The e-commerce has increased over the last decades, and this have indicated a change in the booking behaviour within tourism. The change within the tourism business is almost completed to go from offline to online services. This has developed a new form of companies; the online travel agencies (OTAs). As this change has been developed, not all customers is aware of the function of the OTAs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the Kano Model when a third party is involved in the sales through a case study of three OTA sites. This study provides a content analysis with gathered customer reviews. The main findings of this study indicate that the five quality elements of the Kano model may be interrupted by a third party. The customer satisfaction of the OTAs can be decreased by factors that they are not able to control.

Electronic commerce model has made an impact on the travel industry of Taiwan. There are multiple distribution channels in the Internet while new technology customers have already inclined to buy straight from the supplier¡¦s Web site, especially a price-sensitive customer who loves to shop around will remain the natural constituent of an on-line travel agency. In my view, Travel agencies should know their resource including brand image, travel professional knowledge, selling capacity and E-Commerce management know how. In order to get travel product, brand, service, and price competitive advantages. How to adopt an optimal EC strategy in order to acquire travel reputation, financial, product, market, and employee performance advantages is the key issue of travel agencies. Furthermore, considering the environment, company, behavior, procedure and product uncertainties and transaction costs; travel agencies may construct an optimal transaction model for consumers; related business industry and themselves. This study uses multiple methods to collect data from multiple sources in order to improve its validity including qualitative and quantitative surveys. Besides, adopting longitudinal survey and three-stage research designs. The results provide us with an in-depth understanding of the impact of EC on the performance of travel agencies and explore more effective mechanisms for maintaining their competitive advantages. The high development of EC which has had revolutionary effect in the travel industry, especially travel agencies. Finally, the study has proposed an optimal EC business strategy model and contributed travel EC business theory to the travel agent business management.

Travel agencies provide exciting opportunities for tourists to gain new experiences, allowing them to learn more about foreign countries. However, travel agencies also have a role in creating and maintaining problematic aspects of the tourism industry. Thailand is a country with one of the most prominent tourism industries in the world, which has also created a plethora of problems. The purpose of this study is to understand how Swedish travel agency websites portray Thailand from the standpoint of post-colonial theory. More specifically, Orientalism is the main theoretical framework used in this thesis because of its specific focus on the effects of European imperialism and colonization on Asia. A number of prior studies that use Orientalism and post-colonial theory are also referred to in examining the tourism industry. The empirical data for this study was collected from 7 Swedish travel agency websites and analyzed using critical discourse analysis. The results showed that the themes present in the data resemble elements of Orientalism discussed by Edward Said. These themes are ‘othering’, ‘exotification, ‘discovering the unknown’, ‘entitlement’, ‘paradise’, and ‘authenticity’. The themes exemplify the power dynamics between Thailand and Sweden created by tourism and suggest that Orientalist ideas continue to be perpetuated outside of their original contexts. The findings were consistent with the findings of prior studies. This study provides insight into the effects of Orientalism beyond the colonial era, and into aspects of modern life, like tourism.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain in-depth understanding of the influence of booking channels in the hotel sector on the small hotel's organization. Method: The essay is based on a qualitative multidirectional study conducted with 6 semistructured interviews as a data collection method. Previous research: To give the reader an idea of the subject, previous research and studies summarize the influence of booking channels on hotels in this section. The research lies with the theory section as the basis for the final analysis. Theory: The theory deals with two-sided networks in a platform theory to create understanding of the relationship between users and the platform. The section also discusses two businessmodels, B2B and B2B2C, which describe the business process traditionally and how it developed in line with e-commerce. Empiria: The Empiria section begins with a presentation of the 6 cases investigated and these lected respondents interviewed. The hotels that participated in the survey are Lydmar Hotel, Hellsten Hotels, Mälardrottningen, Sky Hotel Apartments, Hotell Hansson and Hotell Anonym. Finally, the respondents' responses are summarized and linked to the themes identified during the course of data collection. Findings: The results of the study indicate that the major booking channels have a big influence on small hotels but that they contributed to the opportunity for the small hotels to market globally and therefore receive higher occupancy rates than before. The booking channels have also played an important part in Stockholm's destination development.

