Customer satisfaction with the Bulgarian tou

lgar

nalytouaccatisbsioadatiot supef p

During recent years the ICT related tourisctor. Tline in010, pme ontypeent an04, p.three

es wit

Buhalis, & March, 2007, p. 266). The Internet was also transformed difcult in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) (Buhalis &

Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Tourism Managem

j ourna l homepage: www.einto an important channel for online transactions 10% of EU travel-lers in 2008 bought their holiday travels from online tour agencies(EC, 2009, p. 3940). Similarly, 63% of leisure travellers and 65% of

Law, 2008, p. 619).Although tourism contributes some 10% to the country's GDP,

until now there has been limited research on the e-tourism develop-ment in Bulgaria (Ivanova, 2009; Kraeva, Emilova, Marinova, & Lalev,2010, Kraeva, Gorcheva, & Bozhikov, 2009), which did not allow forregional or international comparisons. At the same time the numberof country internet users has grown constantly (46.4% of the popula- Prof. Dr. Zhelyu Vladimirov is teaching managemeand Business Administration at the Soa University Stholds a PhD in philosophy and Dr. Habil in economics. Hto the small business development and the SME compeHe has published in British Food Journal, Sociologicaljournals. His latest book in Bulgarian is entitled Global C 1504 Soa, 15 Tzar Osvoboditel Blvd., Soa Universit

Economics and Business Administration, Bulgaria. Tel.: +8702118.

E-mail address: jeve@feb.uni-soa.bg.

2211-9736/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. Allhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2012.07.003with tourism companiesde products (Niininen,

(Blake, Sinclair, & Campos Soria, 2006). The ICT adoption, however,requires re-engineering of the entire processes, which is particularlyexchange opinions; and (3) to communicateinteractively in order to receive tailor-mato dramatic changes in the tourism sebecame more complex due to new onLicata, 2002, p. 218; Kracht & Wang, 2iour also changed as the internet becainformation sources for travel: A newwho acts as his or her own travel agtravel package (Werthner & Ricci, 20ment has empowered consumers onformed purchases; (2) to join forcm innovations have ledhe tourism supply chaintermediaries (Buhalis &. 743). Consumer behav-e of the most inuentialof user is emerging, oned builds a personalised101). The web environ-levels: (1) to make in-h other customers and

formation on travel and hotels (Lee & Morrison, 2010, p. 50).For the 20022008 periods the growth of the tourism market was

due mainly to its online component (EyeforTravel Ltd., 2009). In com-parison with its main competitors, Bulgaria had the lowest rate ofgrowth for the 20042009 period (33.2% compared to 72.3% for Tur-key and 52.6% for Greece). At the same time the major tourism mar-kets for Bulgaria (Germany, UK, Russia, and France) showed anincreased volume of online sales (Euromonitor International, 2010).The competitiveness of tourism rms became strongly dependentnot only on their inclusion in the online tourism market, but also onthe speed of applying the new ICT and e-business innovations1. Introduction business travellers in the USA have used the internet to nd price in-Zhelyu Vladimirov Soa University St Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Bu

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 13 April 2012Accepted 18 July 2012

Keywords:CustomersStudentsSatisfactionWebsitesTourism companiesBulgaria

The goal of this study is to ation with the quality of theby tourismmaster studentsantecedents for customer spositive inuence of the wevariety of destinations abr(responsiveness, personalizside the country) were noe-development and the sunderperforming in terms ocustomers' satisfaction.nt in the Faculty of EconomicsKliment Ohridski, Bulgaria. Heis research interests are relatedtitiveness in different sectors.Problems, and other nationalhallenges to SMEs (2011).y St Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of359 2 8738123; fax: +359 2

rights reserved.r operators and tour agencies' websites

ia

se the e-tourism development in Bulgaria, and particularly customer satisfac-rism companies' websites. A total of 249 rms' websites have been evaluatedording to selected indicators. The conceptual model contained 10 indicators asfaction. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis conrmed thete quality on customer satisfaction in terms of playfulness, navigation, trust,, online transactions, and information quality. Four website dimensionsn, diversity of tourism products and services, and variety of destinations in-pported, which can be explained by the stage of the tourism companies'cic segment of customers. The ndings suggest that the rms areroviding web quality dimensions that enhance the young and well educated

2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ent Perspectives

l sev ie r .com/ locate / tmption in 2011 regularly used the internet, compared to 13.5% in 2004),particularly among those aged 1624 years (80%) and students(94.2%). As in some other touristic countries with low e-commercedevelopment, however, the share of online shoppers (6.7% of the pop-ulation in 2011) remained relatively small. Nevertheless, online traveland hotel reservations are in second place (30.4%) after clothing andsportswear (52.2%) among commodities purchased online (NationalStatistical Institute, 2012). This situation requires more attention to

177Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184be given to the inclusion of Bulgarian tour agencies and tour opera-tors in the e-tourism market.

The paper is structured as follows. Next follows the e-tourism stateof the art, after which the research methodology is presented, themain results and discussion, and the conclusions.

2. Literature review

The rapid development of e-tourism has been accompanied by anincreasing number of publications on its different aspects (Cooper &Burgess, 2000; Standing & Vasudavan, 2000; Doolin, Burgess, &Cooper, 2002; Marcussen, 2003, 2005; Lawson, Alcock, Cooper, &Burgess, 2003; Buhalis & Deimezi, 2004; Cheyne, Downes, & Legg,2006; Werthner, 2006; Ho & Lee, 2007; Park & Gretzel, 2007; Hall &Williams, 2008; Law & Bai, 2008; Schaupp, Blanger, & Fan, 2009;Salwani, Marthandan, Norzaidi, & Chong, 2009; Law, Qi, & Buhalis,2010, etc.). All these researchers revealed that the adoption ofe-business had become crucial for the survival of tourism companiesin the new economy. On the operational level, e-tourism assumesthe inclusion of e-commerce and the maximum use of ICT to improvethe internal efciency of tourism organisations. At the strategic level,e-tourism requires full integration of internal and external company'sprocesses (Buhalis, 2003).

One of the most widely used research methods in the evaluationof the e-maturity of tourism companies is the analysis of theirwebsites (Ho & Lee, 2007, p. 1434). This method was applied to: (1)evaluate the development stage of the e-business adoption; (2) as-sess customer satisfaction with online services; (3) identify successfactors for this adoption; and (4) costbenet analysis (Lu, Lu, &Zhang, 2002, p. 193).

