Destinations and the Web: a Network Analysis View

Network analysis methods have gained much attention in the last years and have provided a wealth of insights into the structural and dynamic properties of many systems. Here we apply these methods to the study of tourism destinations´ webspaces. This exploratory analysis aims at showing how these techniques can be used and what outcomes can be obtained. After a short introduction to network analysis and a brief review of the literature, two cases are presented, namely Austria as a whole country and a smaller destination within Italy: the island of Elba. For each case, data collection methods are described and the characteristic network parameters are calculated. The comparison between the two cases highlights both similarities and differences, which are described and interpreted. Finally, the limitations of this approach are discussed.