This paper examines the Swedish travel agencies that offer voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers. Tourism is expanding in a fast rate globally with international arrivals predicted to reach 1,8 billion by 2030 (UNWTO, 2008). Economic development and more availability of individual free time are two of the most significant drivers to this growth in tourism. Globalization has also resulted in the growth and increase of mobility on a global scale (Harvey, 2000). The reduction of cost and time of mobility in space, driven partly by technological innovation in the transport sector has resulted in the increase of mobility (Harvey, 2000). Tourism is inseparable with transport; an increase in tourism therefore results in an increase of emissions related to tourism transports (Duval, 2007). One of the most alarming challenges facing tourism is the increase of green house gases. A number of Swedish travel agencies are offering voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers as a way of tackling the problem off the increase of emissions related to tourism. This study however shows that the interest and motivation to buy voluntary offsetting from travel agencies are low, and gives some incentive to why that’s the case. Swedish travel agencies effort to sell voluntary carbon offsetting to their costumers must be seen as a failure, both in numbers and in doing any significant impact on the mitigation of climate change related to tourism.

O elevado nível de competição e a turbulência também passaram a ser a realidade em mercados que tradicionalmente eram mais tranquilos no Brasil. É o caso de mercados como o de farmácias e drogarias, o de petshops e cuidados animais, o da beleza e estética, assim como o do turismo e hospitalidade. Este último tem apresentado considerável expressividade na economia do país; em 2016, o setor foi responsável por 3,2% do PIB (equivalente a R$ 175 milhões) e gerou 2,5 milhões de empregos (aproximadamente 3% das vagas formais no país). No Brasil, em 2015, segundo o Ministério do Turismo, mais de 18 mil agências estavam registradas - juntas empregavam mais do que a indústria automobilística: 35 mil empregos diretos e mais de 100 mil empregos indiretos. Contudo, apesar de seu crescimento e do acirramento da concorrência causada por fatores como a globalização e a internet, a profissionalização do setor não ocorreu na mesma velocidade, levando agências tradicionais a encerrarem suas atividades. Recentemente, a internet alterou consideravelmente a forma de distribuição de produtos turísticos. A rede mundial de computadores também potencializou a criação de novos destinos, aumentou o conhecimento e o poder do consumidor e deixou muitas empresas de turismo perdidas. Diversos autores destacam ainda que o comportamento do consumidor mudou. Não apenas em função de seu conhecimento e acesso a informações e fornecedores, mas em termos de exigência de atendimento, planejamento prévio, sensibilidade a preços e expectativa quanto ao padrão de qualidade dos serviços entregues pelos fornecedores. Neste contexto, definiu-se o problema de pesquisa do presente estudo: quais são as atividades de marketing praticadas pelas agências de viagens (operadoras ou não) no Brasil e como elas são desenvolvidas e aplicadas à luz da teoria? Por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória, de cunho qualitativa, foram identificados os principais players do setor (agências de luxo, de massa, online e de menor porte). Após 2 pré-testes, foram desenvolvidas 15 entrevistas: 13 com agências e 2 com profissionais especialistas no setor. O conteúdo das entrevistas foi então transcrito e analisado por meio de uma abordagem mais flexível, mas com categorias pré-determinadas. As categorias são justamente os itens explorados no referencial teórico, destacando-se as atividades de marketing: o mercado de turismo no Brasil e as entidades, as atividades relativas à segmentação e ao posicionamento, ao planejamento, a decisões de produto, de preço, de praça e de promoção, bem como sobre a captação e retenção de clientes, ao papel das pessoas, dos processos e das evidências físicas, e à utilização da tecnologia. Identificou-se que o setor tem passado por um processo de profissionalização, mas ainda há margem para o aprimoramento da maior parte das atividades de marketing. De modo geral, as agências sentem muita dificuldade em precificar seus produtos, ainda não desenvolveram estratégias para lidar com a realidade de multicanais, utilizam pouco o potencial da comunicação de marketing e não possuem programas de relacionamento com seus clientes. Com isso, parte do setor funciona com base em uma concorrência de preços, motivo pelo qual a internet tem crescido como canal de distribuição (seja por meio da venda direta ou pelo crescimento das OTAs). / The high level of competition recently became reality in markets that traditionally were less turbulent in Brazil. This is the case of markets such as drugstores, petshops and animal care, beauty and aesthetics, as well as tourism and hospitality. The latter has shown considerable expressiveness in the country\'s economy; in 2016, the sector accounted for 3.2% of the GDP (equivalent to R$ 175 million) and generated 2.5 million jobs (approximately 3% of the formal vacancies in the country). In Brazil, in 2015, according to the Ministry of Tourism, more than 18,000 travel agencies were registered - together they employed more than the automobile industry: 35,000 direct jobs and more than 100,000 indirect jobs. However, despite its growth and increased competition