2.1. Stages of e-business development

The stages of e-business development were identied according tovarious theoretically developed models. Willcocks, Sauer, andAssociates (2000) proposed a 4-stage model, where rms start witha web presence, create infrastructure and skills for e-commerce, andend by transforming the organisation into being more customer fo-cused (Willcocks et al., 2000). TheModel of Internet Commerce Adop-tion (MICA) included three stages of e-business development web-based promotion, provision of information and services, andtransaction processing (Cooper & Burgess, 2000). The usefulness ofthis model (often slightly modied) was demonstrated by many re-searchers (Lawson et al., 2003, p. 267; Doolin et al., 2002, p. 558;Peng, Trappey, & Liu, 2005, p. 478). Some authors suggested, however,that there is little evidence that small tourism rms follow a stages ofgrowth model for internet and e-commerce adoption. They consid-ered the owners' recognition of the e-business value and their attitudeto business growth to be key factors in this adoption (Levy & Powell,2003, p. 507).Morrison and King (2002) also showed that convention-al businessmodelswere inadequate given the hesitancy ofmany smallowner operators towards e-business adoption (Morrison & King,2002, p. 107).

2.2. Website evaluation approaches

Previous researches that assessed the performance of travelwebsites can be classied as being either with or without users'involvement (Law & Cheung, 2005). Based on the review of tourismstudies from 1996 to July 2009, Law et al. (2010) differentiated veapproaches: counting, automated, numerical computation, userjudgement, and combined methods (Law et al., 2010, pp. 297, 300).Most often researchers used combinations of these methods, becauseno single method seems to outperform others (Law & Bai, 2006).Based on 83 articles from 23 journals, Chiou, Lin, and Perng (2010)

found that different website evaluation approaches have beenintroduced. Their data showed that, before 2001, 59% of studiesadopted the information systems-approach, 14% adopted the market-ing approach, while the remaining studies (27%) adopted thecombined-approach However, after the burst, the combined-approach increased to 55% (Chiou et al., 2010, p. 284). Research onusers' judgement methods chose consumers, including potential con-sumers, as evaluators of different aspects of tourism organisationwebsites. User involvement was particularly important when mea-suring consumer satisfaction with website attributes (Stockdale &Borovicka, 2007).

2.3. Evaluation of website dimensions

In their summary of previous research on the e-service quality, Hoand Lee (2007) found that its main dimensions differed signicantly(Ho & Lee, 2007, p. 1436). Perdue (2001) developed a conceptualmodel for website evaluation as a function of site navigation, visualattractiveness, and information content. Lu et al. (2002) used amodel with seven functions: general tourism service informationpublicity; advertising tourism product/service; advertising withprice information; email enquiry; online booking; on-line payment;and tourismwebsite registration with user ID. Their study did not dis-tinguish websites and e-commerce websites, as the methods forwebsite evaluation can also be applied to e-commerce websites.Kim and Lee (2004) explored six dimensions of web service quality:ease of use, usefulness, information content, security, responsiveness,and personalisation. Hashim, Murphy, and Law (2007) revealed vedimensions of website quality: information and process, valueadded, relationships, trust, design and usability. Park and Gretzel(2007) identied nine website success factors: information quality;ease of use; responsiveness; security/privacy; visual appearance;trust; interactivity; personalization; fullment, and three factors re-lated to the web communication (advertising/persuasion, playful-ness, and technology integration).

In evaluating different websites, two major constructs emerged functionality and usability. Functionality refers to the contents of thewebsite (information richness), while usability relates to thewebsite design (degree of ease). Au Yeung and Law (2006) devel-oped ve dimensions for usability of travel and hotel websites (lan-guage, layout and graphics, information architecture, user interfaceand navigation). Law and Bai (2008) identied also ve dimensionsfor the functionality attributes of hotel websites: facilities informa-tion, customer information, reservation information, surroundingarea information, and management of website (Law & Bai, 2008,pp. 394, 395). Thus, the web design in terms of both functionalityand usability came to be of critical importance (Buhalis & Law,2008, p. 616).

2.4. Assessment of customer satisfaction

Website analysis has been applied to assess customer satisfactionwith the website quality (Rehesaar, 2001; Shim, Eastlick, Lotz, &Warrington, 2001), as well as customer purchase and re-purchaseintentions. These intentions depend strongly on the level of satis-faction and trust towards the website (Lee, 2002). Law and Bai(2008) found that website quality has a direct and positive impacton customer satisfaction, and that customer satisfaction has a directand positive impact on purchase intentions, mediating the effect ofwebsite quality (Law & Bai, 2008, p. 388). Anderson and Srinivasan(2003) dened e-satisfaction as the contentment of the customerwith respect to his or her prior purchasing experience witha given electronic commerce rm (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003,p. 125).

Many studies conrmed that online service quality positivelyinuenced customer satisfaction, which in turn enhanced purchase

intentions (Kim & Stoel, 2004; Yen, Hu, & Wang, 2007; Zeithaml,

Parasuraman, & Malhotra, 2002). Kim and Lim (2001) revealed theimportant role of system and information quality for consumer satis-faction. Mills and Morrison (2003) developed an e-satisfaction modelfor travel website evaluation, which consisted of three main dimen-sions: interface, perceived quality, and value. Law and Wong (2003)proposed three dimensions that encourage customers to purchasetourism products online: secure payment methods, different priceranges for products/services, and user-friendly systems. Wong andLaw (2005) identied nine attributes that prompted travellers tomake purchase online: the necessary time for booking, visual attrac-tiveness, linkage to other web sites, price information, useful infor-mation, number of hotel web features, time required to search

3. Research methodology

The goal of this study is to reveal the Bulgarian tour agencies' andtour operators' website characteristics which inuence customer sat-isfaction and the subsequent intention to revisit these sites and tomake purchase. Based on the literature review and interviews withtourism managers, the conceptual model was constructed, whichencompassed 10 factors as antecedents for customer satisfactionand website success in term of consumer intentions to revisit sitesand to make purchases (Fig. 1).

Eight of these factors were compound variables represented by in-dexes of the respective items/website attributes. The response was

ices

178 Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184through a site, sensitive information, and price competitiveness. Hoand Lee (2007) analysed ve website functions (information quality,security, functionality, customer relationships, responsiveness andfullment), which determined customer satisfaction (Ho & Lee,2007, p. 1434). Other studies also explored the importance of servicequality and customer satisfaction (Fassnacht & Koese, 2006). Kim(2005) suggested a model with ten antecedents (after sales service,purchase result and price attractiveness, product information, cus-tomer service, site design, product attractiveness, payment method,site information, log-on convenience), which inuenced customersatisfaction and purchase behaviour. Nusair and Kandampully(2008) categorised the dimensions of service quality in previousstudies into six categories (navigability, playfulness, informationquality, trust, personalization, and responsiveness) (Nusair &Kandampully, 2008, p. 7, 8). Lin (2010) investigated the impact ofthree factors (relevance of information content, information quality,and functionality needs services) of e-travel sites on consumers' per-ceived ease of use and usefulness, which inuenced behavioural in-tention towards these sites (Lin, 2010, pp. 210, 214).

