Online Travel Agencies Research Articles

INVESTIGATING TOURISTS’ ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCY SELECTION INTENTION: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ON BANGLADESH

Online travel agency (OTA) attributes are significant to travelers in deciding which travel agency to select for their trip since different attributes represent different levels of perceived value to the travelers. The study aims to investigate the OTA attributes generated perceived value effect on OTA selection intention by Bangladeshi tourists. Data were collected by following a purposive sampling technique from 307 tourists of Bangladesh who buy from OTA and analyzed by utilizing SPSS version 24 integrated with AMOS version 26, applying structural equation modeling (SEM). Information quality, price, privacy and security, ease of use and online review are considered the features of OTA that influence perceived value and perceived value influence OTA selection intention. The result showed that the information quality, price, privacy and security, and ease of use significantly and positively influence perceived value, while online reviews were found to have no significant relationship. The perceived value also positively influences the OTA selection intentions of tourists. This study will provide important directions for OTA service providers in developing better strategies to improve OTA performance.

Navigating the digital travel landscape: understanding the role of technology readiness in OTAs acceptance and usage for hotel bookings

PurposeThis paper delves into the multi-faceted factors influencing the adoption and utilisation of online travel agencies (OTAs) for reserving hotel accommodations. The study aims to expand upon the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) framework to accomplish this objective by integrating the critical dimension of technology readiness (TR).Design/methodology/approachFour hundred and fifty-three (453) inbound tourists were asked to share their feedbacks on their recent OTA booking experience. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to confirm the study model and test the study hypotheses.FindingsThis study found that the motivating TR attributes favourably affect the acceptance and actual use of OTAs, while the inhibitors TR reflects adverse effects on OTA’s usage. On the other hand, the OTAs usage attributes: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, hedonic motivation, price value and habit are all significant determinants of consumers' behavioural intention.Originality/valueThe originality of this study lies in providing a more comprehensive explanation and prediction of consumer behaviour in relation to OTAs. Specifically, it recognises the importance of TR as a significant determinant of technology adoption and usage within the service industry realm.

Digital Tourism In ASEAN During Covid-19 Pandemic

The tourism industry's landscape has been heavily impacted by the development of digitalization. This scope has specifically affected how the utilization of technology has somewhat influenced the existence of a digitally driven market, to which those industries must adapt in these new environments. Ever since its implementation through online travel agencies, which has further exacerbated the trend toward entirely new virtual experiences, along with various digital marketing efforts. As such, the advantages of digital tourism resonate in economic development, enhanced branding, and increased resistance against future pandemics such as COVID-19, as shown in the article through several case studies. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are slowly striving to expand and rejuvenate their tourism sector through the pathway of digital tourism. This article perceptively showcases how the importance of digitalization is transforming global tourism industries in Southeast Asia. Through digital tourism, a plausible way has been paved for governments to approach new markets and reach new levels of competitiveness, thereby elevating their status to attract travelers. This path is also harnessed by businesses at all kinds of levels, as it inclusively provides possibilities to access the digital world. Therefore, under the adoption of digital tourism strategies, nations can address not only immediate challenges but also position themselves to gradually transition towards sustainable tourism growth in the post-pandemic era.

Comparison Of Sentiment Analysis Of Traveloka And Tiket.Com Applications On Twitter Using The Naive Bayes Method

The country of Indonesia has a strategic geographical position and is also said to be a country that is very rich in natural resources and cultural diversity. One of the supporters of economic growth in Indonesia is tourism. To support the potential of the tourism sector in Indonesia, many online travel agent applications have started to appear. Of the many OTAs, the top two applications were selected, namely the Traveloka and Tiket.com applications. This sentiment analysis requires data from Twitter. This research compares sentiment analysis on the Traveloka and Tiket.com applications in terms of price and service. The method used is naïve Bayes. The goal is to get sentiment information contained in a text with a positive or negative view. With this research, it is hoped that we can see a comparison of sentiment analysis between the Traveloka and Tiket.com applications and be able to find out the level of accuracy of naïve bayes on the Traveloka and Tiket.com applications. The price dataset that gets more positive sentiment is the Traveloka price of 97.2%. In the service dataset that has positive sentiment, Tiket.com is 46.9%. Then, the greatest accuracy was obtained after oversampling the Tiket.com price dataset by 73%, Traveloka prices by 94%, Ticket services by 87% and Traveloka services by 86%.

