Information and Communication Technologies in Small and Medium Scale Tourism                 Enterprises in Durban, South Africa

Migiro, Stephen Oseko; Ocholla, Dennis N.

doi:10.1177/0266666905060089

Cited by 29 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such information can be used to design websites that attract more users, target specific markets, and display features customized to individual interests. These results are in line with the study conducted by Migiro and Ocholla (2005) on the use of e-commerce tools in tourism SMEs in KwaZulu-Natal province, where they established that one of the main reasons why SMEs adopt e-commerce tools was to reach new customers. An earlier study by Thanasankit (2002:200) established that the Internet lowers the cost of market research.…”

Section: Reasons For E-commerce Adoptionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the potential of electronic commerce tools in South African SME tourism service providers

Mbatha

2012

Information Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The World Wide Web, together with other ICT enabling technologies, offers a platform for organizations to arrange their business processes, address their marketplaces, and partner with other enterprises. This paper reports on the diffusion and adoption of electronic commerce tools by small and medium enterprise (SME) tourism service providers in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. In order to achieve the stated aim, the following research questions were addressed: What types of e-commerce tools have been adopted in the SMEs? What were the reasons for the adoption of e-commerce? What benefits do e-commerce tools provide to SMEs? What are the barriers that SMEs face with the adoption of e-commerce? What are the e-commerce training needs of SMEs service providers? Roger's Diffusion of Innovations framework was found to be useful as the study sought to examine the diffusion and use of modern ICTs by SME tourism service providers. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design in which a systematic sampling technique is used. The data was analysed by using descriptive statistics. The results demonstrated that a variety of e-commerce tools have been adopted in the SMEs studied. E-commerce tools are also very effective in reaching new customers, increasing sales and improving marketing. It is therefore important that SMEs have access to relevant e-commerce tools in order to enjoy and reap the benefits of ICTs. SMEs should ensure that they offer their staff adequate varieties and levels of ICT competence.

show abstract

Section: Reasons For E-commerce Adoptionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Exploring the potential of electronic commerce tools in South African SME tourism service providers

Mbatha

2012

Information Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Karanasios (2008) stressed that under high global competition, travel and tourism agencies cannot survive without continuity and achieve economies of scale, which help reduce operational costs and gain marketing force, which would not be possible without the optimal use of Internet services. Migiro and Ocholla (2005) explained in their study that Internet applications in the tourism services industry has led to an almost complete change in the purchasing behavior of tourism services. By using the Internet as a marketing channel, working seven days a week and 24 hours a day, tourism customers may choose products and services without the intervention and influence of salesmen.…”

Section: Internet In Saudi Arabiamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the Internet on Saudi Arabia Travel Agencies

Alolayan¹

2017

IJBA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigates the impact of the Internet revolution on travel agencies on Saudi Arabia's travel agency market. A reliable and valid three-part questionnaire was developed: the first part collects the basic information on the travel agencies; the second part examines the extent to which travel agencies use the benefits of the Internet for their operations; the last part measures the real impact of the internet on travel agencies with four dimensions. A sample of 50 travel agencies fully participated in this study. The descriptive data of the sample indicates that the travel-agency industry in Saudi Arabia is still very small; more than 50% of the agencies operate with less than five employees in one or two branches only. More than 55% of the agencies have less than four years of experience and relatively small capital. In addition, the descriptive data reveals that 72% of the agencies in the sample do not have their own websites, and only 4% of the agencies have websites with features that complete customers' transactions without human involvement. The main results assure the importance and the benefit of using the Internet for Saudi Arabia travel agencies; however, they have not yet used most of its advantages. Moreover, they do not see any threat or negative impact to their business from the Internet. A number of recommendations have been provided to this industry, such as using the power of the Internet as a global competition tool, and the opportunity of a major emergence among travel agencies in this market.