It is important to note that websites success factors are contextdependent (Schaupp et al., 2009). Cultural differences may inuencethe perceived website quality. For instance, China, as a developingcountry, has a different tourism E-commerce development environ-ment, barriers, challenges and requirements that are indicative of adeveloping country (Z. Lu et al., 2002, p. 192). The same is true forthe new EUmember states, including Bulgaria. Based on the literaturereview and the particular national context, the following researchquestions were investigated: How customers (in this case, tourismmasters students as actual and potential customers) evaluate tourismcompanies' websites in term of their usability and functionality?What are the characteristics of the travel websites, which inuencecustomer satisfaction and intentions to return and make purchasesfrom these sites? Where are Bulgarian tourism rms on the scale ofthe online transactions development?

The main hypotheseswere that customer satisfaction is positivelyinuenced by the following 10 website characteristics: variety of on-line proposed tourism products and services; information quality;website playfulness; navigability; responsiveness; personalised in-formation and services; website condence/trust; e-commerce in-struments; and variety of destinations both in the country andabroad.

Websites characteristics1. Variety of online proposed tourism products and serv2. Quality of the website information 3. Website playfulness 4. Website navigability5. Online responsiveness6. Online personalisation of products and services7. Website confidence/trust8. Opportunities for e-transactions 9. Variety of online proposed destinations in the country10. Variety of online proposed destinations abroad Fig. 1. Conceptalso a compound variable built on general customer satisfactionwith sites, intention to revisit the sites and likelihood to make pur-chase from these sites. Based on this model the evaluation card wascreated initially with 63 website attributes, the number of whichwas reduced to 48 attributes after the pre-test.

From the register of the Bulgarian tour operators and tour agen-cies (which contained 2441 companies as of 13.10.2011), 249 ran-domly chosen tourism web sites were evaluated according toselected indicators by tourism Master's degree students (on average5 websites per student). Forty three of the investigated rms weretour operators (17.27%); another 43 (17.27%) were tour agencies;and 163 (65.46%) functioned as both tour agencies and tour opera-tors. Students were pre-trained to use the indicators of the evaluationcard. Lin, Wub, and Tsai (2005) justied the recruitment of studentsfor a similar study (Lin et al., 2005, p. 691). Nowadays students are ac-tive online searchers and have a great potential to becometomorrow's online bookers. Lee and Morrison (2010) also recruited25 hospitality and tourism Master's degree students to evaluate 28upscale hotel web sites (Lee & Morrison, 2010, p. 54).

First, eight indexes were constructed as a ratio between the sum ofscores and the maximum sum of scores of the constitutive items/website attributes, and multiplied to 100. Most of the attributeswere scored on ve-point scales, and those for the rst and the eighthindexes were on two-point scale (1 presence, and 0 absence)(Appendix 1, Table A1).

1. The index VARIETY OF ONLINE PROPOSED PRODUCTS ANDSERVICES referred to the presence/absence of the following:tour packages in the country and abroad; excursions insidethe country; hotel accommodation; air tickets; other tickets(bus, train, etc.); cruises; visits to concerts, exhibitions, etc.;organised events; rent-a-car, visa, translation services, etc.The variety of product offerings has been included in theSzymanski and Hise (2000) model of the assessment of cus-tomer satisfaction with the website dimensions.

2. The INFORMATION QUALITY index reected the number of lan-guages, accessibility (functioning links), intelligibility, actuality,accuracy, and completeness (including prices) of tourism prod-ucts and services. Similar online service attributes have beenproposed for information quality by Ho and Lee (Ho & Lee,2007, pp. 1445, 1446).

11. Customer satisfaction:- Overall satisfaction with the site;- Intention to revisit the site;- Likelihood to make purchase from the siteual model.

Second, a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted inorder to reveal the most important factors inuencing customer satis-faction with the companies' websites. The ratio of cases to indepen-dent variables was around 25, e.g. higher than the required ratiobetween 15 and 20. The data were processed on SPSS. The values ofCronbach' alpha, the number of items, means, and SD of variablesare given in Table 1.

The mean scores of the independent variables suggested that thehypothesis related to the impact of the perceived personalisation ofproducts and services on consumer satisfaction was not supported(H6). The correlation matrix indicated that there was no squaredcorrelation among the independent variables higher than 0.494,which was the squared correlation between the websites' naviga-bility and playfulness. This suggested that there were no problemswith multicollinearity (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2006).The correlation matrix also demonstrated that the preliminary twohypotheses were not supported (H9 and H1) (Appendix 1, Table A2).Using the standardised residuals, assumptions for the regressionanalysis (normality, linearity, homoscedasticity, and independence)have been examined. The results were in line with the requiredconditions.

179Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 1761843. The index WEBSITE PLAYFULNESS referred to: graphic style;attractive colours; use of a ash animation, music, zoom func-tion; interactive products' catalogue; photos gallery, videopresentation, 3D rotation, etc. Other researchers also suggestedthat the website playfulness may be strengthened by usingmultimedia, which allows the presentation of attractive imagesof destinations or virtual trips (Park, Gretzel, & Sirakaya-Turk,2007).

4. The NAVIGABILITY index revealed the perceived ease andspeed of the navigation; clear website card; opportunities tond important places (hotels, airports, etc.); efcient searchengine; sufcient number of working links on each page. Simi-lar website attributes have been suggested by previous re-search (Pi, Li, Chen, & Chen, 2007; Taylor & England, 2006).

5. The online RESPONSIVENESS index showed the number ofchannels for communications; easiness of asking questions; ef-fectively functioning system of FAQs; feedbacks and consumeropinions (forum for discussions, complaints, etc.). In short, itincluded attributes that allow the website personnel to respondto customers' inquiries (Zeithaml et al., 2002).

6. The PERSONALISATION index was related to personalised ser-vices as the opportunities to register with ID, recommendationsto registered users, and programme for creating communities.Personalisation is a kind of a special service aiming atestablishing of sustainable customer relationships (Nusair &Kandampully, 2008).

7. The WEBSITE CONFIDENCE/TRUST index displayed the compa-ny information (history, licence documents, insurance, contactaddress, personnel); membership in national and internationalorganisations; quality certicates; presentation of partners/suppliers of tourism services; conditions for using productsand services and resolving disputes, particularly in a case ofcancellation; reliability of personal and credit card data securi-ty. Previous research assumed that these items increased per-ceived trust (Chen, 2006; Chung & Kwon, 2009).

8. The index of OPPORTUNITIES FOR E-TRANSACTIONS revealedthe stage of the company's e-commerce development. It includ-ed items referring to the availability of e-forms for reservation;instructions to consumers for online reservations; a functioningsystem of online reservation with ofine payment; and oppor-tunity for online payment.The eight indexes had values from 0 to 100, divided into ve in-tervals: 020; 2140; 4160; 6180; 81100. Values close to100 indicate a high level of respective website dimension de-velopment, and values close to 0 indicate a low level ofdevelopment.

9/10. The VARIETY OF DESTINATIONS IN THE COUNTRY and theVARIETY OF DESTINATIONS ABROAD were two other factors,measured by the natural logarithm of the number of respectivedestinations.

