literature review on online travel agency

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, factors affecting the online travel buying decision: a review.

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN : 0959-6119

Article publication date: 21 August 2009

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on theories affecting consumers' online purchase intention of travel products. It seeks to explore the literature on the theoretical foundation of factors influencing customers' online purchase intentions in general and in the travel industry specifically. It also suggests areas for further research on online travel buying decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual framework of factors affecting customer online buying decisions – including customers' attitudes, quality of web site design, customer satisfaction, and customer trust – is developed by examining the theoretical foundation for each online purchase intention of travel product. The theoretical foundations and literature review include discussions of the theory of planned behavior, consumer trust literature, quality of travel web site design, and consumer satisfaction literature.

The paper identifies antecedents of consumers' online purchase intention, including three domains of measuring e‐commerce web site design – consumer trust, consumers' attitude perception, and consumer satisfaction – and applies them to the travel and tourism field.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a conceptual framework of factors affecting online consumer travel purchasing. Using actual data, researchers can empirically test relationships among the factors in this framework and identify possible future research areas for each factor.

• Electronic commerce
• Worldwide web
• Hospitality management

Wen, I. (2009), "Factors affecting the online travel buying decision: a review", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 752-765. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110910975990

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles

We’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

E-Service Quality: Evaluation of Tourism Websites

• First Online: 21 January 2021

Cite this chapter

• Zahra Pourabedin 3  

Part of the book series: Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management ((THEM))

898 Accesses

2 Citations

The increasing role of travel websites in distributing tourism products highlights the need to study how travelers interact with tourism websites and what is a good service on the web. E-service quality (e-SQ) features are among the main factors contributing to service excellence and customer satisfaction. Tourism managers should identify and assess the underlying dimensions of electronic service quality, to deliver value-added services to their customers. Hence, tourism providers must constantly ensure their website is efficient, helpful, and appropriate, through proper website evaluation. The main objective of this chapter is to investigate the travel websites’ service quality dimensions. First, the concept of e-service quality (e-SQ) and the conceptual model for e-SQ are clarified. By reviewing the different methods of website evaluation in the tourism industry, this chapter provides a foundation for understanding how travel website design features contribute to website users’ online experience. This knowledge can improve the service delivery by tourism websites; it also helps tourism organizations to evaluate the e-SQ of their websites, to guide improvement efforts to increase the e-SQ level. This chapter provides recommendations for tourism service providers in implementing e-service quality measurements to develop attractive e-SQ attributes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Ab Hamid NR, Cheng AY, Akhir RM (2011) Dimensions of E-CRM: an empirical study on hotels’ web sites. Journal of Southeast Asian Research 2(11):1–15

Article   Google Scholar  

Aladwani AM, Palvia PC (2002) Developing and validating an instrument for measuring user-perceived web quality. Inf Manag 39(6):467–476

Baloglu A, Aktas MS (2010) BlogMiner: web blog mining application for classification of movie reviews. Paper presented at the 2010 fifth international conference on internet and web applications and services

Google Scholar  

Baloglu S, Pekcan YA (2006) The website design and internet site marketing practices of upscale and luxury hotels in Turkey. Tour Manag 27(1):171–176

Bansal HS, McDougall GH, Dikolli SS, Sedatole KL (2004) Relating e-satisfaction to behavioral outcomes: an empirical study. J Serv Mark 18(4):290–302

Bauernfeind U, Mitsche N (2008) The application of the data envelopment analysis for tourism website evaluation. Information Technology & Tourism 10(3):245–257

Belch GE, Belch MA (2004) Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications perspective, 6th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York: NY

Benckendorff P (2006) An exploratory analysis of traveler preferences for airline website content. Information Technology & Tourism 8(3):149–159

Bevan N (1997) Usability issues in web site design. Paper presented at the HCI 2

Buhalis D, O’Connor P (2005) Information communication technology revolutionizing tourism. Tour Recreat Res 30:7–16

Buhalis D, Law R (2008) Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research. Tour Manag 29(4):609–623

Cai L, Card JA, Cole ST (2004) Content delivery performance of world wide web sites of US tour operators focusing on destinations in China. Tour Manag 25(2):219–227

Chaffey D, Ellis-Chadwick F, Mayer R, Johnston K (2009) Internet Marketing: Strategy. Pearson Education, Implementation and Practice

Chan S, Law R (2006) Automatic website evaluations: the case of hotels in Hong Kong. Information Technology & Tourism 8(3):255–269

Chiou WC, Lin CC, Perng C (2010) A strategic framework for website evaluation based on a review of the literature from 1995–2006. Inf Manag 47(5–6):282–290

Chu R (2001) What online Hong Kong travelers look for on airline/travel websites? Int J Hosp Manag 20(1):95–100

Clyde LA (2000) A strategic planning approach to web site management. Electron Libr 18(2):97–108

