifies the measures from users’ perspective, and the concept of

telepresence. Chapter 4 explains the disadvantages of traditional laboratory

experiment and the method been used in this research. Chapter 5 describes the

procedure of the experiment, and the design features of the websites for this research.

Chapter 6 analyses the experimental results in details and provides a brief summery.

Chapter 7 discusses the experimental findings and gives the conclusion and

limitation of the research.

9

CHAPTER 2

CULTURAL IDENTITY

AND TOURISM WEBSITES

2.1 Introduction

Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world, and it plays an important role in

the world economy. In 2004, the absolute figures on worldwide earning for

international tourism reached a new record of US$623 billion (WTO 2005a). As one

of the factors contributing to globalisation, the tourism industry has become more

competitive than ever before due to the development of information technology.

Cultural identity has then been emphasised in the context of globalisation. This

chapter firstly explicates the inter-connection between globalisation and localisation,

then gives an explanation of the relationship between globalisation, tourism and

cultural identity, and finally describes the importance of cultural tourism in the

contemporary tourism market. In this research, Taiwan is used as a case study, and

the development of cultural tourism in Taiwan is explored. The characteristics of

cultural tourists have also been defined. It then provides a justification of the

significance of destination image formation in the process of tourist decision-making,

in which the impetus of information technology, particularly the Internet and World

10

Wide Web, has been explicitly influential.

Due to the importance of web marketing in the development of tourism, this chapter

analyses some websites of destination marketing organisations in the Asia-Pacific

area, to provide a basic understanding of the current situation of tourism websites. It

also gives an overview of existing tourism website evaluations to identify the role of

website design. It then proposes that website design should contain information

content and information presentation delivered by a variety of website features, and

that the design criteria should not rely only on professional input, but also on user

perspectives.

2.2 Globalisation and Cultural Identity

Globalisation and its related phenomena have been contested topics since the late

20th century. It is a complex, interwoven, and multi-dimensional process of

economic, political, socio-cultural, and technological forces changing the state of the

world, and the discourse of globalisation needs to go further than simply illustrate the

change of contemporary social phenomena (Hall 2001). Many have indicated that

globalisation has restructured the world in multiple political-economic and socio-

cultural aspects (Hall 2005; Neyestani 2005). New technology has deconstructed

geographic boundaries and compressed the physical distance, which seems to

integrate nation-states into a whole. Wahab and Cooper (2001) claim that

globalisation is a by-product achievement of this revolutionary process, which is

turning the world into a global village. In terms of culture, with intensive

international trade and ubiquitous media transmission, some people believe that the

influence of Western culture has unified cultures throughout the world. However, it

is still debatable whether globalisation has created homogenisation or diversity.

Barnet and Cavanagh (1996) assert that globalisation formulates cultural

homogenisation as cultural imperialism or Americanisation. Ritzer (2006) proposes

the thesis of Mcdonaldization, in which the fast food Mcdonald’s system, with a

standardised set of practices consisting of four dimensions: efficiency, calculability,

predictability, and control through nonhuman technology, has proliferated widely

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and dominates contemporary society. In his new book, The Globalization of Nothing,

Ritzer maintains a similar contention in his writing about the concept of nothing

which is defined as being centrally conceived, controlled and lacking uniqueness. In

contrast, Waters (2006) argues that Mcdonaldization is not universally homogenized,

but is a process of relativisation, reflexivity and localization. He further contends that

globalisation pluralises the world and contributes to ethnic diversity. Robins (1997)

states that the impact of globalisation on culture is sophisticated, causing cultural

difference, contradiction and conflict. Featherstone (1995) claims that the process of

globalisation does not seem to be producing cultural uniformity; rather it prompts the

awareness of new levels of diversity. Dziemidok (2003) considers that the

intensification of globalisation produces enhancement of efforts to maintain local

identity, because frequent international contact and communication give people a

sense of their own roots.

In fact, most sociologists contradict the statement that a single unified culture is

forming under the effect of globalisation (Eriksen 2007; Jackson 2003a; Van Der Bly

2007). Appadurai (1996) indicates that the homogenisation argument does not take

the dynamics of local indigenisation into consideration. He proposes five dimensions

of global cultural flows: (a) ethnoscapes, (b) mediascapes, (c) technoscapes, (d)

financescapes, and (e) ideoscapes (p. 33) to explore the global disjuncture.

Appadurai claims the globalisation of culture is not the same as its homogenisation,

but it involves the employment of various homogenised instruments, such as

armaments, advertising techniques, language hegemonies, and clothing styles.

Eriksen (2007) claims that the globalisation process often increases the strength of

local cultural expressions as a reaction to the threat of globalisation. He contends that

the globalised phenomena are processes of both internationalisation and

regionalisation, rather than action of one, integrated world. Eriksen also explains the

characteristics of globalisation as: (a) Disembedding, (b) Acceleration, (c)

Standardisation, (d) Interconnectedness, (e) Movement, (f) Mixing, (g) Vulnerability,

(h) Re-embedding (p.8-9). These characteristics are inter-connected, and the result

comes up with heterogeneity rather than global unification. Many other researchers

(Morley & Robins 1995; Staring et al. 1997; Tomlinson 2003; Wallerstein 1997)

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further indicate that globalisation actually facilitates cultural complexity, and it is

now recognized as being intrinsically linked to localisation (Lie 2003).

Indeed, globalisation and localisation are mutually existent and intertwined (Barker

1999; Lie 2003; Lii 1998; O’Hara & Biesecker 2003; Robertson 1995; Salazar 2005).

Askegaard and Kjeldgaard (2007) argue that globalisation not only creates a single

world culture, but it emerges together with production of local cultures from a

marketing perspective. Hall (1997) contends that when confronting homogenised

mass global culture, the new forms of local defence and resistance are occurring at

the same moment. Jackson (2003a) notes that globalisation in fact produces cultural

homogenisation in some aspects, but it simultaneously provokes new forms of

localised differentiation in other domains. Robertson (1995) proposes the concept of

glocalisation, in which locality has been produced on a global basis. Van Der Bly

(2007) analyses quantitative and qualitative data for Leixlip, the strongest globalised

village in the Republic of Ireland, and finds that economic globalisation does not

diminish or obliterate local culture, but evokes the renaissance of local identity.

It is acknowledged that contemporary economics has been globalised due to the

widespread interconnection of international finance. The increasing expansion of

global markets creates myriad profits and the significance of cultural identity is being

emphasized for nation-states to differentiate themselves from others in order to be

competitive. Tourism is a place-based industry, which involves the production of

destination identity, and both national and regional tourism organizations are

engaged in promoting their own identity for attracting tourists (Dredge & Jenkins

2003). As one of the biggest industries, the benefits of tourism are particularly

conspicuous, thus, the relationship between tourism and globalisation has caused

much attention in various disciplines.

2.3 Globalisation, Tourism and Cultural Identity

The development of contemporary tourism is explicitly connected with the process of

globalisation. Reid (2003) states that tourism is tied closely to globalisation and is

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one its beneficiaries due to the expansion of capitalism, growing markets, and the

development of new technologies. Azarya (2004) indicates that the interrelationship

between globalisation and tourism has induced widespread academic discourse and

has been seen in hundred of publications on related topics. He claims tourism is not

only a factor, but also the outcome, of globalisation, Hjalager (2007) proposes an

identical statement. Indeed, it is widely recognised that tourism is one of the key

aspects of globalisation (Ekholm-Friedman & Friedman 1995; Hannam 2002; Lash

& Urry 1994; Telfer & Sharpley 2008). Based on Appadurai’s global flow theory,

Macleod (1999) claims that tourism is part of the process of globalisation. He

considers that tourism is the epitome of global flow, because it involves free

movement of people, interaction among different cultures, utilisation of

technological networks, and exchange of financial markets. Hall (2005) focuses on

the recent shifts in the dynamics of globalisation from Harvey’s (2000)

identification: financial deregulation, technological change and innovation, media

and communications, and the cost and time of moving commodities. He notes that all

of these factors power the development of tourism. Reiser (2003) demonstrates the

connections between tourism and globalisation in similar ways: movement of people,

movement of ideas, movement of capital, expansion via new technology, and growth

rapidly. Apparently, the globalised international connection and omnipresent

communication technology are the prominent forces that facilitate the expansion of

tourism.

Scholarly literature on tourism concerning the local reaction under the wave of

globalisation has been increasing. Teo and Li (2003) analysed the ‘global-local

nexus’ (p. 290) via the example of Haw Par Villa in Singapore, and found the global

trend has failed to transform the Villa. Rather, the local, particular cultural traditions,

creates emotional ties between people and place. Gotham (2005) contends that

tourism involves a set of global forces in conjunction with localised action, which is

attempting to preserve local distinctions. Chang (2000) states that the Singapore

government conceives of Singapore as a ‘Renaissance City’, with marketing strategy

schemes aimed at becoming a ‘global-local city for the arts’, in which local culture

and arts are represented together with international works, in order to achieve both

‘going-global and staying local’. Sofield (2001) introduces the case of Bali,

14

Indonesia, which manifests the representation of local culture in tourism products

that are well adopted and successfully disseminated to global markets. He indicates

that tourism is about difference, because destination distinction is essential for

offering different travel experiences globally. Teo and Yeoh (2001) argue that

Disneyisation is a dominant force in tourism and its emulation, by theme parks in

Southeast Asia, provides evidences of representation of local identity in the global

tourism system.

From the above, it can be seen that the interwoven relationship not only ties

globalisation and tourism together, but simultaneously embraces cultural identity.

Macleod (2004) asserts that the tourism industry particularly, is a manifestation of

expressing and marketing identity; van Rekom and Go (2006) argue that local

identities can be strengthened by the arrival of tourists; Henderson (2001) indicates

that tourism is associated with cultural identity; Rojet and Urry (1997) believe that

tourism and culture are clearly bound together; Sigala and Leslie (2005) also

consider that culture has become a imperative driver of tourism demand and flows.

In other words, tourism is inseparable from cultural identity in the context of

globalisation. Porter (1990) notes that an emphasis on localisation is a competitive

advantage in terms of economy and business. Richards (2007) asserts that there is a

greater need to identify regional and local features when the world turns into the

global village. In the increasingly competitive global tourism market, the emphasis

placed on distinct local identities is implicitly necessary for tourism development

(Dredge & Jenkins 2003). Hence, countries endeavouring to develop tourism have

launched national branding campaigns to distinguish themselves internationally. For

instance, New Zealand launched the ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ campaign in 1999,

Britain launched the ‘Million Visitors’ campaign in 2002, Singapore launched the

‘Uniquely Singapore’ campaign in 2004, Japan launched the ‘Visit Japan’ campaign

in 2004, and Australia launched the ‘Bloody Hell’ campaign in 2005.

Contemporary tourism demand has shifted from the traditional mass and

standardized packaged tours to independent and personalized trips. New tourists

regard travel not only as an escape from daily life, but as an opportunity for self-

development, which brings them to experience different cultures, and explore new

15

skills and interests. The demand has altered toward more sophisticated, specialised,

segmented, satisfied, and seductive supply (Buhalis 2001). There are many

researchers who have likewise shown the changes of this demand in the context of

globalisation. Vanhove (2001) clarifies that trends in tourism demand are fragmented

annual holidays, more independent and flexible tourists, special interest holidays,

higher quality requirements, and more experienced and educated holidaymakers.

Telfer and Sharpley (2008) state that tourism trends are towards specialized tailor-

made holidays with niche marketing to more independent and experienced tourists.

As tourists become more educated and sophisticated, they are no longer satisfied

with the traditional mass tourism product – sun and sea – and are likely to go further

into local communities to enjoy different experiences (Reid 2003). Hence, tourism

markets have been broken up into various categories, such as adventure tourism,

health tourism, cultural tourism, ecotourism, etc.

2.4 Cultural tourism

There are an increasing number of people looking for ‘difference’ and so-called

‘non-western’ countries are becoming popular tourist destinations (Azarya 2004).

Wahab and Cooper (2001) also claim tourist destinations with different cultural

characteristics continue be a prominent part in the choice of holiday destination, and

destinations without a unique cultural identity would decline and not be sufficiently

competitive on the international market in the context of globalisation. When people

intend to visit a place, their perception of this place is one of the most important

factors affecting their decisions (Manuel, McElroy & Smith 1996). The perception

consists of various images of other cultures where specific features and

characteristics are emphasized. Since ancient Roman times, people have travelled for

cultural reasons, and it is acknowledged that cultural tourism has become one of the

fastest growing tourism phenomena in recent years (Alzua, O’Leary & Morrison

1998). Craik (1997) indicates that since the mid-1980s, a tourism that highlights

cultural components of tourist experiences has emerged. Pechlaner and Abfalter

(2005) claim that cultural tourism has experienced a very dynamic development in

16

the past few years, and culture has become an ever more significant motive when

deciding where to travel.

The reasons for this trend are multidimensional, and part of the impetus may be

elicited from the impact of globalisation, which leads toward a more regional

orientation (Bachleitner & Zins 1999). The rapid growth of cultural demand and

supply, the awareness of the importance of local culture, and the revival of local

identity all contribute to the development of cultural tourism. Dredge (2004) claims

that cultural tourism is an alternative in which local culture and traditions get revived

and developed within global processes. In fact, cultural tourism began to be

recognized as a specific tourism category by tourism marketers and researchers in the

late 1970s when they realized that some people travelled specifically to gain a deeper

understanding of the culture or heritage of a destination (Tighe 1986). At that time, it

was regarded as a niche market in which only small groups of tourists were looking

for cultural experiences in their travelling. Since the 1990s, cultural tourism has been

recognized as an important section of tourism markets due to the fragmentation of

the mass tourism market (McKercher & du Cros 2002). More and more tourists now

add cultural elements to their trips, such as archaeological sites, monuments,

museums, festivals and performing arts. Richards (2001) reported that the World

Tourism Organization (WTO) had estimated that cultural tourism accounted for 37%

of global tourism, and forecast that it would grow 15% per year. Antolovia (cited in

McKercher & du Cros 2002) reported that 70 percent of Americans seek cultural

heritage experiences in their trips to Europe, and 67 percent of all visitors look for

cultural heritage experiences when travelling to the United Kingdom. Kaufman and

Scantlebury (2007) indicate that visiting cultural and heritage attractions continue to

be one of the most important activities when travelling in the United States.

Richards (2007) claims that cultural tourism seems to have become ubiquitous, and is

an important economic support for tradition and local creativity in many parts of the

world. However, what is cultural tourism? The definition of cultural tourism is

varied. The WTO (1985, p. 131) provides a definition for cultural tourism: ‘Cultural

tourism includes movements of persons for essential cultural motivations such as

study tours, performing arts and other cultural tours, travel to festivals and other

17

cultural events, visit to sites and monuments, travel to study nature, folklore or art or

pilgrimages.’ Silberberg (1995, p. 361) defines cultural tourism as ‘visits by persons

from outside the host community motivated wholly or in part by interest in the

historical, artistic, scientific or lifestyle/heritage offerings of a community, region,

group, or institution’. This definition confirms that the motivation of ‘cultural

reasons’ may be ‘in part’. Similarly, Hausmann (2007, p. 174) defines cultural

tourism as ‘visits by people from outside the host community, motivated either

entirely or to a certain degree by the cultural offerings and values (aesthetic,

historical, etc.) of a particular destination.’ Richards (1996, p. 24) stated that the

European Association for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) identified two

approaches in defining cultural tourism: conceptual and technical. The conceptual

definition is ‘The movement of persons to cultural attractions away from their

normal place of residence, with the intention to gather new information and

experiences to satisfy their cultural needs’. The technical definition is ‘All

movements of persons to specific cultural attractions, such as heritage sites, artistic

and cultural manifestations, arts and drama outside their normal place of residence.’

The most significant difference between these two is that the conceptual definition

takes the motivation of tourists as the central consideration. Hughes and Allen (2005)

claim that a wide range of activities including attendance at heritage and performing

arts can be applied to cultural tourism. Prentice (2001) asserts that cultural tourism is

a type of cultural appreciation tourism which is constructed, proffered and consumed

either via experiences or schematic knowledge gaining.

Hughes (2000, p. 53) classifies cultural tourism into four levels: universal, wide,

narrow and sectorised (see Figure 2.1). The universal cultural tourism has the widest

sense due to different meanings of the word culture. From this perspective, most

international tourism is ‘cultural’ because it involves certain degrees of exposure to

other cultures. People who set out with the purpose of experiencing a wide range of

culture-related activities can be included in ‘wide’ cultural tourism, such as

experiences of arts and crafts, architecture, religious activities, costume and food.

However, ‘narrow’ cultural tourism is the most common definition, and considers

that visits to historical sites, museums, arts galleries, and theatres to experience the

artistic and intellectual activities are inevitable. ‘Sectorised’ cultural tourism

18

combines historical sites, museums, and arts galleries within the heritage sector, and

attending performing arts in the arts sector (see Figure 2.1). McKercher & du Cros

(2002) classify definitions of cultural tourism into four broad categories: tourism-

derived, motivational, experiential and operational. In the tourism-derived definition,

cultural tourism has been placed within a broader framework of tourism and tourism

management. In the motivational definition, cultural tourists have been considered as

those travelling for cultural reasons. In the experiential or aspirational definition,

cultural tourism is an experiential activity, and people can learn something during

their trips. The operational definition is the most common approach in which a

tourist’s participation in any one of a range of cultural activities or experiences can

be regarded as cultural tourism.

Figure 2.1 Cultural Tourism: Variation of Components Source: Hughes 2000

Although there are many different definitions of cultural tourism, a common theme is

the emphasis on experiencing cultural activities or attending cultural attractions.

19

Researchers propose varied typologies of cultural attractions. Richards (2001, p. 24)

constructs a four-quadrant framework based on two trajectories — form and function

— to situate cultural resources (see Figure 2.2). Quadrant 1 contains the major

traditional cultural attractions featured in the past. Quadrant 2 includes more

contemporary types of attraction featuring cultural process. Quadrant 3 encompasses

more contemporary entertainment-related attractions, but theme parks arguably

feature on the boundary between quadrant 3 and quadrant 4. Quadrant 4 comprises a

mixture of educational and entertainment elements based on the past.

Figure 2.2 Toward a Typology of Cultural Tourism Attractions Source: Richards 2001

Smith (2003, p. 31) presents a comprehensive typology of cultural tourism as listed

below:

• Heritage sites (e.g. archaeological sites, whole towns, monuments, museums)

• Performing arts venues (e.g. theatres, concert halls, cultural centres)

• Visual arts (e.g. galleries, sculpture parks, photography museums, architecture)

• Festivals and special events (e.g. music festivals, sporting events, carnivals)

• Rural environments (e.g. villages, farms, national parks, ecomuseums)

20

• Indigenous communities and traditions (e.g. tribal people, ethnic groups, minority

cultures)

• Arts and crafts (e.g. textiles, pottery, painting, sculpture)

• Language (e.g. learning or practice)

• Gastronomy (e.g. wine tasting, food sampling, cookery courses)

• Industry and commerce (e.g. factory visits, mines, breweries and distilleries, canal

trips)

• Modern popular culture (e.g. pop music, fashion, shopping, media, design,

technology)

• Special interest activities (e.g. painting, photography, weaving)

Swarbrooke (1999, p. 307) illustrates the main types of cultural tourism resources

(see Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3 Cultural Tourism Resources Source: Swarbrooke 1999

21

It is apparent that the horizon of these cultural attractions and resources is extensive,

and it is hard to exactly categorise their characteristics and functions. A museum

with modern designed architecture, like SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of

Modern Arts), for example, may host contemporary collections only and should not

be categorised as a heritage site. Meanwhile, its novel architecture can be regarded as

a monument. Tourism is intrinsically a commercial activity (McKercher & du Cros

2002). Regardless of types of cultural attractions and resources, understanding the

characteristics of destinations for tourists, analysing the relationship between tourism

supply and demand, and targeting the proper tourist group to develop cultural

tourism are critical missions in tourism marketing. Approaching the proper target

market and offering the most appropriate tourism product is the key point for

successful destinations (Buhalis 2000).

2.5 Cultural Tourists

Tourists belong to diverse groups with different interests and characteristics, and

they travel for various reasons. Many tourists include cultural attractions in their

trips, but their motivation and interest may not be mainly in the culture of the

destinations. Some tourists may primarily visit a place to consume its cultural assets

and seek a deep experience, while others may consider cultural activities a small part

in their decision to visit a destination. They may even accidentally experience

cultural components. In order to target the correct tourist group, it is important to

identify who a cultural tourist is. Australia defines the cultural tourist as an inbound

visitor who attends at least one of the defined cultural attractions, such as historic or

heritage buildings, sites or monuments; aboriginal sites or cultural displays; art or

craft workshops; festivals or fairs, performing arts or concerts; museums or art

galleries, during the stay (Foo & Rossetto 1998). Alzua, O’Leary and Morrison

(1998) classify cultural tourists also on the basis of attending or visiting one of a

range of listed cultural attractions and events, and McDougall (1998) defines cultural

tourists in Canada in a similar way. However, tourists participate in a wide range of

22

activities during their travels. These definitions do not take the tourist’s purpose of

visit into consideration.

Silberberg (1995, p. 362) categorises four degrees of consumer motivation for

cultural tourism. The four concentric circles represent different levels of involvement

with destination cultures (see Figure 2.4). The inner, smallest circle implicates

persons who are greatly motivated by culture. These people travel primarily due to

cultural reasons. The second circle indicates persons motivated ‘in part’ by culture,

and they may travel both for cultural opportunities and other purposes. The third

circle represents tourists whose cultural motivation is ‘adjunct’ to another main

motivation. People in this section travel mainly for other reasons, but might like to

include cultural opportunities during their visits. The outer circle represents people

who are ‘accidental cultural tourists’. They do not plan cultural activities before

travelling, but might visit cultural attractions unexpectedly. Outside the circles are

people who do not attend any cultural attractions or activities at all.

Figure 2.4 Degree of Consumer Motivation for Cultural Tourism Source: Silberberg 1995

23

Hughes (2002) proposes similar definitions to differentiate cultural-core tourists and

cultural-peripheral tourists. For cultural-core tourists, some take primary travel for

cultural purposes, and others are multi-primary cultural core, they consider cultural

attractions are as important as other reasons. For cultural-peripheral tourists, some

are incidental cultural tourists who make a visit primarily for other reasons, but go to

museums or theatres as part of their trip, although these visits are not very important

to them. The other accidental cultural-peripheral tourists consider culture is not

important at all but nonetheless make an unpremeditated visit to a cultural attraction.

Stebbins (1996) identifies two types of cultural tourists, using the concept of serious

leisure. The general cultural tourist visits a variety of geographic sites and

experiences some cultural forms there. The specialized cultural tourist focuses the

attention on one or a small number of geographic sites or cultural attractions. The

former obtains a general cultural knowledge, but the latter searches for a deeper

cultural understanding and experience of a destination. Stebbin’s categorization is

congruous with the ATLAS cultural tourism project, which identifies the difference

between special and general cultural tourists based on the importance of culture on

their motivation (Richards 1996). The special cultural tourist travels specifically for

cultural attractions, and makes multiple visits to cultural attractions. The general

cultural tourist regards cultural tourism as less important in their decision-making.

McKercher and du Cros (2002, p. 140) identify five types of cultural tourists – the

purposeful cultural tourist, the sightseeing cultural tourist, the serendipitous cultural

tourist, the casual cultural tourist, and the incidental cultural tourist – based on the

importance of cultural tourism in their decision-making to visit a place and the depth

of experience (see Figure 2.5). The purposeful cultural tourist considers cultural

tourism as a primary motivation to visit a destination and usually has a deep cultural

experience. The sightseeing cultural tourist regards cultural tourism as a primary or

major reason to visit a destination, but the experience is shallower than the

purposeful cultural tourist. The serendipitous cultural tourist travels not for cultural

reasons but has a deep cultural tourism experience after participating in cultural

activities. The casual cultural tourist has weak motivation for cultural tourism and the

experience is shallow. The incidental cultural tourist has no motivation for cultural

24

tourism but incidentally participates in cultural activities and has a shallow

experience.

Figure 2.5 A Cultural Tourist Typology Source: Mckercher & du Cros 2002

Cultural tourists are considered as an attractive tourism market segment (Hughes

2002; McKercher & du Cros 2002), and they have a very common pattern

(Silberberg 1995). Previous research indicates that cultural tourists often have higher

income and possess higher educational qualifications (Craik 1997; Hughes 2000;

Huh, Uysal & McCleary 2006). Female visitors are more active than males (Foo &

Rossetto 1998; Kim, Cheng & O’Leary 2007; Silberberg 1995). Although many

researchers found that cultural tourists tend to be older (Hughes 2000; Kerstetter,

Confer & Bricker 1998; Silberberg 1995), some researchers suggest that the younger

group is an important segment (Alzua, O’Leary & Morrison 1998; Craik 1997; Foo

& Rossetto 1998). However, Richards (2002) also indicates that older females with

higher education and professional background are significantly more likely to see

25

themselves as cultural tourists. Therefore, gender and age are two important factors

to identify cultural tourists.

