Research Note: The Growth of Internet Purchases and the Travel Trade

Marco Ginanneschi
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Marco Ginanneschi: CEO, Finanza Futura Srl, Via del Moro 19, I-50123 Firenze, Italy

Tourism Economics, 2014, vol. 20, issue 5, 1105-1115

Abstract: The changes introduced by the Internet to travel agencies (TAs) and tour operators have been investigated for the last 15 years. Researchers have focused mainly on disintermediation and re-intermediation processes fostered by the Web and on their implications for the organization of agencies and sales management. However, the hypothesis that Internet diffusion may have a negative impact on the consistency of the travel agency sector still needs to be proven. Moving on from an analysis of the Italian situation, this study first attempts to reconstruct the ongoing trends at industry level in other European countries. It then explores the relationship between online travel purchases and TAs' total frequency. The evidence gathered shows a significant degree of correlation between the two variables, suggesting that the growth of the online travel market can effectively prove to be a reduction of existing TAs.

Keywords: travel agencies; tour operators; Internet; online purchases; tourism statistics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:toueco:v:20:y:2014:i:5:p:1105-1115

DOI: 10.5367/te.2013.0337

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