Cormier KA (1999) Netstorming: Website development strategies. Strategic Finance 80(11):64–68

Corigliano MA, Baggio R (2006) On the significance of tourism website evaluations. Paper presented at the ENTER

Cristobal E, Flavian C, Guinaliu M (2007) Perceived e-service quality (PeSQ): measurement validation and effects on consumer satisfaction and web site loyalty. Manag Serv Qual 17(3):317–340

Degen H, Pedell S (2003) JIET design process for E-business applications. CRC Press, Handbook of Task Analysis for Human-Computer Interaction

Dutta S, Biren B (2001) Business transformation on the internet: results from the 2000 study. Eur Manag J 19(5):449–462

Feng R, Morrison AM, Ismail JA (2004) East versus west: a comparison of online destination marketing in China and the USA. J Vacat Mark 10(1):43–56

Fodness D, Murray B (1999) A model of tourist information search behavior. J Travel Res 37(3):220–230

Grabner-Kraeuter S (2002) The role of consumers’ trust in online-shopping. J Bus Ethics 39(1):43–50

Gretzel U, Yuan YL, Fesenmaier DR (2000) Preparing for the new economy: advertising strategies and change in destination marketing organizations. J Travel Res 39(2):146–156

Gupta H, Jones E, Coleman P (2004) How do welsh tourism-SME websites approach customer relationship management? In: Frew AJ (ed) Information and communication Technologies in Tourism. Springer, Vienna, pp 525–536

Hasley JP, Gregg DG (2010) An exploratory study of website information content. J Theor Appl Electron Commer Res 5(3):27–38

Ho J (1997) Evaluating the world wide web: a global study of commercial sites. J Comput-Mediat Commun 3(1) https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1997.tb00066.x

Ho CI, Lee YL (2007) The development of an e-travel service quality scale. Tour Manag 28(6):1434–1449

Hu YC (2009) Fuzzy multiple-criteria decision making in the determination of critical criteria for assessing service quality of travel websites. Expert Syst Appl 36(3):6439–6445

Huizingh E (2000) The content and design of web sites: an empirical study. Inf Manag 37(3):123–134

Ivory MY, Sinha, RR, Hearst MA (2001) Empirically validated web page design metrics. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems

Jeong M, Lambert CU (2001) Adaptation of an information quality framework to measure customers’ behavioral intentions to use lodging web sites. Int J Hosp Manag 20(2):129–146

Jung TH, Butler R (2000) The measurement of the marketing effectiveness of the Internet in the tourism and hospitality industry. In Information and communication technologies in tourism 2000 (pp. 460–472). Springer

Kaplanidou K, Vogt C (2004) Destination marketing organization websites (DMOs) evaluation and design: what you need to know. Michigan State University. http://www.travelmichigannews.org/Research.htm

Karmarkar U (2004) Will you survive the services revolution? Harv Bus Rev 82(6):100–107

Kaynama SA, Black CI (2000) A proposal to assess the service quality of online travel agencies: an exploratory study. J Prof Serv Mark 21(1):63–88

Kim H, Fesenmaier DR (2008) Persuasive design of destination web sites: an analysis of first impression. J Travel Res 47(1):3–13

Kim, DY, Morrison AM, Mills JE (2004) Tiers or tears? An evaluation of the web-based marketing efforts of major city convention centers in the US. Paper presented at the Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management

Kovacs P, Rowell D (2001) The merging of systems analysis and design principles with web site development: one university’s experience. The Journal 28(6):60–64

Ku EC, Chen CD (2015) Cultivating travellers’ revisit intention to e-tourism service: the moderating effect of website interactivity. Behav Inform Technol 34(5):465–478

Law R, Bai B (2006) Website Development and Evaluations in Tourism: A Retrospective Analysis. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2006, proceedings of ENTER 2006. Hitz M, Sigala M, Murphy J. Springer-Verlag, Lausanne, Switzerland 1–12

Law R, Cheung C, Lo A (2004) The relevance of profiling travel activities for improving destination marketing strategies. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 16(6):355–362

Law R, Chung T (2003) Website performance: Hong Kong hotels. Hospitality Review 21(1):33–46

Law R, Hsu CHC (2006) Importance of hotel website dimensions and attributes: perceptions of online browsers and online purchasers. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 30(3):295–312

Law R, Qi S, Buhalis D (2010) Progress in tourism management: a review of website evaluation in tourism research. Tour Manag 31(3):297–313

Liang T, Lai H (2002) Effect of store design on consumer purchases: an empirical study of on-line bookstores. Inf Manag 39(6):431–444

Liu C, Arnett KP, Capella LM, Taylor RD (2001) Key dimensions of web design quality as related to consumer response. J Comput Inf Syst 42(1):70–82

Loiacono ET, Watson RT, Goodhue DL (2002) WebQual: a measure of website quality. Marketing theory and applications 13(3):432–438