Smith (2003) believes that the majority of cultural tourists are eager to have

experiences in new and different places, and actively seek authenticity. Indeed, it is

found that experiencing something different and new is important for cultural tourists

(Prentice 2001; Richards 2001), as well as gaining new knowledge (Alzua, O’Leary

& Morrison 1998). Douglas, Douglas and Derrett (2001) suggest that cultural

tourism emphases learning, experiencing and understanding other cultures,

nevertheless, culture is a raw material, which, it is argued, needs to be reproduced for

tourist consumption. This reproduction transforms or commodifies cultural assets

into cultural tourism products that tourists are able to experience to satisfy their

needs (McKercher & du Cros 2002; Ho & McKercher 2004). In order to achieve this

goal, many destination marketing organisations (DMOs) have proposed and launched

cultural tourism strategies to preserve, plan and manage cultural assets for cultural

tourism development. For instance, the Singapore Tourism Board launched a cultural

tourist campaign ‘New Asia - Singapore’ between 1996 and 2003, which advocated a

cultural mix of East/West, urban/exotic, and global/local (Yue 2006). Cultural

attractions, such as Haw Par Villa, restored and repackaged in 2001, has increased its

visitors three fold; Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay was opened on 2002, has

become a landmark for international appeal (Singapore Tourism Board 2001/2002).

In 2004, the ‘Uniquely Singapore’ campaign was launched, which further

accentuated the blend of modern world and rich cultures. The old Parliament House

became Singapore’s newest arts and lifestyle venue – The Arts House (Singapore

Tourism Board 2003/2004). These strategies have successfully promoted cultural

tourism in Singapore.

2.6 Cultural Tourism in Taiwan

Taiwan is a small island in East Asia with only a 36,188 sq km land area. Its

international tourism development began earlier than other countries in the South

East Asian region, with the establishment of the Tourism Committees in 1956. This

26

was replaced by the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and

Communications in 1971 (Tsai & Wang 1998). The total visitor arrival first exceeded

2 million in 1989, and reached to 3,378,118 in 2005 (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2005).

The Taiwanese government has been aware lately of the significance of tourism

expansion in economic development and is endeavouring to promote tourism

internationally (Kim, Chen & Jang 2006). Related tourism strategies were developed

in order to achieve tourism expansion. The Tourism Bureau set the year 2000 as a

tourism plan year, and formulated the 21st Century Taiwan’s Tourism Development

New Strategy, in which native culture was emphasised to strengthen its international

marketing. The new tourism goal is the rebuilding of Taiwan into an island of

tourism (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2002a). In 2002, the ‘Doubling Tourist Arrivals

Plan’ was announced as one major investment project for ‘Challenge 2008 –

National Development Plan’, which aimed to increase international pleasure-motive

tourists numbers to 2 million and total visitors to 5 million within six years (Taiwan

Tourism Bureau 2002b). In 2004, the ‘Visit Taiwan Year’ campaign was launched to

promote Taiwan internationally. The goal was to upgrade Taiwan’s tourism image,

and increase visitor arrivals to 3.2 million. Recently, ‘Tour Taiwan Years 2008-

2009’ was planned and its vision is to promote Taiwan as one of the important

destinations in Asia (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2007).

Due to its rich historical background, Taiwan has a diverse mix of cultures consisting

of four ethic groups – Taiwanese aborigines, the Hakka, the Fulos, and the

mainlanders (Wang 2004) – as well as Japanese, Dutch and Spanish. According to

this, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau classifies Taiwan’s culture into Chinese culture,

aboriginal culture, and colonial culture on its official tourism website. Chinese

culture forms the basis of Taiwan’s culture, and tourists can experience various

traditional Chinese cultures that may disappear in China after the decade of the

Cultural Revolution. Visitors can also appreciate the best Chinese relics in the

National Palace Museum, which is one of the most popular attractions for

international tourists. Besides Chinese culture, Taiwan has also developed its unique

styles for Taiwanese opera and Taiwanese glove puppetry. Aborigines are native

people of Taiwan and belong to the Austronesian language group. There are thirteen

different tribes existing today, and their mysterious customs and traditions give a

27

distinguishing dimension to Taiwan’s culture. Remnants of colonial periods provide

another historical and artistic atmosphere. Tourists can find the past in many colonial

buildings such as Fort San Domingo in Danshui, the Presidential Office Building,

and old National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei.

To date many countries are attempting to distinguish their cultural characteristics in

global tourism markets. The Taiwanese government has noticed the new tourism

trend and implemented varied cultural tourism tactics. Heritage assets are important

tourism resources due to their connection with cultural identity (Douglas, Douglas &

Derrett 2001; Henderson 2001). However, the forces of modernization and

globalisation have exerted an enormous impact on traditional cultures, and many

countries have made efforts to preserve the past. The consciousness of localisation

due to the influence of globalisation has expedited the conservation and revival of

local cultures in Taiwan since the 1980s. The Taiwanese government has executed

many related measures for preserving and promoting traditional cultures.

The Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) was established in 1981 to give attention to

both fine arts and folk arts, and it has sponsored numerous folk arts festivals,

publications, and other arts projects. In 1982, the Cultural Heritage Preservation

Law was passed, committing the government to folk arts preservation and promotion.

The Folk Art Heritage Awards were then set up in 1985 to honour outstanding folk

art masters. In 1989, the prestigious title of Folk Arts Master was also established for

leading woodcarvers, puppeteers, traditional musicians, and other craftspeople and

performers. It provided a monthly stipend and helped them recruit and subsidize

apprentices and training programs to pass on their skills. Many national and regional

museums and art centres were set up for facilitating the tasks of preservation, and to

further revive and innovate traditional cultures. They include the National Museum

of Prehistory, the National Centre for Traditional Arts, Nantou Bamboo Arts

Museum, the Taichung County Museum of Weaving Arts, and the Ilan County

Museum of Taiwanese Opera. In 1996, the Committee of Aboriginal Affairs (CAA)

was established to take the responsibility of management of aboriginal agenda and

promotion of indigenous cultures. In recent years, the CCA has held many

international cultural and artistic events, such as The Formosa International Arts

28

Festival, the Miaoli International Mask Festival, the Kaohsiung County International

Puppet Festival, and the Hsinchu International Arts Festival – all of which will take

root in the region and become local features. These policies serve a variety of

purposes and simultaneously provide the impetus for cultural tourism development.

2.7 Identification of Target Market

Taiwan attracted 2,331,934 international tourists in 1995, 2,624,037 in 2000 and

2,950,324 in 2004 (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2005). From these numbers, it is clear

that there was not much progress in international tourist arrivals in Taiwan within the

last decade. In terms of tourist markets, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau categorises eight

international tourist markets: Japan, United States, Hong Kong/Macao, Singapore,

South Korea, Malaysia, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. Japan, due to

geographical and historical factors, is the biggest tourist market with 31.39% of the

total, and Hong Kong/Macao is the second, with 13.22% of the total. In terms of

Western countries, the United States market held 10.71%, Europe had 5.02%, and

Australia/New Zealand is the lowest with 1.66% (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2007).

Although Australia/New Zealand is the smallest tourist market at this moment,

Taiwanese government still regards it as an important tourist market. On the English

version of Tourism Bureau’s official website, there was an individual section for this

market (see Figure 2.6 & 2.7). The visa-free entry and landing visa for Taiwan have

been applied for Australian tourists, and co-operation with airlines and tourism

operators for special promotion are implemented.

29

Figure 2.6 A Screenshot of the Language Selections on Taiwan’s Official Tourism Website (2005)

Figure 2.7 A Screenshot of the First Page of Australia/New Zealand Version Website (2005)

30

In terms of tourist trends, international tourists from America, Europe and

Australia/New Zealand have a high rate (more than 70%) visiting heritage sites or

exhibitions, and participating in folk festivals or art related activities. Especially in

2003 and 2004, tourists from Australia and New Zealand had the highest rate, with

75% and 82% participating in cultural related activities. By comparison, Japan

attracted only 50%. In terms of decision-making, ‘food’ and ‘close to residential

location’ are the most important factors in visiting Taiwan for tourists from Japan.

However cultural factors are a major attraction to Taiwan for tourists from Western

countries, particularly ‘Taiwan’s folk culture and custom’, as nearly 80% of tourists

from Australia/New Zealand consider it is a significant factor in their decision-

making (Taiwan Tourism Bureau 2003, 2004a).

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006) reported that the major destinations in

Asia for short-term (within 12 months) resident departures are: China (20.3%),

Thailand (17.4%), Singapore (15.5%) and Indonesia (13.1%). Of all the Australian

residents departing for Asian destinations, only 5.7% of them are visiting Taiwan.

The departure numbers grew from 353,000 to 376,000 from 1998 to 2005 (Australian

Bureau of Statistics 1999, 2006), a slight progression. Because the cost of travelling

in Taiwan is much higher than many other Asian countries, it is not suitable to

promote Taiwan as a shopping destination. Also, as tourism promotion in the United

States and Europe has begun to focus on the cultural perspective (Taiwan Tourism

Bureau 2004b), so the tourism strategy for Australia should concentrate on culture as

well.

Cultural activities are popular in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of

Statistics (2003), 88% of the Australian population aged 18 years and above attended

at least one cultural venue or event in that year. People aged less than 35 years were

most likely to attend these cultural activities, and those aged 35-44 (92.5%), and

aged 45-54 (88.6%) also had high rates of attendance. Although people aged 18-24

had the highest rate (98%) of attendance, it was due to the high rate in the ‘cinemas’

section. Those aged 45-54 were more likely to attend ‘high’ cultural activities. This

result accords with the statement regarding cultural tourists from previous research.

In addition, employed people, people with higher educational qualifications, and

31

people with higher income were more likely to attend cultural venues and events.

This result is also identical with the characteristics of cultural tourists defined earlier.

Hence, this research will focus on Australian tourists with high educational

qualifications, professional backgrounds, and relatively high income, as the target

audience for further discussion.

2.8 Destination Images and Destination Marketing on the Internet

The ultimate goal of destination marketing is to attract tourists by marketing

strategies to influence tourists’ travel choices, and the importance of destination

images is recognised by scholars (Gallarza, Saura & García 2002; Tasci & Gartner

2007). Tourists perceive destinations as brands, which is a synthesis of suppliers and

services, and before visiting, they develop an image of the destination as well as an

expectation based on pre-visiting experience (Buhalis 2000). It has been found that

destination images have an impact on the destination selection process of tourists

(Ahmed 1991; Echtner & Ritchie 2003; Milman & Pizam 1995; Rezende-Parker,

Morrison & Ismail 2003), and destination images have a positive effect on tourist

satisfaction as well as destination loyalty (Chi & Qu 2008). Hence, tourism studies

centred on the area of destination images have caused considerable attention from

different perspectives.

The definitions of destination images are varied, but it is accepted that an image of a

destination is an amalgam of beliefs, ideas and impressions of a place, which a

person has for that destination (Crompton 1979; Kotler, Haider & Rein 1993).

Similarly, Lawson and Baud-Bovy (1976) define destination images as expressions

of knowledge, impressions, prepossessions, imaginations and affective perception a

person has of a place. Mackay and Fesenmaier (1997) state that destination images

are a synthesis of tourist attractions and related attributes that moved into a total

impression of a destination. Buhalis (2000) asserts that destination images are the set

of expectations and perceptions a traveller has of a destination, which have been

developed by past experience, word-of-mouth from friends and relatives, general

information, and marketing campaigns.

32

Gartner (1993) claims that destination images are formed by three components:

cognitive, affective and conative. The cognitive component is the sum of beliefs and

attitudes of a destination received from external stimuli. The affective component is

the motive of destination selection, and the conative component is the action

component developed during the cognitive stage and evaluated during the affective

stage. Gartner believes that the cognitive image is constituted of induced images and

organic images. Organic images result from non-commercial information sources

such as word-of-month and prior visitation, whereas induced images are the function

of the marketing efforts from destination marketers. Woodside and Lysonski (1989)

indicate that information sources influence the formation of tourists’ perception and

cognitive evaluation of destinations. Baloglu & McCleary (1999) suggest that

formation of destination images is mainly obtained by stimulus and personal factors,

and the influences on the formation revealed three major attributes: tourism

motivations, sociodemographics and various information sources. Um and Crompton

(1990) contend that the concept of the process of pleasure travel destination choice

can be described as external inputs, internal inputs and cognitive constructs. External

inputs come from past visitation experience, promotional information by destination

marketers, and comments of other people. Internal inputs derive from personal

factors, and cognitive constructs integrate the internal and external inputs, which

leads to the final choice. Beerli and Martín (2004) propose a model of the formation

of destination images, in which information sources (primary and secondary

sources), and personal factors (motivations, vacation experience, and

sociodemographic characteristics) create a perceived destination image. Although

using different approaches for conceptualising the formation of destination images, it

is acknowledged that there exists a relationship between information sources and

destination images – that they are interconnected. Destination images projected on

information sources influence tourists’ perceptions (Frías, Rodríguez & Castañeda

2008; Govers, Go & Kumar 2007).

Information sources in promoting destinations are regarded as a salient determinant

in tourists’ decision-making process (Fakeye & Crompton 1991). Consequently,

destination marketers strive to establish a positive image on promotional material

33

(Tasci & Gartner 2007). Due to its intangible and experiential nature, tourism is

heavily reliant upon information for both tourists and marketers (Schweda 2004).

Tourism products cannot be tested or controlled before actual visitation, thus the

decision-making and consumption are divided by time and space so that information

available in advance plays an important role in overcoming the distances between

these two (Werthner & Klein 1999). The development of Information

Communication Technologies (ICTs) has changed the way in which people

communicate. It has broken the limitation of traditional media, and having crossed

geographical boundaries, disseminates information much faster and more efficiently.

ICTs have hence revolutionised destination marketing, and destinations that

appreciate and adapt new technologies enhance their competitiveness and facilitate

the achievement of their strategic objectives (Buhalis 2000; Buhalis & Law 2008). It

is recognised that the tourism industry has been transformed globally due to the

development of ICTs (Buhalis & O’Connor 2005). With the prevalence of the

Internet, computer-mediated communication has become the dominant

communication approach nowadays. Today, more and more people search for travel

related information (Choi, Lehto & Oleary 2007; Gursoy & McCleary 2004), plan

their trips (Kao et al. 2005; Lee, Cai & O’Leary 2006; Pan & Fesenmaier 2003), and

purchase travel services (Dearden & Lo 2004) from the Internet. Greenspan (2004)

reported that nearly two-thirds of Internet users consult travel resources online for

their trip planning. The intensive tourism information on the Internet enables tourists

to become more knowledgeable and keen to seek exceptional value for money and

time, which lead to more personalised vacation planning (Buhalis & Law 2008).

Hence, the Internet has become one of the prevailing media for tourism information

search (Ho & Liu 2005; Kaplanidou & Vogt 2006; Luo, Feng & Cai 2004), and this

information search plays an important role on the process of tourist decision-making

(Fodness & Murray 1998; Graeupl & McCabe 2003; Gursoy & Chen 2000; Kim,

Lehto & Morrison 2007).

Govers and Go (2003) assert that destination images driven by the revolution of

ICTs, hold innovative opportunities for destination marketing due to the interactive

capability of the Web, which provides a new dimension for broadcasting. Therefore,

tourism organizations cannot neglect the significance of the Internet for destination

34

marketing (Frías, Rodríguez & Castañeda 2008). Indeed, it is universally accepted

that the Internet has become a sales and marketing distribution channel for the

tourism industry (Jang 2004; Lang 2000; Law, Leung & Wong 2004). The use of the

Internet as a destination marketing tool has been discussed in a wide range of

research (Benckendorff & Black 2000; Bonn, Furr & Susskind 1998; Castelltort et al.

2000; Davidson & Yu 2003; Park & Gretzel 2007; Tierney 2000; Wang 2008).

Castañeda, Frías and Rodríguez (2007) indicate that the greater the tourists’

satisfaction with the information obtained from the Internet, the higher the

satisfaction with the selected destination, and information satisfaction is a

determinant of behaviour intention (Jeong, Oh & Gregoire 2003).

Tourism is one of the most important sectors represented on the Internet (Franch,

Martini & Inverardi 2003; Law & Hsu 2006; Wang & Fesenmaier 2003). The online

travel market was $52.1 billion in 2003, and it was estimated that the U.S. online

travel market reached 62.3 billion in 2005 (Rand 2006). The benefits to the tourism

industry of using the Internet in areas such as global access, cost reduction, ease of

information update, capability of reaching target audiences, interactive and

customised functions, have been broadly investigated and documented (Law & Bai

2006). Particularly, advanced multimedia features provide great opportunities for the

intangible nature of tourism services (Baloglu & Pekcan 2006). The intangible nature

of tourism products requires the use of extensive representation by photographs and

graphics so that a tangible image enables the transformation of experience for travel

planners. Multimedia, which facilitates and enhances information richness and

interaction, has thus become one of the key areas influencing tourism industry

(Buhalis & Law 2008). Tourism websites are moving from a simply broadcasting

approach to a more interactive horizon (Doolin, Burgess & Cooper 2002).

Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are organizations established to take

charge of marketing strategies that promote their respective destinations. In

responding to the development of the Internet, DMOs are now integrating the new

online technologies into their overall marketing strategies (Choi, Lehto & Morrison

2007). It is inevitable that DMOs must have a website for the successful

development of their destination marketing (Benckendorff & Black 2000; Feng,

35

Morrison & Ismail 2003). DMOs are increasingly interested in adopting the unique

features of the Internet to attract more tourists in the competitive tourism

marketplace (Lee, Cai, & O’Leary 2006). DMO websites offer different levels of

information for potential tourists. When tourists who do not have real visiting

experience and first visit a DMO website, the experience and judgements produced

from the process of browsing the website influence the overall image of the

destination and the decision-making (Han & Mills 2006). So and Morrison (2003)

indicate that tourists who consulted DMO websites before their trips have a

significantly higher proportion of real visitations, and would like to revisit these

destinations. However, it has been found that DMOs did not effectively use the

Internet for destination marketing (Benckendorff & Black 2000; So & Morrison

2004). Most of the DMO websites are simply presented as an online brochure for

information dissemination, and fail to adopt the innovations possible with advanced

technology (Kim & Fesenmaier 2008; Wang 2008).

The applications of ICTs on DMO websites to present travel related information

include text, graphics, photographs, audio, video, animation, virtual tours and other

value-added features, such as e-brochure, e-card, wallpaper and screensaver

download. Due to Taiwan’s geographical location, a website analysis was conducted

to give a review of the adoption of website features on the current DMOs’ English

version websites in the Asia-Pacific area. According to WTO (2006), the Asia-

Pacific was the second most visited tourism region in the world in 2004, accounting

for 19 per cent of the world’s international tourist arrivals and 20 per cent of the

world’s tourism expenditure, which was US$ 128 billion. For many countries of this

region, tourism is one of the most important sectors in their economies. For instance,

tourism in Australia contributed to 3.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in

2006 - 2007, as well as 4.7% of the total employment (Australian Bureau of Statistics

2008). In New Zealand, tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of 5.1% and

5.8% of total employment (Statistics New Zealand 2008). In Singapore, tourism

contributed 3% to Singapore's GDP and generated more than S$12 billion in tourism

receipts (Singapore Government 2007). In Thailand, the contribution of tourism to

GDP is expected to reach 14.7%, and to 11.1% of total employment in 2009 (World

Travel & Tourism Council 2009). Many countries are endeavouring to expand the

36

development of tourism, and some of them are quite successful in their

achievements. For example, Malaysia received 17.54 million tourists in 2006, and

foreign exchange earnings rose by 13% from RM 32 billion in 2005 to RM 36.2

billion in 2006 (Tourism Malaysia 2006). Singapore received its first ten million

visitors in 2007 and tourism receipts reached S$14.1 billion in the same year

(Singapore Tourism Board 2008).

Although 46 countries of destination were included in this area in the WTO report,

2005, 14 countries’ official DMO websites were selected based on the international

tourist arrivals. Table 2.1 provides the complete list of the 14 DMO website

addresses (English version) and their homepage screenshots that were selected for

the analysis. Taiwan attracts more than 3 million international tourists (Taiwan

Tourism Bureau 2008), and destinations with less than 2 million international tourist

arrivals may not be competitive enough. Table 2.2 lists the website features adopted

by these DMO websites.

Table 2.1 Website Addresses of 14 DMOs

Region Country of Destination Website Address North-East Asia China http://www.cnto.org/aboutchina.asp

37

Hong Kong http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/index.html

Japan http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/

Republic of Korea http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto

38

Macao http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/index.php

Taiwan http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/lan/Cht/search/index.asp

South-East Asia Indonesia http://www.my-indonesia.info/index.php?lang=en

39

Malaysia http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/

Philippines http://www.tourism.gov.ph/

Singapore http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home.html

40

Thailand http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Oceania Australia http://www.australia.com/index.aspx

New Zealand http://www.newzealand.com/travel/International/

41

South Asia India http://www.incredibleindia.org/

Table 2.2 Website Features

Features Website Use Video 14

Audio 14

Search engine 13

Multiple pictures/photo gallery 13

Interactive map 11

E-card/ Wallpaper/Screensaver/ Messenger icon 10

E-book/Newsletter/Online Brochures 10

Auto-play slide show 7

Travel planner 6

Animation 5

Virtual tour (panorama) 3

Game 2

Webcam 1

From Table 2.2, it is found that video and audio are adopted on all of the 14 DMO

websites, however, some of them only provide TV advertising video clips. The

majority of DMO websites offer search engine function, multiple pictures/photo

gallery, interactive map, and other value-added features, but the interactive level and

complexity are varied. For example, the interactive map on Indonesia’s website is

much simpler than that on New Zealand’s website. The number of images and the

42

presentation types of photo galleries on different websites are varied as well. Figure

2.8 demonstrates the four-quadrant framework of website design of current DMO

websites.

Figure 2.8 A Framework of DMOs’ Websites (English version)

From Figure 2.8, it is found that Singapore and Hong Kong are destinations that have

best adopted advanced ICTs on their websites, and both of them have successful

achievement in their tourism development. Singapore has been ranked as the most

attractive environment for developing the travel and tourism industry in the Asia

region (World Economic Forum 2009). There is a “Fun Stuff” section on its website,

in which users can select their favourite e-Card and send it to their friends (see

Figure 2.9), watch 360 degree panoramic views of different attractions and video

clips with deeper introduction of local culture (see Figure 2.10), play exciting games

(see Figure 2.11), download maps, images, wallpapers, and screensaver (see Figure

2.12). Another section “Photos, videos, maps” provides an interactive photo gallery

(see Figure 2.13), which allows users to obtain more detailed information with

multiple images, video clips, and a map for each attraction (see Figure 2.14).

43

Figure 2.9 A Screenshot of E-cards Page Figure 2.10 A Screenshot of 360° Panorama Page

Figure 2.11 A Screenshot of Game Page Figure 2.12 A Screenshot of Downloadables Page

Figure 2.13 A Screenshot of Interactive Photo

Gallery Page Figure 2.14 A Screenshot of Multiple Images and

the Map

Hong Kong is the 16th top tourism destination in the world (WTO 2005). There is an

“interactive corner” section on its website, in which users can read or order an e-

newsletter online (see Figure 2.15), watch or share videos (see Figure 2.16), look at

360 degree panoramic views of different attractions (see Figure 2.17) and up-to-the-

minute glimpses of Hong Kong from the webcams (see Figure 2.18), select their

44

favourite e-Card and send it to their friends (see Figure 2.19), and download high-

resolution images and wallpaper. The PDA download allows business travellers to

download travel information into their personal PDA (see Figure 2.20).

Figure 2.15 A Screenshot of E-newsletter Page Figure 2.16 A Screenshot of Videos Page

Figure 2.17 A Screenshot of 360° Panorama Page Figure 2.18 A Screenshot of Webcams Page

Figure 2.19 A Screenshot of E-cards Page Figure 2.20 A Screenshot of PDA Download Page

45

Given the increasing importance of the Internet on destination marketing aimed at

meeting promotion objectives, it is crucial for DMOs to understand how to build an

effective website.

