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Demand for tourism products and services on the internet has been growing throughout the world. The advent of e commerce has prompted consumers more and more looking for tailor-made vacations, exotic destinations and authentic experiences, and expects to obtain related information online. The appetite has also open up huge opportunities for developing countries, which till early 2ks hold a very minuscule share in international revenue pie. For a travel freak, travelling is increasingly linked to the discovery of cultures and people, such as staying in a longhouse in the forests of Borneo, learning belly-dancing in Cairo, relaxing with an Ayurveda treatment in Kerala or learning new culinary preparations in Marrakesh -- e tourism delivers it all without putting a lofty yoke on your pocket. Global trends show that small tour operators, hotels and inns, restaurants and travel agencies have been active in fostering cross-border internet e-commerce. The internet allows travellers direct access to travel recommendations, reviews and local tourism information, many of which were previously only distributed through the physical offices of (large) travel agencies. Small players with a Web page can now attract those preferring personalised (and possibly less expensive) services. Some small travel agencies, making the most of ICT, take advantage of direct online sales of discounted airline tickets and travel packages, while others, both small online and offline agencies, have shifted towards selling leisure products entailing higher commissions, such as cruise packages. Since the internet and many travel-related sites allow online customers to compare the price of air tickets and other travel services, small firms offering best/better prices can win price-sensitive travellers. Tourism-related internet use has engendered a customer profile that reflects particular habits, expectations and requirements. It provides useful indications for policymakers and tourism enterprises when they are preparing their online e-tourism strategy. Consumers are increasingly mastering the online research and purchase processes with the help of specialised search engines. They expect to find high quality and reliable information enabling them to organise and purchase the best product offering for each occasion, and receive comprehensive feedback and confirmation. These search engines also allows consumers to share their travel experience and provides useful peer-to-peer evaluation of tourism providers. A survey in US shows Google (with about 33 per cent of leisure travellers and 22 per cent of business travellers) followed by Yahoo, MSN and AOL are the most used search engines of 2005. More recently meta-search engines aimed at providing the lowest prices, such as Fare-Chase, Kayak.com and Mobissimo Travel Search, are gaining ground, but most of them are newcomers and represent a low percentage of traffic. Although, the concept of e-tourism has grown very rapidly, but still largely involves ticketing for passenger transportation and accommodation. The internet is mainly used for travel-related information and promotion. Recent studies in US show that 56 per cent of internet users are planning their vacations online (in particular making their hotel and airline bookings), whereas 23 per cent consult both travel agents and the internet, and 10 per cent rely exclusively on travel agents. In about four years the number of internet users in the US who have booked their travel online has reached 50 per cent, compared with 30 per cent in 2000. Travel is the largest source of business-to-consumer (B2C) revenues with $52.4 billion in 2004, and is predicted to reach over $119 billion by 2010. The European online travel market grew by 51 per cent to reach $ 23.3 billion in 2004 and is estimated to grow to $ 49.9 billion in 2006.The number of international tourism arrivals has constantly increased over the period in Asia and the Pacific. The spectacular growth of China and Taiwan in terms of international tourism arrivals and receipts is the key factor in the rise of tourism in East Asia. A few years ago, China joined the top ten world tourism receivers, and in 2004 took over Italy's position as the fourth most visited destination worldwide with over 41 million international tourists. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), China will establish itself as the first tourism destination by 2020. The other raison d'être of growth: tourism products have high information content, usually including local content such as history, nature and indigenous arts. They are also intangible in nature and cannot be tried before purchase e.g. air tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and restaurant meals. These characteristics make tourism products very well suited for purchase over the internet. In addition, most travel products, like air travel and hotel rooms are perishable and last-minute online sales provide a new distribution channel and can represent an important last-minute solution for customers. Transaction costs over the internet can be significantly lower than those of traditional distribution channels. However, full exploitation and organisational integration of ICT features and functionalities require operators to reengineer their operating models, reconfigure their value chain-networks and redefine their business roles and relationships. Additionally, use of e-commerce in the tourism sector is likely to concentrate on B2C rather than B2B transactions, as incompatibility between systems and the dominance of relatively small agents and suppliers with less ICT capability may impede efficient electronic transactions along the supply chain for B2B transactions.
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