show abstract

“…Stansfield and Grant, 2003b;Warden and Tunzelana, 2004 Ayeh, 2006;Chen and McQueen, 2008;Heung, 2003;Kula and Tatoglu, 2003;Simmons et al, 2008;Grant, 2003a, 2003b;Stockdale and Standing, 2006;Zheng et al, 2004. Lack of technical knowledge of what and how to adopt a certain technology Kartiwi and MacGregor, 2007;Migiro and Ocholla, 2005;Mirchandani and Motwani, 2001;Scarborough and Zimmerer, 2003;Warden and Tunzelana, 2004;Webster et al, 2006 Available resources Inadequate financial resources Ayeh, 2006;Grandon and Pearson, 2004;Jin, 2007;Migiro and Ocholla, 2005;Skoko et al, 2008;Stansfield and Grant, 2003b;Stockdale and Standing, 2006;Zheng et al, 2004 High costs of technology adoption: technologies and equipment Ayeh, 2006;Beck et al, 2005;Chen and McQueen, 2008;Ghamatrasa, 2006;Migiro and Ocholla, 2005;Mirchandani and Motwani, 2001;Pilat, 2003;Rao et al, 2003;Wahid, 2007;Webster et al, 2006 High cost of developing and managing websites Anckar, 2003;Kula and Tatoglu, 2003;MacGreogor and Vrazalic, 2005;Nour, Dyerson and Harindranath, 2007;Ghamatrasa, 2006;Kamel and Hussei...…”

Section: External Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, as cited in many past studies, there are many factors found to have negatively influenced technology adoption in SMEs; examples are cost of technology implementation (Kuan and Chau, 2001;MacGreogor and Vrazalic, 2005;Migiro and Ocholla, 2005;Kim, 2006), limited resources of SMEs (Stockdale and Standing, 2006;Skoko et al, 2008), infrastructure and technological readiness (Ayeh, 2006;Azam, 2007;Wahid, 2007), lack of skilled labour (Warden and Tunzelana, 2004;Samoilenko and Osei-Bryson, 2008), cultural issues (Dutta and Coury, 2003;Zheng et al, 2004), the required time for change (Heung, 2003;Wahid, 2007), service/product/customer/ supplier suitability (Tucker, 2008), legal and security issues (Buhalis and Laws, 2001;Nour, 2002;Kula and Tatoglu, 2003), and adopted technology related factors (Kendall et al, 2001;Beckinsale and Levy, 2004;Dyerson and Harindranath, 2007). For this study, these factors will be labelled as "boundaries" which hinders technology adoption in SMEs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

E-Commerce and Small Tourism Businesses in Developing Countries: Drivers versus Boundaries of Adoption

Abou-Shouk

Lim

Megicks

2013

Tourism Planning & Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The uptake and adoption of e-commerce by small and medium-sized enterprises is still relatively low and slow. Whilst travel agents are typically classified as small and medium tourism enterprises, there has been a persistent threat of disintermediation in the global travel and tourism market particularly in developing countries. Approximately 59% of travel agents in Egypt were found to be operating without even a website. This study aims to identify the drivers motivating travel agents to adopt e-commerce and to discover the boundaries inhibiting agents in adopting technology. Drivers and boundaries perceived by adopters of high level e-commerce are examined. A stratified sample of category A travel agents in Egypt has been surveyed and results show that drivers strongly influencing adoption decision are suppliers' pressures and competitors' pressures. Aspects of boundaries factors found include resources limitations, internal and external business environments, and adopted-technology attributes are affecting the adoption of e-commerce amongst travel agents.

show abstract

Information and Communication Technologies in Small and Medium Scale Tourism Enterprises in Durban, South Africa

Cited by 29 publications

References 27 publications

Exploring the potential of electronic commerce tools in South African SME tourism service providers

Exploring the potential of electronic commerce tools in South African SME tourism service providers

The Impact of the Internet on Saudi Arabia Travel Agencies

E-Commerce and Small Tourism Businesses in Developing Countries: Drivers versus Boundaries of Adoption

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About