The use of web 2.0 technologies in tourism industry: A conceptual model

Tourism industry has been transformed dramatically by the Internet and web technologies. In the web 2.0 era, travelers‟ behaviors are affected by widely available user generated contents in a number of online social media. Much research has been conducted on the use and impact of web 2.0 on travelers; however, little was known from tourism suppliers‟ perspective. Our research therefore aims to study the topic from a holistic perspective, including activities throughout the tourism supply chain. This paper presents an initial part of the research. It reviews prior literature on the use of web 2.0 technologies in the tourism industry and proposes a conceptual model, which will be used to guide an investigation to the topic

Thai E-Tourism Business Progression Classification

This research aims to investigate the progression of e-business adoption in Thai tourism enterprises in order to define the progression levels. The levels of E-tourism business progression are determined in four stages: online presence, interactive online presence, electronic transactions, and enterprise integration. The survey results reveal that e-business progression of most Thai tourism enterprises remain in online presence stage. Most Thai tourism enterprises which adopted e-business have not progressed further to stage 2, 3, and 4. There are more hotels which have reached higher stages than travel agents for almost every web features. This can be implied that the tourism enterprises have not paid careful attention to details of their websites, nor do they perceive usefulness and importance of informative websites. We conclude that the lack of perceived usefulness and an importance of ebusiness could impede the progression to further stages

Credibility of online reviews and initial online trust in hotel services: the roles of similarity and review quality

As a new type of word-of-mouth media, online hotel review sites have a significant role in travelers’ decision making. Despite of growing popularity and adoption among travelers, online reviews are often questioned for their credibility. The purpose of this study is to investigate how review quality and perceived similarity affect travelers’ perception of credibility of the reviews and their initial trust in the hotel being reviewed. A survey involving 430 real travelers from 16 countries was conducted in popular tourist destination. Results confirm that (1) review quality affects credibility and initial trust in hotel services; (2) similarity affects credibility and initial trust in hotel services; (3) credibility of online reviews affects initial trust in hotel services

Web 2.0 and micro-businesses: An exploratory investigation

This is the author's final version of the article. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article was chosen as a Highly Commended Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.Purpose – The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different types of such online collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a qualitative case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 12 UK-based small companies in the business services sector who are early adopters of Web 2.0 technologies. Findings – Benefits from the use of Web 2.0 are categorized as lifestyle benefits, internal operational efficiency, enhanced capability, external communications and enhanced service offerings. A 2×2 framework is developed to categorize small business collaborations using the dimensions of the basis for inter-organizational collaboration (control vs cooperation) and the level of Web 2.0 ICT use (simple vs sophisticated). Research limitations/implications – A small number of firms of similar size, sector and location were studied, which limits generalizability. Nonetheless, the results offer a pointer to the likely future use of Web 2.0 tools by other small businesses. Practical implications – The research provides evidence of the attraction and potential of Web 2.0 for collaborations between small businesses. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to report on use of Web 2.0 ICT in collaborative working between small businesses. It will be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the potential of Web 2.0 in the small business community.WestFocu

48P. User-Generated Content and Perceived Control: A Pilot Study of Empowering Consumer Decision Making

There is growing interest in understanding of how User-Generated Content (UGC) empowers online consumer behavior. In this paper, we explore the relationships between Consumer Empowerment and Perceived Control (mediated by Self-Efficacy) over the decision making process using UGC. The results of this study reveal that Perceived Control has an influence on intention to use UGC. The findings also suggest that Consumer Empowerment has the capacity to influence Perceived Control, both directly (primarily via Content Empowerment), and indirectly (via Social Empowerment and Process Empowerment, mediated by Self-Efficacy, which in turn influences Perceived Control)

The Use of YouTube as a Tourism Marketing Tool

YouTube started as a social media tool, but is now evolving into a marketing communications tool. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of YouTube as a tourism-marketing tool from the viewpoint of tourism organizations and tourists. Developing its theoretical base from the perspective on how tourists recognize images, a review of 320 European tourism videos on YouTube concluded that many organizations failed to understand that media produced for traditional marketing outlets (TV, cinema) cannot be transferred directly to YouTube. The study also highlighted the growing power of the individual consumer in tourism marketing, as reflected in the dominance of tourism videos produced by real tourists rather than by official tourism organizations. The study concluded that while YouTube was useful as a promotional/ communications tool, more research is required to understand how the YouTube generation filter, select and use tourism information in their trip planning