2.9 Evaluations of Tourism Websites

Tourism websites have received serious attention in two main areas: effective

tourism website building has been analysed, and website effectiveness evaluation has

been examined from various perspectives (Han & Mills 2006). However there are no

standardised criteria for evaluation of tourism websites (Corigliano & Baggio 2006;

Law & Bai 2006; Morrison, Taylor & Douglas 2004). Research concerned with

website evaluation and the identification of success factors, has emerged in various

disciplines, such as tourism, marketing, information systems, human-computer

interaction and advertising. Likewise, the measurement of success has been labelled

by different approaches, such as website evaluation, e-satisfaction, website quality,

e-quality and e-loyalty (Park & Gretzel 2007). Although using different approaches,

the primary goal is the implementation of successful online marketing strategies that

will achieve tourism development. A review of the literature on tourism website

evaluations has been done to examine the existing measurements. Table 2.3 shows

the identified evaluation criteria on tourism related research.

Table 2.3 Evaluation Criteria on Tourism Research Authors Key Factors Identified Sample

Baloglu & Pekcan (2006)

Interactivity; Navigation; Functionality; Marketing. Hotel websites

Benckendorff & Black (2000)

Site planning; Design; Content; Management. DMOs’ websites

Blum & Fallon (2001)

Product; Price; Promotion; Place; Customer relations; Technical aspects.

Visitors attraction website

Chan & Law (2006)

Colour; Use of text; Multimedia; Tables and Page Length. Hotel websites

Chen (2006) Functionality; Usability; Efficiency; Reliability; Likeability.

Travel websites

46

Chu (2001)

Informative; Interactive; Attractive. Airline/travel website

Chung & Law (2003)

Facilities information; Customer contact information; Reservations information; Surrounding area information; Website management.

Hotel websites

Douglas & Mills (2004) User friendliness; Site attractiveness; Marketing effectiveness.

NTOs’ websites

Fam, Foscht, &Collins (2004)

Calculation; Predictability; Intentionality; Capability; Transference; Tangibilization; Interactivity

Hotel/Motel websites

Feng, Morrison & Ismail (2003)

Marketing strategies; Marketing information; Web page design; Technical quality.

DMOs’ websites

Gretzel & Fesenmaier (2005)

Relevance; Transparency; Effort; Perceived personalization; Perceived enjoyment; Perceived fit.

Destination recommendation system

Ham (2004) Impression; Content usefulness; Accuracy; Navigation; Accessibility; Online reservations; Timeliness of information.

Lodging websites

Han & Mills (2005) Consumers' online brand preference (differentiation, quality, and value); Online market data (price, distribution, Web presence, promotions, direct mail, and ad identification).

Australia.com website

Han & Mills (2006) Aesthetic; Informative; Interactive.

NTO websites

Hashim, Murphy & Law (2007)

Information and process; Value added; Relationships; Trust; Design and usability.

Hotel websites

Hellemans & Govers (2005)

Picture motifs; Picture contexts; Words and picture themes. DMO websites

Ho & Lee (2007) Information quality; Security; Website functionality; Customer relationship; Responsiveness.

Travel websites

Ismail et al. (2002) Technical; Site visitor relationship; Marketing effectiveness; Cultural.

NTOs’ websites

Jeong & Lambert (2001) Perceived usefulness; Perceived ease of use; Perceived accessibility; Attitude.

Hotel websites

Jeong, Oh & Gregoire (2003)

Information accuracy; Information clarity; Information completeness; Perceived ease of use; Navigational quality; Colour combination; Information satisfaction; Behavioural intentions.

Hotel websites

Jung & Butler (2000) Regular updating; Repeat visits; Appearance; Useful information; Interactivity, Web design; Promotion (off-line); Forming partners; Value-added info; Institutional support; Building a loyalty; Clear navigation paths.

NTOs, hotels, airlines and travel agencies websites

Kao et al., (2005) Information quality; System quality; Intention to reuse website; Intention to recommend website; Intention to actually visit Singapore; Web satisfaction.

DMOs’ websites

47

Kaplanidou & Vogt, (2004)

Navigation; Content; Accessibility. DMOs’ websites

Kaplanidou & Vogt (2006)

Accessibility; Ease of navigation; Content (trip information functionality); Content (motivating visuals).

DMOs’ websites

Kaynama & Black (2000)

Reliability; Tangibles; Responsiveness; Assurance; Empathy.

Travel agencies websites

Kim & Lee (2004) Information content; Reputation and security; Usefulness; Responsiveness and personalisation; Structure and ease of use.

Travel agencies/Travel Suppliers

Kline, Morrison, & St. John (2004)

User friendliness; Site attractiveness; Marketing effectiveness; Technical qualities.

B & B websites

Kim & Fesenmaier (2007)

Informativeness; Usability; Credibility; Inspiration; Involvement; Reciprocity.

DMOs’ websites

Kim & Fesenmaier (2008)

Informativeness; Usability; Credibility; Inspiration; Involvement; Reciprocity.

DMOs’ websites

Law, Ho & Cheung (2004)

Facilities information; Customer contact information; Reservations information; Surrounding area information; Website management.

Hotel websites

Law & Hsu (2006) Reservations information; Facilities information; Contact information; Surrounding area information; Website management.

Hotel websites

Law & Leung (2002) Information quality; System use; System quality; Service quality; Customer loyalty.

Travel websites

Law & Wong (2003) Secure payment methods; Different price ranges for products/services; User-friendly system; Rapid information search; On-line booking and confirmation; Comprehensive destination information; Availability of help functions; Provision of related Web links; Late availability information; Availability of virtual tours/video files of destination; Presentation style; Specifically designed for user group.

Travel websites

Liang & Law (2003) Customer contact information; Facilitation information; Reservations information; Surrounding area information; Management of website.

Hotel websites

Mich, Franch, & Martini (2005)

Identity; Content; Services; Location; Maintenance; Usability Tourist destination websites

Mills & Morrison (2003) Travel website interface; Perceived quality of travel website services; Perceived value of travel website.

Travel websites

Morrison et al. (1999) Technical; Marketing; Internal; Customer.

Hotel websites

Morosan & Jeong (2006)

Prior experience; Perceived usefulness; Perceived ease of use; Perceived playfulness.

Hotel websites

48

Nysveen, Methlie, & Pedersen (2003)

Search engine; Service integration; Personalization; Trust; Reversed pricing; Auctions; Collective volume discount; Service aggregation; Customer community.

Tourism business websites

Park (2002) Online selling system; Web-based marketing mix; Customer supports.


Park & Gretzel (2007) Information quality; Ease of use; Security/Privacy; Visual appearance; Personalization; Responsiveness; Interactivity; Trust; Fulfilment.

DMOs’ websites

Perdue (2001) Speed and quality of site accessibility; Ease of navigation; Visual attractiveness of the site; Quality of the site; Quality of information content.

Ski resorts websites

Qi, Buhalis & Law (2007)

Language; Website Layout; Information architecture; User interface and navigation; general.

DMOs’ websites

Schaffer & Mills (2004) Product quality; Processing capacity; Credit card protection; Data handling/privacy policy; Web site design; Navigation; Customer service.


Scharl, Wöber, & Bauer (2003)

Product; Speed; Intelligence; Layout; Services; Languages; Navigation; Interactivity.

Hotel websites

Schegg, et al. (2002) Service Process; Customer relationship; Value creation; Trust; Cybermarketing.

Hotel websites

Sigala (2004) Playfulness; Aesthetics; Consumer return on investment; Service excellence.

Tourism related website

Sigala (2005) Convergence; Connectivity; Interactivity.

Museum websites

So & Morrison (2004) Technical; Marketing; Customer; Destination information.

NTOs’ websites

Wan (2002) User interface; Variety of information; Online reservation. Hotels, tour wholesalers websites

Wang & Fesenmaier (2006)

Web site features; Web site promotion techniques; CRM programs.

DMOs’ websites

Wang (2008) Website function design; Website promotion; Website performance measurement; Web marketing impact assessment; Organisation technology environment.

DMOs’ websites

Wöber, et al. (2002) Interactivity features; Navigational mechanisms; Layout and multimedia characteristics; Content related features.

Hotel websites

Yeung & Law (2004) Language Usability; Layout and Graphics; Information Architecture Usability; User Interface and Navigation Usability; General Usability.

Hotel websites

49

Zafiropoulos & Vrana (2006)

Facilities information; Guest contact information; Reservations/price information; Surrounding area information; Management of the website; Company profile.

Hotel websites

Zins et al. (2004) Design/layout; Functionality; Ease of Use; Learnability; Outcome/Future Use; Errors/system reliability.

Destination recommendation system

This array of publications reveals different success factors on tourism-related

websites. In terms of evaluation approach, Morrison et al. (1999, p. 105) applied a

modified Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in evaluating a group of small Scottish hotel

websites from four perspectives: technical, marketing, internal and customer, which

were operationalized through a set of critical success factors (see Table 2.4). Ismail

et al. (2002) adopted the modified BSC approach in evaluating the marketing of

culture on European national tourism organization’s (NTO) websites. They

substituted a cultural aspect for the internal perspective, due to the purpose of the

study. They also renamed the customer perspective as the site visitor relationship,

and here developed four new evaluation criteria of critical success factors: ease of

navigation, ease of contact, attractiveness of the site, and general availability of

travel and tourism links. Similarly, Feng, Morrison and Ismail (2003) evaluated and

compared DMO websites in China and the United States, using the modified BSC

approach. The four perspectives were altered to technical quality, marketing strategy,

web page design, and marketing information provided, to evaluate the effectiveness

of DMO websites as a destination marketing tools. So and Morrison (2004) applied

the modified BSC approach, and changed internal aspects to destination information

perspective to evaluate 14 NTO websites in East Asia. Kline, Morrison and St. John

(2004) developed the modified BSC approach into four perspectives: user

friendliness, site attractiveness, marketing effectiveness and technical aspects, to

evaluate 20 Bed and Breakfast websites in Indiana. Douglas and Mills (2004)

compared the NTO websites of the top ten Caribbean destinations using the modified

BSC approach. The result was then used to develop and test a model of Caribbean

NTO website visitor retention. This model identified user friendliness, site

attractiveness, and marketing effectiveness as being the factors important for the

creation of website retention or ‘stickiness’.

50

Table 2.4 Critical Success Factors for Effective WWW Sites

Perspectives Critical Success factors

Technical Currency of links

Effective use of HTML

Reciprocal hyperlinking

Registration with search engines

Short download time

Traffic monitor and analysis

Marketing Positioning approach

Market segmentation and target marketing

Marketing research and database marketing

Relationship marketing

Partnerships

Tangibilising of hotel services

Marketing evaluation

Internal Ease of site maintenance

Schedule for site maintenance and updating

Skills to maintain site

Customer Attractiveness

Availability and reservations

Content and organization

Currency of information

Interactivity

Needs of special customer groups

Response verification and speed

Security of purchases

User friendliness

Source: Morrison et al. 1999

Except for the modified BSC approach, content analysis is also well recognised by

researchers. Han and Mills (2006) reviewed the existing research on evaluation of

tourism websites and found that the most common approach is content analysis.

Benckendorff and Black (2000) proposed an Internet Marketing Star framework,

using four points including site planning, design, content and management

characteristics, to evaluate 16 Regional Tourism Authorities’ websites in Australia.

Blum and Fallon (2001) used a content analysis of 53 Welsh visitor attraction

websites to evaluate the performance of these websites. The features were

investigated in six dimensions: product, price, promotion, place, customer relations,

51

and technical aspects. Park (2002) developed a framework of components of web-

based tourism marketing, and conducted a content analysis of the top 60 travel

agencies websites in Korea. Wan (2002) analysed the website content of 60

international tourist hotels and 78 tour wholesalers in Taiwan using three criteria:

user interface, variety of information and online reservation. Law and Leung (2002)

used a content-based analysis and proposed five major dimensions – information

quality, system use, system quality, service, and customer loyalty – to evaluate 30

North America-based travel websites and 30 Asia-based travel websites. Govers and

Go (2004) used the content analysis of the textural elements to examine the online

promotion of Dubai. Ham (2004) developed a content analysis evaluation approach

to explore the websites of limited-service lodging properties. The criteria comprised

impression, content usefulness, accuracy, navigation, accessibility, online

reservations and timeliness of information. Hellemans and Govers (2005) adopted

content analysis to compare the image projected on the websites of 10 European

Travel Commission (ETC) member countries with the pictorial and textual

information offered by the websites of ETC. Baloglu and Pekcan (2006) utilised

content analysis to evaluate a select group of hotels in Turkey by their website design

characteristics (interactivity, navigation and functionality) and site marketing

practices on the Internet.

Information quality analysis is also a well-recognised evaluation approach. Jeong and

Lambert (2001) developed a framework to evaluate the information quality of

simulated lodging websites by combining the concepts of information quality and

consumer decision behaviour. Four attributes were emphasised in their study:

perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived accessibility and attitude.

Chung and Law (2003) measured the performance of hotel websites in Hong Kong in

the context of information richness, which included facilities information, customer

contact information, reservations information, surrounding area information and

website management. Liang and Law (2003) proposed the same measurement as

Chung and Law (2003) to evaluate the content of hotel websites in China. Law, Ho

and Cheung (2004) as well as Law and Hsu (2006) adopted identical criteria on

evaluating hotel websites. Zafiropoulos and Vrana (2006) also used the same

evaluation, but added company profile as another criteria in their study of evaluating

52

Greek hotel websites. Kao et al. (2005) employed both information quality and

system quality to examine the website satisfaction on Singapore Tourism Board’s

traditional Chinese website.

Website quality analysis is another commonly used evaluation approach. Perdue

(2001) developed a conceptual model, comprising speed and quality of site

accessibility, ease of navigation, visual attractiveness of the site, and quality of

information content, to evaluate the top 50 North American downhill ski resorts.

Jeong, Oh and Gregoire (2003) conceptualised the relationship between website

quality, information satisfaction, and behavioural intentions to evaluate 16 hotel

websites. They found that information satisfaction is a complete mediator of

information quality and behavioural intentions in the luxury and economy hotels, and

a partial mediator in the mid-scale hotels. Kaplanidou and Vogt (2004) proposed

three basic elements of website quality: navigation, content and accessibility, to

investigate the importance and performance of DMO websites in Michigan. Kim and

Lee (2004) identified six dimensions of web service quality, including ease of use,

usefulness, information content, security, responsiveness, and personalisation, to

compare online travel agencies and travel suppliers in evaluating user satisfaction.

Other evaluations such as trust examination (Chen 2006; Fam, Foscht & Collins

2004; Schaffer & Mills 2004), persuasiveness investigation (Gretzel & Fesenmaier

2005, Kim & Fesenmaier 2008), problematic integration theory (Han & Mills 2005),

modular approach (Mich, Franch & Martini 2005), usability testing (Qi, Buhalis &

Law 2007; Yeung & Law 2004; Zins et al. 2004), and technology acceptance model

(Kaplanidou &Vogt 2006; Morosan & Jeong 2006; Scharl, Wöber, & Bauer 2003;

Wöber et al. 2002) were also developed.

Web marketing plays an important role in tourism marketing development (Lo &

Law 2007). Wang and Fesenmaier (2006) suggest that a successful Web-based

marketing strategy should implement and co-ordinate three interrelated aspects:

efficient use of website features/capabilities for information provision, effective

website promotion techniques, and effective online customer relationship

management programs. Web-based approach and technologies enhance the capability

of tourism suppliers to reduce services costs and attract customers (Coriglinao &

53

Baggio 2006). Wang (2008) proposes five critical factors in successful development

and management of DMO websites: website function design, website promotion,

website performance measurement, web marketing impact assessment, and

organization technology environment. The main purpose of a DMO website is to

attract more tourists in order to increase visitation to the destination (Shanshan,

Bulais & Law 2007). Gretzel, Yuan, and Fesenmaier (2000) assert that the website

success factors for marketing include attracting users, engaging their interest and

participation, retaining them and ensuring their return, learning about their

preferences, and relating back to users to provide customized interactions. In other

words, a prominent factor in the success of destination web marketing is how to

efficiently utilise the features and capabilities of the Internet on web page design, to

attract users and engage them through user involvement

2.10 Tourism Website Design

The importance of web design has been recognised by tourism researchers. Hanna

and Millar (1997) analyse the development of the tourism website by focusing on

three categories: page design, managerial issues and information content. Jung and

Butler (2000) identify twelve success factors of tourism websites: regular updating,

repeat visits, appearance, useful information, interactivity, web design, promotion

(off-line), forming partners, value-added info, institutional support, building loyalty,

and clear navigation paths. Kaynama and Black (2000) assert that accessibility,

navigation, design and presentation contribute to the tangible dimension of tourism

e-service quality. Kim and Fesenmaier (2007) indicate that the design of a tourism

website is a powerful tool for tourist decision-making. Lo and Law (2007) claim that

website design plays an important role in the success of an NTO’s web marketing

strategy.

Website design undoubtedly is one of the determinants of a website’s success (Kim,

Shaw & Schneider 2003; Muylle, Moenaert & Despontin 2004; O’Connor 2004;

Palmer 2002), particularly for tourism websites, as it is more important due to

tourism’s experiential nature, which can not be reached prior to purchase (Sigala

54

2004). The design and the presentation of a website are vital, as they help to meet

tourists’ expectations (Kaynama & Black 2000). Website design contributes to the

attraction, sustenance, and retention of a user’s interest in the site (Ranganathan &

Ganapathy 2002). Szymanski and Hise (2000) assert that website design influences

the user’s satisfaction with the site. Liang and Lai (2002) indicate that design quality

influences users’ purchase decision. However, it has been found that research

involving tourism website evaluation tends to focus more often on expert

assessments or predetermined benchmarks and on the tangible aspects of a website,

rather than on the users’ perspective (Park & Gretzel 2007). Jeong and Lambert

(2001) indicate that a favourable attitude toward the website has a positive effect on

the use of the information. As has been mentioned in the previous section,

information contributes to the formation of destination image, which influences the

decision-making process of tourists. Therefore, it is important to develop criteria

from the users’ perspectives.

Chu (2001) conducted a focus group interview to identify what users want on

airline/travel websites, and found that users believed the content of travel websites

should be informative, interactive and attractive. Perdue (2001) indicates that visual

attractiveness and information content strongly relate to website quality, which

influences users’ perceptions of the website and consequently has an impact on the

destination image. Kaplanidou and Vogt (2006) indicate that motivating visuals and

trip information functionality contribute to website usefulness, which is a significant

predictor of intention of real visitation. They believe that clear and comprehensive

presentations of the destination’s features, by motivating and realistic visuals, are

prominent requirements for users. Han and Mills (2006) use the ground theory

technique developed by Strauss and Corbin (1998), to produce a benchmark model,

which listed proposed factors to evaluate tourism websites and resulted in three

categories: aesthetic features, informative features and interactive features. Aesthetic

features stimulate the attention of online users and form an incipient impression of

the destination; informative features offer relevant information that online users may

need and intensify their interest in the destination; and interactive features facilitate

engagement in the website. Similarly, Park and Gretzel (2007) use a quantitative

analysis to categorise the established criteria, which is comprised of evaluations from

55

experts and customers. They conclude that there are nine success factors for

destination marketing websites: information quality, ease of use, security/privacy,

visual appearance, personalization, responsiveness, interactivity, trust, and

fulfilment.

Although different success factors were suggested from users’ point of view, before

building a website, the priority is to clarify the construction of website design.

Werthner and Klein (1999, p. 288) propose design parameters for tourism websites,

focused on four aspects: content, graphical design, features and technical design (see

Table 2.5). Robbins and Stylianou (2003) assert that website design includes both

content and design features. Content embraces the information provided on the

website. Design features include presentation, navigation, security, speed and

tracking. Presentation is the way information is presented for visual appeal.

Navigation is the ease of information access, both internal and external. Security

relates to the transaction online. Speed is the time users need to reach the

information, and tracking is the use of cookies to track users’ behaviours. Huizingh

(2000) also distinguishes content from design, in which content refers to the

information or services offered in the website, and design refers to the way which

content is made available for users. Spiliopoulou (2000) states that users’ perceptions

of a website are affected by website content, web page design and overall site design.

Website content refers to the goods, services or data provided on the site. Web page

design and the overall site design refer to the way in which the content is conveyed

to be accessible and comprehensible for the user. Hence, it can be concluded that

website design comprises information content which refers to products or services

offered from the supplier, and information presentation which refers to the

transmission of information content with accessible navigation for users by design

features, including text, images and multimedia technologies.

Table 2.5 Design Parameters of Web Sites

Design parameter Examples

Content Background information

Product and price comparison

Edutainment

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Advertisement

Entertainment (joy of use)

Archive

Graphical design Innovative, graphical presentation

Media adequacy

Links, hypermedia structure

Interface (navigation, orientation, ease of use)

Consistency

Transaction and security ergonomy

Animation

Features Interactivity, feed-back

Virtual communities

Transaction support

Customisable filter

Collaborative filtering

Product and service configuration

Customisation

Technical design Optimise loading time

Security features

Plug-in etc.

Plug-in requirements

Source: Werthner & Klein 1999

The demand of specialised and in-depth presentation of information to facilitate

decision-making has been found in tourism websites (Bonn, Furr & Susskind 1998;

Wang 2008), and the importance of information/product presentation has been

emphasized in a wide range of research (Constantinides 2004; Jeong & Choi 2004;

Jiang & Benbasat 2007; Kim & Lennon 2008; Qi, Buhalis & Law 2007). Researchers

have found presentation format influences users’ response and behaviour intention

toward the website. Kaplanidou and Vogt (2004) suggest that the improvement of

information presentation can upgrade the website and increase user satisfaction.

Park, Lennon & Stoel (2005) demonstrate product presentation evokes positive mood

and reduces perceived risk, which may further lead to a greater purchase intention.

Kim, Kim and Lennon (2009) also support the findings that product presentation has

a significant impact on consumers’ emotional responses. People with higher pleasure

have more positive attitudes toward the website and greater purchase intention.

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Hartmann, Angeli and Sutcliffe (2008) indicate that different presentation formats

with consistent information have an impact on further appreciation of a website.

Jeong et al. (2009) examined the effect of product presentation on Pine II and

Gilmore’s (1998) four consumption experience concept, and found that different

levels of product presentation positively affected the entertainment experiences,

educational experiences, escapist experiences, and aesthetic experiences. It has also

been found to have a positive impact on user satisfaction (Chang & Chen 2008;

Koivumäki 2001).

Several researchers suggest that multimedia technologies, which enhance the product

presentation, should be used to arouse a positive emotion on website design (Chang

& Chen 2008; Jeong et al. 2009). The advanced technology enhances website

performance which sustains the site and increases its success in a competitive web

environment (Kim & Forsythe 2008; Park, Lennon & Stoel 2005). The employment

of 3D product presentation has also been found to positively influence brand attitude

and purchase intention (Fiore, Jin & Kim 2005; Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2003). In

the context of the tourism website, users tend to like to have rich and colourful

information about a destination (Qi, Buhalis & Law 2007), and multimedia

technologies are able to increase information richness and interaction (Buhalis &

Law 2008). Information presentation utilising advanced technologies such as

panoramic views, animation, and interactive photos provide a virtual environment,

which allows users to experience the destination on the Internet (Wan et al. 2007).

Cho, Wang and Fesenmaier (2003) indicate this virtual experience may empower

tourists to become more confident about their trips as well as increase satisfaction

with actual travel experience. As the development of ICTs has advanced, it is

imperative to understand the consequence of ICT application to tourism websites

from the users’ perspective. This research attempts to investigate the effectiveness of

the use of advanced ICTs on tourism websites from the evaluation of real users in

order to promote cultural identity. It contributes to the area of tourism marketing

where the effectiveness of tourism website design is the main concern, and the user’s

viewpoint will be emphasised in the next section.

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CHAPTER 3

USER ATTITUDE AND

TELEPRESENCE

3.1 Introduction

In chapter 2, it was found that the design of tourism websites should be developed

from the users’ perspective. This chapter explores three major constructs that have

been widely used and are well recognised in academic research on users’

perspectives; user satisfaction, website quality, and user attitude toward a website. It

is proposed that user attitude toward a website would be the appropriate construct to

test user response to tourism websites, in terms of three underlying dimensions:

attractiveness value, informative value, and enjoyment value.

Tourism is an experiential product and user attitude toward a website is induced from

user experience of the interaction with a website. Therefore, users’ online

experiences, namely virtual experiences, are explained in terms of direct experience,

which has been acknowledged as the most effective approach for user behaviours.

The concept of telepresence, a theory believed by researchers to be able to enhance

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the relationship of virtual experiences to direct experience, is then explored. The

major determinants of telepresence are explained to give a further understanding of

the effects of interactivity and vividness. It is found that the overlap between

interactivity and vividness is apparent, and they are correlated to website features.

Multimedia technology enhances the level of user control, a key feature of

interactivity, and vividness of presentations. Virtual reality systems, an important

type of multimedia presentation, are introduced in terms of web-based virtual tours

for the purpose of this study. Finally, the research model is proposed for the

experiment to investigate the effects of website features on user attitude toward a

tourism website.

