Destination website benchmarking: A comparative analysis of MICE destinations of Japan and five emerging destinations in East Asia

In this study, using a modified Balanced Scorecard (BSC), we examined the effectiveness of Japan’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) websites against those of other major East Asian destinations. We compared the websites of Japan’s tourism boards and convention centers with 40 competing MICE websites (23 tourism boards and 17 convention centers). The results of this study demonstrated that modified BSC methods are a valid benchmarking tool for destination websites in a niche market such as the Asia-Pacific region. Japan fared the second out of the destinations evaluated on the BSC score. Specifically, Nagoya CVB and Pacifico Yokohama were ranked second for tourism boards and convention centers, respectively. Additionally, qualitative analysis reveals that the clarity of information on Japan’s websites is one of their major advantages over their counterparts in other Asian countries. A discussion of the findings is presented along with recommendations for further improvements.