Using the Web Quality Index (WQI) Assessment Model to Analyze Kazakhstani National Tourism Portals

Abstract

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) in the tourism industry play a crucial role in promoting, marketing, and disseminating the destination image and its brand via different communication channels. One of them is the usage of Official Destination Websites (ODWs). Various methodological assessment tools have been proposed by different scholars to assess the overall quality of destination websites. In the context of Kazakhstan, no comprehensive methodological tool so far has been used to assess the destination websites. Hence, this paper presents a quantitative study by applying the Web Quality Index (WQI) assessment tool for eight Kazakhstani and eight international ODWs. Using a total of 127 indicators grouped into twelve parameters, the objective of the paper is to assess the overall quality of destination websites according to a derived index score and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Alongside that, interviews have been conducted with two Kazakhstani tourism stakeholders, namely Kazakh Tourism JSC and Nur-Sultan Convention & Visitors Bureau....