The role of electronic commerce in creating virtual tourism destination marketing organisations

The role of electronic commerce in creating virtual

tourism destination marketing organisations

Adrian Palmer

Professor of Tourism Marketing, University of Ulster at Magee, Londonderry,

Northern Ireland

Patrick McCole

Doctoral Candidate, University of Ulster at Magee, Londonderry, Northern Ireland

Introduction

A tourism destination typically comprises

numerous autonomous suppliers, yet

consumers make purchase and repurchase

decisions based on the totality of the

experience available at a destination

(Williams and Palmer, 1999). There are now

many studies which have shown the methods

by which co-operation between suppliers can

add value to the tourism destination product

(Leiper, 1996; Palmer and Bejou, 1995; Heath

and Wall, 1991). Co-operative promotion of

tourism destinations has conventionally

focused on the production of joint publicity

brochures, often distributed through shared

stands at exhibitions. The development of

electronic commerce now offers new

opportunities for collaboratively marketing

tourism destinations. There is the potential to

create ``virtual co-operation'', whereby

potential tourists can browse through

Websites of individual facilities at a

destination and develop a coherent picture of

the destination experience on offer. The

creative linking of Websites facilitates the

profiling of enquiries in a way that allows

potential tourists to develop their own package

of experiences from a visit to a destination.

This paper aims to add to our

understanding of electronic commerce as a

medium for developing co-operation between

organisations that make up a tourism

destination. Specifically, the research

examines the role of electronic commerce in

creating ``virtual tourism destinations'' over

the Internet.

Co-operation and tourism

destination marketing

The success of a tourism destination product

typically depends on a network of

independent and inter-dependent

organisations (Gartrell, 1991; Kotler et al.,

1996). A frequently used approach to the

study of inter-organisational relationships is

based on network analysis (Achrol, 1991;

Quinn, 1992). The network rationale is that a

single organisation is unable or unwilling to

cope with the complexity and risks of its

environment and similarly unable or

unwilling to meet the skill and resource

demands essential for competing in the

global market (Cravens et al., 1993). Members

of a network are not completely dependent on

each other, as they remain independent along

certain dimensions of the relationship. Each

partner contributes some part of its core

competence that others need, but which it

does not have available internally. The 1990s

saw growing interest in a new form of

organisation often referred to as the virtual

organisation (Davidow and Malone, 1992).

The virtual organisation in this context

refers to a network of independent

companies, suppliers, customers, even

erstwhile rivals linked by information

technology to share skills, cost, and access to

one another's markets. A characteristic is

that they may have no central office or

internal hierarchy (Byrne, 1993).

Electronic commerce has facilitated the

development of virtual organisations. Hale

and Whitlam (1997) define as ``virtual'' any

organisation that is continually evolving,

redefining, and reinventing itself for

practical business purposes. The virtual

organisation is characterised by the lack of a

physical presence and recognisable

hierarchies. The aim of such organisations is

to deliver services through structures and

processes that are fast, flexible, and flat.

Virtual organisations are more flexible and

responsive than traditional organisational

structures because of ``computer-mediated

communication'' (Hoffman and Novak, 1995;

Barnatt, 1997). They can allow small

businesses to collaborate with minimal

bureaucracy and can create value cost

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[ 198 ]

International Journal of

Contemporary Hospitality

Management

12/3 [2000] 198±204

# MCB University Press

[ISSN 0959-6119]

Keywords

Electronic commerce,

Co-operative marketing, Internet,

Tourism

Abstract

Co-operation is crucial to the

successful marketing of tourism

destinations, and electronic com￾merce offers exciting new oppor￾tunities for co-operation among

tourism suppliers. This article ex￾amines the reciprocal linking of

Websites to create ``virtual'' tour￾ism destination organisations,

whereby consumers can access

information and purchase multiple

components of a holiday online. A

very simple starting point in the

formation of a virtual destination

marketing organisation is the

linking of individual suppliers'

Websites, so that a visitor arriving

at one site can click through to

complementary sites which con￾tribute to the total destination

offer. This paper examines the

theoretical and practical benefits

of virtual co-operation and reports

on a survey, which examines the

extent to which electronic com￾merce is superseding or comple￾menting traditional hierarchical

marketing organisations. Based

on a sample of tourism suppliers'

Websites in Northern Ireland, very

little co-operation was observed.

The reasons for this are discussed

and recommendations made for

future co-operation.