11. The dependent variable CUSTOMER SATISFACTION was mea-sured by three items on 5-point scales: overall satisfactionwith the sites' dimensions, intention to revisit the sites, andthe likelihood of making purchase from these sites. The inten-tion to revisit the site is closely linked with the concept of loy-alty (Cyr, Kindra, & Dash, 2008), and satisfaction has asignicant positive effect on loyalty. Kim, Chung, and Lee(2011) revealed that satisfaction and trust were mediators be-tween antecedents (i.e., navigation functionality, perceived se-curity, and transaction cost) and loyalty in the online paradigm(Kim et al., 2011, p. 264). In turn, loyalty has the strongest im-pact on purchasing intentions independently or in relation withsatisfaction and other factors. In general, the website quality in-uences positively user satisfaction, which in turn has a directand positive impact on loyalty and intention to make purchases

online (Bai, Law, & Wen, 2008).4. Results and discussion

The investigated travel sites scored relatively well on the per-ceived level of the variety of online tourism products and services(around 53% were ranked at high and rather high levels), and tosome degree on the perceived level of the quality of information(around 46%), and playfulness (43%). At the same time, the resultsoutlined some weak points in the Bulgarian tour agencies' and touroperators' online appearance. On other dimensions like e-commercedevelopment, responsiveness, and navigability, the majority ofwebsites received an average rating (respectively 43%, 41%, and37%). The situation with the scores for personalised information,trust, and online responsiveness is rather poor respectively 82% ofthe websites on personalisation, 47% on trust, and 33% on responsive-ness were ranked at low and rather low levels (Table 2).

Multiple regression analysis conrmed the positive impact on cus-tomer satisfaction of six factors and rejected four others. The exclud-ed factors were: variety of online tourism products and services;responsiveness; personalisation; and variety of destinations in thecountry. The model was statistically signicant and it explainedabout 64% of the variance in the response (adjusted R-square=0.644; F=75,799, pb0.000, N=249) (Table 3).

Table 1Cronbach' alpha for scales of the independent variables, number of items, means andSDs.

Predictors No. ofitems

Cronbach Mean S.D.

1. Variety of online proposedproducts and services

11 0.681 61.21a 21.83

2. Quality of information 6 0.856 56.84b 21.733. Website playfulness 5 0.834 58.14b 19.814. Website navigability 5 0.747 56.14b 20.105. Online responsiveness 4 0.728 53.31b 19.886. Personalisation of products and services 3 0.720 28.76b 18.547. Website condence/trust 5 0.733 45.78b 19.428. Opportunities for e-transactions 4 0.777 54.69a 33.029. Variety of country destinations 2.56c 1.4510. Variety of destinations abroad 3.03c 1.36

Response

11. Customer satisfaction 3 0.944 55.35b 24.74

a 2-points scale (1 presence; 0 absence).b 5-points scale (1 the lowest; 5 the highest).c Ln of the number of destinations.

Table 2Distribution of the websites attributes according to the perceived level of development(%).

Website characteristics Perceived level of development

Low Ratherlow

Average Ratherhigh

High

1. Variety of online products and services 5.6 11.2 30.7 26.3 26.32. Quality of information 4.1 24.4 26.0 29.7 15.93. Website playfulness 2.4 23.1 31.1 30.3 13.14. Website navigation 3.6 24.7 36.7 23.1 12.05. Online responsiveness 3.6 29.5 40.6 17.5 8.86. Personalisation of productsand services

66.9 14.7 13.1 2.0 3.2

7. Website condence/trust 10.0 37.5 31.1 17.5 4.08. Opportunities for e-transactions 17.5 4.0 43.4 12.4 22.7

180 Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184The regression model suggested that the most important factor forthe students' satisfaction was the website playfulness (H2). Other re-searchers have also found that website playfulness increased users'satisfaction (Nusair & Kandampully, 2008, p. 9). Wolnbarger andGilly (2001) concluded that the higher the playfulness of the onlineexperience, the greater the satisfaction of customers, which resultedin the higher likelihood of customers re-visiting the site. It is onlythrough their pleasant online experience, consumers will visit (andre-visit) travel websites and eventually to purchase (Law & Bai,2008, p. 397). The website playfulness might be more important forrelatively young users, as is the case in Lin et al. (2005) and in thepresent study too, where the users were students. Students areamong the most active internet lookers (Bonn, Furr, & Susskind,1998), and that is why making a portal more enjoyable or playfulcould contribute more to users' satisfaction levels (Lin et al.,2005, p. 691).

The second most important factor for customer satisfaction wasthe website navigability (H4). Navigation is a recognised indicator ofgood website functionality and it impacts positively on B2C success(Eid & Trueman, 2004). Navigation is regarded as a core construct ofe-travel service quality as it increases consumer trust and satisfaction,which in turn inuences purchase intention (Chen, 2006; Hwang &Kim, 2007). In Kim et al. (2011) study navigation functionality alsoexerted a signicant positive effect on satisfaction (Kim et al., 2011,p. 264). In particular online buyers were signicantly more likelythan browsers to view user interface and navigation as being impor-tant (Law & Bai, 2008, p. 394).

Website trust ranked as the third signicant factor for customersatisfaction. Trust can be understood as a feeling of security and vol-untary dependence on someone or something (Chung & Kwon,2009). The signicance of this factor is in line with the results ofother researchers (Ho & Lee, 2007, p. 1437). Kim, Kim, and ShinTable 3Multiple regression results.

Model Coefcient t

Constant 4.6972. Quality of information 0.111 2.148

3. Website playfulness 0.312 5.874

4. Website navigability 0.221 3.998

7. Website condence/trust 0.203 4.585

8. Opportunities for e-transactions 0.113 2.878

10. Variety of destinations abroad 0.184 4.500

Adjusted R-square 0.644F-statistics 75.799

Dependent variable: v11 customer satisfaction. p-value is signicant at the 0.05 level. p-value is signicant at the 0.01 level.(2009) found that perceived trust in the e-commerce environmentof tourism B2C affected completing transactions securely. Conversely,a lack of trust is an important reason for many customers not engag-ing in online payments (Wu & Chang, 2006). A large part of internetusers are reluctant to provide personal information online becausethey do not trust e-commerce security (Kim et al., 2011, p. 257).Building trust is a dynamic process, which evolves over time throughrepeating mutual interactions, during which customer uncertaintydecreases (Chen, 2006). The relationship of trust and shopping, how-ever, often changes places in different studies. In other words, it re-mains unclear whether consumers are satised because they trustonline shopping, or if they report improved trust because they aresatised with Internet shopping (Kim et al., 2011, p. 264). Trust issupported by a feeling of security, which also has a positive impacton satisfaction and customers' purchase intensions (Kolsaker,Lee-Kelley, & Choy, 2004).

