An Exploratory Field Study of Web 2.0 in Tourism

The Web 2.0 concept comprises a second generation of Web-based services, such as social networking sites and wikis, and is becoming an important element in travel planning and buying. This paper adds to Web 2.0 tourism studies, investigating Web 2.0 applications and technologies present with almost 3,000 tourism businesses — destination management organisations, mountain railways, travel agencies and hotel organisations. The low presence of Web 2.0 technologies and applications on tourism enterprise websites suggests that most tourism enterprises are at an early stage in applying Web 2.0 concepts to their businesses. Using diffusion of innovations theory, the results show that enterprises having adopted websites early (early adopters and early majority) also lead in the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies.

[1]  Jung P. Shim,et al.  Factors influencing corporate web site adoption: a time-based assessment , 2001, Inf. Manag..

[2]  Jamie Murphy,et al.  Investigating Domain Name Diffusion across Swiss Accommodation Enterprises , 2005, ENTER.

[3]  Dimitrios Buhalis,et al.  Information technology in peripheral small and medium hospitality enterprises: strategic analysis and critical factors , 1998 .

[4]  J. Mylopoulos,et al.  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2007 , 2007 .

[5]  Iis P. Tussyadiah,et al.  Combination of Information Sources in Travel Planning A Cross-national Study , 2007, ENTER.

[6]  A. Frew.  Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2005 , 2005 .

[7]  Kirthi Kalyanam,et al.  Internet Marketing & E-Commerce , 2006 .

[8]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of Innovations , 1964 .

[9]  Jamie Murphy,et al.  Internet Adoption by Swiss Hotels: The Dynamics of Domain Name Registration , 2004, ENTER.

[10]  Jamie Murphy,et al.  Take Me Back: Validating the Wayback Machine as a Measure of Website Evolution , 2007, ENTER.

[11]  R. Schegg,et al.  Investigating the Evolution of Hotel Internet Adoption , 2006, J. Inf. Technol. Tour..

[12]  Jeffrey M. Bradshaw,et al.  Software agents , 1997 .

[13]  Dan Perkel.  LETRAMENTO DO COPIAR E COLAR? PRÁTICAS DE LETRAMENTO NA PRODUÇÃO DE UM PERFIL MYSPACE * ** COPY AND PASTE LITERACY? LITERACY PRACTICES IN THE PRODUCTION OF A MYSPACE PROFILE , 2010 .

[14]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  Chapter 8 New-product diffusion models , 1993, Marketing.

[15]  Jamie Murphy,et al.  The bandwagon effect: Swiss hotels' web-site and e-mail management , 2003 .

[16]  Dean Giustini,et al.  How Web 2.0 is changing medicine , 2006, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[17]  P. Anderson.  What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education , 2007 .

[18]  H. Wilson,et al.  Adoption of E-Commerce by SMEs in the UK , 2001 .

[19]  Roland Conrady,et al.  Travel technology in the era of Web 2.0 , 2007 .

[20]  E. Rogers.  Diffusion of Innovations, Fourth Edition , 1982 .

[21]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  New Product Diffusion Models in Marketing: A Review and Directions for Research: , 1990 .

[22]  Martin Buck,et al.  Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2007 , 2007 .

[23]  Waiman Cheung,et al.  Evolution of e-commerce Web sites: A conceptual framework and a longitudinal study , 2007, Inf. Manag..

[24]  F. Bass.  A new product growth model for consumer durables , 1976 .

[25]  Thompson S. H. Teo,et al.  A model for Web adoption , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[26]  S. Sénécal,et al.  The influence of online product recommendations on consumers' online choices , 2004 .

[27]  Lori Rosenkopf,et al.  INSTITUTIONAL AND COMPETITIVE BANDWAGONS: USING MATHEMATICAL MODELING AS A TOOL TO EXPLORE INNOVATION DIFFUSION , 1993 .