scholarly journals New Distribution Capability (NDC) and its Effects on Travel Industry in Oman

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Jayashree Krishnamurthy ◽  
◽  
Yugesh Krishnan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Ripple Effect ◽  
Personal Interview ◽  
Loan Commitments ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Shopping Experience ◽  
Major Airlines ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Medium Businesses

Abstract Purpose of study The objectives of the study were to analyze the effects of transformation from GDS to NDC from the perspectives of the travel agencies in Oman; to find out the concerns of the travel agencies in Oman with regards to the implementation of NDC and to compare the benefits of NDC content with GDS from the perspectives of the travel agencies in Oman. Design/Methodology/Approach A questionnaire survey, telephone, and personal interview were conducted with 19 top leading travel agencies in Muscat region, Oman. Each Travel agent manager was given the questionnaire through google forms for the questionnaire. The telephone/ personal interview was also conducted. Around 78 employees were targeted out of which only 13 responded. The data collected was analyzed using Statistical package. Findings The findings support the fact that Oman being a small market with many small and medium players’ implementations of NDC is slow. The current pandemic has slowed it down even further. But their help being offered in terms of training and awareness by the NDC platform and some major airlines to speed up the adaptation. The study showed that the high cost of technological implementation is going to be one of the major barriers to complete switch to NDC system. As of now, the travel agents will be settling for GDS with NDC. Research Implications The adaptation by NDS has been slow especially by airlines. With IATA pushing the implementation, major airlines are slowly but surely adapting it as they can see the benefits they can derive. The customers too are benefiting from direct buying. The travel agencies in Oman especially small and medium-sized travel agencies are the ones who are most affected and there is not enough research being done to find what is it that is stopping them from adapting. Social Implications The pandemic has devastated the travel industry overall. Many small and medium businesses have been forced to shut due to lockdowns. Further, more people becoming comfortable with online shopping and willing to spend less, it will be a while before travel agents can start earning the same level of revenue they were enjoying before the pandemic. This will have an impact on unemployment as well as the inability to meet loan commitments. This can have a ripple effect. Originality/Novelty Few academic research has been carried out on NDC, especially in the Middle East. This research is the first of its kind which is dedicated to travel agents from Oman. The fact that NDC is set to revolutionize the shopping experience for the consumer one cannot ignore the fact that it is set to blow a dent in the revenues of the Travel agents.

scholarly journals A New Revenue Management Framework for Hong Kong Travel Agencies

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Grace Suk Ha Chan ◽  
Basak Denizci Guillet
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Revenue Management ◽  
Deterministic Model ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
Profit Margins ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Business Operations ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Travel Industry

<p>Today’s highly unpredictable and competitive global environment has had profound effects on the travel industry. Higher operational costs and reduced profit margins have caused many Hong Kong travel agencies go out of business altogether, the profit margins of Hong Kong travel agencies are shrinking. As this sector shares many features with traditional revenue management (RM) users such as the airline and hotel industries, travel agencies have the potential to enhance revenue by incorporating RM techniques into their businesses. Most travel agencies sell product on behalf of suppliers, and do not own or control their inventories. The adoption of RM techniques could optimize the financial health of travel agencies by freeing them from dependence on commissions. This study presents a RM framework formulated specifically for travel agents. It provides a deterministic model for the business operations of travel agencies.</p>

scholarly journals Motivation for ‘Consumer–Producer‘ Interactions in Tourism: Disintermediation and Scope for Travel Agencies

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Fernandes Anthony Jovial ◽  
Alex Emy
Keyword(s):  
The Internet ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Online Transactions ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Changing Trends ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Online Travel

Increase in accessibility to the internet and consumer’s faith in conducting online transactions, have paved way for a steady change in how consumers plan and buy their holidays. The role of traditional travel agents and online travel portals, as sources most knowledgeable about holiday destinations is on the wane due to the emergence of online reviewing platforms, and easily accessible and first-hand information from the service producers. Consumers today prefer to approach service producers such as resorts, restaurants, transport providers and guides to book their services. Given this scenario, this paper attempts to determine the catalyst for the changing trends in tourist buying behavior, the role of the internet and whether travel agents are aware of the said changes. The paper also looks at possible opportunities for travel agents to expand their products’ portfolio to maintain or increase their revenue in tandem with the changes in the industry. The study takes into consideration responses received from 75 tourists and structured interviews conducted with sixteen travel agents.

