Title: Promoting agrotourism resorts online: an assessment of alternative advertising approaches

Authors: Chryssoula Chatzigeorgiou; Evangelos Christou

Addresses: Department of Organisation Management, Marketing and Tourism, International Hellenic University, P.O. Box 141, Thessaloniki, GR57400, Greece ' Department of Organisation Management, Marketing and Tourism, International Hellenic University, P.O. Box 141, Thessaloniki, GR57400, Greece

Abstract: This paper investigates the differences and conviction effectiveness of three online advertising approaches for agrotourism resorts - namely, direct comparative, indirect comparative and non-comparative adverts. The research entails a parallel survey in two culturally diverse countries, employing equivalent and comparative measures. Even though there are some surveys on cross-cultural differences in advertising in general, the persuasion effectiveness of comparative online advertising, taking into account a cross-country environment, has not been investigated; furthermore, online promotion approaches for agrotourism has not been explored in the past. The findings suggest that there are both main and interactive effects of country and online advert type between the two countries under examination, particularly in relation to attitudes toward agrotourism resort brand and future visitation intentions. Based on the findings, it appears that comparative online adverts for agrotourism resorts were generally more convincing than non-comparative adverts, both in the USA and Greece.

Keywords: online advertising; agrotourism; agrotourism advertising; cross-cultural perceptions; destination marketing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2020.111501

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2020 Vol.14 No.3, pp.249 - 266

Received: 27 Feb 2019
Accepted: 15 Apr 2019
Published online: 30 Nov 2020 *

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