Promotion of Religious Tourism Sites on Facebook by NTOs

Tourism related to religious sites and festivals, pilgrimage and spirituality is considered an extremely important sector of the tourism market. The true value of religious sites lies in supporting basic tourism products outside pilgrimage destinations, as churches, cathedrals and monasteries attract many visitors, including those who are not travelling for religious purposes only. For tourists who are not driven by religious motives, religious sites are no different than any other tourism attraction – they need to attract tourists’ attention in order for them to decide to include those sites in their future trip. Therefore, appropriate promotion of religious sites is equally important as promotion of any other tourism product. Since modern promotion has mostly relocated from the traditional to the digital stage, this paper offers research on the frequency of promoting religious tourism sites on Facebook by the National Tourism Organisation of Serbia compared to the frequency of promoting religious tourism sites by the NTOs of the defined competitive set, that is, NTOs of Slovenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In order to provide more in-depth analysis, the frequency of promoting religious tourism sites on Facebook by the four European countries with the highest number of religious sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List was analysed, that is, NTOs of Italy, Spain, Germany and France. The study presented in this paper is focused on promotion of religious sites to all types of tourists, not only the religiously motivated ones. For the purpose of the research, all posts published by the official Facebook pages of the analysed NTOs during the period of one year were analysed. The research provides valuable insight into the frequency of promoting cultural tourism attractions and determining how many cultural tourism attractions promoted were religious sites. The posts promoting religious sites were analysed in more detail, therefore the most frequently promoted religious sites by the analysed NTOs were determined, the type of content used in order to promote them, as well as the level of interactivity of the posts promoting religious sites. The most important contribution of the research presented are the data on the engagement rate of the posts promoting religious sites compared to the overall engagement rate of the posts published by the analysed NTOs

USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND CONSUMER EMPOWERMENT IN THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY: A USES & GRATIFICATIONS AND DUAL-PROCESS CONCEPTUALIZATION

User-Generated Content (UGC) on the World Wide Web has empowered travellers, enabling them to exchange opinions or experiences with others, and consequently, influencing their travel decisions. Travellers are able to make comments in a large variety of forms such as photos, videos, podcasts, ratings, reviews, articles and blogs. When people use the Internet to obtain travel information, they do research about the trip on the Internet, read and generate content and reviews, and interact with other travellers in social networks. This is empowering tourists by giving them the opportunity to receive and pass on recommendations of their travel experiences. Despite the importance of UGC in the travel industry, our understanding of how UGC empowers online consumer remains limited. By employing the Uses & Gratifications and Dual-Process Theories, we propose that Consumer Empowerment in the context of UGC can be formed through Content Empowerment, Social Empowerment and Process Empowerment

Cultura web 2.0 aplicada en el sector hotelero de Sevilla, para hoteles independientes

Internet y las nuevas tecnologías 2.0 están cambiando la forma en la que los consumidores se acercan al sector servicios, y además facilita a los establecimientos hoteleros contactar más fácilmente con sus clientes. Este trabajo de fin de Máster se ha centrado en los hoteles independientes, y como éstos afrontan este nuevo reto. El punto de partida de la investigación ha tratado de averiguar, a través de una prueba piloto, que se está haciendo en la actualidad en estos hoteles. Para finalizar, se propone una aproximación al modelo adecuado para que los hoteles independientes saquen el mayor provecho a la Web 2.0, y maximizar estas nuevas herramientas para poder alcanzar mejor sus objetivos de comunicación promoción, comercialización y venta de productos y servicios hoteleros.Internet and the new technologies are changing the form that the consumers approach the sector services, and more concretely to the sector of the hotels. The new technologies and applications of the Web 2.0, it would facilitate to these establishments to contact easier his consumers. For them one proposes this study as point of item of an investigation that tries to see that they are doing at present these hotels, and to show him as the above mentioned tools them his aims of communication might help to reach better promotion, commercialization and sale of products and hotel services

Making Sense of Corporate Tour-Guide Bloggers’ Networking Behavior: A Social Network Perspective

Drawing on studies of social networks and technology sensemaking, this study examines tour guide bloggers’ perceptions of their corporate blogs and how their perceptions and interpretations lead to different types of relationships in their blog networks. We conduct a qualitative case study of a major Taiwanese travel agency. Our findings suggest that corporate bloggers as actors make different senses on blogging and these senses lead them to establish different levels of closeness to their alters (other network actors). Providing social support and especially material support play significant roles in aggrandizing the transitivity, which help to attract more visitors to their blogs. However, the innovation and potential connections that may follow from the individualistic styles of some bloggers in addition to the hedonic emotional support to a travel blog should not be overlooked. Corporate bloggers should thus consider offering more incentives and should be given freedom to prosper in their grassroots use of technology