3.2 The Measure Construct from Users’ Perspectives

User Satisfaction

User satisfaction is one of the most frequently used measures of website success

(Hong & Kim 2004). The importance of user satisfaction has long been emphasised

by marketing researchers (Law & Bai 2008; Oliver 1999). Understanding user

satisfaction may facilitate the improvement of web marketing efforts, better offers of

web service quality, and the retention of loyal customers (Mills & Morrison 2003).

Researchers have demonstrated that user satisfaction is positively related to purchase

intentions (Bai, Law & Wen 2008; Law & Bai 2008). The contribution of user

satisfaction to the intention of revisiting a website and trust has also been revealed

(Lin, Wu & Tsai 2005; Flavián, Guinalíu & Gurrea 2006). Due to the above benefits,

user satisfaction has been recognised to correlate with website effectiveness (Negash,

Ryan & Igbaria 2003). Several researchers have found that positive user satisfaction

induces user loyalty toward the website (Anderson & Srinivasan 2003; Chang &

Chen 2008; Flavián, Guinalíu & Gurrea 2006; Hong & Kim 2004; Oliver 1999;

Shankar, Smith & Rangaswamy 2003). It is critical to attract users and maintain their

loyalty in the competitive web environment (Lin, Wu & Tsai 2005).

User satisfaction is one of the most important achievements for web designers

(Zhang & von Dran 2000). ISO (1998) defines satisfaction as a comfortable and

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positive attitude towards the use of the product. Anderson and Srinivasan (2003)

define satisfaction as contentment with prior purchasing experience of a given

electronic commerce firm. They believe that a dissatisfied customer is more likely to

search for information on alternative sites. Shankar, Smith and Rangaswamy (2003,

p. 154) define satisfaction as ‘the perception of pleasurable fulfilment of a service’.

Teo, Oh and Liu (2003) assert that satisfaction is the antecedent which contributes to

the formation of a user’s perceived value of a website. In summery, user satisfaction

is produced as the result of a global evaluation of the overall performance of a

website.

Researchers have proposed that different underlying dimensions contribute to user

satisfaction. Szymanski and Hise (2000) find that convenience, site design, and

financial security determine a consumer evaluation of satisfaction. Shankar, Smith

and Rangaswamy (2003) suggest depth of information increases overall satisfaction.

Hong and Kim (2004) indicate that robustness, utility and aesthetic appeal influence

user satisfaction. Internal reliability and external security contribute to the robustness

of a website; content usefulness and navigation usability impact the utility of a

website; and system interface attractiveness and communication interface

attractiveness affect aesthetic appeal. Lin, Wu and Tsai (2005) demonstrate that

perceived playfulness and perceived usefulness are positively associated with user

satisfaction. Zviran, Glezer and Avni (2006) elucidate both usability and user-based

design as both contributing to user satisfaction. Bai, Law and Wen (2008) indicate

that functionality and usability positively relate to user satisfaction. Chang and Chen

(2008) investigate the impact of customer interface quality, and reveal that

customisation, interactivity, and character have impacts on user satisfaction, in which

character refers to the aesthetics and functional look-and-feel of a website.

Website Quality

Jeong, Oh and Gregoire (2003) indicate that user satisfaction with the information

obtained from a website is an important consequence of website quality. Indeed, user

satisfaction and website quality are correlated (Bai, Law & Wen 2008; Law & Bai

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2008). Negash, Ryan and Igbaria (2003) state that user satisfaction is the reflection of

website quality effectiveness, and the importance of website quality has been

confirmed. The study by Ahn, Ryu and Han (2007) indicates that web quality

influences user beliefs and behavioural intention. Éthier et al. (2006) demonstrate

that website quality positively influences the cognitive appraisal of situational state

and the emotions of liking, joy and pride, which lead to a positive online shopping

experience. Huang (2005) indicates that improvement of website quality enhances

traffic performance. Researchers have developed varied measurement approaches to

examine website quality from different disciplines. Some have attempted to examine

the concept of website quality in terms of usability, mainly focusing on ease of use

(Moon & Kim 2001). Nielsen (2003) defines usability as a quality attribute that

assesses the level of ease of use on the user interface. Researchers who focus on

usability, claim that it is a critical factor of website success (Nielsen 2000, 2003;

Palmer 2002; Qi, Buhalis & Law 2007). However, it is argued that usability

approaches are too limited (Blythe & Wright 2003; Hassenzahl 2003; Kuan, Bock &

Vathanophas 2008) and there should be something more than ease of use (Overbeeke

et al. 2003). Website quality is a complex concept, concerning more than usability,

and its measurement should be multi-dimensional (Aladwani & Palvia 2002; Kim &

Stoel 2004).

As mentioned in the previous section, website quality evaluation has been widely

used on tourism research. However, these evaluations seem rather inconsistent,

depending on different research purposes. In the context of e-commerce, several

researchers have utilised the information systems (IS) success model developed by

DeLone and McLean (1992) to evaluate website success. The IS success model has

become the best-known theoretical model (Leonard & Riemenschneider 2008). It

proposes six major dimensions – system quality, information quality, use, user

satisfaction, individual impact and organisational impact – as the success construct.

DeLone and McLean (2003) further added service quality in their original model as

an antecedent to use and user satisfaction. Their model has been evident in

evaluating e-commerce success as well as websites success.

Mckinney, Yoon and Zahedi (2002) separate website quality into information quality

and system quality to measure user satisfaction within the expectation-

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disconfirmation paradigm. Negash, Ryan and Igbaria (2003) suggest that website

effectiveness is influenced by information quality and system quality. Information

quality is comprised of two aspects: informativeness and entertainment.

Informativeness refers to the ability to inform users about the product information,

which can be received accurately, completely, and in a timely way. Entertainment

refers to the ability to make receiving the interface enjoyable, entertaining, pleasing,

fun and exciting. System quality includes interactivity and access. Interactivity refers

to the ability with which users can manipulate the form and content of the website.

Access refers to the availability of the website, in terms of ease of information

retrieval and ease of support contact. However, their survey results indicate that both

information quality and system quality contribute to user satisfaction, while service

quality has no impact on web-based customer support systems. Cao, Zhang and

Seydel (2005) also utilise the IS success model and modify it as system quality,

information quality, service quality, and attractiveness, the four factors of website

quality. The result indicates that information quality, system quality, and service

quality influence users’ perception, but attractiveness is less important in the

business-to-business context. Lee and Kozar (2006) propose a hierarchy model,

consisting of information quality, service quality, system quality and vendor-specific

quality, to provide insights into website quality improvement. Information quality is

defined as the quality of information produced and delivered by the system. Service

quality refers to the overall support provided by the Internet retailers. System quality

is defined as system performance in delivering information. Vendor-specific quality

refers to the awareness of retailers, their reputation and price competitiveness. Their

findings indicate that system quality is the most important factor, and users preferred

to have a vivid and interactive web experience. Kuan, Bock and Vathanophas (2008)

suggest that website quality consists of three dimensions: perceived system quality,

perceived information quality and perceived service quality. Perceived system

quality is defined as the degree to which the user considers the website has ease of

navigation and the consistency of interaction with the interface. Perceived

information quality is defined as the degree to which the user considers that the

information offered on the website possesses the attributes of content, accuracy,

format and timeliness. Perceived service quality is defined as the degree to which the

user considers that the website is interactive, responsive, secure, and effective in its

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search and comparison functions. The results of their study demonstrate a positive

relationship between website quality and intentions of initial and continued purchase.

Attitude toward a website

Attitude toward a website is another construct similar to website quality (Kim &

Stoel 2004), because website quality is positively correlated with attitude toward a

website (Donthu 2001). In fact, user satisfaction also can be defined as the attitude

toward the website produced by a user who has visited it (Chang & Chen 2008;

Muylle, Moenaert & Despontin 2004). It can be a substitute for attitude, as both of

them possess fundamental similarity (Melone 1990). Huang (2008) indicates that

both significantly perform as a predictor of behaviour intention. Flavián, Guinalíu

and Gurrea (2006) state that user satisfaction demonstrates the user’s favourable

attitude toward the website. Hence, attitude toward a website, user satisfaction and

website quality are intrinsically alike.

Attitude toward a website is a well-recognised indicator of website effectiveness

(Bruner II & Kumar 2000; Chen & Wells 1999; Elliott & Speck 2005). Traditionally,

advertising and marketing researchers have emphasised the importance of attitude

toward an advertisement and utilised it as a construct to measure its effectiveness

(Chiagouris, Long & Plank 2008). Lutz (1985, p. 46) defines attitude toward the

advertisement as a ‘predisposition to respond in a favourable or unfavourable manner

to a particular advertising stimulus during a particular exposure situation’.

Researchers who focus on this construct have found that attitude toward the ad

influences brand attitude and purchase intention (Brown & Stayman 1992; Gresham

& Shimp 1985; Homer 1990; MacKenzie, Lutz & Belch 1986; Mitchell & Olson

1981).

In terms of web context, Chen and Wells (1999, p. 28) defined attitude toward the

website as a “predisposition to respond favourably or unfavourably to web content in

natural exposure situations.” It has been found that web design of information

presentation influences users’ attitudes toward the website (Chiagouris, Long &

Plank 2008). Researchers have proven the positive association between attitude

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toward the website and attitude toward the advertisement. They assert that the more a

website is liked, the greater the impact on attention to the advertisement, brand

attitude, and purchase intention (Bruner II & Kumar 2000; Poh & Adam 2002;

Stevenson, Bruner II & Kumar 2000). Lee, Hong and Lee (2004) indicate that

positive attitude toward a website increases the likelihood of brand choice. Seock and

Norton (2007) claim that attitude toward a website has a direct and positive effect on

users’ behaviour, including intention of using the website for information search, as

well as buying items from the site. A recent study conducted by Hausman and Siekpe

(2009) further indicate that as well as purchase intentions, intentions to return to the

website are also positively related to attitude toward the website.

Researchers have suggested that antecedents influence user attitude toward a site.

The main goal of a DMO website is to promote the respective destination in order to

attract potential tourists and thereby increase its visitation. From this perspective,

DMO websites not only perform as information providers, but also need to achieve

advertising outcomes. Ducoffe (1996) proposed three perceptual dimensions to

examine the perceived value of web advertising. He found that informativeness,

entertainment, and irritation act as important predictors of web advertising value, and

have a significant impact on respondents’ overall attitudes. Chen and Wells (1999)

explained that entertainment, informativeness and organisation factors were the

dimensions which concern Internet users about a website. Later, Chen, Clifford and

Wells (2002) conducted two follow-up studies and found that these three dimensions

account for most of the variation in attitude toward a website. Gao and Koufaris

(2006) adopt Ducoffe’s model and support that perceived informativeness and

perceived entertainment are positively related in attitude toward a website.

Several researchers also employ the theory of Uses and Gratifications (U&G) and the

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine users’ attitude. U&G theory was

first developed to measure the effectiveness of the radio medium in the 1940s. Due to

the basic interaction concept of U&G, it was then broadly applied in the web context

(Luo 2002). The most important dimensions of U&G include entertainment,

informativeness, and irritation. The TAM was developed by Davis, Bagozzi and

Warshaw in 1989, and it established the relationship between two behavioural beliefs

– perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness – and behavioural intentions. Davis,

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Bagozzi and Warshaw (1992) further included perceived enjoyment in the original

model, to examine the intrinsic motivation of users. Moon and Kim (2001) assert that

playfulness, a pleasure state of enjoyment, has a positive effect on users’ attitudes.

The researcher, van der Heijden (2003) extends the TAM, and integrates perceived

visual attractiveness as one of the underlying dimensions. The results demonstrate

perceived visual attractiveness influences usefulness, enjoyment, and ease of use.

Huang (2008), integrating the dimensions of U&G theory and TAM, proposes

entertainment, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and irritation to examine

users’ attitudes. The results indicate that these four factors are significantly related to

users’ behaviour intention. Hausman and Siekpe (2009) state that perceived

informativeness, perceived entertainment and perceived usefulness are positively

associated with attitude toward a website.

From the above, it is found that researchers emphasise not only the functionality and

usability value of websites, but also embrace non-utilitarian aspects. Indeed, it has

been found that researchers support both utilitarian value and hedonic value as

important in web environments (Childers et al. 2001; Fiore, Kim & Lee 2005;

Hassenzahl 2003; Kim & Forsythe 2008). Eighmey (1997) conducted pilot and field

studies to examine users’ perceptions of commercial websites. The result indicated

that users benefit from finding information they needed, as well as the enjoyment

produced during the process. He suggested effective websites should demonstrate a

productive intersection of information and entertainment. Similarly, Huang (2005)

believes that the quality of a website should be able to meet or exceed users’

expectations in both information and enjoyment dimensions. Lee and Kozar (2009)

suggest that websites comprised of legible, coherent, diverse, and mysterious

characteristics can successfully communicate with users and evoke positive

assessments. In fact, tourism website content is comprised of four purposes:

information, education, advertising/persuasion, and entertainment (Werthner & Klein

1999). Therefore, based on the previous studies, focusing on attitudes toward a

website, user satisfaction, and website quality, this study proposes three underlying

dimensions – attractiveness value, informative value, and enjoyment value – to

examine the effect of presentation formats on user attitudes toward the website.

66

Attractiveness value

The attractiveness of a product is the most important factor that arouses customers’

behaviour intention (Lin 2008). In the context of tourism websites, there is an

explicit need for many travel-related organizations to build the best website and to

enhance its attractiveness (Law & Huang 2006). Attractiveness is vital in website

design (Feng, Morrison & Ismail 2003; Kim, Shaw & Schneider 2003), and its

importance has been proven by researchers. Visual attractiveness is asserted by van

der Heijden (2003) to play an important role in the intention to use a website.

Skadberg and Kimmel (2004) claim that attractiveness has a medium direct impact

on user attitude and behaviour, as well as a strong direct impact on the perception of

a website’s ease of use. In addition, it is the most important factor influencing user

experience. Kim and Fesenmaier (2008) indicate the presence of visually appealing

stimuli is the most important factor in the persuasion of users to stay longer on the

website. Braddy, Meade and Kroustalis (2008) reveal that an attractive website has a

substantial impact on improving users’ impressions of an organization. Several

researchers have embraced attractiveness as one of the evaluation attributes for

website effectiveness in tourism research (Cao, Ahang & Seydel 2005; Douglas &

Mills 2004; Kline, Morrison, & St. John 2004) as well as non-tourism research

(Hong & Kim 2004; Mahlke 2002; Thoms et al. 2004).

Perdue (2001) defines visual attractiveness as users’ perception of the visual quality

of the website, and indicates that it is strongly related to website quality, which

influences the overall website evaluation and then in turn influences the perceived

quality of the destination. In fact, visual appearance or aesthetics has been

emphasised because of its ability to attract the attention of new visitors and form an

initial destination image (Han & Mills 2006). It is the most important determinant for

overall attractiveness (Sutcliffe & Namoune 2008). Traditionally, the prominence of

usability criterion surpassed aesthetics in the area of human and computer interaction

(HCI) (Tractinsky, Katz & Ikar 2000). However, aesthetics is increasingly being

recognised as an important factor (see Norman 2004) that contributes to the overall

success of a product or system beyond usefulness and usability (Hartmann 2006). It

has been found that the judgement of aesthetics influences users’ judgement of

usability, and content, as well as overall preference (Hartmann 2006), and a halo

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effect of good aesthetic design can even overcome some usability problems

(Hartmann, Sutcliffe & De Angeli 2008; Tractinsky, Katz & Ikar 2000). Lindgarrd et

al. (2006) also state that aesthetics or visual appeal may become the prior factor

which influences users’ later judgement of a website. Given the increasing attention

on the importance of visual appeal, website attractiveness will be one of the

underlying dimensions in this study.

Informative value

Information provision is the most important aspect of a website (Cardamone &

Rentschler 2006). Tourism is an information-intensive product (Doolin, Burgess &

Cooper 2002; Gretzel, Yuan & Fesenmaier 2000; Pan & Fesenmaier 2006), and

information obtained from destination websites influences tourists’ decision-making

(Kao et al. 2005). According to Park and Gretzel (2007), information quality is the

most common criterion that has been proposed in tourism research. Researchers

suggest that enhancing the information content increases user satisfaction and loyalty

(Shankar, Smith & Rangaswamy 2003). The importance of informative value on

website evaluation has been recognised both by tourism researchers (Chu 2001; Han

& Mills 2006; Kim & Fesenmaier 2007, 2008) and non-tourism researchers (Chen,

Clifford & Wells 2002; Gao & Koufaris 2006; Luo 2002). It has been found that

informativeness is positively related to attitude toward a website (Gao & Koufaris

2006; Hausman and Siekpe 2009; Luo 2002).

The nature of tourism is experiential; tourists experience a destination and

simultaneously receive informal learning during their visit. As mentioned in chapter

2, learning plays a specific and important role for cultural tourists. Richards (1996)

states that the ATLAS research acknowledged that the learning element is the central

feature that distinguishes cultural tourism. Learning new things and experiencing the

atmosphere of the place are the most important factors for cultural tourists (Richards

2002). However, although the importance of informative value has been recognised,

it seems no existing research has investigated how much knowledge the user can gain

from a destination website and how much the obtained information can be stored in

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users’ memories. Tourists may visit a variety of tourism websites during their

decision-making process, and the impression of a destination that is stored in their

memories may influence their final decision. Stamboulis and Skayannis (2003)

indicate that the interaction between intermediaries (e.g., tourism websites) and

tourists leads to the accumulation of knowledge, which further reinforces trust and

reputation of the destination. This learning process produces competitive advantages

for destinations. Hence, it is necessary to understand the influence of information

presentation formats on users’ knowledge production and destination impressions.

Enjoyment value

The hedonic features have become vital elements in web design (Lee & Kozar 2009).

It is necessary to develop hedonic pleasure in website design in order to attract users’

visitation, stimulate their participation, improve their concentration, and enhance

their enjoyment (Liu & Arnett 2000). Although different terms, such as

entertainment, playfulness, or pleasure are used, the importance of enjoyment on

websites has been emphasised in a wide range of tourism research (Gretzel &

Fesenmaier 2005; Powley, Cobanoglu & Cummings 2004; Sigala 2004) as well as

non-tourism research (Chung & Tan 2004; Koufaris, Kambil & LaBarbera 2001;

Wulf et al. 2006). Ahn, Ryu and Han (2007) state that playfulness usually implies

that the interaction with websites results in enjoyment or cognitive absorption. They

have discovered that playfulness is an important factor which influences users’

intention to visit the website. Another researcher van der Heijden (2003) also

indicates that perceived enjoyment positively influences users’ intention to visit a

website. It is also correlated with the purchase intention on the website (Fiore, Jin &

Kim 2005; van der Heijden & Verhagen 2004) as well as intention to revisit the

website (Koufaris 2002; Lin, Wu & Tsai 2005).

Huang (2003) contends that users visit a website not only for information needs, but

also for entertainment. Researchers claim that the entertainment value of a website

enhances users’ experience of the website (Ducoffe 1996; Gao & Koufaris 2006).

Lin, Wu and Tsai (2005) indicate that perceived playfulness is an important factor

69

contributing to user satisfaction with the website, which in turn is positively related

to the continuance intention. Zhang and von Dran (2000) prove that enjoyment

increases user involvement while interacting with the website, which contributes to

user satisfaction toward the website. Leonard and Riemenschneider (2008) conclude

that website design should consider how to make users feel involved and experience

enjoyment. Several researchers have also found that enjoyment is positively related

to attitude toward a website (Huizingh 2000; Kim, Kim & Lennon 2009; Richard

2005). Hence, an understanding of the relationship between information presentation

and users’ perceived enjoyment value is imperative for DMO websites.

Tourism is an experiential product (Castañeda, Frías & Rodríguez 2007; Oh, Fiore &

Jeoung 2007; Richards 2001), and the experience develops from the interaction

between tourists and destinations (Stamboulis & Skayannis 2003). Oh, Fiore and

Jeoung (2007) contend that tourist motivations in visiting a destination are mainly

driven by the mental and emotional images of a pre-experience of the expected

experience at the destination. According to Pine II and Gilmore (1998), the realms of

experience can be classified into four categories: entertainment, educational,

aesthetic, and escapist. Prentice (2004) indicates that escape is one of the most

important motives for visiting a destination. Tourism is basically a way by which

people escape from their daily life and experience the extraordinary (Oh, Fiore &

Jeoung 2007). The entertainment, educational and aesthetic experiences are

consistent with the underlying dimensions of the measurement proposed in this

study. In terms of web context, the feeling of satisfaction or the formation of attitude

results from users’ online experience at the website (Gao & Koufaris 2006; Mills &

Morrison 2003; Teo, Oh & Liu 2003). Therefore, it is believed that the attractiveness

value, informative value, and enjoyment value will play roles as valid and reliable

predictors of user attitudes.

3.3 User Experience

Understanding experience is a critical issue for designing interactive systems

(Forlizzi & Battarbee 2004). It has been found that a rich online experience is a

functional factor for website effectiveness (Coyle, Mendelson & Kim 2008), and the

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importance of user experience has drawn increasing attention in website

environments (Järveläninen 2006). Tourists’ experiences are stored in their memory,

and are retrieved and combined into a frame of new decision-making as another

travel need emerges (Choi, Lehto & Oleary 2007). A measurement of user

experience, on their visit to a DMO website, is essential for improving the online

service quality (Kao et al. 2005). Han and Mills (2006) indicate that a positive

experience and judgement, induced from browsing the website, influence the overall

image of the destination and the decision-making. Castañeda, Frías and Rodríguez

(2007) believe that the tourist’s online experience has a moderating effect on

destination satisfaction. Therefore, the experiential value of tourism websites has

been recognised by scholars (e.g., Cho, Wang & Fesenmaier 2003; Gretzel &

Fesenmaier 2003). Bogdanovych et al. (2006) indicate that tourists have to rely on

virtual experience prior to purchase, so it has become an important issue for

destinations to have appealing presentations online. Due to the rapid development of

the Internet and ICTs, virtual experience has been utilised to promote tourism

destinations (Wan et al. 2007). Researchers indicate that tourism websites create

virtual experiences for the potential tourist, which directly influence the perceived

image of a destination (Cho & Fesenmaier 2001; Doolin, Burgess & Cooper 2002).

A positive experience resulting from the interaction with a website, enhances users’

attitude toward the website and the host firm (Mathwick & Rigdon 2004; Nambisan

& Baron 2007). It has also been found to influence users’ decision-making process

(Constantinides 2004). More and more tourism websites now provide virtual

experience, such as panoramic views, animations, and interactive photo galleries for

tourists, all of which empower them through direct experience before their real visit

to the destination (Chiou, Wan & Lee 2008). It is suggested that tourism website

must provide a positive user experience (Mills & Morrison 2003).

Past researchers divide user experience of learning about products into indirect

experience and direct experience (Hoch & Deighton 1989; Wright & Lynch Jr.

1995). Direct experience is an unmediated interaction between a consumer and a

product (Gibson 1966), whereas indirect experience comes from various sources

such as word-of-mouth, brochures, and advertising (Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2003).

Direct experience is believed to be more predictive of behaviour than indirect

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experience (Fazio & Zanna 1981; Smith & Swinyard 1983). The advantage of direct

experience is based on its first-hand evaluation of products, which enhances

consumers’ confidence (Griffith & Chen 2004). Information obtained from direct

experience is more accessible and creates higher confidence (Petty & Wegener

1998). Direct experience also has greater impact on recall, attitude and purchase

intention than traditional advertisements (Sigh, Balasubramanian & Chakraborty

2000). In contrast, indirect experience has more limits and is less effective. However,

with the development of information technology, recent researchers claim another

type of experience – virtual experience – to elucidate the experience in computer-

mediated virtual environments (Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2001, 2003; Park, Lennon &

Stoel 2005; Suh & Lee 2005). Virtual experience has the advantage of combining

both indirect experience and direct experience (Edwards & Gangadharbatla 2001; Li,

Daugherty & Biocca 2001). Researchers indicate that the provision of a high level of

realism is one of the most distinctive features the Internet possesses (Coyle &

Thorson 2001). Advanced website features may help approximate a direct experience

by delivering product information in a way that makes users perceive it in a way that

more closely resembles the way they acquire in the real world (Klein 2003; Song,

Fiore & Park 2006). The more user engagement, sensation and reaction is provided

by a website, the more users will concentrate on using the Web, and are more likely

to have increased enjoyment experience (Lin, Gregor & Ewing 2008).

