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First I would like to thank you for the great honour of being allowed to state my point of view on some, in my opinion very important, problems of tourism to‐day.

Several tourism destinations are using social media (SM) marketing more than traditional marketing in the developed countries. The increasing use of technology has replaced the role of travel intermediary. Most of the travellers in developed countries are no longer using travel agencies for their services. Many bookings are done online using electronic devices either at office or home. It is, therefore, a fact that SM has come to stay. However, the situation is contrary to some developing countries due to several reasons; for example, unreliable source of energy, communication, poor infrastructure and lack of competition. Most of developing countries depend on tourists from developed nations to consume their tourism destination products. Moreover, the modern travellers are no longer travelling in the dark. They want to have prior knowledge about their destinations. They check online product offerings, certification and destination labels. A modern tourist is becoming a more responsible traveller. SM plays a big role by providing information about many tourism destinations. Nevertheless, there are ongoing debates regarding the usefulness, future and survival of traditional travel agents despite the fact that there are threats from online travel agents and the increasing use of SM. This chapter is a case study of Malawi as a tourist destination. It critically discusses and analyses the impact of SM as a marketing tool. It also analyses the benefits and challenges of the travel agents, and finally confirms that there is a need to embrace technological change in travel and tourism industry in the developing nations.

Increasing operational costs and narrowing profit margins are forcing many Hong Kong travel agencies out of business. Studies have demonstrated the strategic importance of revenue management (RM) implementation for travel agencies that wish to remain competitive. Hong Kong travel agencies should learn from these examples and modify their existing practices. As travel agencies have many of the characteristics of traditional and non-traditional RM industries, they should be able to adopt the RM operational strategies that have been successful in other industries. This study’s methodology is qualitative; in-depth interviews are conducted with 10 industrial professionals. The results provide valuable insights into RM implementation in Hong Kong travel agencies. The implementation strategies discussed here include the use of perishable inventories, predictable demand, segmentation, reservations made in advance, limited capacity and appropriate cost and pricing structures, all of which aid in profit optimisation. The results indicate that RM can improve travel agencies’ competitive stance and enhance profit maximisation. RM practitioners need to fully understand the concept and techniques and have the determination to develop and promote the system among personnel at every level of the travel agency.

This study provides a comprehensive framework of adaptation in triadic business relationship settings in the service sector. The framework is based on the industrial network approach (see, e.g., Axelsson & Easton, 1992; Håkansson & Snehota, 1995a). The study describes how adaptations initiate, how they progress, and what the outcomes of these adaptations are. Furthermore, the framework takes into account how adaptations spread in triadic relationship settings. The empirical context is corporate travel management, which is a chain of activities where an industrial enterprise, and its preferred travel agency and service supplier partners combine their resources. The scientific philosophy, on which the knowledge creation is based, is realist ontology. Epistemologically, the study relies on constructionist processes and interpretation. Case studies with in-depth interviews are the main source of data.

The Internet has enabled consumers to act as their own travel agents and to verify independently the accuracy of the information provided by airlines through the CRSs and travel agents. As a result, the relationships between consumers and the suppliers of air-travel information have been radically altered, and we document these changes. We identify the relevant market for air-travel information, which includes CRSs, online travel agencies, and the websites and call centers of individual carriers. We determine market concentration and market shares using the Herfindhal-Hirschman Index. Based on our analysis, we argue that there is no longer any need to regulate independent CRSs. However, airlines that own CRSs continue to have an incentive to withdraw their flight and fare information from rival CRSs and, to prevent this from happening, the mandatory participation rule adopted in 1992 should be maintained.

Online marketing become a trend in recent years focussed on online social networks, such social networks have rapidly grown in popularity; providing platforms to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry. Online marketing offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to study the impact of online marketing in travel agency. The data collected using google online survey and analysed using SPSS. The findings stressed that online marketing in travel agency has a positive relationship in increasing the sale of packages in travel agency. Travel agencies who use online marketing more frequently receive more correspondence. Therefore, travel agencies should use online marketing to generate more income. The value of time has also changed, making communication a process that has to be instant and simplified. Hence, travel agencies have to use online marketing and taking into account travellers feedbacks and complaints as well as delivering information about products and services in real time. Travel agencies have no chance to face their competitors if they don’t adopt online marketing strategies.

This chapter describes and applies concepts informed by the behavioral theories of the firm to investigate the macrocosmic dynamisms as embodied in China's travel agency policy changes. Through a focused thick description, the study reviews the evolution of China's travel agency regulations since its reform and opening up era and subsequently discusses the impacts and implications of the recent changes in China's travel agency regulations on the regional tourism. By reviewing the evolution of China's travel agency regulations and discussing the impacts of the recent changes in the 2009 Travel Agency Act on the regional tourism, this chapter demonstrates that (1) the government has undergone a learning process to integrate both internal and external evolution factors in regulating its travel agencies’ behaviors; (2) the government–firm relationship behaviors remain the center in the evolution of China's travel agency policies; and (3) the 2009 Travel Agency Act would act as a shock factor initiated by the government to change the routines in firm behaviors, and subsequently the population ecology in both China's and the regional tourism industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer engagement technologies impact service innovation in a network of travel agencies, analyzing the effects on sales channels, customer relationships and retail marketing policies.

