Notesale: Turn your study into money

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DCT 0074 2016
Table of Contents
1
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6
2
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7
3
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8
4
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10
4
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1 URL
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1
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10
4
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3 Look and feel
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1
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12
4
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6 Unique selling point (USP)
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1
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13
4
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8 Depth of site
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1
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15
4
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10
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16
4
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11 Are users made to register to get into site?
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2 CONTENT
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2
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18
4
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2 Degree of substantiated information
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2
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19
4
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4 Use of valuable graphics
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2
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20
4
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6 Use of valuable sound
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2
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20
4
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8 Content in digestible quantity
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2
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21
4
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10 Available in multiple languages
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2
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23
4
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12Availability of follow up discussion
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3 NAVIGATION
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3
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24
4
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2 Site Map
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3
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24
4
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4 Internal Search Engine
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3
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25
4
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6 Broken Links
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3
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25
4
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8 Navigational links visible
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3
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27
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28
4
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1 Newsletters
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3 Special offers
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4
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30
4
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5 Provide External Links
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5 BROWSER COMPATIBILITY
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5
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32
4
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2 Netscape Navigator – version (1-4)
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5
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32
4
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4 Monitor Compatibility
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6 MAKING CONTACT
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6
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33
4
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2 Response time to enquiries
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6
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4 Telephone contact numbers provided
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34
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1 Adaptive website
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8 FINDABILITY
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8
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36
4
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2 Intuitive keywords
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8
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37
4
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4 Online advertising
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8
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38
4
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6 Online recommend a friend
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9 USER SATISFACTION
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9
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40
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2 Acknowledge Order
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10 OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
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10
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41
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2 Essential information about the destination
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SUMMARY
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REFERENCES
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7
Figure 2: Map of Abu Dhabi
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10
Figure 4: Homepage of Wayamba Tourism
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11
Figure 6: WTDA home tab
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12
Figure 8: Widgets available in Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 10: Contact Numbers provided in WTDA site
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15
Figure 12: Message from chairman of WTDA
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Figure 14: Vision and Mission statement of Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 16: Trip advisor tool in Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 18: List of languages provided by Visit Abu Dhabi
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24
Figure 20: WTDA Footer links opened page
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Figure 22: Visit Abu Dhabi's ALT tag
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Figure 24: 10KM Marathon swimming world cup final in Abu Dhabi
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DCT 0074 2016
Figure 26: Widgets available in Visit Abu Dhabi
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31
Figure 28: Email address of both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 30: Visit Abu Dhabi Online Forms
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34
Figure 32: Keywords used to search Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 34: Meta Tag of WTDA
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Figure 36: Online recommend facility in Visit Abu Dhabi
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Figure 38: Visit Abu Dhabi Terms and Conditions
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41
Figure 40: Essential information provided by Visit Abu Dhabi
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Introduction
Websites play a key role in promoting a business as it is an effective marketing tool that would
reach a larger audience
...
In particular Sri Lanka has witnessed a boom in the
tourism industry in the recent years
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To
accomplish this we have the National Tourism Board which undertakes the responsibility of
promoting Sri Lanka to the rest of the world
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These local tourism
organizations provide valuable information to the NTO as well as promote the regional tourism
to tourists through their own website
...
Sometimes the website will not be updated or
maintained regularly
...

Our task is to evaluate a website of a Local Tourism Organization in Sri Lanka and another in
abroad
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Wayamba Tourism Development Authority covers the regions of Puttlam and Kurunegala
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The website help tourists to gather information about the destination and what
they can do while in Wayamba
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Visit Abu Dhabi
Visit Abu Dhabi is a website which is designed and maintained by Abu Dhabi Tourism and
Culture Authority whose mission is to promote tourism in Abu Dhabi
...
Some of them include:
 Visitabudhabi
...
ae
 Louvreabudhabi
...
ae
 Abudhabidesertchallenge
...
Evaluating a website
There is no point if a website is created and if users are not utilizing the website for their
purpose
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For this we need to evaluate the website based on several
categories
...
These
include:
 First impression
 Content
 Navigation
 Attractors
 Browser compatibility
 Making contact
 Knowledge of users
 Findability
 User satisfaction
 Other useful information

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First impression is an
important way to attract users to its websites
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It also shows whether the website is functioning effectively and efficiently
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4
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1 URL
A URL is a reference to a web resource
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lk/
...
ae

4
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2 Download time
This depends on the size of the homepage of the website
...