caused by factors such as globalization and the internet, the professionalization of the sector did not occur at the same speed, leading traditional agencies to end their activities. Recently, the internet has changed considerably the form of distribution of tourism products. It has also potentiated the creation of new destinations, increased consumer knowledge and bargaining power, and left many tourism companies lost. Several authors also point out that consumer behavior has changed. Not only due to their knowledge and access to information and suppliers, but in terms of service requirement, prior planning, price sensitivity and expectation regarding the quality standard of services delivered by suppliers. In this context, the research problem of the present study was defined: what are the marketing activities practiced by travel agencies (operators or not) in Brazil and how are they developed and applied in the light of the theory? Through an exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, the main players of the sector (luxury, mass, online and smaller agencies) were identified. After 2 pre-tests, 15 interviews were developed: 13 with agencies and 2 with professionals specialized in the sector. The content of the interviews was then transcribed and analyzed through a more flexible approach, with pre-determined categories. The categories are precisely the items explored in the theoretical referential, highlighting the marketing activities: the tourism market in Brazil and its entities, activities related to segmentation and positioning, planning, product decisions, price, place and promotion, as well as on the acquisition and retention of customers, the role of people, processes and physical evidence, and the use of technology. It was identified that the sector has undergone a process of professionalization, but there is still room for improvement of most marketing activities. Agencies generally find it difficult to price their products, have not yet developed strategies to deal with a multichannel reality, use little of the potential of marketing communication, and do not have customer relationship programs. As a result, part of the industry operates on the basis of price competition, which is why the internet has grown as a distribution channel (whether through direct sales or the growth of OTAs).

O elevado nível de competição e a turbulência também passaram a ser a realidade em mercados que tradicionalmente eram mais tranquilos no Brasil. É o caso de mercados como o de farmácias e drogarias, o de petshops e cuidados animais, o da beleza e estética, assim como o do turismo e hospitalidade. Este último tem apresentado considerável expressividade na economia do país; em 2016, o setor foi responsável por 3,2% do PIB (equivalente a R$ 175 milhões) e gerou 2,5 milhões de empregos (aproximadamente 3% das vagas formais no país). No Brasil, em 2015, segundo o Ministério do Turismo, mais de 18 mil agências estavam registradas - juntas empregavam mais do que a indústria automobilística: 35 mil empregos diretos e mais de 100 mil empregos indiretos. Contudo, apesar de seu crescimento e do acirramento da concorrência causada por fatores como a globalização e a internet, a profissionalização do setor não ocorreu na mesma velocidade, levando agências tradicionais a encerrarem suas atividades. Recentemente, a internet alterou consideravelmente a forma de distribuição de produtos turísticos. A rede mundial de computadores também potencializou a criação de novos destinos, aumentou o conhecimento e o poder do consumidor e deixou muitas empresas de turismo perdidas. Diversos autores destacam ainda que o comportamento do consumidor mudou. Não apenas em função de seu conhecimento e acesso a informações e fornecedores, mas em termos de exigência de atendimento, planejamento prévio, sensibilidade a preços e expectativa quanto ao padrão de qualidade dos serviços entregues pelos fornecedores. Neste contexto, definiu-se o problema de pesquisa do presente estudo: quais são as atividades de marketing praticadas pelas agências de viagens (operadoras ou não) no Brasil e como elas são desenvolvidas e aplicadas à luz da teoria? Por meio de uma pesquisa exploratória, de cunho qualitativa, foram identificados os principais players do setor (agências de luxo, de massa, online e de menor porte). Após 2 pré-testes, foram desenvolvidas 15 entrevistas: 13 com agências e 2 com profissionais especialistas no setor. O conteúdo das entrevistas foi então transcrito e analisado por meio de uma abordagem mais flexível, mas com categorias pré-determinadas. As categorias são justamente os itens explorados no referencial teórico, destacando-se as atividades de marketing: o mercado de turismo no Brasil e as entidades, as atividades relativas à segmentação e ao posicionamento, ao planejamento, a decisões de produto, de preço, de praça e de promoção, bem como sobre a captação e retenção de clientes, ao papel das pessoas, dos processos e das evidências físicas, e à utilização da tecnologia. Identificou-se que o setor tem passado por um processo de profissionalização, mas ainda há margem para o aprimoramento da maior parte das atividades de marketing. De modo geral, as agências sentem muita dificuldade em precificar seus produtos, ainda não desenvolveram estratégias para lidar com a realidade de multicanais, utilizam pouco o potencial da comunicação de marketing e não possuem programas de relacionamento com seus clientes. Com isso, parte do setor funciona com base em uma concorrência de preços, motivo pelo qual a internet tem crescido como canal