Abstract
To manage their competitive goals, e-tourism service companies, in direct and in indirect channels respectively, need to know the antecedents of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty, generated by satisfaction in its various forms, is the cornerstone of the company’s assets and financial sustainability. Current literature does not provide a comparative analysis on this issue. To fill this gap, this research presents a model that includes customer satisfaction and participation as the main drivers of customer loyalty. The empirical research relies on one survey conducted by a market research company addressed to Internet users in Spain with experience in online purchases of tourism products. The estimation method is 3SLS (Three-Stage Least Squares), a simultaneous equations model applied to the database obtained. The results reveal a different potential of the two types of e-channels in producing higher levels of loyalty through customer participation. Increasing the participation of customers in indirect e-tourism channels results in higher returns on loyalty while the impact is lower in the direct channels. These findings are especially interesting for tourism service providers.
Highlights
In the tourism industry, the final service providers have historically relied on their own direct channels to reach potential customers for booking their services
In this e-multichannel scenario, it becomes relevant for both tourism service providers and OTAs to have a clear view on their potential to build up a loyal base of customers
One major one is that most research exploring the antecedents of customer loyalty in tourism is focused on the product—i.e., the actual services delivered by providers and experienced by consumers at destination—[7,8,9,10,11]
Summary
The final service providers (hotels, restaurants, airlines, rail transportation, car rental companies, etc.) have historically relied on their own direct channels to reach potential customers for booking their services. These channels, walk-ins, telephone, and other telematics (fax, e-mails) made the most of direct bookings [1]. The growth of these two online channels has caused most of the hospitality service providers are involved in an e-multichannel operation combining both direct and indirect channels In this e-multichannel scenario, it becomes relevant for both tourism service providers and OTAs to have a clear view on their potential to build up a loyal base of customers. All of them give interesting findings, they do not provide a comparative framework to analyze the potential differences between direct and indirect e-channel alternatives to achieve different levels of customer retention
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