Mohamed A. Abou-Shouk

Perceived Benefits and E-Commerce Adoption by SME Travel Agents in Developing Countries Evidence from Egypt

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in developing countries, are regarded as slow adopters of technology, especially e-commerce. Travel agents are a typical category of SMEs, experiencing changes in the travel market structure, caused by the use of e-commerce. E-Commerce adoption is a means of supporting agents’ future survival and competitiveness at a time when many are facing the threat of disintermediation from the global travel market. The investigation of e-commerce adoption by SMEs in developing countries represents an emerging area of research, with only a limited number of studies undertaken to date. This research aims to examine the perceived benefits of an advanced level e-commerce adoption by Egyptian travel agents. Structural equation modeling is used to categorize a set of perceived benefit factors for e-commerce adoption, and establish a relationship with the level of adoption. Results indicate that marketing and competition benefits, essential benefits that support strategy and development, and business efficiency benefits all positively contribute to decisions that lead to an advanced level of e-commerce being adopted.

Egyptian Travel Agents and e-Commerce

The rapid growth of the Internet has provided travel agents with the opportunity to embrace it as an extension of their traditional activities. An effective website could potentially bring the world into the customers’ home, and increase their loyalty to the enterprise. The evaluation of websites is one of many ways to benchmark travel agents’ websites against their competitors, and to determine their enhancement directions. This research aims to highlight information offered on Egyptian travel agents’ websites; and to rank these websites in relation to their readiness for electronic commerce. Surveyed websites showed that the most frequent features are company information and contact details. Websites that have been ranked as practicing 1st phase e-commerce are the majority, while websites supporting the 2nd and the 3rd phases are few, and for between websites ranked as practising 4th phase e-commerce are a minority.

The influence of website quality dimensions on e-purchasing behaviour and e-loyalty: a comparative study of Egyptian travel agents and hotels

ABSTRACT Websites have become a channel for tourism enterprises to market and sell their services online. These enterprises are committed to improving their online services to retain customers and improving their competitiveness. This study aims to measure the effect of website quality dimensions on customer purchasing behaviour, and how this behaviour affects customer electronic (e)-loyalty. It compares the perceptions of 275 customers of travel agencies and 355 hotels using structural equation modelling. Findings revealed that website quality dimensions significantly affect the customer purchasing behaviour. The study highlighted the dimensions with a negative effect to help managers improve their website quality.

Levels of Business to Business E-Commerce Adoption and Competitive Advantage in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Comparison Study Between Egypt and the United States

ABSTRACT Business-to-business e-commerce adoption has become increasingly important for small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing them to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Business-to-business adopted at different levels based on different resource endowments leads to competitive advantage being gained and sustained in proportion to that level of adoption. This study uses structural equation modeling to investigate how levels of business-to-business e-commerce adoption affects and contributes to gaining and sustaining competitive advantage in both U.S. and Egyptian manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises. The key finding is that small and medium-sized enterprises can achieve growth in market share and sales that helps them to improve their position in the global market through higher levels of business-to-business e-commerce adoption. Implications of the study, its limitations and directions for future research, are also discussed.

Factors Affecting the Development of Target Competencies Among Final-Year Tourism and Hospitality Students in Egypt

This research investigates the contribution of each dimension in the educational process to the development of target competencies that tourism and hospitality employers seek in graduates. Using a sample of 506 senior students in 7 public universities, and using structural equation modeling, we found that 5 out of 8 dimensions in the educational process significantly affect the development of target competencies. In turn, these target competencies significantly affect the ability of students to get a job in the tourism and hospitality market. It was found that staff members, teaching methods, and facilities provided to support the teaching process are still below students’ expectations. This study is useful for policymakers who wish to do their best to improve the quality of tourism higher education in Egypt and increase its competitiveness.

Destination management organizations and destination marketing: adopting the business model of e-portals in engaging travel agents

ABSTRACT Destination management organizations (DMOs) have an important role in engaging stakeholders in collaboration. Collaborating with stakeholders is useful for both stakeholders and destinations. However, it takes time and needs rigorous coordination to avoid conflicts with stakeholders. This study measures travel agencies’ attitudes towards engaging in online collaboration with DMOs for marketing purposes. It incorporates collaboration and technology acceptance models to predict the attitudes and intentions of travel agents using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from travel agents in Cairo, Egypt, using the random sample technique. This study will be useful for travel and tourism stakeholders and governmental marketing bodies.

Factor Analysis of E-commerce Adoption Benefits: A Case of Egyptian Travel Agents

Travel agency managers decide whether to adopt e-commerce or not based on many factors in relation to the adoption implementation process. These factors could be benefits gained from adoption, drivers that push agents to adopt such technologies or boundaries that hinder the adoption implementation. Benefits of adoption may relate to agents’ future survival, revenue and profits growth, increasing competitive positions and penetrating or expanding global travel markets. Highlighting the categories of adoption benefits may help to determine agents’ enhancement and investment directions of their e-commerce adoption level. This research aims to highlight the benefits to Egyptian travel agents who adopt e-commerce in their activities and categorizing these benefits depending on agents’ opinions using factor analysis. Surveyed agents showed that stability, future survival, revenue growth, enhancing internal efficiency in travel agents are among the benefits offered to agents by e-commerce adoption.

The role of international exhibition venues in marketing exhibitors’ destinations

Exhibition venues are an important tool in promoting exhibitors’ destination image. Venues act as a communicative environment for both visitors and exhibitors. This study, using structural equation modelling to analyse responses of 1000 visitors to the Egyptian venue at the Expo 2015 in Italy, examines the effect of the venue image’s dimensions on improving the image of the Egyptian destination and the intentional visiting behaviour of participants. This study fulfils the research gap of testing the effect of exhibition venue image on promoting the exhibitor’s home country’s image. It is revealed that venue design, facilities, staff, available information and comfort have positively affected exhibitors’ country image promotion and the intentional behaviour of visitors. There are some insights to destination marketers on how to use expositions’ exhibitors to market their tourist destinations.

Predicting Behavioural Intention of International Tourists Towards Geotours

Geotourism could be one of the powerful tools for protecting the environment. It provides a long-term competitive edge through geomanagement. As a niche area of the global tourism industry, geotourism is growing rapidly due to the high appreciation of landscape and geological phenomena. Fostering the nature and cultural sustainability, geotourists seek geological wonders framed in a natural and cultural authenticity. Responding to the call of the Egyptian Tourism Ministry to study non-traditional patterns of tourism, this study aims to investigate the factors predicting the behavioural intention to take geotours among international tourists. The study incorporated new constructs in the theory of reasoned action to achieve its aim. Employing structural equation modelling, findings revealed that behavioural intention of taking geotours is affected by geotourists’ attributes, attitudes towards geotours, cultural heritage and subjective norms. The study introduces useful implications to policymakers and managers of tourism authorities in developing countries.

Drivers of e-commerce adoption in Egyptian travel agents.

Benefits gained from e-commerce adoption, drivers pushing agents to adopt it, and inhibitors hindering the adoption are examples of factors positively or negatively affecting e-commerce adoption. Drivers of adoption could be internal or external pressures on travel agents to adopt technology in order to support their future survival in the travel and tourism global market. Mixed method approach is used in this study to investigate the drivers of e-commerce adoption in the Egyptian travel agents. Findings revealed that adapting to technology changes is the strongest driver of to adopt e-commerce by travel agents.