Brigitte Stangl

Future research issues in IT and tourism

The objective of this manifesto (as a result of the JITT workshop in June 2014) is to identify a list of pivotal research topics and issues in e-tourism. E-tourism can be seen as everything that happens electronically in the travel and tourism industry/experience; more formally it is defined as the design, implementation and application of IT and ecommerce solutions in the travel and tourism industry as well as the analysis of the impact of the respective technical and economic processes and market structures on all the involved actors and especially on the traveller’s experience. In tourism as an “information business”, Information Technology has always played an important role since the 1960s with the computerized reservation systems/global distribution systems; these were one of the first world-wide electronic networks. And since the beginning of the Web in the early 1990s, travel and tourism was and is a major application domain for Web-based services. As such, the domain is also a major driver of technological innovation. This manifesto provides guidelines on strategic research issues for the research community, but as such it is also conceived as a basis document for industry and policy makers.

Distribution Channels and Management in the Swiss Hotel Sector

This research investigates how the hospitality sector in Switzerland has embraced the new world of (online) distribution. It analyses the role of existing distribution channels, and gives insights into channel management methods used. Data is gathered through an online survey among Swiss hotels resulting in 196 usable questionnaires. Findings show that direct booking channels remain the dominant sales tools in Switzerland, although their proportion in the distribution mix has been decreasing steadily in the last years. The Internet Distribution System channel reaches 16.4 % and thus is the channel with the highest growth rate in 2011. A cluster analysis on multi-channel distribution strategies results in four groups: multi-channel distributors, electronic distributors, real time distributors, and traditional distributors. Further, it is shown that more than half of the hotels manage rates and availabilities manually and only one out of four hotels has implemented a channel manager able to manage different channels.

Online Destination Marketing: Do Local DMOs Consider International Guidelines for Their Website Design?

Websites of destination management organisations (DMOs) have to meet certain criteria in order to guarantee high quality of tourism-related information. The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT) developed guidelines for DMOs to improve the quality and effectiveness of their presentation on the Internet. This study applies a content analysis to evaluate 80 local DMO-websites in Austria concerning the implementation of the guidelines from UNWTO/IFITT. Furthermore, due to the growing importance of Web 2.0 applications, it is assessesed if Web 2.0 features are implemented on websites of local DMOs. The study reveals gaps between the recommendations for the design of DMO-websites and their actual implementation. Results show that the guidelines compiled by UNWTO/IFITT receive limited or no attention for the design of DMO websites. Moreover, it is detected that Web 2.0 applications are entirely absent on all of the 80 investigated local DMO-websites.

Exploring a Text-to-Speech Feature by Describing Learning Experience, Enjoyment, Learning Styles, and Values -- A Basis for Future Studies

Speech is the most natural form of face-to-face communication. Due to more sophisticated information systems and advanced educational requirements speech also recognizes growing importance in human-computer interaction. The present study investigates a text-to-speech (TTS) feature in a learning context. 252 questionnaires allow for descriptions concerning positive and negative experiences of TTS learners. Additionally, descriptive insights for enjoyment factors are provided and differences between German and English texts are shown. Furthermore, preferences of different learning styles and values of TTS features conveyed are explored. Findings provide a starting point for more specific future studies through insights into TTS evaluation in a learning context. Based on positive and negative experiences 13 dimensions relevant for a performance measurement scale are suggested. It is shown that among others, theoretical texts and exercises are appreciated as TTS especially by the aural learning style to enable for instance language learning on the go.

Examining Online Brand Image Dimensions from Hotel Managers and Customers Perspectives in Relation to Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

Given the scarcity of research regarding online brand image, this study is an attempt to generate an understanding of this topic in the hospitality industry from a holistic point of view. In order to gather this information, this study has carried out a detailed analysis of the brand attributes and marketing communication that determine hotel brand image in an online context. Semi-structured interviews with hotel marketing managers and customers were conducted and key dimensions underlying the differences between their perspectives were identified in relation to Herzberg’s two-factor theory (1959). The results reveal that online brand attributes such as ease of use and content are seen as hygiene factors that impact customer perception, whilst site appearance and electronic word-of-mouth are motivational factors that hotel managers need to address in order to create a positive brand image in an online hotel context.

