RIS ID
11967
Abstract
With reports of travel purchases and reservations being one of the fastest growing segments of the Internet community (eMarketer, 2002), it is no surprise that the number of tourism operators on the Web has increased considerably over the past few years. In recent years, Australia and Chile have developed strong social and economic ties. With the introduction of direct air links between Australia and Chile in July 2002, the number of Australian business people and tourists visiting Chile and neighbouring countries increased significantly. This isn’t surprising considering approximately 35,000 Chileans live in Australia (DFAT, 2005). This paper presents the results of a comparison of the use of Web technologies by Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) in the Chilean and Asia Pacific tourism industries. The Extended Model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA)(Burgess and Cooper, 2000) was used to assess the web sites of RTOs to determine the extent of adoption and level of integration of web technologies for destination marketing. A significant finding of this study is the number of RTOs sites offering Stage 3 functionality (transaction processing) in Chile compared with the Asia Pacific region. The results of the study add further support to the premise of the model, that is, in developing commercial websites, businesses in this industry sector typically start simply by establishing a presence on the Web and build on functionality over time, as their experience and expertise in the use of Internet technologies increases.
Link to publisher version (URL)
Collaborative Electronic Commerce Technology and Research Conference
Publication Details
Burgess, L., Sargent, J. P., Cooper, J. & Cerpa, N. (2005). A comparative analysis of the use of the Web for destination marketing by regional tourism organisations in Chile and the Asia Pacific. Collaborative Electronic Commerce Technology and Research. Chile: Universidad de Talca.