Griffith and Chen (2004) further develop this approach by employing the term

virtual direct experience (VDE) as the concept of direct product experience in a

simulated computer environment, and assert that VDE is similar to direct experience

due to its ability to convey experiential product attributes. Their study found that the

employment of VDE was more effective than no VDE in advertising. It is suggested

that VDE provides greater opportunities for marketers than the use of traditional

advertising formats. Similarly, in their study investigating the advertising effects on

cognitive preference between virtual experience and traditional brochures, Chiou,

Wan and Lee (2008) found that virtual experience had significantly greater effect

than traditional brochures. Daugherty, Li and Biocca (2008) also proved that virtual

experience is an alternative consumer experience, resembling product trial better than

traditional advertising forms. It has also been found to increase online purchasing

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(George 2002; Jeong et al. 2009). The capability of virtual experience, combining

indirect experience and direct experience, increases product knowledge and

influences brand attitude (Daughery, Li & Biocca 2008; Lui, Piccoli & Ives 2007). It

is commonly recognised that virtual experience encourages website exploration

(Yoon, Laffey & Oh 2008). The effects of virtual experience on Internet advertising

have been verified (Keng & Lin 2006).

3.4 Virtual Reality and Presence

Due to the importance of virtual experience, it is suggested that marketers should

strive for verisimilitude in their web communication (Klein 2003). Reeves and Nass

(2002) assert that people often have identical behaviour in virtual environments to

what they do in the real world, and it has been found that computer simulations have

a positive influence on changing user attitude and behaviour (Fogg 2003). Virtual

reality (VR) is a popular term meaning verisimilitude in a mediated environment in

which scenes and objects are simulated realistically. The main objective of VR is to

create a belief that users are located in another synthetic environment by inducing

emotions or affective response similar to that of the real world (Lee et al. 2004).

Researchers have identified that VR has been increasingly referred to as a

communication system (Biocca & Levy 1995; Parés & Parés 2006; Riva 2001), and

VR in the web environment has become increasingly desirable because it is capable

of creating realistic experience, thereby reducing the effect of customers’ inability to

make direct contact with products (Suh & Chang 2006; Suh & Lee 2005). The

benefits of VR have been elucidated in a wide range of research. Burke (1996)

asserts that VR provides excellent opportunities for marketing strategies in the

development of new products, promotions, packing and merchandising. Suh and Lee

(2005) indicate that VR has a positive effect on product knowledge, product attitude,

and purchase intention. It has the potential to enhance the competitiveness of Web

advertising (Kassaye 2006). A VR shopping environment provides the functionality

of a physical, face-to-face interaction that creates a superior shopping experience and

improves the trust formation (Papadopoulou 2007). It provides a better user

experience and enhances consumers’ decision-making (Chuah, Roland & Teh 2008).

VR allows users to actively participate in and experience the system, which

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facilitates the assessment of a destination (Cho, Wang & Fesenmaier 2003). At the

same time, it increases the attractiveness of a tourism destination (Guráu & de Co

Montpellier 2007), and reduces the degree of travel anxiety (Lee & Oh 2007).

Although VR contains huge potential in the field of marketing and promotion, there

is no unified definition of virtual reality.

VR emerged from an unlikely compound of technologies developed for use by the

military, aerospace, entertainment, and computer industries. The earliest form of VR

was developed as a flight simulator for training pilots in the US military and NASA.

In the entertainment industry, it lay in the search for more realistic movie experience

(Stanovsky 2004). Coelho et al. (2006) explain that VR systems include two main

parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. They classify

definitions and the explanation of the feeling of presence from two approaches –

media presence (rationalist perspective) and inner presence (psychological

perspective). Media presence refers to a set of technological hardware, put together

to generate a system where users are active participants in an immersive mediated

environment. Inner presence refers to the synthetic experience, which is generated

from the interaction between man and simulated environments and the perceptive

process is identical with the real world. The equipment disappears when the user is

concentrating on the task through his action in the virtual environment.

Steuer (1992, p. 75) claimed that VR is a type of human experience, rather than a set

of technological hardware, and it can be explained by using the concept of presence,

which he defined as ‘the sense of being in an environment’. Costello (1997) and

Bertol (1997) considered the sense of immersion, or the degree of presence that the

mediated environment provided, to be the primary feature of VR systems. From this

perspective, Costello categorised VR systems as non-immersive, semi-immersive

and fully immersive. Non-immersive systems are desktop systems, where the virtual

environments are viewed through a monitor, and the interactions occurred through

conventional devices such as keyboards and mice. The merit of the non-immersive

system is the low cost, due to its dispensability of high-level graphical performance

and special supported devices. Semi-immersive systems have borrowed considerably

from technologies developed in the flight simulation field. They consist of relatively

high graphical performance computing systems with large screen or multiple

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television projection capacity, in which the wide field of view enhances the feeling

of immersion. Fully immersive systems are those where the user wears a head

mounted display to receive the most direct experience of the virtual environment.

Similarly, Whyte (2002) classified VR systems as immersive, non-immersive and

augmented reality. Immersive systems provide an unmediated experience through

completely surrounding the user by specific devices such as head-mounted and large

wall-mounted displays. Non-immersive systems use generic hardware, which does

not provide users with a total field of view. Augmented reality systems allow users to

interact with both the virtual and real worlds. Kirner and Kirner (2008) have likewise

classified virtual reality into two types based on sense of presence: non-immersive

and immersive. The non-immersive VR partially transports users into the virtual

world through a window or screen, while the immersive system fully transports users

into the application through multi-sensorial devices, such as helmets. Regardless of

which type of immersive system, VR thus can be defined as an immersive,

interactive experience in a computer-generated environment (Pimentel & Teixeira

1993), and the feeling of presence is induced during this experience.

In fact, the design goal of VR is to create the feeling of presence (Biocca 1997).

IJsselsteijn et al. (2000) assert that there are two types of presence: physical and

social. Physical presence refers to the sense of being located in somewhere, whereas

social presence refers to the sense of communication with someone else. Similarly,

Mantovani et al. (2006) explain that the relationship between communication and

presence at a theoretical level can be interpreted from two sides:

physical/environmental presence and social presence, in that communication take

place in the phenomena of being-in-the-world and being-with-others. As mentioned

above, VR systems allow users to interact with virtual environments alone or to

interact with the others via the environment. The sense of physical presence and

social presence is a psychological state, which coincides with the communication

exchange in the real world. Riva, Waterworth and Waterworth (2004, p. 414) assert

that presence is ‘a feeling of being in a world that exists outside of the self but in

which the self is situated.’ They propose three layers of presence to link presence and

self: Proto presence (self versus non-self), Core presence (self versus present

external world), and Extended presence (self relative to present external world).

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Proto presence is based on feelings of knowing bodily orientation in the world,

sometimes referred as ‘spatial presence’. Core presence is based on conscious

perception of current displays in which a person feels himself being in a perceived

world, which is also equivalent to ‘sensory presence’. Usually, these two levels

integrate to generate the degree of immersion. Extended presence depends on the

significance of the current situation to the self in the external world. The more the

three layers are integrated, the stronger the feeling of presence is produced. Steuer

(1992, p. 75) defined presence as ‘the sense of being in an environment’ where

natural surroundings impinge directly upon human senses. As an extension from this

concept, telepresence is defined as the experience of presence in mediated

environments (Steuer 1992; Shih 1998). In other words, telepresence is a facet of

presence, which implies a state of presence in a remote environment (Jahng, Jain &

Ramamurthy 2000; Kim &Biocca 1997). A high degree of telepresence makes users

feel that they in the virtual environment, rather than in the physical world where they

are actually located (Coyle, Mendelson & Kim 2008).

3.5 Telepresence

Researchers have found that VR has a positive relationship with telepresence (Suh &

Chang 2006; Suh & Lee 2005), because the key determinant of telepresence is the

user’s sensory immersion in the mediated environment (Kim & Biocca 1997). Cho,

Wang and Fesenmaier (2003) define virtual experience as an experience in a

computer-mediated virtual environment based on the concept of telepresence. The

active process of virtual experience is connected with three components: presence,

involvement, and enjoyment (Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2001). Virtual experience

often occurs in an interactive computer-mediated environment where presence is a

central characteristic, which contributes to perceived illusion (Park, Lennon & Stoel

2005). Telepresence creates virtual experience that simulates the direct experience in

a physical environment (Jahng, Jain & Ramamurthy 2000; Song, Fiore & Park 2006;

Suh & Chang 2006). The degree of telepresence is greater, the more similar the

mediated experience is to the direct experience (Klein 2003). However, in some

academic research, presence and telepresence seem to be considered as identical

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concepts, sharing the same characteristics. The term telepresence was first coined by

Marvin Minsky in 1980, and refers to the phenomenon that a person generates a

sense of being physically present at a remote location through interaction with the

system’s human interface via a teleoperation (IJsselsteijn et al. 2000). Teleoperations

are a specific type of virtual reality where a device or machine is operated from a

distance. The operator perceives the physical environment where she/he is actually

located, and the distant environment is presented via the technology (Coelho et al.

2006). Since Minsky’s definition, telepresence has been used to refer to a sense of

transportation to a space created by technology (Lee 2004). However, the

psychological presence in a remote or mediated environment has been studied in

various disciplines since the 1990s. The term ‘presence’ caused debate in 1992 when

Sheridan and Furness used it for a new journal dedicated to the study of

teleoperations and virtual environment systems. Sheridan (1992) refers to the term

presence as the presence elicited by a virtual environment, whereas the term

telepresence is only used for the case involving teleoperation. Nevertheless, in the

same section of the journal, Held and Durlach (1992) use the term telepresence for

the experience of both teleoperation and virtual environments. Kim and Biocca

(1997) draw on the concept of Minsky, developing the idea of telepresence as a type

of transportation. This involves departure, arrival and return from a mediated place

or space, in which arrival refers to the situation where users feel themselves to be

located in a virtual environment, whereas departure refers to the feeling of not being

in the physical world. They also indicate that the sense of presence is not generated

only from virtual environments but in many traditional media such as books,

magazines, and television. It is acknowledged that even less sophisticated techniques

can evoke the sense of presence (Lombard & Snyder-Duch 2001). Although some

researchers use the term presence as ‘the perceptual illusion of non-mediation’

(Lombard & Ditton 1997) to explain the superior of mediated environment, the

identical concept of telepresence, in this study, telepresence is used due to the

transported nature of tourism, and the concept of direct experience from Coyle and

Thorson (2001, p. 66): telepresence is a ‘simulated perception of direct experience’.

Researchers indicate that the feeling of presence, being in an environment, induces

enjoyment and enhances persuasion, which are the primary goals of advertising

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(Lombard & Snyder-Duch 2001). Telepresence influences consumers’ attitudes and

their consequent behaviours (Zahedi & Song 2009). The positive effect of

telepresence on user response has been well demonstrated in academic research. Kim

and Biocca (1997) state that telepresence stimulates direct experience and enhances

attitude confidence. Shih (1998) believes that telepresence helps web marketers keep

visitors staying longer on their website, as well as increasing repeat visitation. Fiore,

Kim and Lee (2005) prove that there is a significant positive relationship between

telepresence and attitude toward the online retailer, willingness to purchase from the

website, as well as willingness to patronize the website. Klein (2003) indicates that

telepresence has a positive impact on users’ beliefs about the examined products, and

increases positive user attitude toward the product. Keng and Lin (2006) prove that

Internet advertising effects are positively related to the degree of telepresence, in

terms of user recall and recognition. Suh and Chang (2006) contend that telepresence

enhances consumers’ product knowledge, directly influences attitudes and indirectly

affects purchase intentions, because it helps to diminish the perceived risk and the

inconsistency of examined products. Consumers under a high level of telepresence

have a virtual experience resembling direct experience, and their attention and

memory are enhanced. In a study of the online shopping context, Song, Fiore and

Park (2006) indicate that telepresence positively stimulates the feeling of fantasy,

influences shopping enjoyment and the willingness to purchase on the website. For

experiential products, designing a website with a high level of telepresence is

suggested (Keng & Lin 2006).

The cause of telepresence depends on one’s attention shifting from the located

physical world to the virtual environment (Witmer &Singer 1998). In fact, humans

experience different degrees of presence within various physical circumstances in

daily life. For example, when walking in the street, and passing by a luxury house,

one might feel envious and imagine the situation of standing inside the house. At that

moment, one might forget his/her surroundings, and experience a certain degree of

presence within that luxury house. The degree of presence depends on how much the

focus of attention moves from the physical environment to the virtual environment

(Witmer & Singer 1998). The sense of telepresence is influenced by integrating the

stimuli from both the physical and mediated environment, and depends on users’

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inherent traits and shifting states of attention. When the mediated stimuli surpass the

physical stimuli, a sense of telepresence is produced (Kim & Biocca 1997).

Telepresence therefore is the situation of precedence of the mediated environment

(Steuer 1992).

Flow and Telepresence

Researchers indicate that flow and telepresence are similar concepts (Cho, Wang &

Fesenmaier 2003; Coyle & Thorson 2001). Flow is considered as an important

indicator to understand user behaviour (Huang 2003). Takatalo, Nyman and

Laaksonen (2008) integrate the concepts of presence and flow, and propose a

presence-flow-framework (PFF) to measure user experience in a virtual environment.

The PFF includes three dimensions: physical presence, situational involvement, and

competence. Csikszentmihalyi (1975, p. 36) is the pioneer of the concept of flow,

which he defines as ‘the holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total

involvement.’ When users are in the flow state, they are engaged with an activity in

which their focus of awareness is diminished, and they feel in control of the

environment (Rettie 2001). Hoffman and Novak (1996, p. 57) developed

Csikszentmihalyi’s concept in a hypermedia system and defined flow in a computer

mediated environment as ‘the state occurring during network navigation which is: (1)

characterized by a seamless sequence of responses facilitated by machine

interactivity, (2) intrinsically enjoyable, (3) accompanied by a loss of self

consciousness, and (4) self-reinforcing.’ There are four antecedents of flow

experience: focused attention, perceived congruence of skills and challenges,

interactivity and telepresence. Huang (2003) and Rettie (2001) also indicate that

interactivity facilitates flow experience. However, some researchers (e.g., Skadberg

& Kimmel 2004) argue that skills and challenge are not appropriate to be included in

the web environment. Skadberg and Kimmel (2004) propose another four dimensions

as the determinants of flow on a website: contents, design, performance, and visitors’

individual differences. Within these, three elements contribute to flow: telepresence,

visitor’s knowledge about the topic presented, and content of the web pages. They

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assert that the state of telepresence is similar to the characteristics of flow, because

they both require complete involvement, focused attention, and loss of awareness.

Hoffman and Novak (1996) indicate that the consequences of flow include increased

consumer learning, increased perceived behavioural control, increased exploratory

behaviour, positive subjective experience, and perception of time distortion.

Skadberg and Kimmel (2004) assert that flow experience not only increases learning,

but also changes user attitudes and behaviours. Users with flow experience tend to

ask for more information, come back to the website for information, and take

positive action. Skadberg, Skadberg and Kimmel (2005) indicate that a tourism

website can induce flow experience with characteristics of time distortion and

enjoyment. Visitors who have flow experience possess greater interest in visiting the

destination presented on the website.

Dimensions of Telepresence

Heeter (1992) proposes three dimensions of telepresence: personal presence, social

presence, and environmental presence. Personal presence refers to the feeling of

location in the virtual environment. Social presence refers to the feeling of other

people or other entities co-existing in the virtual environment, who are providing a

response to the user. Environmental presence refers to the environment itself,

acknowledging the user and responding to her/him in the virtual environment.

Schloerb (1995) defines two types of telepresence: subjective presence and objective

presence. Subjective presence refers to the probability that a person perceives she/he

is presented in a remote environment. Objective presence refers to the probability of

successfully completing a task. Lombard and Snyder-Duch (2001) explicate several

dimensions of telepresence: spatial presence, perceptual realism, social realism,

engagement, social presence, social actor with the medium and para-social

interaction, shared space, and medium as social actor. Spatial presence is generated

when the user’s perception fails to accurately recognise the medium in use and feels

she/he is in an environment that differs from her/his physical location.

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Perceptual realism occurs when user perception of the medium is diminished,

making him/her feel that he/she is in the physical world in which the sensory

characteristics are corresponding. Social realism is elicited when user perception of

the medium is diminished, which makes she/he feel that they are in the physical

world where the social characteristics are corresponding. Engagement is produced

when the user’s perception is directed toward mediated objects, events or people, and

away from those in the physical environment. Social presence occurs when the user’s

perception of the medium is diminished and this induces the feeling of

communication with other people. Social actor with the medium and para-social

interaction happens when the user perception of the medium is diminished, and

she/he feels engaged in two-way communication with another, although the

communication is just one-way, from the medium to the person, without feedback

from the person or the entity. Shared space occurs when the user perception of the

medium is diminished, and she/he feels that communication with others is happening

in the same physical place, but they actually are in different physical locations.

Medium as social actor happens when the user perception of the medium is

diminished, and she/he feels that communication is happening with another entity,

but that entity in fact is merely technology or a medium.

Determinants of Telepresence

Research into the causes of telepresence has been suggested in the literature.

Sheridan (1992) asserts that degree of telepresence depends on three factors:

1. The degree of sensory information content,

2. The ability of the user to alter the sensors relative to the virtual environment,

3. The ability of the user to manipulate the environment.

Lombard and Ditton (1997) suggest that the causes of telepresence are determined by

three dimensions:

1. Form variables: including number and consistency of sensory outputs, visual

display characteristics, image quality, image size, image size and viewing

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distance, motion and colour, dimensionality, camera techniques, aural

presentation characteristics, stimuli for other senses, interactivity,

obtrusiveness of medium, live user recorded or constructed experience, and

number of people.

2. Content variables: including social realism, use of media conventions, and

nature of task or activity.

3. Media user variables: including willingness to suspend disbelief, knowledge

and prior experience with the medium, and other variables.

Witmer and Singer (1998) state that the factors influencing telepresence depend on

involvement or immersion, and propose four dimensions of these factors.

1. Control factors: including immediacy of control, anticipation, mode of

control, and physical environmental modifiability.

2. Sensory factors: including sensory modality, environmental richness,

multimodal presentation, consistency of multimodal information, degree of

movement perception, and active search.

3. Distraction factors: including isolation, selective attention, and interface

awareness.

4. Realism Factors: including scene realism, consistency of information with the

objective world, meaningfulness of experience, and separation

anxiety/disorientation.

IJsselsteijn et al. (2000), and Freeman, Lessiter and IJsselsteijn(2001) elucidate four

factors underlying telepresence.

1. The extent and fidelity of sensory information: the amount of useful and

salient sensory information, which is presented as consistent with the

appropriate sense of the user.

2. The match between sensors and the display: the response contingent on the

user’s actions.

3. Content factors: including the objects, actors, and events represented by the

medium.

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4. User characteristics: including users’ demographical difference, perceptual,

cognitive and motor abilities, prior experience, and willingness to suspend

disbelief.

From above, it is found that causes of telepresence can be classified into technical

features and user characteristics. In the context of web environments, a variety of

website features have been explored to increase user’s sense of being transported to

the environment. The major determinants are interactivity and vividness (Coyle &

Thorson 2001; Jones, Spence & Vallaster 2008; Schuemie et al. 2001; Steuer 1992).

3.6 Interactivity

Interactivity has been considered as one of the most predominant features of the

Internet (Mohler & Duff 2000; Rafaeli & Sudweeks 1997), and it is also an important

attribute, which distinguishes the Internet from other media (Huang 2003). A wide

range of research has been conducted that investigates the relationship between

interactivity and websites (Bhatt 2004; Damangeot & Broderick 2006; Olson &

Widing II 2002; Thorbjornsen et al. 2002), while the advantages of interactivity have

been discussed in literature. Interactivity has consequences in the creation of

engagement in the process of communication and in relationship building between

companies and consumers (Ha & James 1998). It has been recognised as a valuable

way of improving communication quality of business websites (Chen & Yen 2004).

Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1997) contend that interactivity positively connects to the

sense of involvement and belonging. Ghose and Dou (1998) indicate that the degree

and nature of interactivity significantly influences the website quality. They found

that attractiveness of a website derives from the operation of interactivity. Gammack

and Hodkinson (2003) contend that interactivity attracts and maintains user attention.

Increasing the level of interactivity on a website enhances users’ engagement and

purchase intention. Huang (2003) indicates that interactivity affirmatively influences

control, curiosity, and interest. Macias (2003) asserts that interactivity helps enhance

comprehension. Sunder, Kalyanaraman and Brown (2003) contend that interactivity

applied in the political arena influences users’ perceptions of the political candidate

and their agreement with the candidate’s policy positions. Ballantine (2005)

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demonstrates that interactivity has a positive impact on user satisfaction. Consumers

appreciate higher level of interactivity when browsing a shopping website. Chiu,

Hsieh and Kao (2005) assert that interactivity is positively related to consumers’

behavioural intention due to the improvement of website quality. Fortin and

Dholakia (2005) indicate that the most significant impact of interactivity is on the

degree of perceived presence. Yoon, Choi and Sohn (2008) acknowledge the

heightened effect of interactivity on the relationship building process.

Several researchers have found that interactivity has positive effects on users’

attitudes toward the website and advertised products. Wu (1999) indicates that users’

attitudes toward a website has a positive correlation with their perceived interactivity

of the website. McMillan and Hwang (2002) developed a set of scales to measure

perceived interactivity (MPI) and indicate these MPI scales can be strong predictors

of attitude toward a website. Teo et al. (2003) conducted an empirical study to

examine the effects of different levels of interactivity on user attitude, and the result

shows that higher level interactivity on a website contributes to user satisfaction,

effectiveness, and efficiency, which increases the website value and positive attitude

toward a website. Sunder and Kim (2005) investigated the relationship between

interactivity and persuasion. They found the level of interactivity positively

influenced the attitude toward the advertisement and the product, and indicated that

interactivity is a strong cue to enhance the persuasive function of online

advertisements.

Although researchers have investigated different facets of interactivity, there is no

common definition of the concept (Macias 2003). Researchers define interactivity

from different perspectives. Heeter (2000) indicates that ‘interactivity is an overused,

under-defined concept.’ Ha and James (1998) define interactivity as the extent to

which the communication between the two communicators is willing to facilitate

each other’s needs. Some researchers put it in a simple way, such as the ‘information

exchange between a website and its users’ (Huang 2003, p. 427) or ‘the response

triggered by the user’ (Skadberg & Kimmel 2004, p. 407). However, these

definitions do not consider the control power of the user on given media. Steure

(1992, p. 84) defines interactivity as ‘the extent to which users can participate in

modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time.’ Similarly,

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Jensen (1998) defines interactivity as the medium’s potential ability to allow users to

make changes to the content and/or form of the mediated environment. Lombard and

Snyder-Duch (2001) propose a consistent definition and argue that interactivity is a

characteristic of a medium which empowers the user to influence the presentation or

experience. Shih (1998) agrees that interactivity is a media characteristic and states

this capability can give responses to the user, as if an individual is having a

conversation. Based on Ha and James’ (1998) concept, Macias (2003, p. 32-33)

defines interactivity as ‘The state or process of communicating, exchanging,

obtaining and/or modifying content and/or its form with or through a medium which

responds to both the communicator’s and the audience’s communication needs by

including hypertext links, reciprocal communication, etc.’ Some researchers

emphasise that an interactive communication needs to be happening in real time,

rather than the manipulation on given media. Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1997) define

interactivity as a condition of communication in which exchanges happen

simultaneously and continuously, and these exchanges produce a social and binding

outcome. Liu & Shurm (2002, p. 54) define interactivity as ‘the degree to which two

or more communication parties can act on each other, on the communication

medium, and on the messages and the degree to which such influences are

synchronised.’ Swain (2005) also believes interactive communication must provide

instant feedback. Kiousis (2002) asserts interactivity allows participants to

communicate one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many in reciprocal message

exchanges, both synchronously and asynchronously. Other researchers consider both

control and message exchange in synchronization. Liu (2003) claims that

interactivity provides opportunities for user active control and reciprocal and

synchronous communications. Fortin and Dholakia (2005, p. 388) give a broader

concept of interactivity: ‘The degree to which a communication system can allow

one or more end users to communicate alternatively as senders or receivers with one

or many other users or communication devices, either in real time (as in video

teleconferencing) or on a store-and-forward basis (as with electronic mail), or to seek

and gain access to information on an on-demand basis where the content, timing and

sequence of the communication is under control of the end user, as opposed to a

broadcast basis.’

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Interactivity is multidimensional (Chen & Yen 2004; Haubl & Trifts 2000; Liu &

Shrum 2002). Steuer (1992, p. 85-86) proposes three factors contribute to

interactivity: speed, range, and mapping. Speed refers to the response time, range

refers to the amount of user options in manipulation, and mapping refers to ‘the

ability of a system to map its controls to changes in the mediated environment in a

natural and predictable manner.’ Ghose and Dou (1998) identify 23 forms of

interactive functions based on five dimensions: customer support, marketing

research, personal-choice helper, advertising/promotion/publicity, and entertainment.