Evaluasi Gofood: Mahal dan Bintang Tiga, Repurchase or No?

Technology information development changed the customer behaviour in desire in booking hotel room. Online Travel Agent is one of the most advanced products that is currently booming and change the room reservation pattern from direct reservation or go show to room reservation by Online Travel Agent. The purpose of this study was to find the information why the booking pattern changed from direct reservation to online travel agent in order to improve the e-commerce in maintain the guest to still choosing Mercure Nexa Bandung as their preferred hotel to stay in Bandung. The result of the study shows Online Travel Agent can increase hotel occupancy rate because they are accessible, efficient and effective at competitive prices as well the hotel costs with sales cost, fees and employee payroll expenses. Hotel’s management support in developing OTA is needed as an effort to increase number of room reservation from OTA.

The value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems: The case of the online travel ecosystem

Interfaces play a key role in facilitating the integration of external sources of innovation and structuring ecosystems. They have been conceptualized as design rules that ensure the interoperability of independently produced modules, with important strategic value for lead firms to attract and control access to complementary assets in platform ecosystems. While meaningful, these theorizations do not fully capture the value and structuring role of web APIs in digital innovation ecosystems. We show this with an empirical study of the online travel ecosystem in the 26 years (1995–2021) after the first Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) were launched. Our findings reveal that web APIs foster a dynamic digital innovation ecosystem with a distributed networked structure in which multiple actors design and use them. We provide evidence of an ecosystem where decentralized interfaces enable decentralized governance and where interfaces establish not only cooperative relationships, but also competitive ones. Instead of locking in complementors, web APIs enable the integration of capabilities from multiple organizations for the co-production of services and products, by interfacing their information systems. Web APIs are important sources of value creation and capture, increasingly being used to offer or sell services, constituting important sources of revenue.

Influence of Traveloka's Instagram Social Media Advertising on Sumba on Followers' Visit Decisions

The latest developments in information technology have provided quick and technically straightforward access. In the rapidly evolving world of the internet, various types of e-commerce, such as online travel agent (OTA) companies, have emerged. Tourism in Indonesia is currently considered one of the significant influences in the country. Traveloka is an online travel agent used for booking tickets and various accommodations online. Additionally, Traveloka is known for its active presence in advertising on various social media platforms. The aim of this research is to determine the Influence of Traveloka's Instagram Social Media Advertising on Sumba on Followers' Visit Decisions. This study employs communication theory (S-O-R) or Stimulus-Organism-Response. The research method is quantitative, involving several data analysis techniques to analyze the obtained data from questionnaire distribution, including Normality Test, Correlation Test, and Simple Linear Regression Test to understand the extent of the influence among the variables being studied using SPSS. The research concludes that Instagram advertising influences visitation decisions. The hypothesis can be interpreted as Instagram advertising having an impact on Visit Decisions.

Voices in the storm: Analyzing MakeMyTrip's crisis communication during COVID‐19 through a multivocality lens

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic's travel restrictions have created significant difficulties for travellers and online travel agencies (OTAs), such as MakeMyTrip (MMT). This research examines MMT's crisis communication during the pandemic through multivocality, using Twitter data to analyze actors, topics, emotions and interaction patterns. The results show complex relationships among travellers, government, media, airlines and MMT, revealing who assigns blame and who takes it, and displaying dominant emotions like anger, fear, anticipation and trust. Initially, MMT used denial, minimization and scapegoating as crisis response strategies but later switched to corrective action and mortification. The study advances the understanding of crisis communication by considering multivocality and interaction patterns, and its results can help organizations, particularly OTAs, understand the importance of multivocal communication during a crisis and how to respond effectively to customer complaints and concerns.