scholarly journals Digital Innovation Strategy for Travel Agents to Combat Climate Warming

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuangqi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Warming ◽  
Innovation Strategy ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Digital Innovation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Situation

Climate warming leads to great opportunities and difficulties for travel agencies. In order to promote the development of travel agencies in the new situation, this paper studies the digital innovation strategy of travel agencies to deal with climate warming. Through in-depth interviews with 13 travel agencies, the impact of climate warming on travel agencies was discussed from multiple perspectives. Investigate the digital innovation response strategies of this group under the influence of climate warming on tourism, analyze and try to give travel agencies' digital innovation strategies to respond to climate warming. In order to provide some help for the sustainable development of travel agencies.

Customer Satisfaction Evaluation for Greek Online Travel Agencies

2014 ◽  
pp. 119-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Drosos ◽  
Nikolaos Tsotsolas
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Tourism Marketing ◽  
It Systems ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Customer Satisfaction Evaluation ◽  
Satisfaction Evaluation ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Online Travel ◽  
Online Travel Agencies

The rapid development of tourist supply and demand makes Information Technologies (IT) significant, and thus, they increasingly play a more critical role in tourism marketing, distribution, promotion, and coordination. IT influences the strategic management and marketing of contemporary organisations as a paradigm-shift is experienced, transforming the best business practices globally. IT is one of the main key influences of competitiveness in the tourism/travel industry. The original purpose for adopting IT systems was simply to provide an automatic means of store and manage data (e.g. on flights and accommodation). At the same time, IT in the tourist sector enables an increased volume of transactions to be handled rapidly and effectively. This chapter presents an original customer satisfaction survey in the Greek Online Travel Agencies. For the collection of the data, a Website questionnaire was used in order to better record the customers’ views on the service overall as well as their satisfaction levels on particular aspects of the service. The survey was conducted within the period September – November 2012. Final input data consists of 510 questionnaires.

Strategic Analysis of the Contemporary Tour Operation Industry

2019 ◽  
pp. 144-165
Author(s):  
Zibanai Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Population Demographics ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Strategic Intent ◽  
Travel And Tourism ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Fluid Environment ◽  
Demographic Shifts

Tour operators and travel agencies are the fulcrum of the tour operation industry given their eminent role in the tour operation sector value chain. This chapter addresses an underrepresentation in the current tour operation discourse in the period post WW2. To put the matter into context, at the global stage, fundamental changes have occurred since the end of WW2, notably political cum socio-economic and demographic shifts, advances in education, and increases in per capita income due to dual family income among a raft of other variables. These have arguably boosted demand for packaged tour holiday. However, in spite of the highly fluid environment, there is little academic research on emerging economic jurisdictions in the TO and TAs sub-sectors' strategic intent in light of such profound developments. Very few researches have attempted to interrogate these pertinent issues in the context of emerging markets` view point. This chapter seeks to bridge this gap by analyzing how these fundamentals have informed and redefined the contours of the TO and TAs landscape. The chapter lays claim on and envisages to make theoretical contribution by advancing the frontiers of knowledge in the following specific domains of multi-destination theory, TO and TAs product development, population demographics, TO and TAs work ethic, and TO and TAs commitment to environment protection philosophy which have been understudied in the contemporary travel and tourism literature discourse.

Travel Agencies and Tour Operators at KidZania

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-64
Author(s):  
Hugues Seraphin ◽  
Frederic Dosquet
Keyword(s):  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Distribution Channel ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Retail Environment ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Fierce Competition ◽  
The Way

The role of tour operators (TOs) and travel agents (TAs) are putting together transport, events, attractions, accommodation and food / drink into a package and are then selling them to customers. The authors introduce in this chapter a new marketing strategy for TOs and TAs, as there is fierce competition in the retail environment. The approach offers an alternative to the existing marketing and distribution channel in the industry. The KidZania concept in itself is very strong from a marketing point of view due to its high capacity to convince customers. Also, with KidZania, TOs and TAs have an opportunity to ‘breed' ethical tourists, that is to say, tourists that respect their host, their environment, and culture. That said, the KidZania model could be said to be a form of manipulation of emotions, by pushing the children to behave and consume the way we would like them to.

