ICT and e-business in the tourism industry ICT adoption ... - empirica

Tourism
of about 2.2%. Its main competitors are international companies like Interhome
(www.interhome.com) and Novasol (www.novasol.dk).
e-Business activities
Business model
In case of successful intermediation, adriatica.net demands a commission of 15-25% of
the initial price. Compared to the traditional intermediaries, which charge up to 50%, this
is a significantly lower commission rate. No reimbursement has to be made in case that
no intermediation takes place, which makes adriatica.net an interesting distribution and
marketing channel for accommodation providers. Provision of such low commission rates
is feasible through the fact that up to three traditional intermediaries become obsolete by
using the online channel. Furthermore, adriatica.net is able to accelerate the payments
for the accommodation providers significantly in relation to traditional travel agencies.
adriatica.net does not make bulk purchases (of rooms or similar services) and offers its
services free from obligations to make any sale (e.g. for the providers of rooms,
lighthouses, car rentals). To increase their visibility and sales on the adriatica.net website,
it is the responsibility of the accommodation providers to distinguish themselves from
their competitors by competitive prices and the quality of services.
Business strategy: From online to traditional channels
Adriatica.net has been continuously expanding its business activities in terms of supply
categories and geographical distribution. Furthermore, besides web-based business-toconsumer
sales, adriatica.net also cooperates with several hundred travel agencies from
25 European countries.
The company focuses increasingly also on international markets, where it operates as a
tour operator by offering travel arrangements, especially skiing packages in neighbouring
countries like Italy, Slovenia and Austria. Not being dependent on summer and
homegrown tourists, the company can efficiently bridge the summer season gap in the
period from September to December. The expansion to other products and markets is,
according to Tihomir Brzica, the managing director of adriatica.net, necessary to ensure
the stability of the company in a relatively small Croatian tourism market and to be able to
successfully compete with large international players.
adriatica.net connects to Amadeus GDS
Currently, the adriatica.net develops an interface for the Amadeus Global
Distribution System (GDS) and for the Travia (part of the Travco Group)
system. Through a GDS channel, travel agencies cannot only book 95% of
the worlds scheduled airline seats, but the system also provides access to
numerous hotels, car rental companies, and to other providers such as rail,
cruise and insurance companies as well as tour operators.
The goal of adriatica.net is to support and facilitate the travel agencies when
they distribute the company’s travel arrangements, by providing agencies
with a familiar system similar to the one they have been using previously.
Therefore, not the agencies have to switch and adapt to the existing system
of adriatica.net, but adriatica.net will adapt its system to theirs.
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