4/ E-marketing : decreasing customer uncertainty
4.1 An intangible product
We must consider that tourist products can not be experienced
before being purchased. As a matter of fact, this industry provides mostly
intangible services. In addition, the spatial fixity of tourist attractions and
amenities do not allow a quality assessment until the arrival at the
destination. We must take into account the fact that until the emergence of the
Internet, Tourist were obliged to rely on the holiday brochures information and
all the other writing materials distributed by the destination
organisations.
As a matter of fact, websites can store an unlimited amount of
informations. Websites give access to informations from anywhere in the world.
In addition, the Web provides a wide range of sources, whereas customers were
exclusively feed with the representations and descriptions provided by the
travel trade.
Another advantage of the web presence is the availability of a
greater range of formats beginning from text to photos, audio, video clips...
As a result the web-based eclectronic brochure is key to the success of a
tourism website. Instead of spending time reading thousands of holidays
brochures, the e-customer can generate browse selections linked to databases
servers. The e-customer can even get a "test drive" of its future holidays
through real-time scenes (e.g: cameras placed in hotels, clubs, restaurants,
scenic spots or scenes of festivals and art performance)
4.2 A fragmented product
Considering that destination is a place product, tourism
includes social, cultural and physical environments as well as the "touristic"
components such as attractions, transport and lodging facilities. The Tourism
Destination Product is fragmented as the tourist is in the search for a
complete holiday experience. In fact, the tourist finds bits of its experience
on the market as beds, meals, tours or seats are provided by several
independent suppliers operating independently of one another. With regard to
the content of destination's tourism product, the marketing of a tourism
destination is shared by a great number of organisations such as tourist
information centres, regional tourism boards, national tourism organisations
and national tourist offices.
The Internet enables the tourism sector to develop a
substainable electronic "infrastructure" which is able to establish a
comprehensive and multi-lingual destination web site. The website must be able
to offer up to date information about all the aspects of the destination such
as attractions, transportation or accommodation. These information must be
gathered by a great variety of sources in order to present the most complete
and comprehensive view of the destination. To that purpose, the master
destination database can be integrated through hyperlinks with individual
tourism companies. In addition, e-customers must be enabled to pick and mix
their own holiday packages.
In order to attract e-customers in the rather crowded
web-space, mega-sites can be built in order to become the portal or home page
of a given destination. This kind of portal shared by all the enterprises for a
given destination helps the e-customer in its search for all the information he
needs. It becomes a competitive advantage as the information provided are key
in the purchasing decision. Whereas, the traditional brochures obliged the
tourist to go to a travel agency or a bookshop in order to get the information
needed. In comparison with a printed
brochure which is often outdated, a well constructed and
maintained web site can provide right-to-the-minute information.
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