The variety of destinations abroad (H10) was a fourth importantfactor inuencing the young and well educated users' satisfaction.This factor did not receive attention in other studies, or was subjectto information quality. H9 referred also to the variety of destinations(inside the country), but was not supported. Perhaps the specicusers' prole (students) maintains the signicance of this factor,reecting their attitudes as travelling mainly abroad rather than inthe country. Other research found that destination information isalso a factor of inuence. It may imply that Chinese customers areseeking information online about the destination(s) that they arelikely to visit (Bai et al., 2008, p. 399).

Quality of information was a sixth important factor for students'satisfaction (H2). This factor has been widely accepted as a key com-ponent of the perceived service quality (Ho & Lee, 2007, p. 1436). Theresults are consistent with those of Ross (2005), who revealed the im-portance of having good informative content on travel websites, andBurns (2006), who stated that one of the reasons for perspectivebuyers to leave e-commerce websites was the poor content. If the in-formation is as current as possible with respect to product specica-tions, prices and relevant links, it may encourage customers to comeback to the web site (Wu & Chang, 2005, p. 949). Other researchersconrmed that the relevance-of-information-content was a key factorattracting visitors to e-travel sites (Baloglu & Pekcan, 2006; Nusair &Kandampully, 2008; Park et al., 2007). Information quality, however,means not only accurate and timely information, but also that it iswell selected as today's users suffer from information overload(Biswas, 2004). Specically, buyers perceived quality of information,purchase information, and services/products information signicant-ly more important than the browsers. (Law & Bai, 2008, p. 394)

The opportunity for e-transactions was the fth signicant factor,which inuenced positively users' satisfaction. The distribution oftourismwebsites according to the perceived level of e-transactions de-velopment shows that little more than one fth (21.5%) were rankedon low and rather low levels, 35.1% were classied on the high level,and the majority (43.4%) occupied an average level. This classication(similar to e-stages in the MICA model) is given in Fig. 2.

On the one hand, the last but one ranking of this factor could beexplained by the fact, that many customers are still reluctant to pur-chase online, particularly high-priced tourism products and services(Kim et al., 2011, p. 264). On the other hand, the high percentage ofboth low and average level websites in terms of e-transactions indi-cated that the majority of companies did not provide full online ser-vices, including online payment. The results are similar to thosefrom countries with a small share of online shoppers like Portugal(Morrison & King, 2002, p. 11). The motivation of tourism rmsto develop e-business today depends mostly on the number ofe-commerce users. The small share of online shoppers, as 6.7% in Bul-garia (2011) and 7% in Portugal (2004) (Moital, Vaughan, & Edwards,2009, pp. 735736), or the low value of online purchased products

and services, does not stimulate the adoption of e-business. Similar

43

age

g to

181Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184situation was observed in second internet wave countries such asItaly, Spain and even New Zealand (Buhalis & Deimezi, 2004, pp.123124), which were late e-commerce adopters. Security difcul-ties, lack of interpersonal communication and lack of experienceamong consumers were also the main barriers to marketing overthe internet in Greece (Vrana & Zaropoulos, 2006, p. 606).

The cross-tabulation between the customers' satisfaction and thewebsites' e-commerce development showed that 52% of the websiteswith the lowest level of the e-commerce development correspondedto the lowest level of the users' satisfaction, while about 56% of thewebsites with the highest level of the e-commerce development cor-respond to the highest level of customers' satisfaction (Kendall'stau-b=4.757, sig. 0.000).

The evaluation of tourism website attributes depends on cus-tomers' preferences and experiences. Other studies revealed the pos-itive inuence of responsiveness and personalised information oncustomer satisfaction, loyalty and purchase intentions (Nusair &Kandampully, 2008; Yang & Jun, 2002), but these two factors werenot supported in our research. These factors are related to a greaterreal experience (Liao & Cheung, 2002), which may be limitedamong the sample students. Responsiveness reduces perceivedrisks, and most consumers prioritise communication about delaysand a cancellation in real online transactions (Woolford, 2006).According to Lehto, Kim, andMorrison (2006), the personalised infor-mation has become more important to frequent consumers, whichmay not be the case with our sample of students.

The constant in the model is signicant, which means that for thissegment of consumers there might be other factors inuencing theirsatisfaction with the e-tourism experience.

5. Conclusions

To maintain current customers and gain new ones, travel agenciesmust evaluate their websites, which directly affect the success of thecompany in the electronic market (Lin, 2010, p. 207). A key factor forestablishing durable relationships with customers and enhancingtheir purchase intentions is their satisfaction with the online compa-ny environment (Bai et al., 2008). The overall ndings suggest thatBulgarian tour agencies and tour operators are underperforming interms of providing web service quality dimensions that enhanceyoung and well educated customers' satisfaction, loyalty, and shop-

21,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

Law and rather low level Aver

Fig. 2. Classication of tourism companies' websites accordinping intentions.The study conrmed the positive inuence of the website quality

on customer satisfaction in terms of playfulness, navigation, trust,variety of online destinations abroad, information quality, ande-transactions. Four website characteristics (responsiveness, person-alization, diversity of online proposed tourism products and services,and variety of destinations inside the country) were not supported,which could be explained by the stage of e-tourism development inthe companies and the specic customers' segment. The data suggestthat there is a room for website improvement in many directions. Themajority of the companies have developed a rich scale of tourismproducts and services, which hints at low levels of specialisation.Probably because of that this factor was not evaluated as beingimportant for customer satisfaction (H1). On the opposite side wasthe very poor development of the online personalisation of tourismproducts and services, which dimension was also not supported asbeing signicant for the users' satisfaction (H6). Another non signi-cant website attribute for customer satisfaction was responsiveness(H5), which means that communication with online users needs tobe strengthened.

These ndings have important implications for Bulgarian tourismagencies' and tour operators' strategies. Their managers have to real-ise that a new info-structure has emerged in the sector, and theyneed to adapt to it (Buhalis & Law, 2008, p. 619). They have to workto create more customer pleasure and involvement during the courseof browsing to promote transaction intentions (Wu & Chang, 2005). Itis crucial for tourism practitioners to understand how the quality oftheir websites affects customer satisfaction, and the impact of websitequality and customer satisfaction on customer purchase intention(Law & Bai, 2008, p. 391). The variety of destinations abroad shouldbe enlarged, and more guidance should be designed into the website(Pi et al., 2007). Website security and privacy features need to bestrengthened in order to increase customer trust. As in the case ofGreece, increasing trust requires efforts to overcome the main bar-riers to online transactions security issues, lack of communication,and lack of experience among consumers (Vrana & Zaropoulos,2006, p. 606). That is why tourism managers need to place a high pri-ority on improving the level of customers' trust in the online environ-ments (Kim et al., 2011, p. 264). In line with the suggestions of Halland Williams (2008) on the new role of the state as coordinator, reg-ulator, promoter, and protector of the e-tourism, Bulgaria should in-crease the legal support for e-business transactions in order to avoidcases of online frauds. The ndings also suggest that there are somecommon issues in e-tourism (under) development in the South-EastEuropean countries, which may be due to some regional particulari-ties rather than to individual country specicities, but this hypothesisneeds additional research.