Perbandingan Analisis Sentimen Aplikasi Traveloka dan Tiket.com pada Twitter dengan Metode Support Vector Machine

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia resulted in an economic crisis, including in the world of tourism, which caused a decline in the national economy. With the existence of Online Travel Agencies (OTA) such as Traveloka and Tiket.com, it is hoped that they can help improve the tourism sector for the Indonesian economy. As a popular OTA and to see the opinion of the Indonesian people, it can be seen from public opinion in the form of tweets on the Twitter application. The tweets data will be taken and sentiment analysis will be carried out on the OTA Traveloka and Tiket.com applications which will be classified into certain classes based on opinions and modeling will be carried out using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm method. This research aims to determine the level of accuracy of the SVM algorithm and find out how sentiment analysis compares between Traveloka and Tiket.com. In the sentiment analysis comparison, in terms of price, Traveloka is superior and in terms of service, Tiket.com is superior. After modeling by comparing splitting data and handling imbalanced data using Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), the best SVM accuracy results for the Tiket.com price dataset were 68%, for Traveloka prices it was 97%, for Tiket.com services it was 92%, and for Traveloka services it is 89%.

Anthropomorphic chatbots as a catalyst for marketing brand experience: evidence from online travel agencies

ABSTRACTThis study examines the impact of anthropomorphic chatbots and virtual reality experiences on the brand experience of online travel agencies. The study targeted three different online travel agencies (OTAs) and collected data from participants who had experience of using OTA chatbots; a total of 449 tourists filled in a questionnaire about their chatbot experience. The results showed that the perceived anthropomorphism of chatbots and virtual reality technology affects the perceived functional benefits of tourism products. Stickiness and trustworthiness supplement the role of parasocial relationships in such agencies’ service strategies. Marketers’ use of anthropomorphic chatbots also encourages the understanding of regular tourists’ perceived anthropomorphism. Our rational analysis and emotional interaction design revealed that such perceived anthropomorphism affects chatbots’ trustworthiness, thus influencing tourists’ sensory brand experience.

The Influence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) on Hotel Revenue and Distribution Strategies

Purpose: The main objective of this study was to explore the influence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) on hotel revenue and distribution strategies.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings revealed that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to the influence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) on hotel revenue and distribution strategies. Preliminary empirical review revealed that as the digital landscape continues to evolve, hotels must adapt their strategies to harness the benefits of OTAs while effectively managing the challenges. The findings of this research will benefit hoteliers, industry regulators, policymakers, and researchers by providing valuable insights into navigating the evolving landscape of hotel distribution and revenue management in the digital age.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Agency theory, Transaction Cost theory and the Resource Based View (RBV) theory may be used to anchor future studies relating to Online Travel Agencies (OTA). The study recommended diversification of distribution channels, negotiation of favorable contracts with OTAs, leveraging guest data for personalization, investing in direct booking campaigns and monitoring and adaption to market trends.

The influence of positive and negative electronic word of mouth review on hotel customer e-repurchase

Digital technology makes hotel bookings through online travel agents more attractive and more and more people want to make online travel booking agents create more attractive features for hotel bookings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of E-WoM on E-repurchase, especially in hotel bookings through Online Travel Booking Agent.com in Semarang City. The method used is an experimental research method using 56 participants using a different test-One Way Annova. The results of the study show that there are differences in the effect of E-WoM on e-repurchase in the form of positive and negative customer reviews from Online Travel Booking Agent XYZ customers. So with these positive reviews, consumers will make repeat purchases at the same e-commerce company. If the previous transaction was unsatisfactory, the customer who will make a repurchase will become less trusting, thereby reducing the intention to repurchase from the e-commerce company.

