Similarities in Information Search of City Break Travelers - A Web Usage Mining Exercise

This paper focuses on understanding the competitive situation in European city tourism based on log file analysis of keywords entered by users on www.visiteuropeancities.info. It applies various text analysis steps in order to extract significant patterns from the queries made by the users. Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) is used for constructing a map of similarities based on the unaided responses gained from the users’ information requests. Multiple regression analysis between the most frequently used terms entered by the users and the geometrical representation generated by the MDS provides additional insights in the semantics defining competitive differences between 32 city break destinations in Europe. Findings comprise information on cities that can be considered as rivals in regard to the information demanded by the users of the web portal. As it becomes clear in which areas cities are perceived as similar, this findings can be used by city (tourism) managers in order to revise their communication plan regarding their own city if desired.

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