Skip to main content

Comparing Internet commerce adoption between the Finnish and the European independent accommodation companies

  • Conference paper
Book cover Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2010

Abstract

Travel and tourism is an information intensive industry. Internet is often used to plan and book holidays. This means that more and more effort should be paid to Internet marketing. This study uses the extended Model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA) to compare the website features and the eCommerce adoption of the Finnish and the European independent accommodation companies. The goal is to find out, how Finnish hotels can improve their websites and gain competitive advantage. The results suggest that eMICA is a useful benchmarking tool to examine industry standards but it does not clearly indicate the phase of Internet commerce adoption among the independent accommodation providers. These often small companies may be active in eCommerce even though they do not have all the features of eMICA on their websites.

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

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Burgess, L. & Cooper J. (1998). The Status of Internet Commerce in the Manufacturing Industry in Australia: A Survey of Metal Fabrication Industries. CollECTeR’ 98 Conference Proceedings, September 1998, Sydney, Australia. URL: http://www.collecter.org/archives/1998_September/06.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, L. & Cooper J. (2000). Extending the viability of MICA (Model of Internet Commerce Adoption) as a metric for explaining the process of business adoption of Internet commerce. Paper presented at the International Conference on Telecommunication and Electronic Commerce, Dallas, November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, L. Cooper, J. Alcock, C. McNamee, K. & Doolin, B. (2003) Use of the web for destination marketing by regional tourism organisations in the Asia-Pacific region. In Andersen, K. Elliot, S. Swatman, P. Trauth E. & Bjorn-Andersen, N. (Eds.) Seeking success in ebusiness. USA: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaffey, D. Ellis-Chadwick, F. Johnston, K. & Mayer, R. (2006). Internet Marketing. Strategy, Implementation and Practice. England: Pearson Education Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doolin, B. Burgess, L. & Cooper, J. (2002). Evaluating the use of the Web for tourism marketing: a case study from New Zealand. Research note. Tourism Management, 23(5): 557–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Dran, G.M. Zhang, P. & Small, R. (1999). Quality websites: An application of the Kano Model to website design. Proceedings of the Fifth Americas Conference on Information Systems, August 13–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hashim, N. Murphy, J. & Law, R. (2007). A Review of Hospitality Website Design Frameworks. In Sigala, M. Mich, L. & Murphy, J. (Eds.) Information and Communivation Technologies in Tourism 2007. Austria: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeong, M. Oh, H. & Gregoire, M. (2003). Conceptualizing website quality and its consequences in the lodging industry. Hospitality Management, 22(2): 161–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law, R. & Hsu, C. (2005). Customers’ perceptions on the importance of hotel website dimensions and attributes. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 17(6): 493–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemmetyinen, A. & Suomi, R. (2006). Cooperation of small enterprises in a web-based tourism network — case of the Old Mail Road in finland, Åland and Sweden. In Keller, P. & Bieger, T. (Eds.) Marketing Efficiency in Tourism: Coping with Volatile Demand. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lexhagen, M. (2005). The importance of value-added services to support the customer search and purchase process on travel websites. Information Technology & Tourism, 7(1): 119–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musante, M. Bojanic D. & Zhang, J. (2009). An evaluation of hotel website attribute utilization and effectiveness by hotel class. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 15(3): 203–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nysveen, H. Methlie, L., & Pedersen, P. (2003). Tourism websites and value-added services: The gap between customer preferences and website offerings. Information Technology & Tourism, 5: 165–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pracy, D. & Cooper, J. (2000). Internet Commerce Adoption by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Illawarra. CollECTeR 2000 Conference Proceedings, Decenber 2000, Brisbane, Australia. URL: http://www.collecter.org/archives/2000_December/01.PDF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, S. Serra Cantallops, A. & Pizzutti dos Santos, C. (2008). The characteristics of hotel websites and their implications for website effectiveness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27(4): 504–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starkov, M. & Price, J. (2006). Hotelier’s 2008 Top Ten Internet Marketing Resolutions. URL: http://www.hospitalityebusiness.com. Jul 25, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistics Finland (2009). Changes in Internet usage: Results from the 2008 survey on ICT usage. URL: http://www.stat.fi/til/sutivi/2008/sutivi_2008_2009-04-27_tie_002_en.html. Aug 2, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teo, T. & Pian, Y. (2003). A contingency perspective on Internet adoption and competitive advantage. European Journal of Information Systems, 12(2): 78–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timmers, P. (1998). Business Models for Electornic Markets. Electornic Markets, 8(2): 3–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trivago Hotelier (2009). Trivago is Europe’s biggest hotel search. URL: http://www.hotelier.trivago.com/hotelgateway.php?&pagetype=faq_aboutus. Sep 12, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zafiropoulos, C. & Vrana, V. (2006). A framework for the evaluation of hotel websites: the case of Greece. Information Technology & Tourism, 8(3–4): 239–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag/Wien

About this paper

Cite this paper

Pesonen, J., Palo-oja, OM. (2010). Comparing Internet commerce adoption between the Finnish and the European independent accommodation companies. In: Gretzel, U., Law, R., Fuchs, M. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2010. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-99407-8_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics