Evaluating Internet Portals—An Empirical Study of Acceptance Measurement Based

SUMMARY

Due to the great importance of the “information business” in the tourism industry, the Internet has seen increasing use in this field. This paper deals with the evaluation of Internet portals based on the example of the Austrian National Tourist Office, Austria's largest tourism service organization. The empirical analyses performed on the basis of 172 useable questionnaires demonstrate the high significance of the Internet in the work processes of tourism professionals. In this context, significant differences were identified between the four user groups examined in the B2B field (provincial tourism organizations, hotels, travel agencies/operators and associations) and between age groups and genders in the various dimensions of Internet portal evaluation. Usability and content play the most critical role as factors influencing the appeal of Internet portals, the users' satisfaction with them, and their frequency of return visits to a portal. The design of a portal has a significantly lower influence.

Key Words:

• Acceptance measurement
• internet portals
• satisfaction measurement
• e-tourism
• Austrian National Tourist Office