The present study has limitations as it was restricted to a sampleof students, who were among the most active internet browsers andlookers, but may not be so well represented among travel onlinebookers. The data represented the opinions of students, and werenot purely objectives and quantitative. Ideally, future research shouldattempt to cover different consumer segments in term of age, educa-tion, and income.,435,1

level High and rather high level

the perceived level of opportunities for e-transactions (%).Acknowledgement

I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Allan Williams whosupported this work with invaluable advices and a great languagehelp.

The empirical research was accomplished in the frame of the pro-ject E-tourism as a factor for the Bulgarian tourism rms' competi-tiveness in the post-crisis period (DVU_10_0349/2010), while thearticle was submitted under the project BG051PO001/3.3-05-001,nanced by the OP Human Resources Development of the EuropeanSocial Fund.

Appendix 1

Table A1Indexes and individual variables/website attributes.

Indexes No. ofitems

Individual variables/website attributes Cronbach

Mean SD

1. Variety of online proposedtourism products and services

11 1. Tour packages abroad (outbound tourism); 0.6807 61.2097a 21.826632. Tour packages in the country (inbound);3. Excursions in the country (internal tourism);4. Hotel accommodations;5. Air tickets;6. Other tickets (bus, train, boat, ferryboat, transfer, etc.);7. Cruises;8. Visits of concerts, exhibitions, football matches, etc.;9. Events' organising;10. Rent-a-car, visa, translation services, etc.11. Others

2. Quality of information 6 12. Number of languages 0.8557 56.8451b 21.7277813. Accessibility (functioning links);14. Intelligibility;15. Actuality;16. Accuracy;17. Completeness (including prices)

3. Website playfulness 5 18. Graphic style, shrift, and shrift size; 0.8341 58.1355b 19.8142819. Attractive colours;20. Use of ash animation, music, zoom function;21. Interactive products' catalogue;22. Photo gallery, video presentation, 3D rotation, etc.

4. Website navigability 5 23. Easiness and speed of navigation (intuitive); 0.7471 56.1434b 20.1000324. Clear and convenient website card;25. Opportunities to nd important places (hotels, airports, etc.);26. Efcient search engine;27. Sufcient number of working links on each page

5. Online responsiveness 4 28. Number of channels for communications; 0.7280 53.3068b 19.8852129. Easiness of asking questions online;30. Well functioning system of FAQs;31. Feedbacks and consumer opinions (forum for discussion, complaints, etc.);

6. Personalisation of productsand services

3 32. Opportunities to register with user's ID in the website; 0.7196 28.76494b 18.54309333. Recommendations from the company to registered users;34. Programme for creating online communities of users

7. Website condence/trust 5 35. Company information (history, licence documents, insurance, contact address, personnel); 0.7334 45.7849b 19.4253836. Membership in the national and international organisations, quality certicates;37. Presentation of partners/suppliers of tourism services;38 Conditions for using products and services and resolving disputes, particularly

in a case of refusing to use the service;39. Reliability of personal and credit cards data securing.

8. Opportunitiesfor e-transactions

4 40. E-form for reservation; 0.7767 54.6813a 33.0226941. Instructions to consumers for online reservations;42. Functioning system of online reservation with ofine payment;43. Module for online payment;

9. Variety of country destinations 44 2.5576c 1.4528510. Variety of destinations abroad 45 3.0268c 1.3637911. Customer satisfaction 3 46. Overall satisfaction with the website characteristics; 0.9439 55.3519b 24.74039

47. Intention to revisit the site;48. Likelihood to make purchase from this site

a 2-points scale (1 presence; 0 absence).b 5-points scale (1 the lowest; 5 the highest).c Ln of the number of destinations.

Table A2Correlation matrix.

Kendall's tau-b V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11

1. Variety of online proposed products and services 1.000 0.349 0.265 0.241 0.231 0.132 0.291 0.040 0.269 0.183 0.305

2. Quality of information 1.000 0.432 0.452 0.335 0.241 0.301 0.156 0.130 0.231 0.453

3. Website playfulness 1.000 0.494 0.393 0.297 0.292 0.155 0.090 0.188 0.523

4. Website navigation 1.000 0.370 0.276 0.344 0.128 0.146 0.234 0.513

5. Online responsiveness 1.000 0.268 0.291 0.136 0.059 0.188 0.397

6. Personalisation of products and services 1.000 0.253 0.165 0.087 0.156 0.261

7. Website condence/trust 1.000 0.129 0.115 0.182 0.413

8. Opportunities for e-transactions 1.000 0.050 0.146 0.2399. Variety of country destinations 1.000 0.155 0.128

1.000 0.327

1.000

182 Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 17618410. Variety of destinations abroad11. Customer satisfaction

Correlation is signicant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Correlation is signicant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

port Systems, 43(3), 746760.Ivanova, P. (2009). Intermediary activity in tourism Determinants and modernisa-

183Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184tion. Dialog, 5, 3245 [In Bulgarian].Kim, H. (2005). Developing an index of online customer satisfaction. Journal of Financial

Services Marketing, 10, 4964.Kim, M. -J., Chung, N., & Lee, Ch. -K. (2011). The effect of perceived trust on electronic

commerce: Shopping online for tourism products and services in South Korea.Tourism Management, 32, 256265.Appendix B. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2012.07.003.

References

Anderson, R. E., & Srinivasan, S. S. (2003). e-Satisfaction and e-loyalty: A contingencyframework. Psychology and Marketing, 20(2), 123138.

Au Yeung, T., & Law, R. (2006). Evaluation of usability: A study of hotel websites inHong Kong. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 30(4), 452473.

Bai, B., Law, R., &Wen, I. (2008). The impact of website quality on customer satisfactionand purchase intentions: Evidence from Chinese online visitors. International Jour-nal of Hospitality Management, 27, 391402.

Baloglu, S., & Pekcan, Y. A. (2006). The website design and internet site marketing prac-tices of upscale and luxury hotels in Turkey. Tourism Management, 27(1), 171176.

Biswas, D. (2004). Economics of information in the web economy towards a new the-ory? Journal of Business Research, 57(7), 724733.

Blake, A., Sinclair, M. T., & Campos Soria, J. A. (2006). Tourism productivity evidencefrom the United Kingdom. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(4), 10991120.

Bonn, M. A., Furr, H. L., & Susskind, A. M. (1998). Using the internet as a pleasure travelplanning tool: An examination of the socio demographic and behavioural charac-teristics among internet users and nonusers. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Re-search, 22(3), 303317.

Buhalis, D. (2003). eTourism, information technology for strategic tourism management.London: Prentice Hall.

Buhalis, D., & Deimezi, O. (2004). e-Tourism developments in Greece: Informationcommunication technologies adoption for the strategic management of theGreek tourism industry. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 5(2), 103130.

Buhalis, D., & Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism manage-ment: 20 years on and 10 years after the internet The state of the eTourism re-search. Tourism Management, 29(4), 609623.

