THE INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ON MARKETING PERFORMANCES OF TOURIST AGENCIES
Katarina Borisavljevic
University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Economics, Kragujevac, The Republic of Serbia
The implementation of information technology in tourism brings numerous advantages for all participants in the chain of the tourism offer. Traditional tourist agencies also orient themselves towards online business doing via the Internet. On the other hand, the Internet has an influence on the reduction in the mediation role of tourist agencies. The subject matter of the research done in this paper is the implementation of the Internet in the business doing of tourist agencies with the aim to improve their marketing performances. The aim of the research is the influence of the quality of the Internet offer of tourist agencies on the development of the relationships with buyers and the improvement of the image of tourist agencies operating in The Republic of Serbia. The research results presented in the paper have shown that a higher level of the quality of agencies’ Internet offer has a positive influence on buyer loyalty, as well as on the image of an agency. The business success of tourist agencies is based on a combined approach of traditional and online business doing.
Keywords: tourist agency, Internet, business image, buyer loyalty
JEL Classification: M15, M31, Z30
Economic Horizons, 2016, Vol. 18, No 3, pp. 271-283; Published online 30 December 2016; doi:10.5937/ekonhor1603277B