旅游网站品牌化现状研究：以中国5A级景区为例

因特网在中国的快速普及给目的地营销组织带来了巨大的市场机会。目的地官方网站是一个重要的品牌化途径，而从品牌化角度研究我国旅游官方网站的信息内容，即如何使用品牌这一工具建立独特清晰的目的地形象，当前尚属于未探求的领域。该研究运用规范的内容分析方法评估我国5A级旅游网站品牌化现状，把我国5A级旅游网站划归为高品牌化、中品牌化和低品牌化三种类别，发现了目的地官方网站的品牌化有助于建立积极正向的目的地形象，并由此提出了重要的管理启示和未来的研究方向。

Tourism Website Branding Levels. China＇ s 5A-Class Tourist Attractions

Global internet popularity presents significant opportunities for Chinese destination-marketing organizations （DMO）. The official website of a destination has become a crucial branding channel. However, research on the information content of tourism websites from a destination branding perspective, i.e. how to employ the branding method to build a unique and clear destination image, has yet to be adequately undertaken. The current study aimed to address this through a content analysis of the branding on official 5A-class tourist attraction websites. One hundred and nineteen official China National Tourism Administration 5A-class tourist attraction websites were chosen ： there were six invalid website addresses, hence a total of 113 were analyzed. Our content analysis showed that the official tourism websites could be categorized into three types： high- branding, medium-branding, and low-branding. Fifty official websites were classified in the high-branding category, accounting for 44.25% of the total valid responses. DMOs used these websites as a tool for achieving a branding objective, building a unique and clear image in the mind of online tourists. The messages shown on these websites were harmonious and consistent with their respective tourism slogan. Moreover, the tourism slogans successfully communicated the specific selling points of the attractions and helped online tourists to quickly identify the core values of destination brands. Seventeen official websites were classified in the medium-branding category, accounting for 15.04% of the total valid responses. Although the official website content was consistent, the tourism slogans were not considered to clearly extract or reflect the main selling propositions of the tourism attraction. This would imply that the messages were ambiguous and hence website visitors were unable to recognize the values and roles contained within the tourism slogan. In other words, only online visitors having clear travel plans and relatively high comprehension levels would be able to form a positive perception after visiting the respective website. Forty-six official websites were classified in the low-branding category, accounting for 40.71% of the total valid responses. The inconsistencies in the messages released on these websites increased the information processing costs of online tourists and made it difficult for them to build a stable and clear destination image. Moreover, these websites were considered incapable of strengthening the travel decisions of online tourists because the tourism slogans did not extract the core benefits of the destinations, and did not build consumer expectations. Our results show that official website branding could facilitate the establishment of a positive destination image. The conclusions include： （1） A tourism destination official website has become a crucial branding tool. When a website offers consistent messages supplemented with appealing and harmonious graphics, pictures, text, and design styles that clearly and accurately reflect the tourism slogan, then the website has a high-branding classification that will build a unique and clear destination image. （2） Clear and specific tourism slogans should be chosen by DMOs： These will help the tourism destination increase its branding level. However, an abstract and confused tourism slogan is useless or negative. （3） A few of the tourism destinations had defined their target market＇ s characteristics on their official websites. Most official websites did not specify their target customers and hence their information appeal and structure were aimless. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed at the end of the paper.