The web page size of WTDA is 5
...
While the web page size of Visit Abu Dhabi is
9
...
However the load time of these two Webpages differ from location to location
...


Wayamba Tourism
Load Time/seconds
Location
3
Minnesota, US
9
...
1
London, UK
14
...
9
Brisbane, Australia
50
Buenos Aires,
Argentina

Visit Abu Dhabi
Location
Load Time/seconds
Minnesota, US
24
Amazon, Japan
36
...
7
South Africa
33
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9
Buenos Aires,
50
Argentina

Figure 3: Website loading time from different locations

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3 Look and feel
This refers to the readability of the website; the pages should be readable, clear and easy to
understand
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The font size should be relatively large and clashing colours should be
avoided
...
1
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This can cause annoyance and drive them away
...
Therefore
it’s convenient for users to visit their site
...
1
...

The users who visit Wayamba tourism website have to scroll down to get some of the
information such as the location, recent posts, feedbacks and reviews
...


Figure 6: WTDA home tab

Visit Abu Dhabi does not involve users scrolling down to get information rather the dropdown
box from the main tab is provided for the convenience of users
...
1
...
WTDA website gives users an impression of what they can do and see in the
Wayamba regions
...

4
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7 Ability to take action
It refers to how interactive the site is with users and whether there is active participation from
users
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Therefore there’s no
immediate interaction between the host and the user
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Figure 8: Widgets available in Visit Abu Dhabi

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8 Depth of site
The users should be encouraged to stay in the website as long as they could
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In the WTDA website, users will not stay for a long period of time since there are not much
animations or graphics used to clutch their attention
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Figure 9: More graphical images used in Visit Abu Dhabi

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9 Contact details
The website should provide contact details such email address, telephone numbers and fax
number
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WTDA site does
not have sufficient contact details
...


Figure 10: Contact Numbers provided in WTDA site

Nevertheless contact details of Visit Abu Dhabi are more informative and they have international
offices across different countries which enable people to contact them more easily
...
In addition the availability of different contact
mediums such as telephone number, email, faxes and both local and international toll free
numbers
...
1
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Statement from Management
This would allow the user to identify the mission and vision of the website
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Deepthi Lamahewa
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1
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Both WTDA and Visit
Abu Dhabi do not ask its users to register thereby making it more convenient for the users
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2 CONTENT
A website should consist of useful and valuable information to achieve its goal
...

There are 12 key points which are related to content and the effectiveness of a website can be
evaluated through these points
...
2
...
In general users are not
interested in fancy animation and graphics they are keener on content
...
But Visit Abu Dhabi has plenty of valuable content such as
things to do in Abu Dhabi, Accommodation details, Travel and to explore
...
2
...


 Authority- publisher of the document and their level of qualification are meant by
authority
...


Figure 15: Authority of websites

 Currency- the date which was created and last updated will be under currency
...
On the other hand Visit Abu Dhabi has
currency converter under Travel option which make it easy for users to know the rate
of exchange
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The coverage is clear and easy to be understood by users
...
Both websites are developed to promote tourism in their respective
regions and the websites are delivering this effectively to meet their goals and
objectives
...

The WTDA is developed by Damith Premakumara
...


4
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3 Level of interaction
Websites are generated to provide information through text, animation and graphics to convey
the message to its users
...
The Wayamba tourism website
has used text, few images and a video in their site
...


4
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4 Use of valuable graphics
Adding graphics to a website adds value and it benefits the user
...
WTDA has added a limited number of graphics to the website
...


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5 Use of valuable animation
Value can be added to a website through animation as well
...
The WTDA
have not used animations to add value to their site
...

4
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6 Use of valuable sound
Sound used in a website could either increase or decrease the performance of a website
...
Wayamba tourism
website has only one video with sounds quality is not up to the expected standards
...

4
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7 Reviews, testimonials and certifications
Providing information on each element of the site will build the trust among its users
...