Ha and James (1998) propose five dimensions of interactivity – playfulness, choice,

connectedness, information collection, and reciprocal communication – based on the

different needs of communication. They believe that information collection and

reciprocal communication are higher levels of interactivity due to the involvement of

direct, two-way message exchange, and that these two can be classified as source-

oriented dimensions.

Dimensions of playfulness, choice and connectedness are deemed as self-

communications, which are classified as audience-oriented interactivity. Jensen

(1998) identifies four underlying dimensions of the concept of interactivity:

transmissional, consultational, conversational, and registrational interactivity.

Transmissional interactivity refers to the media’s potential ability for the provision of

user choices in one-way communication. Consultational interactivity refers to the

media’s potential ability for the provision of user choices in two-way

communication. Conversational interactivity refers to the media’s potential ability to

provide user production of her/his own information in a two-way communication.

Registrational interactivity refers to the media’s potential ability to register

information based on user needs and actions.

Lombard and Snyder-Duch (2001) contend that interactivity depends on five

subsidiary variables: 1) the number of inputs that users can access and get a response

from the medium; 2) the number and type of characteristics which users can modify

in the mediated presentation; 3) the range or amount of attributes which users can

control; 4) speed of response from the medium; 5) the degree of correspondence

between user inputs and media response. Kiousis (2002) conceptualises three

dimensions of interactivity from both media and psychological perspectives: the

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structure of a medium, the context of the communication setting, and the perceptions

of users. He further formulates three operational dimensions of interactivity:

technological structure of the media (speed, range, timing flexibility, and sensory

complexity), characteristics of the communication setting (third-order dependency

and social presence), and individuals’ perceptions (proximity, perceived speed,

sensory activation, and telepresence). McMillan and Hwang (2002) categorise three

frequently used elements – direction of communication, user control, and time - to

explicate the concept of interactivity. Liu (2003) explains that interactivity embraces

two important aspects: reciprocal communication and control, and proposes three

dimensions of interactivity: active control, two-way communication, and

synchronicity. Sunder, Kalyanaraman and Brown (2003) conceptualise interactivity

from two distinct views: the functional view and contingency view. The functional

view indicates the capability of the medium in providing a dialogue or information

exchange between user and the medium.

The contingency view emphasises the relationship between user, media, and

messages, in which the messages need to relate to one another, so that the subsequent

message is responded to, contingent or dependent to the previous one. Chen and Yen

(2004) utilise the five dimensions from Ha and James (1998), and place the emphasis

on playfulness, connectedness, and reciprocal communication, which are exhibited as

strong predictors of website quality. Tremayne (2005) identifies the concept of

interactivity into two domains: functional and perceptual. The functional concept

regards interactivity as a process of message exchange, whereas the perceptual

concept considers interactivity as a perceptual variable. Keng and Lin (2006)

conceptualise interactivity as interaction with media, a communication process, and a

method of controlling a message, concluding that there are four characteristics of

interactivity: participant equity (exchange of roles, communication linkage), dynamic

communication process (immediacy of feedback, controlling of process, dialog),

control of message (controlling of content, personalisation, responsiveness), and

mutual understanding (social presence, mutual understanding).

In terms of the relationship between user and medium, Hoffman and Novak (1996)

propose machine interactivity, in which users access interactivity with content, and

person interactivity, in which users communicate through the medium. Stromer-

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Galley (2000) identifies online interaction into computer-mediated human interaction

and media interaction, in which the defining characteristic is feedback. Computer-

mediated human interaction occurs between two or more people, whereas media

interaction refers to the medium itself giving the feedback. Kiousis (2002) indicates

that interactivity in participant relationships includes human-to-machine, human-to-

human via machine, and machine-to-machine. Liu and Shurm (2002) classify

interactivity into three types: user-machine interaction, user-user interaction, and

user-message interaction. Similarly, in a recent study, Cho and Cheon (2005)

categorise the dimensions of interactivity into human-message interaction, and

human-human interaction. Human-message interaction indicates the interaction

between users and message, that is, the content of information systems. This

dimension focuses on the technical aspect, in which the interaction occurs between

users and media. Human-human emphasises the reciprocal communication between

senders and receiver. This dimension signifies the communication aspect, in which

interaction occurs between the user and marketer or/and other users via media. This

study investigates the effects of website features on information presentation.

Therefore, the dimension of human-message interaction is adopted as the central

concept of interactivity.

User control is the key characteristic of interactivity (Klein 2003; Lombard &

Snyder-Duch 2001; Shih 1998). The more control a user has over the virtual

environment, the greater degree of telepresence (Witmer &Singer 1998). Liu and

Shrum (2002) suggest that active control induces user cognitive involvement, and

has a positive influence on user learning and satisfaction. Users who feel they have

more control feel more confident than users who do not feel in control (Huang 2003).

Kristof and Satran (1995) propose seven interactivity levels based on available

control: control over pace, control over sequence, control over media, control over

variables, control over transaction, control over objects, and control over simulation.

Shih (1998) indicates user control allows users to tailor certain aspects of the

contents based on their individual needs. Lombard and Snyder-Duch (2001) claim

that interactivity is made greater by expanding the amount of change possibility,

through which users can control the attribute of the mediated environment. Sicilia,

Ruiz and Munuera (2005) indicate ‘machine interactivity’ allows users to control

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what information will be presented, and decide the order and duration. Fiore and Jin

(2003) describe ‘image interactivity’ as enabling manipulation of product or

environment on web sites. For instance, the user can control the viewing angle or

distance, simulate the product’s operation, or change the product’s features. Swain

(2005) states interactive marketing communication allows consumers to initiate and

control communication and decide what messages are received.

Researchers have conducted different studies to examine the effects of user control.

Ariely (2000) investigates the merits and defects of control over the information

flow, and indicates that this user control provides a better match of users’

preferences, enhances their memory and knowledge about the examined product, and

increases confidence in their judgement. Klein (2003) indicates that in direct physical

experience, consumers can observe, hear, touch, smell or taste the product,

depending on their preferred control, whereas in mediated environments the options

of user control are fewer. In her studies, by using wine and face cream as the product

categories to examine the relationship between user control and telepresence, she

found the higher the level of user control, the greater the level of telepresence. Coyle

and Thorson (2001) come to the same conclusion in their study by manipulating the

number of clickable images. Klein (2003) further demonstrates that telepresence has

a significant and positive effect toward an advertised product. Chen, Griffith and

Shen (2005) explore the effects of interactivity by manipulating the level of user

control in an online product trail context. The results indicate that interactivity

facilitates users to develop greater trust for the online retailer, and improves their

evaluations of products, which in turn influences the purchase intention both online

and offline. Sicilia, Ruiz and Munuera (2005) manipulate interactivity in terms of

hyperlink provision in their study, and the results exhibit the positive relationship

between interactivity and information processing. The effect is particularly

significant on the low need-for-cognition group. It is suggested that interactivity

benefits marketers in both information processing and persuasiveness of the website.

Other researchers focus on another type of user control: image interactivity, in which

users can create and manipulate the image of a product to mimic the real experience

in a physical shop. Fiore, Kim and Lee (2005) demonstrate that the level of image

interactivity influences the instrumental value, and experiential value, as well as the

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feeling of telepresence. This, in turn, has a positive impact on users’ attitude toward

the online retailer, their willingness to purchase on the website, and willingness to

patronise the website. Fiore, Jin and Kim (2005) indicate that image interactivity is

positively related to emotional arousal and pleasure, which predicts users’

behavioural willingness. They believe that image interactivity influences both

hedonic and utilitarian satisfaction.

3.7 Vividness

Vividness, also referred to as media richness, is the representational richness of a

computer-mediated environment that conveys the information to user senses (Steuer

1992). The conceptualisation of vividness is based on the assumption that the

richness of media in computer-mediated environments can enhance users’ perception

of the content and increase user engagement with the content, so that users’

perception of mediation is diminished (Klein 2003). Steuer (1992, p. 81) proposes

two variables that contribute to vividness: ‘sensory breadth’ and ‘sensory depth’.

Sensory breadth refers to the number of sensory channels being utilised by the

medium to present information to users simultaneously, and sensory depth refers to

the quality of information. For instance, video possesses higher sensory breadth than

still images, due to the use of both audio and visual senses (Suh & Chang 2006). In

terms of sensory depth, commercial films have a greater depth on visual resolution,

in terms of colours and pixels, than regular television (Steuer 1992). A large-sized

moving image has greater sensory depth than a small-sized moving or non-moving

image (Park, Lennon & Stoel 2005). Website features, such as multimedia

technology, integrate multiple media elements to enhance the performance of

computer-mediated environments that produce superior vividness compared to the

traditional single medium. Therefore, rich media presentation, such as animation,

audio, and video, may increase the vividness of a website (Coyle & Thorson 2001).

Research concerning the effect of website vividness has been well documented.

Jones, Spence and Vallaster (2008) state that vividness is one of the emotion-causing

antecedents that are believed to influence the likelihood of emotional reaction to a

brand, and in turn affect consumer behaviour. Sunder and Kalyanaraman (2004)

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emphasis the importance of vividness and argue that vivid information is more

appealing and more likely to be remembered. Coyle and Thorson (2001), and Klein

(2003) indicate that levels of vividness are positively related to telepresence. Coyle

and Thorson (2001) further claim that websites with animation, audio, and video,

which create greater virtual experience, can make users have stronger and more

enduring attitudes toward the website. Fortin and Dholakia (2005) demonstrate

identical findings, in which the enhancement of vividness, by means of colours,

graphics, and animation, produces favourable impacts on telepresence. In addition,

they indicate that vividness exhibits a stronger effect on the affective dimension than

interactivity. Sunder and Kim (2005) agree that the importance of animation, is due

to its capability of positively influencing attitudes toward the advertisement. Appiah

(2006) also supports the advantage of multimedia presentation, in which users prefer

a website featuring audio/video than a website featuring text/picture. This suggests

that multimedia presentation positively influences users’ attitudes toward the website

and the examined product. Simon and Peppas (2004) indicate that participants

favoured websites with more information and richer presentation. The sample

possessed more positive attitudes and greater satisfaction with websites featuring

pictures, audio and video, than with text-based websites. This evidence all confirms

the positive effects of multimedia technology that flow from its format and which

provides richer information delivery than traditional brochures or catalogues (Wulf et

al. 2006).

Researchers in the field of Media Richness Theory (MRT) argue that an information-

rich medium is more effective for complex tasks, whereas information-lean medium

is suitable for simple tasks (Järveläinen 2007). Palmer and Griffith (1998) state that

media richness better supports information-intensive products, because richer

communication formats not only increase interactivity, but also reduce uncertainty

(Ramirez Jr & Burgoon 2004). Tourism is an information-intensive product (Doolin,

Burgess & Cooper 2002), and tourist decision-making is a complex task that

particularly requires rich media to support its information needs. Therefore, it is

believed that the use of multimedia to enhance the vividness of websites may bring

positive effects.

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3.8 Web-based Virtual Tour

Many DMOs have developed websites with different levels of interactivity (Palmer

& McCole 2000), because interactivity and multimedia are key components in the

creation of virtual experience (Cho & Fesenmaier 2000). Rosen and Purinton (2004)

assert that sensory experience in the web environment is critical. The interaction with

multimedia-enhanced websites produces telepresence, and empowers users to

experience tourism products and destinations without the real visit (Buhalis & Law

2008). Researchers indicate that virtual experience in a three-dimensional (3D)

computer simulation creates visual affordances that allow users to interact with a

product in a similar way to direct experience (Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2001). Several

researchers have indicated that 3D environments provide a better outcome on user

experience (Berneburg 2007; Li, Daugherty & Biocca 2003; Yoon, Laffey & Oh

2008). Virtual tours, one of the VR systems, featuring a 3D virtual environment,

have been adopted in a number of DMO websites (e.g., Hong Kong and Singapore).

The importance of the virtual tour on tourism websites has been emphasised (e.g.,

Cho & Fesenmaier 2000; Sung et al. 2000). It has been found that many DMOs have

created virtual tours on their websites because it is considered to be an effective tool

for destination marketing (Cho, Wang & Fesenmaier 2003). Bastanlar (2007) claims

that interactive virtual tours not only improve the visual presentation, but also

facilitate spatial understanding of the place. It provides more visual sensory

information that may be found and experienced during a real visit to the place. This

more complete information is important in evaluating the attraction accurately and in

reducing the uncertainty of pre-visitation. Virtual tours play an important role in

destination marketing, due to their ability to provide virtual experience, which in turn

enables tourists to evaluate the real travel experience more accurately (Cho, Wang &

Fesenmaier 2003).

Cho, Wang and Fesenmaier (2003) argue that virtual tours help reduce the cost of

seeking tourist information and facilitate the search for experiential tourism

information. This experiential information influences the formation of destination

images and makes tourists more confident about their trips. In addition, it may

increase tourist satisfaction with the actual visit, due to the consistence of expectation

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and actual travel experience. Even though the tourist might select another

destination, the vivid destination images from the virtual tour experiences still linger

in her/his mind, which may induce a desire to visit in the future (Cho & Fesenmaier

2000).

Currently, there are two major approaches to the creation of virtual tours: 3D model-

based rendering and image-based presentation. In constructing virtual environments,

3D model-based rendering requires laborious procedure and much higher cost than

image-based presentation (Chen 1995; Koizumi & Ishiguro 2005; Tsukamoto 2000).

Image-based VR presentation skips the laborious 3D modelling process (Yoon et al.

2004), by utilising photographs to create photo-realistic virtual environments, where

high quality rendering is achieved (Zara 2006). Since QuickTime VR was created by

Apple in 1995, this approach has become increasingly popular on web-based virtual

environments (Villanueva, Moore & Wong 2004), and it has become the most

common type of virtual tour on the Internet (Zara, Benes & Rodarte 2004).

Apple QuickTime VR uses panoramic images, in which users interactively pan the

panorama with mouse and keyboard to control the viewpoint (Zara, Benes & Rodarte

2004). The objectives of Apple QuickTime VR are to create a 3D environment in

most personal computers without extra hardware (e.g., data gloves or head-mount

displays) and without laborious computer modelling and rendering, while displaying

high quality images independent of scene complexity (Chen 1995). This technology

brings flat photographs from the 2D world into a more immersive and interactive

virtual environment (Lee 2002), and tourism and cultural promotion has become one

of the most suitable applications for its use (Gonçalves 2007). Researchers indicate

that users in a QuickTime VR environment have better memory for products and

better navigation performance (Howes et al. 2001). The use of 360° panoramic

images has become a standard technique applied in various areas (Farin, Effelsberg

& de With 2007; Mazzoleni et al. 2006), and they are also adopted in commercial

usages such as entertainment, interactive TV, real estate and virtual tourism (Gledhill

et al. 2003). It represents the reality valued in the creation of qualitative impressions

(Chapman & Deacon 1998), and changes the static presentation to an interactive

approach (Gonçalves 2007).

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There are four major processes in making 360° panorama movies: image capturing,

image processing, image stitching, and movie rendering (Gledhill et al. 2003).

Basically, image capturing uses a digital camera to shoot different amounts of

images, depending on the type of camera. Fisheye lenses are the most popular one to

capture panoramic images (see Figure 3.1). The camera, installed on a tripod, is set

in the centre and rotated to different angles to shoot the images. After shooting, those

images have to go through processing, necessary adjustments are made, and they are

then stitched together by image stitching software. The stitching process creates a big

flat image (see Figure 3.2), which can then be rendered into a 360° panorama movie.

Figure 3.1 Original Images from Fisheye Lenses for Making A Panorama

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Figure 3.2 Stitched Panoramic Image from the Above Original Images

3.9 Research Model

Based on the review of literature, a model for this research is proposed (see Figure

3.3). As mentioned on chapter 2, the relationship of tourism and cultural identity is

inseparable in this global market, and the importance of web design has been

recognised by tourism researchers. As the information technology has been

developed advanced, it is significant to investigate that whether varied website

features used on tourism websites have different effects on users’ evaluations for the

website. Website features construct information presentations, which create different

virtual experiences and may influence user attitude toward a website. Telepresence

creates a feeling of ‘being there’, which may bring the user to the destination she/he

intends to visit or to examine within a web environment. Although previous research

has examined the relationship between interactivity, vividness, and telepresence, the

product and website features being investigated are different. Coyle and Thorson

(2001) controlled interactivity in terms of number of choices and clickable images,

and vividness in terms of audio and animation. Klein (2003) controlled interactivity

by manipulating the level of user control over the order and form, and controlled

vividness by using text/still images in comparison with text/still images plus

video/audio elements. Suh and Chang (2006) used video-clip (no audio), mutiple-

picture and 3D VR model as the design factors to test user response. These studies all

use general tangible products and do not include panoramic images or other website

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features commonly used on tourism websites (e.g. auto-played slideshow, photo

gallery). Therefore, it is necessary to investigate how different website features

influence telepresence in tourism websites, especially the use of panorama, a popular

and efficient approach to create virtual tour on the Internet. The three underlying

dimensions of user attitude have been proposed in chapter 3. Hence, attractiveness

value, informative value, enjoyment value, and telepresence will comprise the four

dimensions of measurement. Besides website features, past experiences have been

found to influence the formation of destination images. It should be taken into

account if prior visitation influences users’ perception of these four dimensions. In

addition, it was indicated that gender and age are two important factors to identify

cultural tourists. Researchers argue that female cultural tourists are more active than

male, and that older people are not the only important group. It is interesting to

investigate if gender and age have any impact on the measurement as well.

Figure 3.3 Research Model

Due to the importance of user attitude and positive effect of telepresence, this model

will be used to examine the effect of website features on the creation of telepresence,

attractiveness value, enjoyment value and informative value from potential users.

The purpose of these measurements is to discover if varied website features used on

tourism websites function as well as the finding of previous research, particularly,

the effects of panoramic images. The result should be able to provide a reliable

evidence for tourism marketers and website designers to successfully promote

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cultural identity in the competitive global market. In addition, the model also

attempts to find out whether users’ prior experience, gender, age have different

impacts on their evaluation for the experimental website. As the tourism market has

been fragmentised, user preferences of different groups should be emphasised in the

marketing strategy. These measurements will provide further evidence for tourism

marketers and website designers to consider the adoption of different ICTs on

tourism websites to promote tourism products more efficiently.

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CHAPTER 4

METHODOLOGY

4.1 Experimental Approach

In the area of design research, quantitative methods are often used to link attitudes to

behaviours and to evaluate the improvement of attitude resulting from design

(Purpura 2003). Berger (2000) indicates that experiments are often conducted to test

whether something is true, examine the validity of hypotheses or theory, or discover

new information. It provides strong evidence that a given variable has an effect on

the study interests. Hence, most empirical studies take this approach to investigate

the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables. Independent

variables are variables manipulated by experimenters to examine whether these

factors exert impacts on dependent variables. As part of research design,

experimenters have to operationlise the dependent and independent variables that can

be observed and measured (Piper 1998). Empirical studies on attitude toward a

website (e.g., Chen & Wells 1999; Elliott & Speck 2005; Gao & Koufaris 2006) and

telepresence (e.g., Coyle & Thorson 2001; Klein 2003; Suh & Chang 2006) also

follow this approach to experiments by using convenience samples of subjects –

normally undergraduate students from universities – and laboratory settings. Indeed,

researchers found that laboratory experiments were the most common method in

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academic advertising research and its popularity has been increased during the last

two decade. It is found that 27% of articles in the Journal of Advertising were based

on laboratory experiments in 1984, and the rate increased to 58% by 2004 (Bergkvist

& Rossiter 2006). A large amount of information system research was also based on

the laboratory experiment approach (Introna & Whitley 2000). It is also broadly used

in marketing research (Stayman & Hagerty 1985).

The main advantage of laboratory experiments is high internal validity (Bergkvist &

Rossiter 2006; Gardner & Raj 1983). Internal validity refers to the degree to which

independent variables have impact on the dependent variables, and external validity

refers to the degree of generalisability of the results produced from the experiment

(Piper 1998). Lab research is the only type of research in which researchers can have

complete control over exposure, so that they can be certain that a respondent has

been exposed for a specific time to a specific stimulus (Ray & Sawyer 1971).

However, researchers argue that the high level of control may decrease the external

validity due to the lack of realism (Bergkvist & Rossiter 2006; Diamond 1986; Reips

& Zürich 2000). The artificial settings of a laboratory environment place a tension

between external and internal validity (Schram 2005). Researchers use laboratory

experiments to study a particular context, but the tasks are schemed by

experimenters, and participants are doing the experiment in a controlled

environment, which differs from their own natural environment (Kellar et al. 2008).

In the laboratory experiment, experimenters manipulate one or two factors as

independent variables to examine the effects and control all other situations. This

approach gives insights into the relationship between independent variables and

dependent variables of the study, but neglects the complex interactions in the real

world (Gardner & Raj 1983). Many features of a laboratory experiment are not

relevant for decision making in the real world (Loewenstein 1999). The laboratory

provides limited usage from both academic and practical perspectives (Introna &

Whitley 2000), and researchers have called for a strong need for external validity in

experiment based research (e.g., Smith 1985; Starmer 1999; Winer 1999).

In fact, generalisability of experimental results has been viewed as a serious question

since Campbell and Stanley (1963) first introduced the concept of external validity

(Vissers et al. 2001). Issues concerning the validity of laboratory experiments have

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been well documented in varied areas, such as marketing (e.g., McQuarrie 2004;

Stayman & Hagerty 1985), economics (e.g., Guala & Mittone 2005; Loewenstein

1999), advertising (e.g., Bergkvist & Rossiter 2006; Gardner & Raj 1983),

psychology (e.g., Anderson & Bushman 1997), and information systems (e.g.,

Introna & Whitley 2000; Sorensen et al. 2001). Diamond (1986) indicates that

laboratory experiments are unrealistic and lack generality. Others have also identified

these potential problems in laboratory research (e.g., Greenberg 1967; Ray & Sawyer

1971). List and Levitt (2005) emphasise four characteristics of laboratory

experiments from the marketing point of view, which present potential problems for

producing generalisability from the lab to the real world. The first characteristic is

that participants know they are being observed, which might influence their

behaviours during the experiment. Because of this awareness, they might behave

according to the expectation of experimenters. The second characteristic is context

matters, which may be beyond experimenters’ control but have strong impacts on

participants’ behaviours. The third characteristic is the stakes involved for the

participants, which are usually quite small in experiments, but the decisions are

actually more important in the real world. The fourth characteristic is self-selection.

The participants used in experiments may completely differ from a real group of

people, and the results from the experiment will not be extrapolated due to this

dissimilarity. One of the most criticised arguments of experimental research is the

use of undergraduate students (Reips & Zürich 2000). Sorenson et al. (2001) indicate

that student subjects might act in the way that the teachers expect them to respond,

and the limited duration of the experiment also influences their engagement to act

naturally. Introna and Whitley (2000) contend that the performances of

undergraduate students participating in an experimental study will not be the same as

managers, or a specific group for a study, and this dissimilar behaviours result

limited validity of the study. In addition, the world of managers is not as simplified

as a laboratory environment, but is the involvement of a whole environment, where

many possibilities combine together. Piper (1998) proposes an identical assertion in

terms of sampling problems and artificial environments. The criticism is often that

the laboratory environment cannot represent real life elements, so that the findings

might be distorted (Vissers et al. 2001). Hence, there is a need to situate research in

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the real world environment if researchers want to be more confident in the

conclusions of their research (Introna &Whitley 2000).

Experimenter effects are another factor that threaten the validity of an experiment

(Piper 1998; Reips & Zürich 2000; Vissers et al. 2001). Rosenberg (1969) indicates

that participants are sensitive to subtle cues from experimenters due to the fear of

judgement during the procedure. Rosenthal (1976) provides a comprehensive

summary of experimenter effects, such as unintentional or intentional errors in the

data interpretation, experimenters’ biosocial attributes and psychosocial attributes,

experimenter modelling and experimenters’ expectance. These experimenter effects

may influence participants’ behaviours and thus elicit different responses, rather than

merely being produced from the manipulation of independent variables. Hewson,

Laurent and Vogel (1996) state that the demand characteristics of the experimental

situation may make participants feel a need to please the experimenter or feel a

pressure to act conforming to social norms.

Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) is a decision behaviour theory, which first

emerged in 1989 at a conference in which researchers discussed their findings

outside of the traditional decision approaches (Zsambok 1997). It is marked by the

emphasis on expertise of participants and the highlighting of field settings where the

decisions are made (Lipshitz et al. 2001). NDM researchers argue that decision

research fails to take into account the situational variable that everyday life involves

(see Montgomery, Lipshitz & Brehmer, 2005). They strive to understand decision-

making as it happens in the real world (Bazerman 2001) and abandon laboratory

environments to conduct their research in real world settings (Roelofsma 2001).

