THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE INTERNET AS TOURISM MARKETING INSTRUMENT

Abstract

One of the important activities of tourism marketing is the creation and distribution of tourism information. This is required by consumers, tourism agencies and tour operators in order to facilitate search and to monitor related products and services. Tourism information includes information regarding potential tourism activities, tourism sights, the means to reach them and other information concerning a destination. Each destination is characterized by a sum of specific pieces of information. The management and distribution of tourism information in brochures involves high costs for the agents who operate in tourism, whereas the Internet offers tourism industry low costs. In order to make the marketing of a tourism product successful, the tourism operator needs to have primarily a strategic outlook to understand perfectly market change from the material to the virtual one, as well as the interplay of forces within it. The Internet has changed forever the tourism environment and marketing, so that no business in this domain can escape its impact any longer. The companies that are willing to get involved and use e-commerce should however benefit from more advantages. Even though a company likes it or not, the Internet exists and it will dominate tourism marketing.tourism marketing, Internet, GDS, online transactions