User generated content in destination marketing organisations' websites

Abstract

Tourism is one of the sectors which has been more affected by the widespread use of information technologies, due to its link to entertainment and its highly dependence on information. Destination marketing organisations, or DMOs, dedicated to promoting tourism destinations, have used the advantages of information technologies in their websites during the last few years. Recently, a new paradigm, characterised by the use of applications and collaborative tools, which is called Web 2.0, is driving dramatic changes in the promotion of tourist destinations, with a clear shift towards the use of content generated by internet users, and hence, the creation of web-based communities regarding touristic activities around each destination. In this article, we will study and discuss how the major DMOs, according to their 'popularity on the internet', are improving their websites with specific tools in order to exploit the enormous potential of user generated content in web-based communities, characteristic of this new Web 2.0 scenario.