Buhalis, D., & Licata, M. C. (2002). The future eTourism intermediaries. Tourism Man-agement, 23, 207220.

Burns, E. (2006). Web design key for online shoppers. Retrieved September 19, 2011,from http://www.clickz.com/clickz/stats/1707179/web-design-key-online-shoppers

Chen, C. (2006). Identifying signicant factors inuencing consumer trust in an onlinetravel site. Information Technology & Tourism, 8(2), 197214.

Cheyne, J., Downes, M., & Legg, S. (2006). Travel agent vs internet: What inuencestravel consumer choices? Journal of Vacation Marketing, 12(1), 4157.

Chiou, W. -C., Lin, Ch. -C. h., & Perng, Ch. (2010). A strategic framework for websiteevaluation based on a review of the literature from 19952006. Information &Man-agement, 47, 282290.

Chung, N., & Kwon, S. J. (2009). Effect of trust level on mobile banking satisfaction: Amulti-group analysis of information system success instruments. Behaviour & In-formation Technology, 28(6), 549562.

Cooper, J., & Burgess, L. (2000). A model of internet commerce adoption (MICA). In S.Mahbubur, & M. Raisinghani (Eds.), Electronic commerce: Opportunity and chal-lenges (pp. 189201). : Idea Group Publishing.

Cyr, D., Kindra, G. S., & Dash, S. (2008). Web site design, trust, satisfaction, ande-loyalty: The Indian experience. Online Information Review, 32(6), 773790.

Doolin, B., Burgess, L., & Cooper, J. (2002). Evaluating the use of the web for tourismmarketing: A case study from New Zealand. Tourism Management, 23(5), 557561.

Eid, R., & Trueman, M. (2004). Factors affecting the success of business-to-business in-ternational internet marketing (B-to-B IIM): An empirical study of UK companies.Industrial management & Data Systems, 104(1), 1630.

Euromonitor International (2010). Travel and tourism: Euromonitor from tradesources/national statistics. Date Exported (GMT): 10/06/2010 13:33:26.

European Commission (2009). Flash eurobarometer 258. Survey on the attitudes of Eu-ropeans towards tourism, analytical report Retrieved March 10, 2011, from http://www.tourism.government.bg/les/statistics/le_ 67_bg.pdf.

EyeforTravel Ltd. (2009). European online travel report edition 3, executive summary.November 2009, Retrieved June 10, 2010, from. www.eyefortravelresearch.com

Fassnacht, M., & Koese, I. (2006). Quality of electronic services: Conceptualizing andtesting a hierarchical model. Journal of Service Research, 9(1), 1937.

Hair, J. F., Jr., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivar-iate data analysis (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Hall, M. C., & Williams, A. M. (2008). Tourism and innovation. London: Routledge.Hashim, N. H., Murphy, J., & Law, R. (2007). A review of hospitality website design

frameworks. In P. O'Connor, W. Hopken, & U. Gretzel (Eds.), Information and com-munication technologies in tourism 2007 (pp. 219229). New York: Springer-Wien.

Ho, Ch. -I., & Lee, Y. -L. (2007). The development of an e-travel service quality scale.Tourism Management, 28, 14341449.

Hwang, Y., & Kim, D. J. (2007). Customer self-service systems: The effects of perceivedweb quality with service contents on enjoyment, anxiety, and e-trust. Decision Sup-Kim, H., Kim, T., & Shin, S. W. (2009). Modeling roles of subjective norms and eTrust incustomers' acceptance of airline B2C ecommerce websites. Tourism Management,30(2), 266277.

Kim, W. G., & Lee, H. Y. (2004). Comparison of web service quality between online trav-el agencies and online travel suppliers. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing,17(2/3), 105116.

Kim, S. Y., & Lim, Y. J. (2001). Consumers' perceived importance of and satisfaction withinternet shopping. Electronic Markets, 11(3), 148154.

Kim, S., & Stoel, L. (2004). Dimensional hierarchy of retail website quality. Information& Management, 41(5), 619633.

Kolsaker, A., Lee-Kelley, L., & Choy, P. C. (2004). The reluctant Hong Kong consumer:Purchasing travel online. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28(3), 295304.

Kracht, J., & Wang, Y. (2010). Examining the tourism distribution channel: Evolutionand transformation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,22(5), 736757.

Kraeva, V., Emilova, P., Marinova, N., & Lalev, A. (2010). Adaptation of the tourismrm's IS to contemporary economic conditions. Dialog INI, Extraordinary thematic,June, 1731 (In Bulgarian).

Kraeva, V., Gorcheva, T., & Bozhikov, A. (2009). Presentation of the Bulgarian tourismrms on the internet. Dialog, 5. (pp. 313) (In Bulgarian).

Law, R., & Bai, B. (2006). Website development and evaluations in tourism: A retro-spective analysis. In M. Hitz, M. Sigala, & J. Murphy (Eds.), Information and commu-nication technologies in tourism 2006 (pp. 112). New York: Springer-Wien.

Law, R., & Bai, B. (2008). How do the preferences of online buyers and browsers differon the design and content of travel websites? International Journal of ContemporaryHospitality Management, 20(4), 388400.

Law, R., & Cheung, C. (2005). Weighing of hotel website dimensions and attributes. InA. J. Frew (Ed.), Information and communication technologies in tourism(pp. 327334). New York: Springer Wien.

Law, R., Qi, Sh., & Buhalis, D. (2010). Progress in tourism management: A review ofwebsite evaluation in tourism research. Tourism Management, 31, 297313.

Law, R., & Wong, J. (2003). Successful factors for a travel web site: Perceptions of onlinepurchasers in Hong Kong. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 27(1),118124.

Lawson, R., Alcock, C., Cooper, J., & Burgess, L. (2003). Factors affecting adoption of elec-tronic commerce technologies by SMEs: An Australian study. Journal of SmallBusiness and Enterprise Development, 10(3), 265276.

Lee, P. M. (2002). Behavioral model of online purchasers in e-commerce environment.Electronic Commerce Research, 2, 7585.

Lee, J. K., & Morrison, A. M. (2010). A comparative study of web site performance. Jour-nal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 1(1), 5067.

Lehto, X., Kim, D. -Y., & Morrison, A. M. (2006). The effect of prior destination experi-ence on online information search behaviour. Tourism and Hospitality Research,6(2), 160178.

Levy, M., & Powell, P. (2003). Exploring SME internet adoption: Towards a contingentmodel. Electronic Markets, 13(2), 173181.

Liao, Z., & Cheung, M. T. (2002). Internet-based e-banking and consumer attitudes: Anempirical study. Information & Management, 39(4), 283295.

Lin, Ch. -T. (2010). Examining e-travel sites: An empirical study in Taiwan. Online Infor-mation Review, 34(2), 205228.

Lin, C. S., Wub, S., & Tsai, R. J. (2005). Integrating perceived playfulness into expectationconrmation model for web portal context. Information & Management, 42, 683693.