When ChatGPT Gives Incorrect Answers: The Impact of Inaccurate Information by Generative AI on Tourism Decision-Making

This study investigates how inaccurate information provided by ChatGPT impacts travelers’ acceptance of recommendations. Six experiments were conducted based on the accessibility-diagnosticity framework. These examined the moderating role of the prominence and type of incorrect information and their effects on decision-making. The results show that participants perceived more accuracy and trustworthiness, leading to stronger intentions to visit when incorrect information was absent. However, there was a decline in their intentions to visit when incorrect information was present and more prominent or in the same domain. This effect diminished when multiple domains were involved or when participants were focused on the initial task. The research highlights that both the prominence and type of incorrect information are boundary conditions and provides insights into AI applications in tourism. Furthermore, it offers practical implications for online travel agencies in terms of user interface and user experience design planning.

Pengaruh Online Travel Agent terhadap Pemesanan Kamar di Mercure Nexa Bandung

Technology information development changed the customer behaviour in desire in booking hotel room. Online Travel Agent is one of the most advanced products that is currently booming and change the room reservation pattern from direct reservation or go show to room reservation by Online Travel Agent. The purpose of this study was to find the information why the booking pattern changed from direct reservation to online travel agent in order to improve the e-commerce in maintain the guest to still choosing Mercure Nexa Bandung as their preferred hotel to stay in Bandung. The result of the study shows Online Travel Agent can increase hotel occupancy rate because they are accessible, efficient and effective at competitive prices as well the hotel costs with sales cost, fees and employee payroll expenses. Hotel’s management support in developing OTA is needed as an effort to increase number of room reservation from OTA. 
 

The Impact of Tourist Operant Resources on Online Citizenship Behavior in Sustainable Tourism

Sustainability has emerged as a critical concern in the tourism industry. In sustainable tourism, the question of how to engage tourists in value co-creation has started to receive attention. Based on service-dominant logic, this paper develops an integrated model to reveal the impact of tourist operant resources on online citizenship behavior from the perspective of interactions between tourists and online travel agencies (OTAs). Empirical research is conducted using data collected from 301 tourists with customized sustainable tourism experiences. The results show that tourist operant resources are positively associated with online citizenship behavior, with the perceived value (functional value and emotional value) playing a partially mediating role in this relationship. Knowledge distance between tourists and OTA service personnel exerts an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between tourist operant resources and functional values, but it does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between tourist operant resources and emotional values. Resource integration capability positively moderates the impact of tourist operant resources on functional and emotional values. This study reveals the contingency role of tourist operant resources in the entire value co-creation process in the context of sustainable tourism and provides practical guidance for OTAs to promote tourists’ online citizenship behavior to develop sustainable tourism.

Pengaruh E-Service Quality dan Experiential Marketing terhadap Repurchase Intention dengan Trust sebagai Variabel Intervening (Studi pada Konsumen Aplikasi Agoda di Denpasar)

The purpose of this research is to develop marketing strategies that are suitable for online travel agent applications in order to increase the number of repurchase intentions on the AGODA application. This study used non-probability sampling, with 100 total samples. The analysis technique used is Path Analysis. In order to increase Repurchase intention, the Agoda application must take specific actions based on the implications of this research result. This involves focusing on the customer experience, building trust, maintaining long-term relationships, monitoring and improving the quality of electronic services, and strengthening their communications and reputation. The results of this study show that E-Service Quality influences Trust in a significant positive way. E-service quality and Experiential marketing influence Trust in a significant positive way. E-Service Quality and Experience Marketing influence Repurchase intention in a significant positive way. Based on the results of the statistical test, it can be concluded that indirectly E-Service Quality and Experience marketing through Trust have a significant positive effect on Repurchase Intention.

