Karin Wimmer

Perceptual Differences of Urban Destination Websites Karin Wimmer

"It's you!" - In 2006 the Time Magazine declared the Internet user the Time's Person of the Year. Considering that in March 2007 there were more than 1.1 billion people using the Internet, which is in fact a sixth of the world population, this election is not surprising. This should be reason enough to take the Internet user serious and to not under­estimate his demands and expectations. However, even though there are numerous guidelines as to how to make a website successful, the provider and the user may have different perceptions of the website. Up to now substantial research has been carried out about the usability, the design and the image of websites. However, it has not been investigated whether a website is perceived equally by the provider (destination manager) and the user (potential tourist) or what the possible differen­ces in these perceptions are. Consequently, the empirical part of this study aims to investigate whether there is a significant difference in these perceptions and if yes, where these differences can be found using the example of the capitals of the nine Austrian provinces.