Swedish and Norwegian Tourism Websites: The Importance of Reservation Services and Value-added Services

Abstract

Owing to their intangible and digital character, tourism products in the future are likely to be traded on the electronic marketplace. Travel agencies and tour operators may no longer be needed because tourists will communicate directly with hotels and airlines electronically. To attract customers to the electronic marketplace, tourism business websites will have to offer reservation facilities and value-added services, and to attain disintermediation in the electronic marketplace, tourism businesses, e.g. hotels and airlines, will have to offer services similar to those offered by intermediaries such as travel agencies and tour operators if they are to reduce what customers perceive as risks. In this article, a theoretical framework related to on-line reservations and on-line value-added services in the tourism industry is developed and on this basis six propositions are presented. Results from a content analysis of Swedish and Norwegian tourism websites reveal that while tourism businesses offer some reservation services, only to a limited extent do they offer value-added services on the electronic marketplace. Traditional intermediaries such as tour operators and travel agencies offer more value-added services on the electronic marketplace than airlines and hotels. The implications of the results are discussed.