Event Title
Parallel Session 24, MICE Track: The Role of an Official Website for International Convention Centres in e-Marketing Era
Location
Classroom 209
Start Date
14-12-2017 3:15 PM
End Date
14-12-2017 3:40 PM
Description
Introduction and research questions
In the recent decades, the meeting industry has recorded a tremendous growth all around the world. According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), there is an exponential growth in the number of international association meetings in the last five decades. In 2012, approximately 23,000 meetings were held internationally (ICCA, 2013), twelve times compared to those in 1963. Convention center, or called convention and exhibition center, is a very important infrastructure for the meeting industry development in a city. It is a purpose-built complex which is "specifically designed to host meetings and conferences, whether they are the larger events for hundreds or even thousands of delegates or smaller, day and residential events (Rogers, 2013) ". Destinations around the world have been investing in building convention and exhibition venues and facilities, which also leads to hyper competitions among convention center and destinations.
Traditionally, due to information asymmetry and conveniences of communication, convention centers rely more on the intermediaries in the meeting industry, such as Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) or venue finding agents, to get connected with international buyers-event organizers and planners. The venue selection process involves extensive long distance information searching, communication and negotiation. Internet enables instant information exchange, reservation and transactions without geographical and time constraints. Therefore, an official website is expected to play an important role and act as an effective marketing channel in streamlining the communications process. Nowadays, most of the convention centers in the world have extensive investment in developing its own official website with a purpose of attracting more events. However, with the development of Web. 2.0 and application of smart phones, more Internet marketing tools emerged. Social media (e.g., facebook, twitter), review websites (e.g., tripadvisor.com), blogs, photo- and video-sharing platforms (e.g., Instagram, youtube) in an on-the-go device not only built virtual communities to connect people together but also provide an even faster and more convenient channel to distribute business information. Under this circumstance, this paper aims to address the following research questions: Is it still necessary for convention centers to invest extensively in building official website? How important an official website is in a digital era with comprehensive e-marketing tools available? What role the official website plays for a convention center for international marketing?
Methodology/approach
As an exploratory study, a qualitative approach was adopted in this study. Qualitative method allows researchers to collect rich data from words to understand the cognition, affect, and intentions from the participants (Kaplan & Maxwell, 2005). In addition, respondents enjoy more flexibility in a qualitative approach and new perception and relations will be discovered. Focus group (FC) interviews were conducted to obtain perceptions from different stakeholders. Unlike individual interviews, focus group allows the researcher to gain access to a range of relevant stakeholders at the same time, understand their perception. The group dynamics in the FC interview provide an encouraging atmosphere for members to express their ideas and build on each other's thoughts and opinions. According to Catterall and Maclaran (2007), FGs are suggested to be conducted based on the following guidelines: consist of no more than eight participants; last for about one-and-a-half hours; strangers are preferred among the group; group members with homogeneous persona characteristics are preferred. In this study, six to eight different stakeholders in the meeting industry were invited for the focus group. The respondents included two from associations, three PCOs or DMCs, one convention bureau and one from an international convention center. In order to create a more relaxed environment for the respondents to express their ideas, the focus group was not recorded but notes taken. At the end of the focus group, all respondents were invited for the verification of the key points and notes.
Findings
All respondents regarded an official website is still "necessary" for a convention center. This is not only for information distribution, but more importantly it is an important image building tool. On the other hand, most of the respondents agree having an official website is not sufficient for marketing and promotion purposes. As people are getting more attached to mobile devices, visiting a website through a destock become less convenient when compared to getting information through the Apps in a mobile phone. Most of the social media APPs in a mobile phone allows proactive notifications to the users. Therefore, a website become a relatively passive marketing tool in a social media era. While the effectiveness of a website as a promotion tool decrease, it is still a "must" to have an official website. First, it acts as an "official" platform for reliable information regarding the convention center. "Quick" and "convenient" are special features for information distributed through social media or virtual communities. However, this quickness and convenience also enable circulations of a lot of unreliable or even fake information. Therefore, a website acts as an important platform for information verification. Second, in a digital era, if there is no official website found people will be doubtful about the reliability of the convention center.
Contributions and implications
This study makes a few contributions theoretically and practically. First, this study fills in the gap of understanding the role of the official website for a convention center. Current literatures regarding website studies in the tourism and hospitality field focus more on more consumer-oriented sectors, such as hotels, travel agents and transportations(Bai, Hu, & Jang, 2007; Escobar-Rodríguez & Carvajal-Trujillo, 2013; Halpern & Regmi, 2013). Second, the insights from different stakeholders provide very good references for convention center management to develop their marketing strategies and to better allocate resources for business success. The function of a convention center website is different from hotels websites, travel website. The official websites in those sectors is not only a very important promotion platform but also a very important channel to stimulate online sales. Different from hotels, convention centers seldom sell to end consumers. Selection an event venue is mostly a corporate purchase behavior and online purchases will rarely happen.
Bai, B., Hu, C., & Jang, S. (2007). Examining e-relationship marketing features on hotel websites. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 21(2-3), 33-48.
Catterall, M., & Maclaran, P. (2007). Focus groups in marketing research. Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing, 255.
Escobar-Rodríguez, T., & Carvajal-Trujillo, E. (2013). An evaluation of Spanish hotel websites: Informational vs. relational strategies. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33(0), 228-239. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.08.008
Halpern, N., & Regmi, U. K. (2013). Content analysis of European airport websites. Journal of Air Transport Management, 26, 8-13. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.08.006
International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).2013 A modern history of international association meetings 1963-2012
Kaplan, B., & Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative research methods for evaluating computer information systems Evaluating the organizational impact of healthcare information systems (pp. 30-55): Springer.
Rogers, T. (2013). Conferences and Conventions 3rd edition: A Global Industry: Routledge.
