A content analysis of travel agency web‐sites in Korea

The Internet has become a dominant issue in today's tourism environment. This paper is to provide large travel agencies in Korea with a better understanding of their Web‐based competitive environment. A content analysis of the top 60 travel agencies Web‐sites in Korea suggests that many travel agencies do not develop their own Web‐sites and although travel agencies are using the Web, they have not, as yet, fully utilized capabilities of Web‐sites. This study also suggests some implications for successful cyber tourism marketing, including the establishment of a Web‐site, on‐line selling, customer supports, and cyber marketing mix strategy on the Web. Limitations and further research issues are also suggested.     

The Impact of the Internet on Travel Agencies in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years, the travel and tourism industry has begun to develop Internet applications more extensively. Many travel service suppliers, such as hotels and airline companies, already use the Internet as a direct channel for customer reservations. The integration of the Internet into the travel and tourism industry, however, presents a challenge towards the traditional role of travel agencies. The purpose of this study is to find out what impact the Internet has on travel agencies in Hong Kong. Outcomes of this research indicate that travel agents generally have positive attitudes towards Internet applications, and the potential threat-disintermediation-has not yet affected the travel industry. Travel agents believe that they can take advantage of the Internet technology to provide value-added services for their customers. Outcomes of the present study also indicate that there are significant relationships between company size, age and some Internet attributes. Travel agencies should therefore pay more attention to these attributes when adopting Internet technology.     

Perceptions of Functionality and Usability on Travel Websites: The Case of Chinese Travelers

Despite the large increase in the amount of online purchases of travel-related products in recent years, previous studies on travel website analysis have concentrated mainly on assessing the quality of travel websites, customer purchase behavior, and website content analysis. In the context of Mainland China (hereafter known as China), with growing wealth of her citizens and the inclination to travel, more Chinese travelers have been, and will probably be, visiting worldwide destinations. In addition, many Chinese travelers will use the Internet to search, and subsequently to purchase, travel-related products and services. This study makes an attempt to analyze Chinese online buyers and online browsers on their perceived importance of travel website functionality (content) and usability (design) and their specific factors. Online buyers (e-buyers) are the Internet users who have previously purchased on travel websites, whereas online browsers (e-browsers) are the Internet users who have browsed travel websites but without making any purchases. The research findings showed that e-buyers did not differ significantly from e-browsers in most of the included factors. The findings of this research are expected to assist travel website developers to improve their websites and to attract more e-travelers.     

Customer Relational Benefits and Relationship-Marketing Outcomes: Comparing Three Transaction Types of Travel Product

Given the increasing popularity of the Internet and TV shopping, travel agencies are using these electronic channels to conduct business transactions. However, few studies investigate how customers' relational benefits affect relationship-marketing outcomes in the travel industry. This study examines the effects of the relational benefits on customer satisfaction and loyalty by focusing on three types of transaction used for travel products. The results indicate that confidence and social benefits, but not special treatment benefits, positively affect customer satisfaction. All three types of customers' relational benefits are positively related to loyalty. The influences of confidence benefits on satisfaction and loyalty are stronger for Internet transaction than interpersonal transaction and TV shopping transaction. The influences of social benefits on satisfaction and loyalty are stronger for TV shopping transaction than interpersonal transaction and Internet transaction. Therefore, the relationships among customer relational benefits, satisfaction, and loyalty are moderated by the three types of transaction.     

The influence of website quality dimensions on e-purchasing behaviour and e-loyalty: a comparative study of Egyptian travel agents and hotels

Websites have become a channel for tourism enterprises to market and sell their services online. These enterprises are committed to improving their online services to retain customers and improving their competitiveness. This study aims to measure the effect of website quality dimensions on customer purchasing behaviour, and how this behaviour affects customer electronic (e)-loyalty. It compares the perceptions of 275 customers of travel agencies and 355 hotels using structural equation modelling. Findings revealed that website quality dimensions significantly affect the customer purchasing behaviour. The study highlighted the dimensions with a negative effect to help managers improve their website quality.     

Developing,Operating, and Maintaining a Travel Agency Website

SUMMARY

Travel agencies have increasingly utilized agency Websites on the Internet to enhance their marketing efforts. This exploratory study aims to provide an analysis of the Internet use by travel agencies in the United States. A survey conducted with 102 travel agency professionals collected primary data to examine the perceived value and contribution of a Website to the agency business, purposes for developing and operating a Website, and benefits and challenges faced in operating a travel agency Website. The results of this study not only identified various issues in developing, operating, and maintaining a travel agency Website but also made various suggestions to address those issues. Implications are discussed as to how travel agencies could better understand e-consumer behavior and effectively market their product offerings online.     