Visit Abu Dhabi provides the option of review for its users
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Figure 16: Trip advisor tool in Visit Abu Dhabi

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8 Content in digestible quantity
Contents of a page should be divided, where the user is able to read easily
...
Wayamba tourism development
authority site has a combination of text and images divided equally into various sub topics
...

4
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9 Up to date
It is important to publish the content which is recent and up to date
...
For instance the recent posts and the
tourist sites are not updated
...
2
...
WTDA website does not provide language selection option to
its users
...

Visit Abu Dhabi offers users to search information in multiple languages
...
However the only drawback in
this site is that the languages available are limited and they do not offer a variety and range of
language options for its users
...


Figure 18: List of languages provided by Visit Abu Dhabi

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11Frequently asked questions (FAQ’s)
FAQ options allow even an unfamiliar user to gather information quickly and accurately
...
This is a major drawback in their site
...
As a result the users can inquire about
the problems and difficulties if any the users face in Abu Dhabi
...


4
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12Availability of follow up discussion
The option of discussion allows the users to join an ongoing discussion through the website or to
start a new discussion
...

In contrast Visit Abu Dhabi give an opportunity for users to discuss about their interests and if
they wish they could even start their own discussion
...
3 Navigation
Web navigation refers to the process of navigating a network of information resources in World
Wide Web which is organized in hypertext or hypermedia
...
There are 9 key issues to be followed;
4
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1 Ease of use
The navigation system should be easy to use and must provide direct access to various content
and facilities on the site
...

4
...
2 Site Map
It is a list of pages of a website accessible to crawlers and users
...

There are mainly two popular versions of site map
...
In both WTDA
and Visit Abu Dhabi they have used HTML as a site map
...
3
...
In both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi site we can return to
Home Page from any Page
...
3
...
This facility
provides users to find what they want on a website quickly and efficiently
...
In Visit Abu Dhabi site there is an
internal search engine, but in WTDA there is no internal search engine
...
3
...
This allows users to go through the text, graphical navigational systems and
also the content
...


4
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6 Broken Links
It is a link on a web page that the URL is not working properly, because it goes to a web
page that is no longer available or which has moved to another server
...


Figure 20: WTDA Footer links opened page

4
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7 Texts as well as Graphic links (ALT Tags)
It is a word or a phrase that can be inserted as an attributed in an HTML document to tell Web
site viewers the nature or contents of an image
...
In both WDTA and Visit Abu
Dhabi site has the Alt tags, but in the WTDA there is less described
...
3
...
In
both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi site’s navigation links are clearly visible
...
3
...
Also it adds confusion to the user attempting to navigate
the website
...


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This helps the
website to increase the traffic to their site through positive word of mouth
...
This includes:
4
...
1 Newsletters
These are an effective way of attracting users to a website
...

Visit Abu Dhabi does provide newsletters to its users about the latest events and activities
...
Furthermore
users can subscribe to their newsletters by filling a form in few minutes
...
4
...
Sadly WTDA does
not have any competitions displayed in their site to attract visitors to Wayamba regions
especially adventure market
...


Figure 24: 10KM Marathon swimming world cup final in Abu Dhabi

Visit Abu Dhabi offers the visitors to get a glimpse of several sporting events in the region
...


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3 Special offers
Special offers are an effective marketing strategy used to attract visitors
...
People who use Visit Abu Dhabi could search information about
hotels
...

Unfortunately WTDA does not provide such special offers to its users
...

4
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4 Breaking news
Breaking News help the visitors to know about what’s new in the destination
...
However WTDA does not have such facility in the webpage to update users on
upcoming events
...
4
...
WTDA only
has a face book page as an external link
...
With improvement in technology and the rise of
social media have significantly impacted the choice of users in selecting a destination
...

On the other hand Visit Abu Dhabi has all the above mentioned widgets in their website
...
In
addition the website also has a temperature widget which allows visitors to know the temperature
in and around Abu Dhabi
...


Figure 26: Widgets available in Visit Abu Dhabi

Figure 27: Temperature Widget

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Nowadays there are numerous
variations of browsers and monitors used and it is vital that the website is available to as many
internet users as achievable
...

