What type of online advertising is most effective for eTourism 2.0? An eye tracking study based on the characteristics of tourists

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of online advertising on different sites under the Web 2.0 philosophy in the hospitality and tourism industry (eTourism 2.0). First, an analysis is conducted of the type of elements contained in a banner (image vs. text) used in different eTourism 2.0 tools have a greater influence on the attention of potential tourists of a hotel, and secondly, what kinds of banners draw their attention more (static vs. animated). Besides, these differences have been assessed according to different variables for classifying potential tourists (gender, age and experience level with these tools). In order to achieve this objective, a mixed experimental design was created, following an eye-tracking method and a self-administered questionnaire. Some interesting results reveal that tourists take longer periods and higher prior fixations to notice the text than the image. And it was found that participants fixate first on the static banner. The findings suggest interesting future research path on effectiveness of advertising on eTourism tools, and can help improve tourism business processes in terms of optimizing their advertising campaigns, considering the characteristics of the tourists that visit these websites.