Orasanu and Connolly (1993, p. 6) assert that ‘Decision event research in the

laboratory tends to require decisions apart from any meaningful context. In natural

settings, making a decision is not an end in itself. Usually it is a means to achieving a

broader goal.’ They argue that utilising ‘naïve subjects in context-limited

environments’ (i.e. when university students are required to do surveys to obtain

credits) excludes situational, lifestyle, time-constrained, and aspirational variables.

These variables provide real-world motivators that vary over time and circumstance.

Klein (1997) argues that NDM based research should result in better decision quality

than traditional approaches, for several reasons. First, traditional methods lack a

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naturalistic setting. Second, experienced decision makers can serve as performance

standards. Third, NDM researchers do not attempt to completely replace the

strategies that have been traditionally used, but improve upon these strategies.

Fourth, experience enables people to generate a reasonable course of action. Fifth,

situation awareness may be more important than deliberating about alternative

courses of action. Sixth, decision requirements are contextual, which is the target of

interventions.

The intention of this study is to design an experiment in which a central concept of

NDM, the naturalistic real world setting, was used to enhance the external validity of

the research. Schram (2005, p. 225) points out that: ‘External validity is relatively

more important for experiments searching for empirical regularities than for theory-

testing experiments.’ Stayman and Hagerty (1985) contend that methods for applied

studies must correspond to real life in order to produce generalisable findings. Winer

(1999) asserts that consumer behaviour research should be concerned about the

importance of generalisability of experimental results, beyond the lab into other

contexts. Reips and Zürich (2000) indicate that the web provides a new tool for

experimental research. The web experiment works as a solution to reduce these

experimenter effects, because there is no direct contact between experimenters and

participants. It breaks some limitations that influence the external validity of

laboratory experiments (Piper 1998). User behaviour studies on the web, conducted

in a field setting, can provide a more reliable outcome of natural behaviours than in a

controlled laboratory setting, because participants access their usual web browsers in

familiar physical environments, and complete the tasks on their own, rather than

working on tasks when motivated by researchers (Kellar et al. 2008).

4.2 Online Survey

The survey is a useful method by which to understand individual opinions, attitudes

and behaviours toward a range of topics and issues (Hansen et al. 1998). Schonlau,

Fricker and Elliott (2001) indicate that technology has revolutionised ways of survey

presentation, since the first email survey was conducted in the 1980s and the web-

based survey was introduced in the 1990s. The Internet has been used extensively by

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academic and marketing researchers, to conduct surveys for different purposes (Piper

1998) and the popularity of the online survey has been verified. In 2002 almost half a

billion US dollars were spent on online surveys in the USA (Hogg 2003), and it was

expected to reach about 960 million US dollars in 2004 (Aster 2004). It has been

expected that the majority of survey research will be conducted online (Schonlau,

Fricker & Elliott 2001), because the cost is less and the design and implementation

are more efficient than off-line market research (Hewson, Laurent & Vogel 1996;

Schmidt 1997). Jackson (2003b) indicated that online market research would account

for 33% of all survey formats.

The benefits and drawback of online surveys have been well documented by

researchers. Schmidt (1997) indicates that the greatest benefit of online survey is its

ability to access to a large number of populations. It also saves time and money, and

offers various presentation formats that are hard to achieve by other survey

approaches. The potential problems include incomplete responses, unacceptable

responses, multiple submissions, and security and data integrity. Reips and Zürich

(2000) state that the online survey offers easy access to a demographically and

culturally diverse population; provides easy access to specific populations; increases

generalisability of the findings; avoids time constraints; heightens statistical power;

enables voluntary participation; reduces experimenter effects; and reduces the cost.

The drawbacks include multiple submissions; lack of control; self-selection, and drop

out.

Archer (2003) compares the advantages and disadvantages of online surveys with

mail surveys. He explains that online advantages include: elimination of paper;

postage, mail out and data entry costs; reduced implementation time; reduced survey

costs; simultaneous data display with tabulation; data presentation in graphic and

numerical format; ease of reminders and follow-up for non-respondents; and ease of

data processing. The disadvantages of online survey include: limitation of survey

scope due to restricted Internet connection; inequality of computer skills; different

screen setting for individual respondents; difficulty of sampling e-mail addresses;

and the fact that a non-response decision is made more quickly.

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Evans and Mathur (2005) present a comprehensive and detailed consideration of the

strengths and weaknesses of online survey. They explain that the major strengths

encompass global reach; suitability for both B-to-B (business-to-business) and B-to-

C (business-to-consumer) settings; high flexibility, speed and timeliness; featured

technological innovations; convenience for respondents; ease of data entry and

analysis; more diversified questions; low administration cost; ease of follow-up;

controlled sampling; ease of obtaining large samples; control of answer order;

control of completion; control of specific sequences and ability to obtain knowledge

of respondent and non-respondent characteristics. The major weaknesses include:

ease of regarding surveys as junk mail; skewed attributes of Internet population;

sample selection problems; inexperienced online respondents; technological

variations of respondents; lack of clear instruction; impersonal context; privacy and

security issues; and low response rate.

Sue and Ritter (2007) state that the advantages of online survey include: shortening

experimental speed; broadening the scope of audience; economy; adding various

content options; expanding question types; the ability to ask sensitive questions, and

anonymity. The disadvantages include: limited Internet user populations; ease of

abandonment of survey and dependence on software. However, the overall

advantages of online survey value higher than the disadvantages (Reips & Zürich

2000).

Although the Internet has been used as a venue for experimental research, only a few

researchers have published the results of web experiments (Piper 1998), and the

online survey research is still in its infancy (Sue & Ritter 2007). It is a difficult area

of research through which to study user behaviours on the web (Kellar et al. 2008).

Berger (2000) indicates that the survey is a method used to get information about

certain groups of people who are representative of the larger group of people of the

research interest. Researchers indicate that the sample selection for a web survey is

the major weakness, because the characteristics of Internet users are too broad, and

those subjects may not be representative of the specific group for the study (Evans

and Mathur 2005; Piper 1998). However, the group of interest in this study has been

identified in chapter 2, and it is not a problem if a specific group of people who are

qualified as cultural tourists can be involved to support this study. Another criticism

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threatening the validity of online survey is the lack of control and the invisible

experimental processes. Researchers often cannot monitor respondents’ behaviours

during the experiment, due to the absence of direct contact and the unpredictable

location. To overcome this problem, the web database can be used to unobtrusively

observe participants’ behaviours and reduce the uncertainty of the invisible process.

4.3 Questionnaire

The basic tool for survey research is the questionnaire (Hansen et al. 1998). In a web-

based survey, the questionnaire resides on a website. The respondents visit the

website and complete the survey (Sue & Ritter 2007). The objective of this research

is the investigation of the relationship between website features adopted on cultural

tourism websites and user attitude toward the website, as well as the feeling of

telepresence. Hence, participants must visit the designed prototype website first and

then answer the questionnaire linked to the website. Based on the purposed model,

the questionnaire covered questions of user attitude toward a website, which

consisted of three underlying dimensions, as described in chapter 3, and the measure

of telepresence. Questions regarding the measure of user attitude and telepresence

were referring from the related literature. Because the age, gender and prior

experience are also of the research interest, the questionnaire consisted of six

sections, as follows:

Section 1 requested age and gender. This should be able to test and find out whether

there is a difference on the evaluation of the experimental website between different

age groups and different gender groups.

Section 2 requested information on Prior Experience. This should be able to test and

find out whether there is a difference on the evaluation of the experimental website

when comparing users with prior experience and users without prior experience.

1. I have been to China.

2. I have been to Taiwan.

3. I have some knowledge about Taiwan’s temples.

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Section 3 focused on the Attractiveness Value of the sites using a seven-point scale.

This should be able to test and find out whether users have different responses for the

attractiveness of the website and the destination after browsing the experimental

website in which different website features were used.

1. The website looks attractive.

2. The temple looks interesting.

Section 4 focused on the Enjoyment Value of the sites using a seven-point scale. This

should be able to test and find out whether users have different levels of enjoyment

after browsing the experimental website in which different website features were

used.

1. I will return to this website.

2. I felt a strong sense of active involvement.

3. I found the website enjoyable to navigate.

4. I could have stayed on this website longer.

5. I have a favourable impression of the temple after my visit to the website.

Section 5 focused on the Telepresence Value of the sites using a seven-point scale.

This should be able to test and find out whether users feel different levels of

telepresence when browsing the experimental website in which different website

features were used.

1. While on the website, I felt I was in the world that the computer created.

2. The computer-generated world seemed to me “somewhere I visited” rather

than “something I saw.”

3. I forgot about my immediate surroundings when I was navigating through the

website.

Section 6 sought to establish the Informative Value of the sites. This consisted of

eight multiple-choice questions and in each answer set, only one was correct. This

should be able to test and find out whether users remember much more information

of the destination after browsing the experimental website with higher level of

interactivity and vividness.

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1. The temple was established in 1635 1760 1796 1805

2. The God dedicated in the main hall is Mastu Guanshiyin Budda

Confucius Baosheng Dadi

3. The most important religious activity of the temple is Baosheng Cultural

Festival Mastu Birthday Ceremony New Year Blessing Ceremony

Burn Wang Boat Festival

4. The temple mainly consists of two halls two halls with right and left

protecting rooms three halls with right and left protecting rooms four

halls

5. The delicate decoration on the temple’s roof ridge is wood carving

stone carving ”cut and paste” of bowl pieces golden painted wood

6. When worshiping the God in the temple, people place their offering at

facade of front hall inside of front hall main hall back hall

7. People seek advice about their future at façade of front hall inside of

front hall main hall back hall

8. There is a pair of stone lions at the facade of the front hall. Which one is

female? on the right on the left there is no gender difference

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CHAPTER 5

EXPERIMENT

5.1 Stimuli

Tourist attractions are one of the determinants that give a reason for tourists to visit a

destination, and often become the central theme for the visit (McKercher & du Cros

2002). Baloglu and McCleary (1999) claim that attractions have a positive impact on

tourist visitation intentions. Wang (2008) indicates that the most popular and

important information provided on tourism websites is on tourist activities and

attractions. This research selects a well-known cultural attraction in Taipei, Taiwan –

the Dalongdong Baoan Temple, an international winner of the UNESCO Asia-

Pacific Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2003 – as an example

to test the research model. The Dalongdong Baoan Temple is one of the most

representative cultural attractions in Taiwan and has been introduced on many

Taiwanese DMO websites. It was established in 1805, and has been classified as a

second-grade historical site by the Taiwanese government. The temple is considered

one of the most representative of traditional Taiwanese temples, and holds an

important place in Taiwanese architectural history. In addition, its annual religious

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event, the Baosheng Cultural Festival, attracts thousands of visitors to celebrate the

birthday of the main worshiped deity, Baosheng Dadi.

To simulate the real world web environment, two complete websites of the

Dalongdong Baoan Temple (http://www.culturaltaiwan.com/high/index.php;

http://www.culturaltaiwan.com/low/index.php), with a range of website features,

were developed instead of using an approach involving comparison of individual

website features only. The attraction information was divided into five topical

categories — Home, History, Deities, Architecture, and Ritual — to give users a

comprehensive understanding of the temple. The Home section provides an overview

of the Dalongdong Baoan Temple; the History section tells the historical

development of the temple; the Deities section introduces the main deity worshiped

in the temple; the Architecture section gives an in-depth depiction of the architectural

features of the temple, and the Ritual section introduces the annual religious event of

the Baosheng Cultural Festival.

As mentioned on chapter 2, one of the most important function of tourism website is

to promote the identity of the destination. Hence, the design of two stimuli must

present the specific features of the Dalongdong Baoan Temple. Based on this

concept, the unique structures of the temple – the dragon pillar and clay sculpture –

were used on the main interface design. Also, the yellow and golden tone, the

representative colour of ancient Chinese cultural, was used on the interface design to

present the characteristics of traditional Chinese culture. Besides, the architectural

feature is the most simple and direct way for tourists to understand a tourist

attraction. It is also the most common approach to present the cultural identity of a

place. Therefore, the architectural section was designed as the most important part of

the website.

In order to allow comparison while evaluating the effects of website features that

represent different levels of interactivity and vividness, two websites with different

levels of user control and vividness (high-UCV versus low-UCV) have been

designed in the same interface and transmit the same information. Figure 5.1 and

Figure 5.2 show flow charts of two experimental websites. Figure 5.3 and Figure 5.4

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show the home page of high-UCV and low-UCV website. Researchers indicate that

the more functions a website provides, the greater interactivity it has (see Sunder,

Kalyanaraman & Brown 2003). Therefore, the high-UCV website embraces more

website features than the low-UCV website. It has been found that visual information

strongly influences the degree of presence to a greater degree than other sensory

channels (Witmer & Singer 1998). Hence, the website design focuses on visual

simulation rather than audio effects. The audio element was excluded in this study.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of advanced ICTs on

the promotion of tourism products. The comparison of two websites with different

levels of interactivity and vividness can tell whether users browsing the high-UCV

website have better responses than users browsing the low-UCV website. If the result

is positive, user attitude will be more positive toward the website as well as the

destination, which may increase their willingness to visit the place. In other words,

the promotion of cultural identity of a destination will be more effective. Also, the

finding will be consisted with previous researchers who examined the effect of

interactivity and vividness on tangible products. That will support the statement, as

mentioned in chapter 2, that websites with advanced ICTs increases its success in a

competitive web environment. Besides, if participants in different gender and age

groups respond inconsistent, tourism marketer and website designers should take

varied approaches on tourism website design to match the preference of different

users.

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Figure 5.1 The Flow-chart of the Low-UCV Website

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Figure 5.2 The Flow-chart of the High-UCV Website

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Figure 5.3 A Screenshot from the “Home” Page of the Low-UCV Website

Figure 5.4 A Screenshot from the “Home” Page of the High-UCV Website

The low-UCV website used Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to present the

temple by text and limited still images. Users were only allowed to have control over

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the browsing flow. This is currently the common approach adopted by most of the

DMO websites on the information offered for tourist attractions. The high-UCV

website used Adobe Flash multimedia authoring program and Pano2QTVR to

present the temple by more website features, such as auto-played slideshow and 360°

QuickTime VR panorama. However, researchers indicate that the panorama tour is

restrictive because of its inability to provide details of a place, which results in users

failing to look more closely (Pan et al. 2004). Besides, it has been argued that

although panoramic images provide an impressive view of the environment, users

have difficulties in understanding the arrangement of the spatial scene (Farin,

Effelsberg & de With 2007). Lee (2002) also identifies four main problems of

panorama tours found in his evaluation: (1) ambiguous perceptual pointer, (2)

misplacement of map indicator, (3) inappropriate metaphor design, and (4)

inadequate movement in panoramic movies. To solve these problems, he proposes a

list of guidelines suggesting elements to be used when designing a QuickTime VR

interface, such as a bigger pointer, map aid, and metaphor use. Bastanlar (2007)

claims the floor plan is the most preferred way to help users navigate through the

environment. He also suggests that areas on the floor plan should be highlighted, if

clickable, for easy recognition. Sayers et al. (2004) assert visual presentation of

navigational aids improves navigation performance and user satisfaction. Therefore,

a new approach – with interactive flat panoramic images – was used in the

Architecture section with a 2D graphical map to provide spatial orientation in the

navigation (see Figure 5.5). On tourism websites, pictures of tourist attractions are

often delivered in either a full or limited view and taken from a specific angle to

present the beauty of the attraction, because of the limited content space of web

pages. Users are only allowed to see an unclear full view or clear partial views of an

attraction. The interactive flat panoramic images broke the limitations of web page

space, and allowed users to click and drag the image to see the whole view of the

attraction. Within this, a detailed depiction was further provided inside the blue-

animated spot for specific architectural features, and the zoom in/out button gave

users a closer look at the attraction. Three 360° QuickTime VR panoramas were also

embedded on the interactive flat panoramic images, which helps users to understand

the position of these panoramas in the temple. When jumping between different parts

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of the temple, the 2D graphical map also gave users spatial orientation on the

website.

Figure 5.5 The Interactive Flat Panoramic Images of the High-UCV Website

Control over the flow was not restricted in the experiment, and there was no

predetermined order due to the nature of the Internet. Both websites allow

participants to navigate through at liberty. Control over the form was manipulated in

this experiment. On the low-UCV website, participants were not allowed to have

control over the text or images. On the high-UCV website, participants could control

the playback of slideshows (Figure 5.6); change the view area by clicking and

dragging the images to move around, as well as change the size of flat panoramic

images by dragging the zoom button; select the shown photos for a detailed depiction

of specific architectural features (Figure 5.7), and alter the viewing angle and size of

360 degree omnidirectional panoramas (Figure 5.8).

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Figure 5.6 Control Over the Slideshow

Figure 5.7 Control Over Photo Selections of Architectural Features

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Figure 5.8 Control Over the 360 Degree Panorama

The vividness of the websites was manipulated via the content presentation. On the

low-UCV website, the information was presented by text and limited still images.

Participants needed to control the scroll bar up and down on their browsers to view

the content if the information was longer than the height of their browsing windows.

The identical information was presented in auto-play slideshows, the navigable 2D

graphic map, interactive flat panoramic images, animated rollover buttons, sliding

photo albums, and Quicktime VR (QTVR) on the high-UCV website. Slideshows

and photo albums allowed participants to view multiple images without scrolling up

or down their browsers. The navigable 2D graphic map pointed out their present

positions in the temple, which helped in avoiding getting lost when exploring the

architectural details of different locations. Animated rollover buttons (Figure 5.9) on

interactive flat panoramic images facilitated catching participants’ attention in

looking at the architectural details as well as indicating the locations of these

features. QTVRs allowed participants to look around, left and right, and up and

down, in different sites, as if they were physically standing in those locations.

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Figure 5.9 Animated Rollover Buttons

5.2 Participants

In order to increase the external validity of the experiment, sixty participants were

recruited from the members of Australians Studying Abroad (ASA) and from staff of

the Faculty of Design, Swinburne University. ASA is a commercial tourism provider

based in Armadale, Melbourne. It leads cultural tours for both university students

and the general public, giving participants insights into different artistic and cultural

traditions by facilitating their travel around the world. It believes that learning is

intimately connected with physical experience of different landscapes, environments

and cultures. The members of ASA are thus typical cultural tourists, who can be

distinguished from those general tourists who do not have specific motives in

understanding the culture of destinations they plan to visit. As well as being a

commercial company, ASA has an interest in education and is currently linked with

the Carrick Institute and several Australian Universities providing Student Study

Away tours, which attract credits towards the students’ degrees. Hence, the ASA

members were suitable participants for this study. The staff of the Faculty of Design

at Swinburne University, are also qualified in the characteristics of cultural tourists.

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Foo and Rossetto (1998) indicate that teachers and lectures are more likely to visit

cultural attractions than other visitors. Hence, the ASA members and Design Faculty

staff at Swinburne University were considered suitable participants for this study.

5.3 Procedure

In order to simulate real world website browsing, the target group was informed by

e-mail that the Dalongdong Baoan Temple was available on the specified website.

The experiment URL was also posted on the ASA website. Participants therefore

chose to access the site only if it interested them. Participants were divided into two

groups depending on their hardware and software requirement, and each group was

only allowed to view one of the two websites. They viewed the website on their own

equipment and in their own time. The first page of the websites is an introductory

page explaining the purpose of the study and basic instructions of the task. Naturally,

those who did not want to participate could drop out at this point. Participants enter

the Home section via this introductory page and they were free to navigate without

time restraint as real users surfing on the Internet. Participants were required to go

through all of the five topical categories and read the content on the website. After

viewing all of the information, they entered the online survey page by clicking the

link on the Ritual section, where a reminder to ask participants to complete their

browsing tasks was provided. They were required not to go back to view the website

and look for answers to the questions when doing the survey. In order to invisibly

observe participants’ behaviour, the PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), a general-

purpose scripting language, was embedded to generate a MySQL database that

monitored which pages each participant had been viewing, and how much time they

stayed on each page. This provided more accurate values for an objective measure of

interest in this study, and indicated whether the participant went through all the

content (because that influenced their knowledge in answering the survey). The post-

experiment questionnaire covers four dimensions: website attractiveness measures,

open-ended recall measures, user enjoyment measures, and telepresence measures.

Except the open-ended recall measures, all measures use 7-point Likert ‘Disagree –

Agree’ scales (1 means disagree and 7 means agree).

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CHAPTER 6 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

6.1 Introduction

This chapter analyses the survey results from two perspectives: directly from the

survey data, and taking MySQL database into consideration. As mentioned in the

previous chapter, MySQL database was used to unobtrusively observe participants’

browsing behaviour, in which the click actions, the pages visited, and the time spent

per page were recorded (see Figure 6.1). From the database, it was found that many

participants did not go through the whole content of the website, particularly those

who chose to view the high-UCV website. Although most of them clicked all the

buttons of the top five tabs, many of them did not click the buttons embedded in the

content. On the high-UCV website, there were three 360° omnidirectional panoramas

in the Home section and they were also embedded in the interactive flat panoramic

images in the Architecture section. However, only17 of 26 participants clicked the

buttons of the panorama. In the Architecture section, there are four sub-buttons to

introduce the different parts of the temple, in which participants should click all of

the fours buttons to explore the architectural arts of the temple, by browsing the

interactive flat panoramic images. However, only 10 participants clicked some sub-

buttons in the Architecture section, and 9 clicked the buttons embedded in the flat

panoramic images. That means participants who browsed the high-UCV website

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missed a lot of information about the temple. While on the low-UCV website, there

are four hyper-links on the History tab, two hyper-links on the Deities tab, four

hyper-links on the Architecture tab. Every participant clicked all the buttons of the

top five tabs, 21 out of 34 clicked hyper-links on the Deities tab, and 23 participants

clicked hyper-links on the Architecture tab. In other words, participants on the high-

UCV website may be exposed to less content of the website than those who browsed

the low-UCV website. These behaviours might have impacts on user response

toward the study. Therefore, two analyses have been conducted and presented in this

chapter, to provide a deeper understanding of the experimental results.

Figure 6.1 A Screenshot of MySQL Database

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6.2 Results 1

The central purpose of the research is to examine the possible differences that the

design of the websites, high and low UCV (User Control and Vividness, which were

proposed as the major determinants of telepresence) might have on user behaviour

and outcome. Secondary interests are the possible differences in user experience

attributable to gender and age, and also prior experience of China or Taiwan and its

temples. The sample demographics and prior experience are listed in Table 6.1.

There were more female participants than male, and the middle-aged participant

group was the largest in this experiment, and this is identical with the characteristics

of cultural tourists in previous studies. Participants possessing prior experience of

visiting China or Taiwan were few, and only 5 had knowledge about Taiwan’s

temples. However, initial data analysis revealed no effects due to prior experience,

and this probably reflected the small number within the sample who had experience

of either China or Taiwan. For this reason they have been excluded from the analysis

presented here. Following the sectional construction of the questionnaire, the results

were analysed directly based on the survey data, and presented section by section.

Analysis of Variance was performed with website, gender and age as independent

variables, the latter being treated as a covariate.

*It should be noted that in the analyses that follow there are very minor differences

in n due to missing data. This is inevitable in survey data.

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Table 6.1 Sample Demographics and Prior Experience

Variables Frequency (n = 60) Percent

Gender

Male 25 41.7

Female 35 58.3

Age

<25 4 6.7

25-34 8 13.3

35-44 18 30

45-54 15 25

55-64 11 18.3

>65 3 5

Prior experience

Been to China 17 28.3

Been to Taiwan 7 11.7

Have knowledge 5 8.3

Attractiveness Value

Given the domain of interest, cultural tourism, the nature of the website, and the

‘interested’ subject group, it was anticipated that the high-UCV website would be

found more attractive than the low-UCV website.

Question 1: The website looks attractive.

The results for Q1 indicate no website main effect (F 1,58 = 1.20, p = .278), though

there is a significant gender effect (F 1,58 = 5.13, p = .028), with women rating both

sites higher than men. The Analysis of Variance table below (Table 6.2-1, 6.2-2)

provides the summary statistics, accompanied by means and standard deviations for

website by gender.

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Table 6.2-1 ANOVA (by Website) of Attractiveness Question 1

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: Attractiveness Question 1

Source Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Intercept 167.730 1 167.730 94.246 .000

age .007 1 .007 .004 .951

website 2.136 1 2.136 1.200 .278

gender 9.125 1 9.125 5.127 .028

website * gender 1.241 1 1.241 .698 .407

Error 96.104 54 1.780

Total 1616.000 59


Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable: Attractiveness Question 1

website gender Mean Std. Deviation N

male 4.62 1.923 8 High Interactive

female 5.76 .903 17

male 4.53 1.463 17 Low Interactive

female 5.06 1.197 17

Figure 6.2 ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Attractiveness Question 1

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Question 2: The temple looks interesting.

