More information, stronger effectiveness? Different group package tour advertising components on web page

Abstract

Empirical evidence concerning how group package tourists react to the different combinations of advertising components is scant, leaving unresolved issues in an important research arena. Therefore, the specific purpose of the present study is to identify the optimal numbers and combinations of advertising components on travel web pages and their contributions to advertising effectiveness. An experimental design was employed; sixteen experimental groups were surveyed. In total, 843 student informants participated in the study. The results found that informants will reflect different degrees of advertising effectiveness in response to different combinations of advertising components; and more components will induce a better attitude towards-the-ad and greater inclination to purchase. In addition, when the number of advertising components is increased, an inverted "U" curve of advertising effectiveness won't be observed, but the hypothesis of a partially curvilinear response can be accepted. Finally, some implications of these findings for travel managers and designers of travel-related web pages are discussed, along with some areas requiring further research.