Social Virtual Worlds' Success Factors: Four Studies' Insights for the Tourism Supply and Demand Side

This study summarizes success factors of virtual worlds (VWs) examined in scientific studies. One success factor attracting users is that VWs comprise a critical mass of residents. The most popular social VW Second Life (SL) struggles to reach this criterion. Nevertheless, businesses put time and money into virtual representations. This research aims at revealing reasons for this effort by conducting four empirical studies in the field of tourism. The first two studies examine the supply side, evaluating representations and looking at drivers for doing business in SL, the other two studies focus on the demand side. The aim is to detect reasons for using SL as an information source and to reveal underlying values SL provides to its residents. Results show that the supply side uses SL to arouse emotions, to target new customers, and for relationship management. Travelers are attracted by added values the social VW provides.

Mapping segments accessing user-generated content and website applications in a joint space.

Purpose – The relevant literature suggests that website designers should consider the needs of their target groups. This study aims to show the importance of certain website content/applications as perceived by specific user segments, and reveal a posteriori segments based on motivational factors for reading user‐generated content (UGC). The study then seeks to visualize the connections between segments, their perceived importance of website applications, and further explanatory variables, by applying correspondence analysis (CA). The authors show that creative usage of CA may give insight into the varying contributions of certain variables through the exclusion of scale categories or segments.Design/methodology/approach – The authors collected 440 completed questionnaires in an online survey. Of the 240 respondents who read UGC, the authors clustered motivational factors by applying a vector quantization method, and then used CA to give insights into the importance of website content/applications for cer...

How Communication Modes Determine Website Satisfaction

With the growing importance of the Internet as an information source and increased competition online, website designers have to take into account a variety of aspects to meet the target groups’ preferences. The study at hand focuses on the influence of users’ preferred communication modes to get an understanding of drivers of website satisfaction. The research model extends known theories from the technology acceptance literature and tests the influence of communication mode through the evaluation of a website. The model is tested employing structural equation modelling. Multiple group analysis exhibits differences between people who prefer text over visual based communication modes. The results reveal major differences between the two preferred communication modes. The main driver for verbalizers is content while the main driver of satisfaction for visualizers is design. These results indicate that website designers need to take the preferred mode of communication into account to facilitate online information search.

Websites and Virtual Realities: a Useful Marketing Tool Combination? An Exploratory Investigation

Websites offer an easy way to reach one’s target groups. However, even in times of Web 2.0 websites generally are asynchronous and to a large extent are descriptive rather than experiential. The aim of this study is to find out if an appearance in a virtual reality (VR) is a useful combination with a hotel’s website to offer tourists both synchronous and experiential information. For this purpose an experiment was conducted. Respondents’ attitude towards a hotels’ appearance in a VR — more precisely in Second Life (SL) — Association patterns are revealed through the comparison of SL with the website.

The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland

Literature suggests dozens of ways of how to quantify the success of social media. However, there is no consent about the measurement of the return of investment (ROI). Only very limited empirical work is looking at the topic especially in tourism. This study is one of the first attempts to look at the ROI of tourism organizations. In doing so, various input (i.e. budget, manpower, amount of platforms used) and outcome (i.e. posts, website success and social media KPIs such as number of posts, interaction, and page performance index) variables are analysed. Responses of 150 tourism organizations to an online questionnaire and social media data collected via the monitoring tool Fanpage Karma provide insights for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. Our data indicates that despite an ever increasing importance of online services for the customer journey, the monetary and manpower resources allocated to online marketing and social media is modest for most tourism organizations of the three surveyed countries. The achieved outcomes of the tourism organizations are weak especially when it comes to engagement figures. Revealed relationships such as between marketing budget and success measures for YouTube videos are presented and a discussion is provided.