The internet is playing an increasingly important role in destination marketing.
To explore the current situation of online marketing in major destinations, this
study compared destination marketing organisation (DMO) websites in the USA and
China. By applying a modified balanced scorecard approach, website marketing
strategies, web page designs, marketing information and technical qualities were
evaluated. The main purpose was to determine similarities and differences among
the official DMO websites in the USA and China. Four tiers of DMO websites were
evaluated: state tourism offices and convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) in
the USA, and provincial and city tourism administrations in China. US DMO
websites were found to be superior to those in China in terms of marketing
strategies and information, and US CVB sites received the highest evaluations.
Based on the evaluation results, recommendations were made on how DMOs can
improve their websites to develop them into more effective destination marketing tools.
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