Designing an advanced system for destination management: a case study of Northern Indiana

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the core of an advanced destination management system, which uses a series of data matching techniques and business analytics. Design/methodology/approach: This study first proposes the conceptual framework for an advanced destination management system and then illustrates the core components of the proposed system using real-world data from Northern Indiana. In this study, search interests, devices used and other forms of website use derived from online clickstream data were merged with visitor demographic and tripographic information obtained from an online survey to develop an analytic model used to describe the core market structure. Findings: Key demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and income), search interests, referred websites, the number of total sessions, temporal aspects and spatial aspects of visitor travel provide essential information defining the structure and dynamics of the visitor marketing in Northern Indiana. Originality/value: The process and data used in this study provide a “proof of concept” for developing highly personalized marketing systems, which can substantially improve the competitiveness of a destination management organization. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.