Using a qualitative single case study approach and triangulating the data from different sources (documents, semi-structured interviews and in-store observations), this paper investigates the Robintur Group, a large Italian network of travel agencies operating in the leisure travel, business travel and organized tourism segments.

This study highlights three core areas of service innovation that have interrelated effects on travel agency management in coherence with the omni-channel strategy: synergetic channel integration, dynamic customer relationships and dynamic retail marketing.

This study is based on a single case study in Italy. Future research could extend the framework to other travel agencies and foreign markets where the diversification process of large grocery retailers is more diffused, and investigate the omni-channel approach in relation to other information and communication technologies and the implications on travel agency management.

Presenting a conceptual framework to exploit new technologies and revitalize the scope and functions of travel agencies, the case study offers insights contributing to the literature on service innovation in travel agencies. The data highlight the adoption of an omni-channel approach to facilitate the customer experience. This case study is also one of the first to empirically investigate the challenges of a large-scale retail group when diversifying to the travel industry and adopting an omni-channel strategy.

本论文旨在探究顾客参与技术（CETs）如何在旅游社网络中影响服务创新, 并分析其对于销售渠道、顾客关系、以及零售营销政策的影响。

本论文采用定性分析方法, 单一案例样本源, 并合多种采样渠道（文本、半结构化访问、和店内观察）来丰富样本数据。本论文研究了Robintur集团, 一家意大利大型旅行社网路, 主要经营休闲旅游、商务旅行、以及组织型旅游产品模块。

本论文结果强调了服务创新的三大核心：协同渠道整合、多样化顾客关系、和多样化零售营销, 其三大核心对旅行社管理有着紧密联系, 符合全渠道战略的主体思想。

本案例分析展示了一个探索新科技和复兴旅行社范围和功能的理论模型, 对旅行社服务创新有着重大理论贡献。样本数据强调了采取全渠道战略以增强顾客体验。同时, 本论文也是首个实际检测了大型零售集团在面对旅行市场多样化和全渠道战略的挑战。

本论文仅取样了意大利的单一案例。未来研究应该拓宽模型到其他旅行产业以及国际市场, 其对大型零售厂商的多样化进程更加深入, 同时, 未来研究应该讲全渠道战略与其他信息与通信技术结合来研究, 对旅行社管理有深入的启示。

关键词 旅行社 服务创新 全渠道 CET ICT 意大利

研究型论文

The purpose of this paper is to explore the doer effect of service failure (SF), good prior experience (GPE) and recovery on overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions for multi-agents in tourism service supply chain (TSSC). It specifically focuses on internal and external failure and recovery.

The study employs a 2×2×3 between-subjects experimental design with 12 diverse scenarios. It aims to examine the main effects of GPE and the interaction effects of SF and recovery on overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions.

The main findings show that consumers do not show favorable behavioral outcomes when they have GPE with an affiliated party. Results of the experiments demonstrate that for hotels, there is no interaction effect between failure and recovery regarding overall customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions; however, for travel agencies, an interaction effect has been found. This indicates that an internal failure (by travel agency) should be recovered internally to increase the behavioral outcomes for travel agency. However, if there is an external failure (by hotel) then the essential thing is providing a recovery.

Although the service literature covers failure and recovery in diverse contexts, these concepts are rarely studied from a multi-agent perspective in the service supply chain literature. In such a chain, a failure by a different party may remain unresolved, and this may create a positive effect on another party, if they provide recovery for the failure. This means that the doer of the failure and/or recovery (the party responsible from the failure and/or recovery) may have an impact on behavioral outcomes. However, previous literature has neglected to focus on the important issue of which entity/party performs the failure and/or recovery, and the effect on behavioral outcomes. By focusing on a principal-agent relationship in a TSSC, the study aims to address this research gap.

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine several issues about disintermediation from the perspectives of tourism product/service suppliers (hotels) and traditional intermediaries (travel agencies), considering the move of the current distribution landscape toward disintermediation. Internet and mobile technologies offer various tools for consumers to search and purchase products/services from suppliers directly. Consequently, the necessity and role of traditional intermediaries in the industry become questionable.

In all, six focus group interviews were conducted to collect primary data from ten managers of three traditional travel agencies and 11 managers from three business hotels in Hong Kong, which is a major travel destination in Asia with many world-class hotels and tourism facilities.

Despite their different business backgrounds, the interviewees agreed on the increasing importance of Internet technology in the distribution of tourism products. The interviewees also posited that traditional travel agencies are still needed to serve certain customer groups, albeit their role may have little importance.

Practitioners should adapt to technologically induced changes to remain competitive in the e-business era.

This paper provides several original contributions. First, this paper supplements the extant literature by revealing how modern practitioners perceive disintermediation in the tourism and hospitality industry. Second, this paper is the first to investigate the disintermediation issue from the perspectives of tourism product/service suppliers and intermediaries. Finally, this paper provides a reference for industry practitioners to establish adequate strategies that take advantage of Internet technology.