Loiacono ET, Watson RT, Goodhue DL (2007) WebQual: an instrument for consumer evaluation of web sites. Int J Electron Commer 11(3):51–87

Mahlke S (2002) Factors influencing the experience of website usage. CHI EA’02: CHI’02 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems 846–847

McKinney V, Yoon K, Zahedi FM (2002) The measurement of web-customer satisfaction: an expectation and disconfirmation approach. Inf Syst Res 13(3):296–315

Morrison AM, Taylor JS, Douglas A (2004) Website evaluation in tourism and hospitality: the art is not yet stated. J Travel Tour Mark 17(2/3):233–251

Morrison AM, Taylor S, Morrison AJ, Morrison AD (1999) Marketing small hotels on the world wide web. Information Technology & Tourism 2(2):97–113

Nah FFH (2004) A study on tolerable waiting time: how long are web users willing to wait? Behav Inform Technol 23(3):153–163

O’Connor P (2008) User-generated content and travel: A case study on Tripadvisor. com. Paper presented at the ENTER

O’Reilly T (2007) What is web 2.0? Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. International Journal of Digital Economics 65:17–37

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml VA, Malhotra A (2005) ES-QUAL: a multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality. J Serv Res 7(3):213–233

Park YA, Gretzel U (2007) Success factors for destination marketing web sites: a qualitative meta-analysis. J Travel Res 46(1):46–63

Rankin RO (1989) The development of an illustration design model. Educ Technol Res Dev 37(2):25–46

Reichheld FF, Schefter P (2000) E-loyalty: your secret weapon on the web. Harv Bus Rev 78(4):105–113

Rocha SB (2003) Estratégia on-line: uma Análise dos WebSites na Indústria Hoteleira do Município do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. EBAPE/FGV, Rio de Janeiro

Rong J, Li G, Law R (2009) A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers. Int J Hosp Manag 28(3):466–478

Santos J (2003) E-service quality: a model of virtual service quality dimensions. Managing service quality: An international journal 13(3):233–246

Schegg R, Steiner T, Frey S, Murphy J (2002) Benchmarks of web site design and marketing by Swiss hotels. Information Technology & Tourism 5(2):73–89

Schmidt S, Cantallops AS, dos Santos CP (2008) The characteristics of hotel websites and their implications for website effectiveness. Int J Hosp Manag 27(4):504–516

Sigala M, Lockwood A, Jones P (2001) Strategic implementation and IT: gaining competitive advantage from the hotel reservations process. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 13(7):364–371

Sun P, Cardenas DA, Harrill R (2016) Chinese customers’ evaluation of travel website quality: a decision-tree analysis. J Hosp Market Manag 25(4):476–497

Szymanski DM, Hise RT (2000) E-satisfaction: an initial examination. J Retail 76(3):309–322

Teo TS, Pian Y (2004) A model for web adoption. Inf Manag 41(4):457–468

Thaichon P, Lobo A, Mitsis A (2014) Achieving customer loyalty through service excellence in internet industry. Int J Qual Serv Sci 6(4):274–289

Tierney P (2000) Internet-based evaluation of tourism web site effectiveness: methodological issues and survey results. J Travel Res 39(2):212–219

US Department of Health and Human Services (2006) Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines

van der Heijden H, Verhagen T (2002) Measuring and assessing online store image: a study of two online bookshops in the Benelux. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

van Riel A, Semeijn J, Janssen W (2003) E-service quality expectations: a case study. Total Qual Manag Bus Excell 14(4):437–450

Venkatraman N, Ramanujam V (1986) Measurement of business performance in strategy research: a comparison of approaches. Acad Manag Rev 11(4):801–814

Vlachos PA, Vrechopoulos AP (2008) Determinants of behavioral intentions in the mobile internet services market. J Serv Mark 22(4):280–291

Wan CS (2002) The web sites of international tourist hotels and tour wholesalers in Taiwan. Tour Manag 23(2):155–160

Wang Y, Fesenmaier DR (2006) Identifying the success factors of web-based marketing strategy: an investigation of convention and visitors bureaus in the United States. J Travel Res 44(3):239–249

Wells JD, Valacich JS, Hess TJ (2011) What signal are you sending? How website quality influences perceptions of product quality and purchase intentions. MIS Q 35(2):373–396

Yeung TA, Law R (2004) Extending the modified heuristic usability evaluation technique to chain and independent hotel websites. Int J Hosp Manag 23(3):307–313

Zeithaml V, Bitner M (2000) Service marketing integrating customer focus across the firm (2 nd edn). Education, McGraw-Hill Higher

Zhang P, von Dran GM (2000) Satisfiers and dissatisfiers: a two-factor model for website design and evaluation. J Am Soc Inf Sci 51(14):1253–1268

