Evolving Landscape of Partnerships of U.S. Destination Marketing Websites: External Hyperlinks From 1999 to 2018

Hyperlinks to external websites are a reflection of partnerships of destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This longitudinal study investigates the external hyperlinks placed on the home page of U.S. state tourism websites from 1999 to 2018. Our analysis shows that the landscape of DMO partnerships underwent considerable growth; however, the growth was distributed unevenly among categories of partners, particularly as social media became increasingly dominant. State DMOs appeared to be changing their external partnerships quite often, while their strategy was likely influenced by technological innovation, policy, and destination-specific issues. Based on these findings, the authors discuss the study implications and provide suggestions for future research.