Internet Adoption by Travel Agents: a Case of Egypt

Current collaborative and rapid developments in tourism and information and communication technologies (ICTs) make it difficult to imagine that tourism existed before ICTs. Communication technology is one main reason for the existence of the Internet. Travel agents (TAs) are among service providers whom their Internet adoption could be the best marketing device for their business and a tool for their competitive advantages. The study explores the Internet adoption of the Egyptian TAs, patterns of usage and perceived benefits and barriers of e-commerce adoption. It is found that the majority of TAs use the Internet to provide TA's information, find out about customers and competitors. Sales and revenue growth, increasing competitive advantages and marketing activities are the agents' perceived benefits of adopting e-commerce. Limited resources, unskilled labour, lack of readiness of public infrastructure and customers are among the main obstacles for not adopting the Internet technologies. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.