Zhou Q, DeSantis R (2005) Usability issues in city tourism Website design: A content analysis. Proceedings of 2005 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 789–796, IEEE Press

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

James Cook University, Singapore, Singapore

Zahra Pourabedin

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zahra Pourabedin .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

K. Thirumaran  & Chun Meng Tang  & 

Center of Service Management Studies, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

Dirk Klimkeit

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Pourabedin, Z. (2021). E-Service Quality: Evaluation of Tourism Websites. In: Thirumaran, K., Klimkeit, D., Tang, C.M. (eds) Service Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality. Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57694-3_10

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57694-3_10

Published : 21 January 2021

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-57693-6

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-57694-3

eBook Packages : Business and Management Business and Management (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Online travel purchasing: A literature review

2013, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing

Related Papers

Paulo Duarte

Suzanne Amaro

Over the past two decades, there has been increasing focus on the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the impact that they have had on the tourism industry and on travellers’ behaviour. However, research on what drives consumers to purchase travel online has typically been fragmented. Therefore, in order to better understand consumers’ behaviour towards online travel purchasing, this research offers a review of articles that were published in 17 leading tourism and hospitality journals and ENTER proceedings. The review also includes several articles from other peer reviewed journals, found on the main academic search databases. Thus, this paper provides re- searchers with a thorough review of online consumer behaviour in the travel context. Moreover it identifes several gaps and provides some directions for future studies.

Suzanne Amaro , Paulo Duarte

Paulo Duarte , Dra Suzanne Fonseca Amaro

Tourism Management

Grounded in the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Technology Acceptance Model and on the Innovation Diffusions Theory, this study proposes and empirically tests an integrated model to explore which factors affect intentions to purchase travel online. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling was conducted to assess the hypotheses. The empirical results, obtained in a sample of 1732 Internet users, indicate that intentions to purchase travel online are mostly determined by attitude, compatibility and perceived risk. The theoretical contributions of this study and the practical implications are discussed and future research directions are detailed.

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Law, R., Leung, R., and Buhalis, D., 2009, Information Technology Applications in Hospitality and Tourism: A Review of Publications from 2005 to 2007, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol.26(5), pp.599-623. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM: A REVIEW OF PUBLICATIONS FROM 2005 TO 2007 Rob Law, Rosanna Leung, Dimitrios Buhalis ABSTRACT. The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale. KEYWORDS. Information technology, tourism management and marketing, research journals, publications

Dandison Ukpabi , Heikki Karjaluoto

The impact of information and communications technology (ICT) in tourism (e-tourism) has altered the ways tourism services are accessed and consumed. Ubiquitous and highly innovative ICTs provide different channels for consumers to use tourism services; thus, studies on e-tourism are numerous and fragmented. Different factors account for how consumers embrace these channels. The purpose of this study is to review studies on con-sumers' acceptance or adoption of e-tourism in order to group the studies, synthesize the theories, models and frameworks used and identify the antecedents influencing con-sumers' e-tourism acceptance and usage. A total of 71 studies from 2005 to 2016 (inclusive) from both tourism-based and non-tourism-based journals were selected, synthesized, and included. Based on their contexts, similarity and relevance, the 71 studies were segregated into three distinct groups. This study found that research among the groups is uneven. Implications and research directions are suggested.

Information and Communication …

Rosanna Leung

At present, Internet applications have been well adopted in the tourism industry. In terms of online marketing, consumers online purchase intention is always recognized as one of the most popular topics in both academia and industry. This research makes an attempt to investigate the perception of residents in Hong Kong, grouped in experienced and inexperienced travelers, of online and offline perceptions. Empirical findings indicated that both groups of travelers considered price and online payment security were equally important, and website reputation was more important to inexperienced travelers. Respondents did not shop online mainly because online transactions are too complicated and insecure. They preferred face-to-face interactions. Drawing on the findings, recommendation and suggestions to the industry were provided.

RELATED PAPERS

Professor AHMED A EL-MASRY

Anatolia:An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research

Sangwon Park

Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management (in press)

Haywantee Ramkissoon (PhD) , Robin Nunkoo, Ph.D

kalkidan Amberber

Haywantee Ramkissoon (PhD)

Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing

Craig Standing

Hsiang-fei Luoh

Saleh Bukhari

kwadwo asante

Huang Qiuhua

Srikanth Beldona

Giacomo Del Chiappa

Asoc Turismo San Luis

Marcin Staniewski , Tomasz Szopiński

Ankit Choudhary

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

Shahab Pourfakhimi , Tara Duncan , Willem Coetzee

Anil Bilgihan

Leonidas Papakonstantinidis

Breno Machado

Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

Abdullah Tanrisevdi

Chengqi Tang

Dr. Miguel Moital

Journal of Travel Research

Sara Dolnicar , Christian Laesser

alireza golmohammadi

Current Issues in Tourism

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024