Lu, Z., Lu, J., & Zhang, J. C. (2002). Website development and evaluation in the Chinesetourism industry. Networks and Communication Studies, 16(3/4), 191208.

Marcussen, C. (2003). Trends in the US online travel market 20002002. RetrievedJune 1, 2010, from http://www.crt.dk/uk/staff/chm/trends/USA_2003.pdf

Marcussen, C. (2005). Trends in European internet distribution of travel and tourism ser-vices. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://www.crt.dk/uk/staff/chm/trends.htm

Mills, J. E., & Morrison, A. M. (2003). Measuring customer satisfaction with online trav-el. In A. J. Frew, M. Hitz, & P. O'Connor (Eds.), Information and communication tech-nologies in tourism (pp. 1128). New York: Springer-Wien.

Moital, M., Vaughan, R., & Edwards, J. (2009). Using involvement for segmenting theadoption of e-commerce in travel. The Service Industries Journal, 29(5), 723739.

Morrison, A. J., & King, B. E. M. (2002). Small tourism businesses and e-commerce: Vic-torian tourism online. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 4(2), 104115.

National Statistical Institute (2012). Retrieved September 23, 2011, from http://www.nsi.bg/otrasal.php?otr=17 (In Bulgarian).

Niininen, O., Buhalis, D., & March, R. (2007). Customer empowerment in tourismthrough consumer centric marketing (CCM). Qualitative Market Research: An Inter-national Journal, 10(3), 265281.

Nusair, K., & Kandampully, J. (2008). The antecedents of customer satisfaction with on-line travel services: A conceptual model. European Business Review, 20(1), 419.

Park, Y. A., & Gretzel, U. (2007). Success factors for destination marketing web sites: Aqualitative meta-analysis. Journal of Travel Research, 46(1), 4663.

Park, Y. A., Gretzel, U., & Sirakaya-Turk, E. (2007). Measuring website quality for onlinetravel agencies. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 23(1), 1530.

Peng, Y. -C., Trappey, C. V., & Liu, N. -Y. (2005). Internet and e-commerce adoption bythe Taiwan semiconductor industry. Industrial Management & Data Systems,105(4), 476490.

Perdue, R. R. (2001). Internet site evaluations: The inuence of behavioral experience,existing images, and selected website characteristics. Journal of Travel & TourismMarketing, 11(2/3), 2138.

Pi, S. M., Li, S. H., Chen, T. Y., & Chen, H. M. (2007). A study of intention on continuoususe of online nancial services: The mediated effects of website trust. Proceedingsof the 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'07).IEEE available at: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety. org/10.1109/HICSS.2007.35.

Rehesaar, H. (2001). Promoting user satisfaction. The twelfth Australia conference on in-formation systems (ACIS) (pp. 523526).

Ross, B. (2005). Secret of success lies in a good site. Travel Weekly: The choice of travelprofessionals (pp. 6366).

Salwani, M. I., Marthandan, G., Norzaidi, M. D., & Chong, S. C. (2009). e-Commerceusage and business performance in the Malaysian tourism sector: Empirical analy-sis. Information Management & Computer Security, 17(2), 166185.

Schaupp, L., Blanger, C. F., & Fan, W. (2009). Examining the success of websites be-yond e-commerce: An extension of the IS success model. The Journal of ComputerInformation Systems, 49(4), 4252 [Summer, ABI/INFORM Global].

Shim, S., Eastlick, M. A., Lotz, S. L., & Warrington, P. (2001). An online pre-purchase in-tentions model: The role of intention to search. Journal of Retailing, 77, 397416.

Standing, C., & Vasudavan, T. (2000). Diffusion of internet technologies in travel agen-cies in Australia. The 8th European conference on information systems (ECIS)(pp. 11121119).

Stockdale, R., & Borovicka, M. (2007). Developing a model for supporting quality in res-taurant websites: A pilot study. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 10(1),5176.

Szymanski, D. M., & Hise, R. T. (2000). e-Satisfaction: An initial examination. Journal ofRetailing, 76(3), 309322.

Taylor, M. J., & England, D. (2006). Internet marketing: Website navigational design is-sues. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24(1), 7785.

Vrana, V., & Zaropoulos, C. (2006). Tourism agents' attitudes on internet adoption: Ananalysis from Greece. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Manage-ment, 18(7), 601608.

Werthner, H. (2006). Information technology and tourism. Presentation and workingpaper. : Technical University Vienna.

Werthner, H., & Ricci, F. (2004). e-Commerce and tourism. Communication of the ACM,47(12), 101105.

Willcocks, L., Sauer, C., & Associates (2000). Moving to e-business, 11, : Random House.Wolnbarger, M., & Gilly, M. C. (2001). Shopping online for freedom, control, and fun.

California Management Review, 43(2), 3455.Wong, J., & Law, R. (2005). Analysing the intention to purchase on hotel websites: A

study of travellers to Hong Kong. International Journal of Hospitality Management,24(3), 311329.

Woolford, L. (2006). The internet's impact on travel and tourism. Part 1. USDM.net.Wu, J. -J., & Chang, Y. -S. (2005). Towards understanding members' interactivity, trust,

and ow in online travel community. Industrial Management+Data Systems,105(7), 937954.

Wu, J. J., & Chang, Y. -S. (2006). Effect of transaction trust on e-commerce relationshipsbetween travel agencies. Tourism Management, 27(6), 12531261.

Yang, Z., & Jun, M. (2002). Consumer perceptions of e-service quality. Journal of Busi-ness Strategies, 19(1), 1942.

Yen, B., Hu, P. J. H., &Wang, M. (2007). Toward an analytical approach for effective website design: A framework for modelling, evaluation and enhancement. ElectronicCommerce Research and Applications, 6(2), 159170.

Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Malhotra, A. (2002). Service quality deliverythrough web sites: A critical review of extant knowledge. Journal of the Academyof Marketing Science, 30(4), 362375.

Dr Zhelyu Dechev Vladimirov obtained his Ph.D from theDepartment of Philosophy of the Moscow State Universityin 1986 and was awarded a Doctorate in EconomicSciences at Soa University in 2010. He has served asVice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Public Adminis-tration at Soa University and its Vice Rector. His researchinterests lie in the development of small and mediumsized enterprises and his books include Global challengesto SMEs, and An Analysis of the Situation and Factors forthe Development of SMEs in Bulgaria. A member ofInternational Association of French Speaking Sociologists,Professor Vladimirov is uent in English, French andRussian as well as his native tongue.

184 Z. Vladimirov / Tourism Management Perspectives 4 (2012) 176184

Customer satisfaction with the Bulgarian tour operators and tour agencies' websites1. Introduction2. Literature review2.1. Stages of e-business development2.2. Website evaluation approaches2.3. Evaluation of website dimensions2.4. Assessment of customer satisfaction

3. Research methodology4. Results and discussion5. ConclusionsAcknowledgementAppendix1Appendix B. Supplementary dataReferences