de distribuição (seja por meio da venda direta ou pelo crescimento das OTAs). / The high level of competition recently became reality in markets that traditionally were less turbulent in Brazil. This is the case of markets such as drugstores, petshops and animal care, beauty and aesthetics, as well as tourism and hospitality. The latter has shown considerable expressiveness in the country\'s economy; in 2016, the sector accounted for 3.2% of the GDP (equivalent to R$ 175 million) and generated 2.5 million jobs (approximately 3% of the formal vacancies in the country). In Brazil, in 2015, according to the Ministry of Tourism, more than 18,000 travel agencies were registered - together they employed more than the automobile industry: 35,000 direct jobs and more than 100,000 indirect jobs. However, despite its growth and increased competition caused by factors such as globalization and the internet, the professionalization of the sector did not occur at the same speed, leading traditional agencies to end their activities. Recently, the internet has changed considerably the form of distribution of tourism products. It has also potentiated the creation of new destinations, increased consumer knowledge and bargaining power, and left many tourism companies lost. Several authors also point out that consumer behavior has changed. Not only due to their knowledge and access to information and suppliers, but in terms of service requirement, prior planning, price sensitivity and expectation regarding the quality standard of services delivered by suppliers. In this context, the research problem of the present study was defined: what are the marketing activities practiced by travel agencies (operators or not) in Brazil and how are they developed and applied in the light of the theory? Through an exploratory research, with a qualitative approach, the main players of the sector (luxury, mass, online and smaller agencies) were identified. After 2 pre-tests, 15 interviews were developed: 13 with agencies and 2 with professionals specialized in the sector. The content of the interviews was then transcribed and analyzed through a more flexible approach, with pre-determined categories. The categories are precisely the items explored in the theoretical referential, highlighting the marketing activities: the tourism market in Brazil and its entities, activities related to segmentation and positioning, planning, product decisions, price, place and promotion, as well as on the acquisition and retention of customers, the role of people, processes and physical evidence, and the use of technology. It was identified that the sector has undergone a process of professionalization, but there is still room for improvement of most marketing activities. Agencies generally find it difficult to price their products, have not yet developed strategies to deal with a multichannel reality, use little of the potential of marketing communication, and do not have customer relationship programs. As a result, part of the industry operates on the basis of price competition, which is why the internet has grown as a distribution channel (whether through direct sales or the growth of OTAs).

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Stockholm based travel agencies understand and use relationship marketing and how it is perceived by customers. Relationship marketing is defined by Grönroos as a building of relationships with customers to achieve mutual benefits. Four main objectives of relationship marketing were used to contextualise the term: service quality, personalisation, differentiation, and communica-tion.In order to answer the purpose, the authors have chosen to interview three travel agen-cies that focus on offering tailor made travel for different target groups. Sampling was used to find these travel agencies, as the total number of travel agencies in the Stock-holm area is too large to interview. Also, customers who have travelled with two of the travel agencies were interviewed. Further, several theoretical frameworks are presented in order to provide the reader with a view of relationship marketing, and were used in the design and the questions asked both companies and customers. From the interviews with the companies it was found that all of them have different views of what relationship marketing is, and that they have different ways of imple-menting it. The views of relationship marketing differ from building a strong brand im-age to managing actual relationships with customers. The main efforts of relationship marketing that the companies are involved in are delivering personalized travel and high service quality to customers.It was found in the interviews with customers that their view on what makes good ser-vice is similar to that of company views. What is most important to customers is that the perceived quality matches, or exceeds, the experienced one. There are several things that companies can do to attract and retain customers including having rewards clubs, sending out a moderate amount of newsletters, and providing a personal seller for customers.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how Stockholm based travel agencies understand and use relationship marketing and how it is perceived by customers.