Effectiveness of the hotel websites in Singapore: A perspective from Business‐to‐Business (B2B) organisations

Internet marketing in hotels allows potential users to learn about the hotels, to tour hotel facilities and to compare prices among other benefits without directly interacting with a hotel representative. For some users, Internet is the first and only channel consulted when booking hotel accommodations. In the present age, Internet is increasingly becoming both an opportunity and a challenge for hotel marketers. The opportunity lies in reaching users directly through Internet sites. The challenge is to get the guests’ attention long enough to tell the marketers’ story (Connolly, Olsen and Moore, 1998). It has always been controversial as to how effective Internet marketing can be. Both firms and researchers have indicated that the measuring of effectiveness of Internet marketing is a multidimensional question. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of business‐to‐business Internet marketing in the hotel industry in Singapore through analysing the differences between the travel agents expectations of service and hotels’ understanding of those expectations. A total of 66 hotel websites in Singapore were scanned to give the features analysis. On the basis of the perception scores of 112 inbound travel agents, the study identified the gaps between the users and the website provider (hotel industry).     

Travel Agents and Their Survival Thomas

Abstract

The travel agency industry depends upon commissions for a majority of its revenue. When these commissions decrease or stop the industry must change the means in which revenue is made. The Internet has caused a significant reduction in airline ticket sales and therefore has caused travel agencies to change. In addition travel agencies have reduced commissions paid to airlines thus causing more changes. There were four categories of travel agencies discussed in the article along with their adaptation styles. These types include (1) the independent operator of a small travel agency with very limited resources (2) the normal agency with 2 or 3 agents which does a substantial business (3) the larger agency that is high-tech and high touch and depends on automation and the Web to some extent (innovators) (4) agencies that are Web based with very little automation otherwise and who were technologically adaptable and saw opportunity in the Web. The study examines how agencies have adapted and prospered through this transitional period.     

Electronic Commerce

Abstract

Electronic commerce is booming because of faster and newer technologies being introduced. On-line travel will be a $20 billion industry by the year 2001, compared to $2.5 billion in 1998 (Travel Weekly, May 12, 1999). Based on this research, it is obvious that the Internet and E-commerce is affecting travel agencies' bottom line. Almost half of our respondents had heard of business closures and three fourths of southeastern agencies have adopted some type of service charge. Findings indicate that over one fifth of all customers are calling in with Internet-based researched travel itineraries. Does this finding foreshadow the future?     

The Opportunities and Limitations of the Internet in Providing a Quality Tourist Experience

ABSTRACT

It is more than a decade since hyped stories about the impact of Internet Technology in the tourism industry have caused much of a stir in the minds of academics, practitioners and public policy makers, among others. Most of the discourses figured throughout around the theme painted pictures of a myriad shades and hues of the days to come. Internet-based marketing and e-commerce are two major, interrelated areas of development impacting the sector. The former reduces information asymmetry between tourists and ultimate service providers in destinations. The latter was predicted to eliminate intermediaries who are either information brokers or those guaranteeing services at the destination. This is true all the more in an environment where tourism is a global industry (with some part of the value chain in the country of origin of the tourist and the remaining in the countries that are destinations) and extremely dependent on information and communication industries. Today, the consumer has more information to make decisions and to access sellers globally, with almost real-time market information providing him with new quality service and experience. With this fundamental power shift of producers to consumers, the way in which marketers think needs to adapt (Corfu, Laranja & Costa, 2003). This paper is focused on the case-study “Solares de Portugal” and basically aims to find out: (1) the importance given by the manor house owners to specific features of travel-related websites' design and their global evaluation of the “Solares de Portugal” website; (2) the perceptions of Internet users on the before mentioned features' website effectiveness as well as their global evaluation of the “Solares de Portugal” website; (3) the correspondence between the two perspectives. The study has provided conclusive evidence about the relevance of efficient website services, as well as other practically employable findings. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that society is becoming more familiar with technology, in particular with the PCs and the Internet. This means that the travel industry has now the opportunity to deploy the Web in a more accurate, agile and innovative way. The tourist experience begins with its planning and anticipation stage (Liebman Parrinello, 1993) in the context of which the Internet may provide new quality experiences. From the perspective of the demand side, this may lead to new opportunities of improving the quality of operations and services through the Internet. However, further research will be necessary to dig deeper into those business implications.     

