Website evaluation in tourism and hospitality: the art is not yet stated

Millions of dollars have been invested in Website development, often without much thought of how to evaluate the effectiveness of sites. This paper reports on the past, present, and likely future of one of the recommended approaches for evaluating tourism and hospitality Websites, the modified Balanced Scorecard approach. It traces the use of the approach from its beginning in 1999 to the present time. A thorough review of other approaches to Website evaluation is also provided. The article suggests that Website evaluation approaches can be classified into four groups based upon why and when the evaluation is done (formative vs. summative evaluation) and whether efficiency or effectiveness is being measured. It concludes with a call to action for industry leaders, academics, and consultants to develop a unified procedure for Website evaluation in tourism and hospitality