4
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1 Internet Explorer – version (1-5)
Even though it took a little bit of time for The Wayamba Tourism site to open in the Internet
Explorer, the Visit Abu Dhabi site doesn’t load from it
...
5
...


4
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3 Google Chrome
Both Visit Abu Dhabi and WTDA works in google chrome and their load time is relatively fast
...
5
...
However, the Visit Abu Dhabi site was
comfortable to exchange data
...
6 Making Contact
An organization needs to make some level of contact when dealing with clients to carry on their
business transactions
...
6
...


Figure 28: Email address of both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi

4
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2 Response time to enquiries
When it comes to responsiveness WTDA does take more time to respond to queries of users
...
Thus it provides evidence that the site is having a good and fast interaction with guests
...
Can you tell us what information you're specifically looking for?
It'll help us guide you
...
6
...


Figure 30: Visit Abu Dhabi Online Forms

4
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4 Telephone contact numbers provided
Wayamba tourism and visit Abu Dhabi have provided their contact numbers to its users
...
6
...


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The below checklist helps to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of a website and the issues
what the users face when browsing through their sites
...
7
...
This refers to
whether the website can adapt to be used in PC, tablet and mobile phones
...


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In order for this the website should be published in effective and recognizable
way for its users
...

4
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1 Intuitive URL
The users would find it really easy and convenient if the webpage they search for could be found
by directly typing the URL into the navigation bar
...

Both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi sites have the intuitive URL which could be found by typing
directly in the navigation bar making it suitable and fast for the user
...
8
...
The keyword to search for Visit Abu Dhabi site is Abu Dhabi
...
The users need to type Wayamba
Tourism in order to find the official website
...
8
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These tags can be used to provide information to all sorts of clients
...


Figure 33: Meta Tag of Visit Abu Dhabi

Figure 34: Meta Tag of WTDA

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4 Online advertising
This is a useful promotional tool used by any websites to reach a larger target market
...
This has been a new and innovative approach used by a regional tourism board to promote
the destination
...
However it should be noted that the online advertising plays a crucial role in promoting
a destination through their official website and therefore Wayamba tourism website need to
focus their attention on utilizing the online advertising to attract more users to their site
...
8
...
The website should be mentioned in all existing advertising methods
such as television, billboards, radio, newspaper and magazines
...

Both WTDA and Visit Abu Dhabi offer their sites in the above advertising techniques to
promote the destinations
...

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6 Online recommend a friend
Recommending a friend tool is essential to promote a website
...

Visit Abu Dhabi offer #INABUDHABI option where users can write their stories of using the
website and experience in Abu Dhabi
...


Figure 36: Online recommend facility in Visit Abu Dhabi

Sadly WTDA site does not offer such facility where a user could recommend the site to friends
and colleagues
...
9 User Satisfaction
Users need to be satisfied in order to bring them back into the website
...
This could cause further issues to the site
...

4
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1 Reliability of the site
The site needs to be reliable
...
In such
situation the user would be dissatisfied and the site would become non-reliable
...
Thus they are more reliable
...
9
...
When we submitted a compliment message about the website to
Visit Abu Dhabi they acknowledged it and immediately sent a reply in few seconds
...


Figure 37: Acknowledge order from Visit Abu Dhabi

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Following are some of the additional information that a website need to provide in order to build
trust and confidence in the website
...
10
...
The users
cannot go against the online policy of the site as there could be certain areas which the users will
have restrictions to
...
Thus the users can read and go through all the
rules and regulation of the site to get a brief idea of the site
...
This makes it
inconvenient for users and decreases the performance of the website
...
10
...
Thereby customer
needs could be met and they would be satisfied
...
However Visit Abu Dhabi provide more information than what WTDA
offer
...


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Therefore it is vital that websites are accurate and
up to the required standards in order for the visitors to use them
...

Furthermore Visit Abu Dhabi site is updated and maintained constantly for 24/7 whereas
Wayamba Tourism site is not updated constantly
...

We as a team would like to evaluate both the sites by rating them out of 5 stars
...
REFERENCES
Criterias used to evaluate a website [Online] // http://www
...
co
...
htm
...
ae/en/default
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Wayamba Tourism [Online] // http://wayambatourism
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php
...
pingdom
...


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