The Effects of Travel Agent Characteristics on the Development of Trust: A Contingency View

Abstract

Trust is a key factor in the establishment of long-term relationships between travel agents and their customers. Prior research across service industries has documented that both “person-related” (e.g., empathy, politeness, and customer/service representative similarity) and “offer-related” (e.g., customization, competence, reliability, and promptness) service representative characteristics have an impact upon trust. However, the relative importance of these characteristics, and in some cases the direction of their relationships with trust has varied across studies. In this paper, we posit a contingency model of trust, suggesting that within the travel agency industry, the effects of the above variables on trust will be moderated by length of customer/service provider relationship. Our model is tested in a business-to-business context by means of a mail survey involving 487 small business owners. The small business owners provided data about their relationships with their travel industry service providers (i.e., agents). Our results demonstrate how corporate travel agencies can work toward the establishment of trust with their clients under varying market conditions.     

What do customers expect of travel agent–customer interactions? Measuring and improving customer experience in interactions with travel agents

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore what customers expect of travel agent–customer interactions by developing a scale of customer service experience; further, a framework to demonstrate how to improve customer service experience derived from interactions with travel agents is proposed. The results indicate that the indirect effect of travel agent interpersonal competencies on word-of-mouth is not through cognitive customer service experience but rather through affective customer service experience. Also, the indirect effect of travel agent professional competencies on word-of-mouth is not through affective customer service experience but rather through cognitive customer service experience.     

旅行社顾客心理授权、顾客参与及服务质量关系研究

顾客在企业授权措施影响下产生的对服务经历的控制感被称之为顾客心理授权.文章在文献研究的基础上,提出了一个包含顾客心理授权、顾客参与、员工服务质量、顾客服务质量和顾客满意感的研究模型,并通过对旅行社顾客的调查,对模型进行了实证检验.数据分析结果表明:(1)顾客心理授权与顾客参与是两个不同的概念,且前者对后者有显著的正向影响;(2)顾客参与通过顾客服务质量间接影响员工服务质量;(3)顾客服务质量和员工服务质量都会影响顾客满意感,且与员工服务质量相比,顾客服务质量对顾客满意感的影响更大.文章研究结果可以丰富学术界对顾客授权理论的研究,同时对旅行社授予顾客权力、鼓励顾客参与,提高顾客服务质量,进而提高顾客满意度有一定的实践参考价值.     

Applications of Business Process Redesign in Hotel Daily Operations

Abstract

The growing yet competitive global economy necessitates businesses to continuously seek ways to execute more efficiently while delivering products or services to customer expectations of quality and timeliness. Business process redesign (BPR) is an approach to analyze, evaluate, and change existing processes and sub-processes in the product/service manufacture and delivery cycle. Delivery of services is more difficult due to the nebulousness of the customer final interpretation and the rapid evaporation of the delivery occurrence. The drop in American travel since September 11, 2001 has devastated hotel occupancy. Hotels delivering services matching or exceeding customer expectation will be more likely to survive the ebb of customer room night sales.

This project applied BPR to a process of airport van delivery in a large US hotel. Following customer complaint, the hotel gathered staff to discuss and propose solutions to reducing customer wait times at the airport curb. An initial analysis by management indicated that communications and employee training were two interventions to the process that would likely improve the process. During the analysis period, customers riding in the van were surveyed to determine their satisfaction with the pickup service. The process was redesigned to add more communication devices to the concierge work area and to improve van driver training. Customers were resurveyed following the intervention. Significant improvement was noted in operator courtesy and friendliness and decreased wait time. Allowing time to analyze processes within an operation can yield rapid improvements often without major financial expenditure.     

Marketing Ecotourism Through the Internet: A Case of Ecotourism Business in Thailand

The advance of Internet technology is having a profound impact on the traditional modes of selling tourism products and contributing to the growing importance of online marketing of the travel and tourism industry. In the case of ecotourism, studies examining Internet-based ecotourism marketing are still limited. This study aims to examine how ecotourism business is marketed through the Internet by focusing on Thai ecotourism business. Subjects investigated are travel business members listed on the website of the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA). Data are qualitatively analyzed using content analysis to examine marketing and ecotourism web-based context promoted through the Internet. The results indicate that the travel companies examined in this study provide a variety of products and services to meet the diverse travel needs and preferences of tourists. When examining the web-based ecotourism marketing, most businesses provide insufficient marketing and ecotourism information to promote ecotourism experience. In particular, ecotourism messages they provide are only partially aligned with ecotourism principles. Recommendations are given for improving online ecotourism marketing to better satisfy tourists' needs and expectations.     