Parallel Session 24, MICE Track: The Role of an Official Website for International Convention Centres in e-Marketing Era
Classroom 209
Introduction and research questions
In the recent decades, the meeting industry has recorded a tremendous growth all around the world. According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), there is an exponential growth in the number of international association meetings in the last five decades. In 2012, approximately 23,000 meetings were held internationally (ICCA, 2013), twelve times compared to those in 1963. Convention center, or called convention and exhibition center, is a very important infrastructure for the meeting industry development in a city. It is a purpose-built complex which is "specifically designed to host meetings and conferences, whether they are the larger events for hundreds or even thousands of delegates or smaller, day and residential events (Rogers, 2013) ". Destinations around the world have been investing in building convention and exhibition venues and facilities, which also leads to hyper competitions among convention center and destinations.
Traditionally, due to information asymmetry and conveniences of communication, convention centers rely more on the intermediaries in the meeting industry, such as Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) or venue finding agents, to get connected with international buyers-event organizers and planners. The venue selection process involves extensive long distance information searching, communication and negotiation. Internet enables instant information exchange, reservation and transactions without geographical and time constraints. Therefore, an official website is expected to play an important role and act as an effective marketing channel in streamlining the communications process. Nowadays, most of the convention centers in the world have extensive investment in developing its own official website with a purpose of attracting more events. However, with the development of Web. 2.0 and application of smart phones, more Internet marketing tools emerged. Social media (e.g., facebook, twitter), review websites (e.g., tripadvisor.com), blogs, photo- and video-sharing platforms (e.g., Instagram, youtube) in an on-the-go device not only built virtual communities to connect people together but also provide an even faster and more convenient channel to distribute business information. Under this circumstance, this paper aims to address the following research questions: Is it still necessary for convention centers to invest extensively in building official website? How important an official website is in a digital era with comprehensive e-marketing tools available? What role the official website plays for a convention center for international marketing?
Methodology/approach
As an exploratory study, a qualitative approach was adopted in this study. Qualitative method allows researchers to collect rich data from words to understand the cognition, affect, and intentions from the participants (Kaplan & Maxwell, 2005). In addition, respondents enjoy more flexibility in a qualitative approach and new perception and relations will be discovered. Focus group (FC) interviews were conducted to obtain perceptions from different stakeholders. Unlike individual interviews, focus group allows the researcher to gain access to a range of relevant stakeholders at the same time, understand their perception. The group dynamics in the FC interview provide an encouraging atmosphere for members to express their ideas and build on each other's thoughts and opinions. According to Catterall and Maclaran (2007), FGs are suggested to be conducted based on the following guidelines: consist of no more than eight participants; last for about one-and-a-half hours; strangers are preferred among the group; group members with homogeneous persona characteristics are preferred. In this study, six to eight different stakeholders in the meeting industry were invited for the focus group. The respondents included two from associations, three PCOs or DMCs, one convention bureau and one from an international convention center. In order to create a more relaxed environment for the respondents to express their ideas, the focus group was not recorded but notes taken. At the end of the focus group, all respondents were invited for the verification of the key points and notes.
Findings
All respondents regarded an official website is still "necessary" for a convention center. This is not only for information distribution, but more importantly it is an important image building tool. On the other hand, most of the respondents agree having an official website is not sufficient for marketing and promotion purposes. As people are getting more attached to mobile devices, visiting a website through a destock become less convenient when compared to getting information through the Apps in a mobile phone. Most of the social media APPs in a mobile phone allows proactive notifications to the users. Therefore, a website become a relatively passive marketing tool in a social media era. While the effectiveness of a website as a promotion tool decrease, it is still a "must" to have an official website. First, it acts as an "official" platform for reliable information regarding the convention center. "Quick" and "convenient" are special features for information distributed through social media or virtual communities. However, this quickness and convenience also enable circulations of a lot of unreliable or even fake information. Therefore, a website acts as an important platform for information verification. Second, in a digital era, if there is no official website found people will be doubtful about the reliability of the convention center.
Contributions and implications
This study makes a few contributions theoretically and practically. First, this study fills in the gap of understanding the role of the official website for a convention center. Current literatures regarding website studies in the tourism and hospitality field focus more on more consumer-oriented sectors, such as hotels, travel agents and transportations(Bai, Hu, & Jang, 2007; Escobar-Rodríguez & Carvajal-Trujillo, 2013; Halpern & Regmi, 2013). Second, the insights from different stakeholders provide very good references for convention center management to develop their marketing strategies and to better allocate resources for business success. The function of a convention center website is different from hotels websites, travel website. The official websites in those sectors is not only a very important promotion platform but also a very important channel to stimulate online sales. Different from hotels, convention centers seldom sell to end consumers. Selection an event venue is mostly a corporate purchase behavior and online purchases will rarely happen.
Bai, B., Hu, C., & Jang, S. (2007). Examining e-relationship marketing features on hotel websites. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 21(2-3), 33-48.
Catterall, M., & Maclaran, P. (2007). Focus groups in marketing research. Handbook of qualitative research methods in marketing, 255.
Escobar-Rodríguez, T., & Carvajal-Trujillo, E. (2013). An evaluation of Spanish hotel websites: Informational vs. relational strategies. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33(0), 228-239. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.08.008
Halpern, N., & Regmi, U. K. (2013). Content analysis of European airport websites. Journal of Air Transport Management, 26, 8-13. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.08.006
International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).2013 A modern history of international association meetings 1963-2012
Kaplan, B., & Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative research methods for evaluating computer information systems Evaluating the organizational impact of healthcare information systems (pp. 30-55): Springer.
Rogers, T. (2013). Conferences and Conventions 3rd edition: A Global Industry: Routledge.