Social Media Impact on Holiday Travel Planning

2013 ◽  
pp. 230-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Fotis ◽  
Dimitrios Buhalis ◽  
Nicos Rossides
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Travel Planning ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Specific Stage ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Tourism Websites

The impact of social media on the travel industry is predicted to be tremendous, especially on its holiday travel segment. Although there is a plethora of studies concentrating on the role and impact of social media in travel related decisions, most of them are medium and community specific, or focus on a specific stage of the decision making or the travel planning process. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the role and impact of social media on the travel planning process: before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence, and trust. The study was conducted through an online structured questionnaire on a sample of 346 members of an online panel of internet users from Russia and the other Former Soviet Union (FSU) Republics who had been on holidays in the previous 12 months. Findings reveal that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between level of influence from social media and changes made to holiday plans. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is more trusted than official tourism websites, travel agents, and mass media advertising.

The Impact of E-Commerce Technology on the Air Travel Industry

2011 ◽  
pp. 341-356
Author(s):  
Susan Gasson
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
New Information ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
The Impact ◽  
American Airlines

This case study examines the impact of online reservation systems and e-commerce on the travel industry. Two questions are examined: 1. How can competitive advantage be obtained from the exploitation of new information technologies—in particular, e-commerce technologies? 2. How has the role of travel agents changed because of the new information technologies being used to achieve competitive advantage in the air travel industry? Initial discussion concerns the impact of the American Airlines SABRE system, as this has often been touted as giving American Airlines first-mover advantage in the industry. The wider impact of remote-access, computerized reservation systems, or Global Distribution Systems, and e-commerce access to online reservations in the travel industry is analyzed, using Porter’s five-force model of industry competitive forces, to understand how the travel industry has shaped and has been shaped by information systems. The case study concludes with a comparison of the impact of information technologies between the U.S. and European travel industries. It concludes that technology alone does not affect the roles of industry players, but the development of winning technologies exploits structural factors in the environment. Constant evolution of strategic information systems is critical to producing competitive advantage, but opportunism also plays a strong role.

scholarly journals The changing role of the travel intermediary

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Lubbe
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Distribution Costs ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Travel Industry ◽  
Revenue Models ◽  
Corporate Travel ◽  
Changing Role

This article gives an overview of the changes and developments in the travel industry and the way travel intermediaries like travel agents are responding to them. These changes include the deregulation of airlines and the advent of global distribution systems, the pressure from airlines for lower distribution costs, rapid and fundamental changes in technology and consumer preferences. The responses by travel agents include rapid integration and consolidation within the industry, the use of technology to streamline operations and expand market reach, and the review of traditional revenue models to make way for new approaches to revenue generation. In conclusion, some future scenarios for both leisure and corporate travel distribution are outlined.

Twitterst du schon oder mailst du noch? Microblogging als Ausdruck des Kommunikationswandels im Web 2.0. Ein Forschungsbericht zu den Implikationen im Tourismus

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Amersdorffer ◽  
Hans Hopfinger
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Marketing Mix ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Travel Industry

ZusammenfassungDer Tourismus als „Leitindustrie des 21. Jahrhunderts“ gilt heute als einer der am stärksten globalisierten Wirtschaftszweige der Weltwirtschaft. Touristische Produkte werden global und trotz hin und wieder auftretender Krisen in großer und weiterhin stark ansteigender Menge und Intensität produziert und konsumiert. Es sind moderne Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT), die mitunter als Motor diese Entwicklung vorantreiben: „Information is the lifeblood of the travel industry. It connects travellers, tour operators, travel agents and tourism industry suppliers” (zit. Vanhove 2001, S. 137). Vormals vor allem für den Betrieb von internationen Distributions- und Reservierungssystemen der Reiseindustrie eingesetzt gewinnen IKT seit seit einigen Jahren auch im Tourismusmarketing an Bedeutung. So ist Onlinemarketing zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil im Marketing-Mix von Tourismusanbietern geworden (vgl. Möhler, Schmücker 2005). Hintergrund ist, dass die Zahl der Internetnutzer stetig ansteigt; momentan gibt es 1,2 Milliarden Internetnutzer weltweit (UNWTO 2008). Als Konsequenz davon wächst auch die Bedeutung von IKT für das Tourismusmarketing weiter an. Ihre Nutzung entwickelt sich zu einem der zentralen Erfolgsfaktoren im Tourismusmarketing (vgl. Salzburg Research 2007), denn das Internet spielt bei der Reiseentscheidung von Gästen eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle (vgl. UNWTO 2008).

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