e-tourism nicos rodosthenous phd 14/03/2013 6 14/3/20131dr nicos rodosthenous

E-TourismNicos Rodosthenous PhD

14/03/20136

14/3/2013 1Dr Nicos Rodosthenous

Demand-driven eTourism

1. IntroductionThe purpose of this chapter is to: Demonstrate different types of tourism demand Explore how ICTs satisfy the needs of consumers Examine the on-line population and the

characteristics of the on-line markets Identify the factors that would encourage more

on- line bookings



Discuss the relationship between ICT utilization and customer satisfaction.

The Internet revolutionizes flexibility in both consumer choice and service delivery processes.

Customers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding requesting high-quality products and services and value for their money .



2. Leisure vs Business travel demand and the Internet implications

Business trips are often classified into Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE)

Business travellers use the Internet to book their tickets and make more complicated travel arrangements. They can find better prices than travel agents and thus save money on the travel budget of the company.



• Business travel represents the highest proportion of on-line travel bookings.

• B2B transactions between business and travel companies also grow at a much faster rate than other sectors of the Internet.

• Leisure travel is slower on the Internet as package holiday still dominates this traffic.

• Few multinational organizations, Thomas Cook, Kuoni, Airtours control the leisure indutry.



Package holiday makers belong to lower economic classes with lower Internet penetration.

Commercial interests of tour operators High price elasticity of package holidays Integrated distribution channel facilitating

direct sales Low profit margins do not allow investment in

ICTs



3. Quantitative growth of tourism demand and on-line population

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) forecasts that international tourism arrivals are expected to reach the 1,6 billion by 2020.

Long-haul travel is expanding faster as people visit exotic and unspoilt destinations due to huge competition in the airline business.



4. On-line population and on-line tourism demand 625 million or 6.7% of the global population had

Internet access worldwide. USA had over 134 million or 33% Internet users The top 15 countries account 78% of the

worldwide internet users Most internet users are well-educated

professionals who travel frequently with higher income.



13.6 millions or 27% are the UK internet users Internet is becoming pervasive in all economic

classes as commonplace for households with a connected computer and digital TV, like a kitchen and a TV set.

The mobile growth technology will contribute to the connectivity of a greater % of people.

Consumers use internet for a wide range of products and services with very high rate of growth.



27% claim that they buy products on-line and 32% they collect info about products, compare prices or visit on-line stores.

Books with 57% and music with 48% dominate on-line shopping, followed by air tickets 45%

73% of on-line bookings were for holidays and only 27% were for business, whereas in the USA 82% was for travel on-line.



European market is the world leader with a very high penetration of mobile phones.

Mobile phones will allow consumers to use mobile devices to access the internet, with mobile commerce, m-commerce.

This will support eCommerce and will also enable interaction between operators and consumers.



5.Demand for tourism on-line and eCommerce Travel and tourism will be one of the most

popular products for on-line purchase in the emerging e-marketplace (e-tourism)

There is significant increase of on-line bookings for airlines and hotels, with airline tickets accounted for 90%. (i.e. easyJet)

Consumers use search engines, the most popular type of website for travel, in order to buy on-line air tickets or to book a hotel.




http://www.google.com.cy/imgres?q=easyjet&hl=el&sa=X&biw=1229&bih=493&tbm=isch&tbnid=vGXkHXwgeEVdHM:&imgrefurl=http://www.justdubrovnik.com/2012/10/easyjet-announces-new-route-to-dubrovnik/5889/&docid=w2_nAQZZWgF5NM&imgurl=http://www.justdubrovnik.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Easyjet-1024x682.jpg&w=1024&h=682&ei=xJ9BUeWpOvKP7AaAwoCQDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=195&dur=281&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=145&ty=87&page=2&tbnh=142&tbnw=195&start=12&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:0,i:130


5.1 On-line bookings Many on-line travel bookers have purchased

airline tickets via the Internet (80%) and booked a hotel room (62%) and 46% made rental car reservation.

75% travel bookers go to company websites for airline, hotel and rental car reservations, while over 57% book travel using on-line travel agency sites, like Expedia, Travelocity or Priceline



6. Barriers and catalysts for on-line consumers and travellers

The cost of access comprises the fee to the Internet Service provider (ISP) and the local call to the ISP.

Tourism organizations offer special discounts to on-line bookers (i.e. KLM, CY to book directly) and they include free telephone numbers with technical support operators.



7. Qualitative growth of tourism demand Tourists become sophisticated and more

demanding, requesting high-quality products. The new tourist knows more about tourism

destinations and organizations and seeks exceptional value for money and time.

Holidaysuncovered.com and holidaytruths.co.uk encourage holidaymakers to report on their package holidays and assess the performance of their resorts against their expectations and the brochure promise.



The internet provides info about tourism products and a whole range of additional data about the resources, history, social and economic structure of destinations.

Old tourism is characterized by “mass” with little attention to the tourists’ personal needs.

New tourism is characterized as ‘flexible’ segmented, customized and recognizes that every tourist is different with unique experiences, motivations and desires.



Leisure time will be used for ‘edu-tainment’ , i.e. the exploration of personal interests, flexibility for both consumer choice and service delivery.

Most beach and sun holidays will include an element of culture, education and pleasure.

ICTs in tourism industry will enable to offer more individualized product to new, experienced, sophisticated, demanding tourists.



ICTs allow the tourism industry to identify consumer needs and wants efficiently and to formulate personalized value-added chains for individual consumers.

ICTs play a critical role in the transformation of tourism demand and enable consumers to identify the most appropriate products for their needs by using the internet and support their interactivity with tourism organizations.

The ultimate aim of every tourism enterprise and destination is the customer satisfaction before, during and after the visit.


e-tourism nicos rodosthenous phd 14/03/2013 6 14/3/20131dr nicos rodosthenous

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