Market Orientation and Performance Outcomes: An Empirical Study of Travel Agencies in Taiwan

This paper reports the results of a study that found evidence to support the importance of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the relationship between market orientation and financial performance. The performance of travel agencies in Taiwan was examined with data collected through a questionnaire survey completed by the managers of 292 travel agencies in Taiwan. Analysis using structural equation modelling revealed that market orientation influences the financial performance of travel agencies indirectly through customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Neglecting customer satisfaction may negate any improvements in the level of performance that have been gained by adopting a market orientation. It was found that market orientation does not affect financial performance unless the two mediators, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, are applied concurrently.     

Strategic alignment leverage between hotels and companies: The buyer–supplier relationship perspective

Hoteliers are seeking ways to increase their revenue by working with travel agencies to costeffectively expand sales. In addition, they are simultaneously turning to hotel bookings to bolster their revenue in the face of decreasing airline commissions. The research objectives of the present study included determining how the strategic decisions of cooperating contract companies and travel agencies of the hotels are influenced by the service vision and standard service communication. Data were obtained via a mailed questionnaire survey from a sample of travel agencies and contract companies in Taiwan. Of the 300 questionnaires sent, 201 responses (67%) were received, yielding a usable response of 192 fully completed questionnaires. The use of the structural equation model to test the theoretical model of collaboration relationship could lead to a greater understanding of the nature and determinants of choice and decisions related to cooperation between firms. From the perspective of buyer–supplier relationships, hotels are seeking ways to develop long-term relationships and to increase their revenue by collaborating with travel agencies and contract companies, and through the firm's service vision and service-standard communication, hotels can develop services to align with their needs. Moreover, service trends affecting hoteliers may include adapting customer demands, increased expectations of value and quality, and an increasingly highly competitive environment. Hotels would therefore need to be able to make these changes in order to continue this alignment relationship, with substitution possibly being an option for these firms when hotels cannot do this. That is, hotels generally face fierce competition, and to be able to compete they must make continuous efforts to maintain product and service quality; they also need to be innovative to be the leading performers.     

The Channel That Offers the Lowest Online Room Rates: A Case Study of Hotels in Hong Kong

Online distribution channels increasingly serve as platforms hotels can use to offer competitive room rates to attract price-sensitive customers and maximize yield. Capturing the lowest and highest daily room rates over a 360-day period from five of the most popular online travel agencies, and two batches of data showing the lowest room rates over 28 days from a last-minute bookings website, this study compares the lowest prices offered. The results indicate that no single online channel outperforms the others in any of the hotel star-rating categories, and that the last-minute reservation service provides the lowest hotel room rate across different star ratings.     

Moderating effect of privacy concerns and subjective norms between satisfaction and repurchase of airline e-ticket through airline-ticket vendors

ABSTRACT

One example of the rapid growth in E-commerce in the Internet era is the use of the Internet to make airline e-ticket (AET) purchases. Companies selling airline tickets must promote tickets in this fiercely competitive e-commerce environment. However, customers are concerned about the privacy of online transactions, and the effects of these privacy concerns on customer repurchase intention of AET are still unclear. Moreover, subjective norms are a critical issue in the Internet era because customer purchase intention is affected by the comments of others. The objective of this study was to investigate the moderating effects of privacy and subjective norms on the relationship between customer satisfaction and AET repurchase intention. A survey of 504 experienced customers showed that privacy has significant negative moderating effects on the relationship between customer satisfaction and AET repurchase intention while subjective norms have significant positive moderating effects. The implications of the survey results are discussed, and managerial suggestions for increasing AET repurchase intention are also given     

The impact of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on e-loyalty in online travel shopping

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impacts of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on online travel shopping. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data and a total of 283 questionnaires were used for data analysis. The mechanism of perceived security and consumer innovativeness was then identified. The study results indicate that: (1) higher perceived security increases the perception of website image and trust; (2) consumers with a higher level of innovativeness tend to trust travel websites; (3) website image has a mediating effect between perceived security and trust; and (4) trust has a mediating effect between website image and e-loyalty.