An Evaluation of a Destination Website Case Study

An Evaluation of a Destination Website - Case Study Example Websites are ideal for this purpose since they can provide facts, information, visuals and communication. Visitors can browse through such sites fix a place to visit, make travel arrangements, make bookings etc all thorough a well designed destination site. "The Internet appears to have overtaken many established resources utilised in the tourism industry and is now second only to recommendations by friends or family. (Using the Internet to Promote your Product: Tourism on the Internet: Research and Planning. 2001). This paper is a review of a destination website called 'incredibleindia.com' with reference to how a well designed and effective travel destination site should be made. A personal review will be made followed by a study using participants to verify my findings. Components of a well designed destination website: There are certain characteristics that any website, including destination sites, should have. The essential elements that should be reviewed are design, content, usability, and interactivity. Design: The webpage ... But for a destination site, pictures and even moving images are essential for it to be eye catching. There should be uniformity or consistency of different pages in the web site. That is, it should look as if all the pages are from the same website. Jarring colours should not be used. With regard to the site under review, the design is simple. The page is uncluttered and colours are light. The dominant colours are light green and blue with text predominantly in blue and white. The absence of pictures are a disappointment and the only picture given appears to be someplace outside India. There is nothing outstanding about the design of the website. So, as a destination site, it is highly disappointing in terms of design. "The design and layout of your site is the next most important part of building a website. Make a bad choice here and it won't matter how great your content is or how much advertising you do. If your site looks bad no one will visit and those that do won't stay long or buy anything." (Website Design Tips - Good Website Design. 2000-2007). Content: The most used clich about this aspect is that 'content is king'. This is true for nay published material. Content is the most important aspect in any web site. However attractive a site may be to look at will be overshadowed by poor content. Users visit web pages for a particular need and the content should satisfy it. In the words of one of the most well known authorities on web design, Jakob Nielsen: "They visit sites because there's something they want to accomplish -- maybe even buy your product. The ultimate failure of a website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for." (Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design: Not