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2.10 Barriers of online marketing for travel agencies
1.
Limited knowledge of available technology
2.
Lack of awareness of online marketing
3.
Cost of initial investment
4.
Lack of confidence in the benefits of e-commerce
5.
Cost of system maintenance
6.
Cost securing skilled human resources
7.
Shortage of skilled human resources
8.
Difficulty with integrating online marketing and existing system
9.
Cost of training human resources for online marketing
10.
Insufficient infrastructure
11.
Lack of government support
12.
Relatively small online market size
13.
Fear of changes in corporate culture
14.
Resistance to adoption of online marketing
2.11 Online marketing and disintermediation of travel agencies
Various studies have shown the direct fit of the Internet and travel and tourism products Buhalis and Licata 2002; Christian 2001; Poon 2001. With the
emergence of the internet, the process of fast information transmission can be addressed effectively at a low cost. In other words, tourists can now receive
comprehensive, timely and relevant information in a virtual environment to assist their decision-making process. This, in turn, necessitates the balancing of
perishable tourism industry is diversified, with a plethora of different suppliers that operate independently, even as tourists expect travelling to be a complete
experience. To resolve this mismatch, the internet offers an effective means for developing a single and sustainable electronic infrastructure for information
gathering and business transactions for both travelers and suppliers. A natural outcome of this is that the suppliers can carry out one-to-one marketing and mass
customization. In other words travel suppliers can now understand each customer’s needs, and therefore target each customer individually and deliver
tailor-made products. More importantly, travel suppliers can understand how to
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