Abstract
E-tourism offers the potential to make information and booking facilities available to a large number of consumers at a relatively lower cost. Among its several advantages are that it enables the tourism sector to make large scale savings on the production and distribution of print and other traditional activities such as call centers and information centers. It also provides a tool for communication and relationship development with the end-consumers as well as tourism suppliers and market intermediaries.
Tourism can be viewed as very different from most other sectors of e-commerce as the consumer goes and collects the product at the point of production which is the destination. Consequently, e-tourism avoids the need to deliver products around the world.
All these factors enable e-commerce to grab a greater slice of the pie globally. As a result, the Internet can be considered as the last revolution in the distribution of tourism information and sales. The internet is even becoming the primary channel for business to business communication. It offers suppliers the potential to by-pass intermediaries in the value chain and thus increases their revenue base. Consequently, new business models must be developed by travel and tourism companies in order to manage their relationships with intermediaries and final customers. It is obvious that the application of e-business methods in Customer Relations Management (e-CRM) provides such an opportunity.
