Rhetoric in tourism websites: innovative technologies to engage consumers.

Abstract

The persuasive power of advertising discourse is very much experienced today. The same happens in relation to tourism marketing materials. In order to attract the attention of the viewers, the travel companies choose various techniques to express their notion of the brand. Technologies are constantly evolving bringing new solutions for web designers. Hence, there exist different innovative approaches in tourism marketing to attract and convince potential tourists to book a tourism product. The present article elucidates and discusses new technological solutions for tourism websites to allure potential tourists. The paper reviews the elements of persuasive web tourism marketing, such as 3D virtual tour, online webcam, interactive map, Google Maps, and online booking form. These technologies provide useful information, create additional experiences in the viewers and help them finalize their decisions. The article highlights how these components as persuasive strategies of tourism promotional materials can influence the decisions of tourism websites’ users. The result section provides the real examples of deployment of the mentioned technologies in influencing the audience by the websites of “Karpaty” and “Solva” resorts (Ukraine). All these techniques form a theoretical framework for researches on persuasiveness and are worth attention as they play an important role in the promotion of tourism services. The data collection of this study will provide updated information in relation to rhetoric of tourism.