The European e-Business Report The European e ... - empirica

The European E-Business Report 2005
Exhibit 2.9-2: Main findings of the e-Business Survey 2005 for the tourism industry
Application area
Basic ICT infrastructure
and skills development
Integration of
Internal processes
Supplier-facing
activities: procurement
and supply-chain
integration
Customer-facing
activities: marketing
and sales
Main findings
• Internet access is still lagging behind penetration rates in other sectors.
Comparatively many micro and small firms are non-adopters.
• Even among large companies, “only” 95% reported having internet access.
• Take-up of broadband internet is clearly linked to the size of the company.
• The picture regarding the recruitment of ICT specialists in tourism is rather
similar to other sectors of the European economy.
• Tourism industry is a rather slow adopter of ICT solutions to support internal
work processes.
• The use of ICT solutions for internal and external collaboration with business
partners is less developed in tourism than on average in the 10 sectors studied.
• E-learning is comparatively widespread: about 19% of tourism companies
reported using e-learning applications.
• Online purchasing is widespread in the tourism sector: 57% of companies said
that they procure online.
• The relative share of supplies bought online (as % of the total volume of
supplies) has increased compared to 2003.
• Nearly 40% of those firms that use special ICT systems for e-procurement use
functionalities of e-marketplaces.
• Communication and transactions with customers is the key application area of
ICT and e-business in tourism.
• The share of companies selling online in tourism is approximately twice as high
as on average for all 10 sectors studied in 2005.
• 36% of tourism companies reported making online sales.
• About 20% use special ICT systems to support e-marketing or sales processes.
2.9.3 Important topics and application areas
ICT-supported destination management and operation of destination portals on
the internet
A peculiarity of the tourism industry is that its product consists of a bundle of products and services
provided in different parts by numerous stakeholders. As tourism services are complementary, due to
their mutual horizontal and vertical interdependencies, this bundle of services constitutes the
marketable unit of a destination. 90 A destination consists of an area geographically and textually
defined in a way that it covers the needs and demands of a common or specific target group of
tourists. Thus, destinations are competitive units defined spatially, considered as products or bundles
of products or services, which tourists regard as determinant of their sojourns. 91
In recent years, the idea has taken root that destinations in tourism can be managed the same way as
– or at least similar to – companies. This concept, developed in academic business administration
circles, has come to be known as destination management. In many European countries Destination
Management Organisations (DMOs) form a hierarchical network, with local tourist offices at the bottom
and with regional and national tourist boards, including international branch offices, at the top.
Given that the internet has already become a primary source of information for planning travel and
holidays in the major tourism markets, it is critical for DMOs to achieve a broad distribution of their
90
91
Cf. Bieger, T. (2002). Management von Destinationen. 5., neu bearbeitete und ergänzte Auflage. München /
Wien: Oldenbourg.
Cf. Pechlaner, H. (2000). Managing tourist destinations. In: Manente, M. / Cerato, M. (eds.). From Destination
to Destination Marketing and Management – Designing and Repositioning Tourism Products. Cafoscarina.
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