Destination Marketing Website Evaluation and Design: a Case Study of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park Website System

Destination marketing websites provide the user with information about the areas'tourist activities and the various attractions. During the past six years more and more travelers around the world have used the Internet to learn more about a destination or to plan their vacation trips (TIA, 2006). In year 2004, Udzungwa Mountains National Park launched its official Destination Marketing Website system. The system failed to satisfy the needs of its users that led to frequent complaints of dissatisfaction from using the system. Among the basic quality elements a website should have are good navigation, useful content and accessibility (small downloading time of the website pages). In order to learn what elements were being valued the most by travelers in a destination marketing website, a study was undertaken to investigate the importance and performance ofUdzungwa Mountains National Park website features. This study was conducted using the Internet based survey. The results revealed that travelers valued most the content elements, such as pictures, maps and detailed information about the destination most. The interactive features were also acquired inside the system to create a user-friendlier environment. Keywords: Udzungwa, destination website, navigation, content, accessibility

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

The Open University of Tanzania

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Ng'wandu, Stella Nzambe

• 900 History, geography, (& biography)

Language dc:language

en