</p><p>Relationship marketing is defined by Grönroos as a building of relationships with customers to achieve mutual benefits. Four main objectives of relationship marketing were used to contextualise the term: service quality, personalisation, differentiation, and communica-tion.In order to answer the purpose, the authors have chosen to interview three travel agen-cies that focus on offering tailor made travel for different target groups. Sampling was used to find these travel agencies, as the total number of travel agencies in the Stock-holm area is too large to interview. Also, customers who have travelled with two of the travel agencies were interviewed. Further, several theoretical frameworks are presented in order to provide the reader with a view of relationship marketing, and were used in the design and the questions asked both companies and customers.</p><p>From the interviews with the companies it was found that all of them have different views of what relationship marketing is, and that they have different ways of imple-menting it. The views of relationship marketing differ from building a strong brand im-age to managing actual relationships with customers.</p><p>The main efforts of relationship marketing that the companies are involved in are delivering personalized travel and high service quality to customers.It was found in the interviews with customers that their view on what makes good ser-vice is similar to that of company views. What is most important to customers is that the perceived quality matches, or exceeds, the experienced one. There are several things that companies can do to attract and retain customers including having rewards clubs, sending out a moderate amount of newsletters, and providing a personal seller for customers.</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:52:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SaraDLP.pdf: 538708 bytes, checksum: ad7d4fbb39d43f6d22151b72748a78da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-27 / The objective of this dissertation is to propose a Multi Criteria Decision Aid Model to be used by the costumers of the travel agencies and help them to choose the best package travel. The main objective is to contribute for the simplification of the travel package decision choice from the identification of the models of values and preference of the customers and applying them to the existing package. It is used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to structuralize a decision hierarchic model composed by six criteria (package cost, hotel category, security of the city, travel time, direct flight and position in ranking of the 10 most visited destination) and five real alternatives of packages for a holiday of three days created from travel agency data. The decision analysis was realized for the choice of a travel package by a group composed by two couples that regularly travels together, to which was asked to do a pairwise judgment of the criteria and the alternatives. The mains results show that, although been a group that travels together, there are different models of values in the weights of the criteria and a certain convergence in the scales of preferences of the alternatives in the criteria. It was not pointed a dominant alternative for all the members of the group separately, but an analysis of a total utility of the group shows a classification and an order of the travel packages and an alternative clearly in front of the others. The sensitivity analysis revels that there are changes in the ranking, but the two alternatives best classified in the normal analysis are the same ones in the sensitivity analysis, although with the positions changed. The analysis also led to a simplification of the process with the exclusion of alternatives dominated for the others ones. As main conclusion, it is evaluated that the model and method suggested allow a simplification of the decision process in the choice of travel packages / O objetivo deste trabalho ? realizar uma modelagem de an?lise de decis?o multicriterial para apoio na decis?o para escolha de pacote de viagem por clientes das ag?ncias de turismos. O objetivo central ? contribuir na simplifica??o da decis?o da escolha de pacotes de viagens a partir da identifica??o dos modelos de valores e prefer?ncias dos clientes e aplic?-los em seguida aos pacotes existentes. ? utilizado o m?todo do Processo de Hierarquia Anal?tica (AHP Analytic Hierarchy Process) para estruturar um modelo hier?rquico de decis?o composto por seis crit?rios (custo do pacote, categoria do hotel, seguran?a da cidade, tempo de viagem, v?o direto, posi??o no ranking dos 10 mais destinos) e cinco alternativas reais de pacotes para fim de semana prolongado criadas a partir de dados de ag?ncia de viagens. A an?lise de decis?o foi realizada para a escolha do pacote por um grupo composto por dois casais que viajam regularmente juntos, aos quais foi solicitado que fizessem o julgamento par a par dos crit?rios e das alternativas. Os principais resultados revelam que, embora seja um grupo que viaja junto, h? diferentes modelos de valores nos pesos dos crit?rios e certa converg?ncia nas escalas de prefer?ncias das alternativas nos crit?rios. N?o houve uma alternativa dominante para todos os membros do grupo isoladamente, mas em uma an?lise de uma utilidade total do grupo h? uma classifica??o e ordenamento dos pacotes e uma alternativa claramente ? frente das demais. A an?lise de sensibilidade mostra que h? mudan?as nesse quadro, mas as duas mais bem classificadas na an?lise normal s?o as mesmas com a an?lise de sensibilidade, embora com mudan?a de posi??o. A an?lise levou tamb?m a simplificar o processo com a exclus?o de alternativas dominadas por todas as demais. Como principal conclus?o, avaliase que a modelagem e m?todo sugerido permitem uma simplifica??o do processo de decis?o na escolha de pacotes de viagens