Online Satisfaction and Hotel Booking Intentions: An Information System Success Model Perspective

Online travel agencies (OTAs) have increased their market share in online hotel booking as the internet has grown exponentially. The present study aims to apprehend travellers using the internet to search and book hotels on the OTA website. Moreover, regarding online satisfaction, this study also tries to find user satisfaction and intention to book the hotel by extending the information system success model. A partial least-square (PLS) structural equation modelling approach was used to assess a research model that included three variables: system quality, information quality, and service quality. A total of 225 usable responses were obtained and analyzed using SmartPLS software. The findings revealed that information satisfaction and service satisfaction significantly influence the online booking intentions. The findings give valuable insights to the OTA website and OTA app developers on how they should postulate complete and accurate information while considering the service quality aspects to influence hotel booking. This research has extended the body of knowledge on online satisfaction and hotel booking intention by implementing and expanding the information system success model.

Exploring the Impact of the Destination Blind Box Strategy on Consumer Purchase Intention

This study aims to explore the impact of the destination blind box (DBB) strategy on consumers purchase intention. This study aims to fill the gaps in existing research, explore the relationship between the launch of DBB products and consumers purchase intentions, and specifically find out the core audience distribution and purchase intention factors. This study adopts a mixed methods research design, combining literature review research and questionnaire survey analysis to draw comprehensive conclusions. The literature review shows that DBB products take advantage of consumers novelty hunting psychology, herd psychology and gambling tendency, leading to an increase in blind box consumption and enhanced travel motivation. Research shows that 86% of young people aged 18-35 have high curiosity and purchase intentions for DBB products. In addition, female respondents showed a stronger willingness to purchase compared to male respondents. However, participants aged 40-50 showed minimal curiosity and lower purchase intention due to unfamiliarity with the booking process and time and destination constraints. The implications of the study highlight the effectiveness of the DBB strategy in attracting younger consumers and satisfying their need for novelty and experience. Marketing managers of airlines and online travel agencies should focus on younger consumer groups and consider launching DBB products that cater to womens preferred destinations. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior in the context of DBB strategies and provides practical implications for the aviation and tourism industries.

The tendency of consumers to use online travel agencies from the perspective of the valence framework: The role of openness to change and compatibility

Using the valence framework, this study examined the effect of perceived benefit (utilitarian value and convenience) and perceived risk (privacy & security barrier and usage constraints) to purchase intention of consumers towards online travel agencies (OTAs). Furthermore, the impacts of personality traits (openness to change and compatibility) to perceived benefit, perceived risk, and purchase intention of consumers towards OTAs are also put under consideration. A research sample, including 494 observations from 18 years old and above who have used OTAs, was collected and used in empirical analyzing, the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is a suitable choice for assessing the validation of measurement model and construct model. The results of this study indicate that, being consistent to the valence framework, perceived benefit and perceived risk significantly affect purchase intention towards OTAs. Additionally, openness to change and compatibility has positive influence on perceived benefits and negative influence on perceived risk. Openness to chance is also proven to positively impact OTAs purchase intentions. Based on these findings and their implications, OTAs providers and tourism enterprises could plan suitable strategies for attracting customers.

Predicting user engagement with textual, visual, and social media features for online travel agencies' Instagram post: evidence from machine learning

ABSTRACT By utilizing supervised, unsupervised, and transfer learning techniques, the present article analyzes the entire three major online travel agencies’ Instagram posts (n = 6,083) to investigate which features contribute more to predicting the user engagement. Among 109 textual, visual, and social media post specific features that we initially extracted, we find the important features using the XGBoost algorithm and estimate the effects of each feature on user engagement (i.e. number of likes) using Negative Binomial regression. The results indicate that OTAs should emphasize the travel related emotion, luxurious, outdoorsy, and celebration in the post wordings in captions but should avoid the big words (words with more than six letters). In terms of images, it is recommended to use the image with fewer lines, fewer parallel lines, but more corners. For an Instagram message-delivering strategy, uploading a post during the evening is recommended.