E tourism

According to Cho (1998) tourism industry consumes a diverse range of information and for that internet technologies have had a big effect and have played an enormous role in this industry.  Buhalis argues that the interaction between tourism and its internet application can be called e-tourism, which is mentioned in specialized literature as one of the fastest growing e- commerce industries. The World Tourism Organization – WTO (2001) asserted that e- tourism   means ―e- business for tourism, and explains that for tourism destinations and businesses, e-business is about realizing the opportunities of improved processes both externally, through the internet, and internally, through intranets. According to Buhalis (2003), ―e-Tourism reflects the digitalization of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries. At the tactical level, it includes e-commerce and applies ICTs for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism organization.‖ Additionally, Buhalis et al. (2001) declares that in the recent decades, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have strongly influenced the way business is performed and the way that organizations compete. The tourism and travel industries were particularly affected by these developments and specifically, the way organizations distributed their tourism products in the marketplace. E-tourism has evolved from a technology drift to a conventional tourism business reality (Buhalis et al., 2007).

Traditionally, the travel distribution role has been performed by outbound travel agencies, tour operators (TOs) and inbound travel agents or handling agencies (Buhalis et al., 2001). They add that the emergence of the internet and e-commerce and their adoption in tourism industry as a primitive B2B and B2C market has changed the traditional ways of doing business in this industry. Accordingly, consumers design their entire tourist package which consists of various tourism products online like online-booking and search.  Daros states that the internet is changing considerably the traditional structure of the industry and the noticeable consequences for the tourism market are the disintermediation or re- intermediation of processes and relations. The internet brings more independence for suppliers (hotels, airlines, car rentals etc.) since they are represented in the market without paying fees to third-part intermediaries. The internet is a means of delivering up-to-date information and products which has led to emergence of a new type of tourism which is e- tourism. E-tourism is still in its infancy and it is widely predicted to be one of the most rapidly expanding industries on-line (Buhalis et al., 2001).

Resource:  Part of an article by Ghazaleh Saddad