While Q1 focused upon the web site, Q2 focused upon the subject of the web site,

the Dalongdong Boan Temple. The high-UCV website provided considerably more

information via interactivity and vividness than the low-UCV website. The results

indicate no difference in the perceived attractiveness of the temple (F 1,58 = 1.02, p =

.317), but a significant gender effect (F 1,58 = 13.03, p = .001), with women rating the

temple higher than men, irrespective of the website.




Intercept 271.605 1 271.605 1.689E2 .000

age 6.037 1 6.037 3.754 .058

website 1.640 1 1.640 1.020 .317

gender 20.951 1 20.951 13.028 .001

website * gender .040 1 .040 .025 .876

Error 86.838 54 1.608

Total 1940.000 59





female 6.18 .951 17


female 6.00 1.225 17

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Figure 6.3 ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Attractiveness Question 2

Enjoyment Value

As with attractiveness, we anticipated that the high-UCV website would be more

enjoyable.

Question 1: I will return to this website.

The results for Q1 the main effect of website obtained a non-significant difference (F

1,58 = 1.57, p = .216), with no gender or age effects.

Table 6.4-1 ANOVA (by Website) of Enjoyment Question 1

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: Enjoyment Question 1


Intercept 63.399 1 63.399 18.664 .000

age 2.739 1 2.739 .806 .373

website 5.328 1 5.328 1.568 .216

gender 1.875 1 1.875 .552 .461

website * gender .465 1 .465 .137 .713

Error 183.430 54 3.397

Total 988.000 59

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Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable: Enjoyment Question 1



female 4.18 2.007 17


female 3.65 1.869 17

Figure 6.4 ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Enjoyment Question 1

Question 2: I felt a strong sense of active involvement.

The results for Q2 achieved a significant main effect for website (F 1,58 = 5.83, P =

.019), and a significant website by gender interaction (F 1,58 = 4.30, p = .043).

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Intercept 102.601 1 102.601 32.966 .000

age .178 1 .178 .057 .812

website 18.154 1 18.154 5.833 .019

gender .240 1 .240 .077 .782

website * gender 13.370 1 13.370 4.296 .043

Error 164.954 53 3.112

Total 1081.000 58





female 4.12 1.668 16


female 3.94 1.886 17


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Question 3: I found the website enjoyable to navigate.

The results for Q3 obtained no significant differences, though the direction of the

website main effect was in the anticipated direction (F 1,58 = 3.41, p = .070).




Intercept 154.584 1 154.584 54.004 .000

age .132 1 .132 .046 .830

website 9.773 1 9.773 3.414 .070

gender 3.439 1 3.439 1.201 .278

website * gender .854 1 .854 .298 .587

Error 154.573 54 2.862

Total 1444.000 59





female 5.24 1.480 17


female 4.65 1.967 17

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Question 4: I could have stayed on this website longer.

The results for Q4 achieved a significant website main effect in the direction

predicted (F 1,58 = 4.49, p = .039).




Intercept 136.992 1 136.992 36.721 .000

age .364 1 .364 .097 .756

website 16.755 1 16.755 4.491 .039

gender 1.344 1 1.344 .360 .551

website * gender .988 1 .988 .265 .609

Error 201.452 54 3.731

Total 1282.000 59

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Question 5: I have a favourable impression of the temple after my visit to the

website.

The results for Q5 again achieved a significant website main effect in the direction

predicted (F 1,58 = 5.06, p = .029). However, this main effect was overshadowed by a

strong gender main effect (F 1,58 = 8.60, p = .005).

Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable: Enjoyment Question4


male 4.88 1.727 8 High Interact

female 4.88 1.799 17

male 3.47 1.940 17 Low Interact

female 4.06 2.076 17

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Intercept 179.424 1 179.424 92.455 .000

age .200 1 .200 .103 .750

website 9.830 1 9.830 5.065 .029

gender 16.692 1 16.692 8.601 .005

website * gender .060 1 .060 .031 .861

Error 102.855 53 1.941

Total 1827.000 58





female 6.35 .786 17


female 5.53 1.875 17


132

Telepresence Value

Again, we anticipated that the high-UCV website would outperform the low-UCV

website on all three measures taken from the scales of Klein (2003).

Question 1: While on the website, I felt I was in the world that the computer created.

The results for Q1 the main effect of interest, website, was non-significant (F 1,58 =

1.52, p = .539), as were gender and age.

Table 6.9-1 ANOVA (by Website) of Telepresence Question 1


Descriptive Statistics

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: Telepresence Question 1


Intercept 105.877 1 105.877 26.605 .000

age .127 1 .127 .032 .859

website 1.522 1 1.522 .383 .539

gender 3.744 1 3.744 .941 .336

website * gender .234 1 .234 .059 .809

Error 210.917 53 3.980

Total 1185.000 58

Dependent Variable: Telepresence Question 1



female 4.12 1.996 17


female 3.62 2.156 16

133

Figure 6.9 ANOVA (by Website) Chart of Telepresence Question 1

Question2: The computer-generated world seemed to me “somewhere I visited”

rather than “something I saw.”

This question yielded similar results with the website main effect being non-

significant (F 1,58 = .42, p = .509), as were gender and age.




Intercept 47.259 1 47.259 11.644 .001

age 12.694 1 12.694 3.128 .083

website 1.793 1 1.793 .442 .509

gender .722 1 .722 .178 .675

website * gender .232 1 .232 .057 .812

Error 219.159 54 4.059

Total 1139.000 59

134


Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable: Telepresence Question 2



female 4.12 1.996 17


female 3.71 2.257 17


Question3: I forgot about my immediate surroundings when I was navigating

through the website.

This result again yielded a non-significant website main effect (F 1,58 = 3.46, p =

.068), along with gender and age. While Q3 approaches statistical significance, it

fails to combat the distinctly non-significant outcomes for Q1 and Q2. The

conclusion that neither website achieved higher telepresence on the measures used, is

unavoidable.

135




Intercept 69.972 1 69.972 15.121 .000

age 2.910 1 2.910 .629 .431

website 15.994 1 15.994 3.456 .068

gender .099 1 .099 .021 .884

website * gender 9.114 1 9.114 1.970 .166

Error 249.884 54 4.627

Total 1098.000 59





female 4.12 2.118 17


female 3.76 2.333 17


136

Informative Value

Finally, we anticipated that the high-UCV website would have higher informative

value than the low-UCV website, and that a test of retentive memory would support

this. Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted comparing performance on each site for

each question.

Question 1: The temple was established in 1635 1760 1796 1805.

The results indicate no significant differences between the two websites, and no

differences were found due to gender and age.

Table 6.12 Binomial Test of Informative Question 1

Binomial Test

website answer N Observed Prop.

right 14 .56 High Interactive

wrong 11 .44

right 21 .64 Low Interactive

wrong 12 .36

P = .559

Figure 6.12 Binomial Test Chart of Informative Question 1

137

Question 2: The God dedicated in the main hall is Mastu Guanshiyin Budda

Confucius Baosheng Dadi.




Binomial Test



wrong 2 .08


wrong 2 .06

P = .782


138

Question3: The most important religious activity of the temple is Baosheng

Cultural Festival Mastu Birthday Ceremony New Year Blessing Ceremony

Burn Wang Boat Festival




Binomial Test



wrong 2 .08


wrong 5 .15

P = .406


139

Question4: The temple mainly consists of two halls two halls with right and left

protecting rooms three halls with right and left protecting rooms four halls




Binomial Test



wrong 13 .50


wrong 13 .38

P = .366


140

Question 5: The delicate decoration on the temple’s roof ridge is wood carving

stone carving ”cut and paste” of bowl pieces golden painted wood




Binomial Test



wrong 19 .76


wrong 21 .64

P = .318


141

Question 6: When worshiping the God in the temple, people place their offering at

facade of front hall inside of front hall main hall back hall




Binomial Test



wrong 9 .41


wrong 19 .59

P = .186


142

Question7: People seek advice about their future at façade of front hall inside

of front hall main hall back hall




Binomial Test



wrong 14 .70


wrong 25 .83

P = .270


143

Question 8: There is a pair of stone lions at the facade of the front hall. Which one is

female? on the right on the left there is no gender difference




Binomial Test



wrong 15 .75


wrong 20 .65

P = .435


144

6.3 Summary 1

The statistical results indicate that there is no significant difference in Attractiveness

Value, Telepresence Value, and Informative Value between the high-UCV and low-

UCV websites. Significant differences were only found in three of five questions on

Enjoyment Value. In the high-UCV website, participants felt a stronger sense of

active involvement, liked to stay longer on the website and had a higher favourable

impression of the temple after visiting the website. In other words, they enjoyed the

high-UCV website more than the low-UCV one. However, significant differences

were found for gender in the Attractiveness Value question, in which female

participants considered the websites were more attractive than male participants did.

6.4 Results 2

A key feature of the High UCV site was the provision of 360° omnidirectional

panoramas and interactive flat panoramic images. In order to test for differences

between those who accessed the panoramas and those who did not, it was decided to

run the analysis again, but using only the High UCV participants, and focusing on

the response to panorama within this website. This analysis would indicate the effect

of utilising the full resource of the High UCV site (i.e. panorama) or not. Initial data

analysis revealed no effects due to the click of detail-buttons embedded in interactive

flat panoramic images. For this reason they have been excluded from the analysis

presented below. To test the impact of 360° omnidirectional panoramas, analysis of

variance (ANOVA) was applied. ‘Panorama click’ and ‘Gender’ performed as

independent variables, and age was treated as a covariate. The results are presented

below.

145

Attractiveness Value

Question 1: The website looks attractive.

This question observed a significant gender difference only (F 1,25 = 4.79, p = .040):

women found the website more attractive whether they had accessed the panoramas

or not.

Table 6.20-1 ANOVA (by panorama) of Attractiveness Question 1



Intercept 61.072 1 61.072 37.842 .000

age .351 1 .351 .218 .646

gender 7.736 1 7.736 4.794 .040

panorama 4.357 1 4.357 2.700 .115

gender * panorama 2.734 1 2.734 1.694 .207

Error 33.891 21 1.614

Total 824.000 26



gender click Mean Std. Deviation N

yes 5.50 1.291 4 male

no 3.75 2.217 4

yes 5.85 .801 13 female

no 5.80 1.304 5

146

Question2: The temple looks interesting.

The results indicate a moderate difference in temple attractiveness between

panorama click and non-click (F 1,25 = 4.73, p = .051), and a significant difference

due to gender. Women found the temple more attractive irrespective of whether they

accessed the panoramas or not (F 1,25 = 7.48, p = .017).




Intercept 88.527 1 88.527 79.978 .000

age 2.613 1 2.613 2.361 .139

gender 7.477 1 7.477 6.755 .017

panorama 4.726 1 4.726 4.269 .051

gender * panorama 1.828 1 1.828 1.652 .213

Error 23.245 21 1.107

Total 939.000 26




yes 6.00 1.414 4 male

no 4.25 1.258 4

yes 6.23 .832 13 female

no 6.20 1.304 5

147

Enjoyment Value

Question1: I will return to this website.

The results indicate a significant panorama effect (F 1,25 = 6.37, p = .020), whereby

those who engaged with the panorama indicated a stronger wish to return to the

website.

Table 6.22-1 ANOVA (by panorama) of Enjoyment Question 1



Intercept 24.384 1 24.384 9.053 .007

age .078 1 .078 .029 .867

gender .377 1 .377 .140 .712

panorama 17.168 1 17.168 6.374 .020

gender * panorama 1.448 1 1.448 .538 .472

Error 56.565 21 2.694

Total 514.000 26




yes 4.50 1.732 4 male

no 3.25 1.258 4

yes 4.85 1.676 13 female

no 2.40 1.517 5

148

Question 2: I felt a strong sense of active involvement.

The result delivered a highly significant panorama effect (F 1,25 = 9.59, p = .006),

whereby those who engaged with it felt a stronger sense of active involvement.

Interestingly, there was a strong gender difference (F 1,25 = 6.65, p = .018), with men

more positively affected than women.




Intercept 27.134 1 27.134 14.303 .001

age 1.025 1 1.025 .540 .471

gender 12.614 1 12.614 6.649 .018

panorama 18.186 1 18.186 9.586 .006

gender * panorama .200 1 .200 .105 .749

Error 37.942 20 1.897

Total 568.000 25




yes 6.25 .957 4 male

no 4.25 1.500 4

yes 4.67 1.435 12 female

no 2.80 1.304 5

149

Question3: I found the website enjoyable to navigate.

The results indicate no significant differences due to panorama click, gender, and

age.




Intercept 62.268 1 62.268 26.546 .000

age .618 1 .618 .263 .613

gender .639 1 .639 .273 .607

panorama 6.479 1 6.479 2.762 .111

gender * panorama 2.937 1 2.937 1.252 .276

Error 49.259 21 2.346

Total 770.000 26




yes 6.00 1.414 4 male

no 4.00 1.414 4

yes 5.38 1.446 13 female

no 5.20 1.789 5

150

Question4: I could have stayed on this website longer.

The results indicate no significant differences due to panorama click, gender, and

age.




Intercept 63.477 1 63.477 18.909 .000

age 1.822 1 1.822 .543 .469

gender .000 1 .000 .000 .993

panorama 1.221 1 1.221 .364 .553

gender * panorama 3.547 1 3.547 1.057 .316

Error 70.497 21 3.357

Total 717.000 26




yes 4.75 2.217 4 male

no 5.00 1.414 4

yes 5.31 1.437 13 female

no 4.20 2.588 5

151

Question5: I have a favourable impression of the temple after my visit to the website.

The results observed a significant gender difference (F 1,25 = 6.66, p = .017), whereby

women had a more favourable impression of the temple whether they had engaged

the panoramas or not.




Intercept 75.142 1 75.142 86.565 .000

age .502 1 .502 .578 .455

gender 5.783 1 5.783 6.662 .017

panorama 3.270 1 3.270 3.767 .066

gender * panorama .077 1 .077 .089 .769

Error 18.229 21 .868

Total 977.000 26




yes 5.75 1.500 4 male

no 4.75 .957 4

yes 6.54 .660 13 female

no 6.00 1.000 5

152

Telepresence Value

Question1: While on the website, I felt I was in the world that the computer created.

The results indicate no statistically significant difference was found between those

who accessed the panorama facility and those who did not (F 1,25 = .67, p = .422):

similarly, no gender or age effects emerged.

Table 6.27-1 ANOVA (by panorama) of Telepresence Question 1



Intercept 56.274 1 56.274 14.632 .001

age 3.265 1 3.265 .849 .367

gender 1.324 1 1.324 .344 .564

panorama 2.583 1 2.583 .672 .422

gender * panorama 3.692 1 3.692 .960 .338

Error 80.766 21 3.846

Total 556.000 26




yes 4.50 2.646 4 male

no 4.50 1.291 4

yes 4.46 1.808 13 female

no 3.20 2.168 5

153

Question2: The computer-generated world seemed to me “somewhere I visited”

rather than “something I saw.”

The results delivered similar non-significant results for panorama, and no gender or

age effects.




Intercept 65.394 1 65.394 17.786 .000

age 6.867 1 6.867 1.868 .186

gender .242 1 .242 .066 .800

panorama 7.041 1 7.041 1.915 .181

gender * panorama 4.067 1 4.067 1.106 .305

Error 77.210 21 3.677

Total 551.000 26




yes 4.50 2.646 4 male

no 4.00 1.633 4

yes 4.62 1.660 13 female

no 3.00 2.345 5

154

Question 3: I forgot about my immediate surroundings when I was navigating

through the website.

Again, it delivered similar non-significant results for panorama, and no gender or age

effects.




Intercept 73.239 1 73.239 18.477 .000

age 8.230 1 8.230 2.076 .164

gender 3.684 1 3.684 .929 .346

panorama 7.036 1 7.036 1.775 .197

gender * panorama 9.905 1 9.905 2.499 .129

Error 83.239 21 3.964

Total 592.000 26




yes 4.75 2.872 4 male

no 4.75 1.893 4

yes 4.69 1.974 13 female

no 2.60 1.517 5

155

6.5 Summary 2

The statistical results indicate that panorama click did not exhibit significant

difference in Attractiveness Value and Telepresence Value. Attractiveness Value and

Telepresence Value. Again, significant differences were only found in three of five

questions on Enjoyment Value. Participants who clicked the panorama buttons felt

they would like to return to the website, had a stronger sense of active involvement,

and had a higher favourable impression of the temple. However, significant

differences were found for gender in both questions on Attractiveness Value and two

of five questions on Enjoyment Value. Males who clicked the panorama buttons

thought both the website and temple were more attractive than males who did not.

Also, males who clicked the panorama felt more sense of involvement and had a

higher favourable impression of the temple. Females found the website and temple

attractive whether they had clicked the panorama or not.

156

CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

7.1 Discussion

In this research, the levels of interactivity and vividness were manipulated in the

information presentation on the Dalongdong Baoan Temple websites. The results

from previous empirical research positively support the effects of interactivity and

vividness on creating the feeling of telepresence, It was expected that high levels of

interactivity and vividness would have positive impacts on participants’ attitudes

toward the website, in terms of attractiveness value, informative value and enjoyment

value, and increase the experience of telepresence. However, the results in this

research were opposite to the findings of previous research notably Coyle and

Thorson (2001), Klein (2003), and Suh and Chang (2006). Participants did not

exhibit greater response to the website in the areas of Attractiveness Value,

Informative Value, and Telepresence Value, despite the higher level of interactivity

and vividness. Even participants who clicked the high visual 360° omnidirectional

panoramas or interactive flat panoramic images did not feel higher immersion during

their browsing nor increase their ranking of attractiveness. There might be several

possible explanations for this non-effect.

157

The degree of presence depends on how much the focus of attention moves from the

physical environment to the virtual environment. Previous empirical telepresence

research (e.g., Coyle & Thorson 2001; Klein 2003; Suh & Chang 2006) utilised the

laboratory experimental approach with convenience samples that were mostly

university students. However, this research adopted a naturalistic setting and

interested subjects, so that the web experiment was conducted in the normal daily life

circumstances of a group of people who were characterised as real cultural tourists.

These participants may have their own agendas in their daily life. Under such

situations, the focus attention of participants may have been influenced by many

possibilities found outside a laboratory environment, due to the environmental

complexity in the real world. Participants in a laboratory environment often

concentrate more on their required tasks, whereas those who attend an experiment at

home or work may be more influenced by their surroundings than in a laboratory

environment. This might be the reason why previous studies with laboratory

experiments support the positive impact of interactivity and vividness on the creation

of telepresence. In addition, the Internet connection speed and computer equipment

are not controlled, as in a laboratory environment. Experimental labs in universities

often possess faster Internet connection speed and more advanced computer

equipment than most households, thus creating better conditions for website

browsing. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008) in 2007-08, 67% of Australian households had home Internet access, and 52% of all households in

Australia had a Broadband Internet connection. This means there are still some

households using low-speed Internet connection, and it might be another factor

influencing the measure of telepresence.

For Attractiveness Value, both websites provide identical information content with

similar graphical interface design, which might give an equal first impression to the

sample. Lindgaard et al. (2006) indicate that the visual appeal of a website can be

made in 50 milliseconds, a mere exposure effect. Kim and Fesenmaier (2008) also

state that the first impression is formed quickly, and the initial judgement tends to be

consistent with the following decision-making or behaviours. This might be the

reason why participants exhibited similar responses. Besides, participants on the

high-UCV website did not utilise the full resource of the website, which might have

influenced their judgement as well. However, the panorama click had a moderately

158

positive effect on the temple’s perceived attractiveness and had a significant impact

on gender difference,

Informative Value is a recall testing of temple information on the website. According

to Dale’s Cone of Experience (1969), people generally remember 10% of what they

read (verbal), 20% of what they hear (sound), 30% of what they see (picture), 50% of

what they hear and see (video), 70% of what they say and write, and 90% of what

they do. That is, multimedia not only functions as heightening the visual aesthetic of

web sites, but is also strengthening the comprehension of the user. It was anticipated

that memory retention would increase by heightening the level of interactivity and

vividness. However, in the study investigating the effect of multimedia on recall of

product information, Appiah (2006) found there was no difference between websites

that featured audio/video and text/picture. This research employed a web experiment

in which the browsing content was not controlled. Although the instruction page

placed a requirement to visit or click on all parts of the website, participants were

free to decide what they would like to see and what they would not. If participants

did not experience every part of the temple, it was difficult to answer the questions

accurately. As has been mentioned in the previous chapter, participants on the high-

UCV website seem be exposed to less content than participants on the low-UCV

website, and this poor performance in this section might be due to the missing

information. In addition, previous research indicates that telepresence simulates

direct experience, which enhances the learning effect (Suh & Chang 2006).

However, the results in this study failed to support the relationship between

interactivity-vividness, and telepresence. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that the

interactivity and vividness do not have significant impacts on informative value.

The results of Enjoyment Value are mixed. The effects of interactivity and vividness

were positive on the sense of active involvement, willingness to stay longer, and the

enhancement of a favourable impression of the temple. Although participants did not

show different responses for willingness of returning to the website, when comparing

the high-UCV and low-UCV websites, the panorama click did have a positive effect.

Participants who accessed the panorama exhibited a stronger wish to return to the

website. In addition, the effect of interactivity and vividness on enjoyable navigating,

although not significant, was close to the expected result. Therefore, the website was

159

found to be more enjoyable when the level of interactivity and vividness increased,

and again the gender effect was noted.

7.2 Conclusion and Limitation of the Research

This research attempted to measure the effects of interactivity and vividness on

users’ attitudes and telepresence, by employing different website features in the

information presentation on tourism websites. It identifies that website features with

a higher level of interactivity and vividness do not function as significant factors

affecting the creation of telepresence, nor do they influence users’ attitudes in terms

of attractiveness and informativeness under the theory of Naturalistic Decision

Making (NDM). Berryman (2008) indicates that the NDM approach gives a broader

perspective that facilitates understanding of how the decision-making process

unfolds. NDM provides a different conceptual framework to investigate how users

make judgments and decisions during their web browsing within a range of

contextual factors, thereby extending the realm of the traditional laboratory

approach. The web database provides further analysis in challenging the notion of

telepresence for real users, in a real setting, with real stimuli. It gives insight into

users’ browsing behaviours outside the artificiality of the laboratory environment.

Within daily life circumstances, motivated users may be located in different

situations, and these would determine their browsing behaviours on the website. A

quick glance may be sufficient to inform users whether to not to further explore the

website. The Internet users can be categorised as either information-seekers who

browse the website with specific purposes, or information surfers who do not possess

a specific purpose (Versen 1998). From the NDM perspective, users’ underlying

goals will provide the motivations that direct their behaviours. A further factor is the

gender effect. Female users gave overall more positive responses to both of the

websites, irrespective of the level of interactivity and vividness. Graeupl and

McCabe (2003) indicate that information provision on the Internet should pay

attention to different market segments and target them with specialised service. The

gender effect in this research appears equal to, if not greater than, the website effect,

and further investigation may be worthwhile in this area.

160

Although the levels of interactivity and vividness in a website fail to support the

enhancement of telepresence, attractiveness and informativeness, their positive

effects on enjoyment should not be neglected. Researchers indicate that enjoyment

contributes to user satisfaction (Zhang & von Dran 2000), which is a determinant of

behaviour intention.

Ghose and Dou (1998) state that a company should critically examine the degree and

form of interactivity on its website to improve the design quality. Virtual reality is

growing in importance as a creative and communicational medium (Fencott et al.

2003). This research supports the assertion of Ghose and Dou, and suggests that

DMOs should consider the effects of various website features, because the

development of information communication technologies continues to advance and

these innovations have been infrequently employed.

This research was carefully designed to strengthen the external validity and to avoid

deceptively distorted results, but the internal validity could be undermined. The

strengths of this research are the use of professionally designed stimuli for the target

group of interest, the naturalistic setting of the task, and the real motivation of

participants to engage in it. The weaknesses are the lack of precise control, as

encountered in the laboratory setting, where the convenience sample would follow

the instruction of experimenters with more care. The majority of participants in this

research were more than 35 years old, and their Internet experience and familiarity

with new technology may be less than university students, and this too may influence

their use of website features. They might also have used older computers with slower

Internet capacities in their homes than would be the case in a controlled laboratory

situation. However, the sample participants were characterised as real users, and the

generalisability of the results provides useful insights into the area of tourism

marketing and tourism website design.

161

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