Benchmarking destinations via DMO websites: a methodological process.

As a quality management and improvement technique, benchmarking has been extensively practiced and researched across different industries. This study attempts to establish a methodology for conducting destination benchmarking analyses via DMO websites, and to discuss the implementation of the benchmarking process. Nominal Group Technique (NGT), with the assistance of a number of American state tourism offices, was utilized to develop the benchmarking procedures. A series of measures were hence developed, in the format of a two-phase survey. With the use of this external/performance benchmarking process, the participating states have been able to obtain vital information regarding both their website users and their competitors'. The present study, from the practitioners' perspective, created a managerial tool for Internet-based destination benchmarking in terms of a set of measures and metrics. It also exemplified successful efforts to combine academic and practitioners' interest and strengths into one project.