The Dynamics of Search Engine Marketing for Tourist Destinations

Search engine marketing (SEM) has become an important strategic tool for destinations and tourism organizations to promote and advertise online. Due to the dynamic and constantly evolving relationships among travelers as information searchers, search engines, and the online tourism domain, the authors argued that a new model must be conceived to capture these relationships in order to better inform SEM practices. The goals of this paper are two-fold: 1) to synthesize research related to search engine marketing in tourism and related fields; and, 2) to present a model that describes the evolving dynamics in search engine marketing. The implications of the model for managerial practice and tourism research are discussed.