Basic structure of presentation. Background (E-commerce) Background (SMEs in tourism) Research Questions. Background and design of Research

Transcription

1 Empirical study on the Internetmarketing for Small and Microsized Hotel Operators Economic Impact of ECommerce Stgies for Marketing Small and Microseized Tourism Enterprises Maki Kato (presenter) James McMaster Natasha Khan asic structure of presentation ackground and design of Research Field survey asic findings (Internet use,internet marketing and occupancy ) Experiment (Process, cost, and result) Summary and Conclusion Discussion ackground and design of Research ackground (Ecommerce) elief in 0s: ecommerce would lead to a radical change in the way that enterprises trade adopting ecommerce environment in a business are the nature of business, the extent of competition and regulatory environment, the costs of ICT deployment, amount and quality of human capital, and the firm willingness and adaptability to ICT(OECD, 00). Context difference difficulties by SMEs in in adopting ecommerce : lack of awareness to utilize IT; substantial hardware and software costs; expensive technical backup service; high training costs and communications costs, particularly the high charges for regular use of Internet (Raj, 00). Use of Internet was expected to reduce the disadvantage of small and geographically isolated Pacific islands? Seminar in and ackground (SMEs in tourism) Tourism is significant source of foreign exchange, % in foreign exchange earnings in (South Pacific trade commission). backpacker market is important to as % of all visitors to identify themselves as backpackers (Ministry of Tourism, 00) ackpacker accommodation is usually oped by SMEs. Research Questions What is the current situation of Internet use by small and micro sized local hotel operators located in, and? How effective is the Internet as a tool for marketing backpacker by small scale local enterprises located in, and?

2 Design of the Research Field survey,, and Field survey Short seminar for sharing of preliminary research finding and basic technical training for use and web page maintenance participatory and action research Experimental web site marketing 8 Definition and schedule Definition: Small and Microseized enterprise: Number of employee: not more than (micro) and between 0(Small) assets not exceeding $0,000(micro) and between $0,000 and $00,000 (NCSMED, 00) In our research: ) F$ 80 at maximum for person /night accommodation, ) targeting backpackers, and ) less than 0 beds Schedule: September 00~October 00 Sampling and Methodology Sampling not a random sampling targeting traditional tourist destination. total of 8 operators: (), () and (). lmost a third of operators. Methodology Onsite structured survey with questionnaire minutes to an hour to complete the questionnaire Limitation eqa/deuba/yanuca areas Coral Coast Lautoka/Rakiraki/Tailevu Levuka/Lomaiviti/Kadav u Savusavu Yasawas/Mamanuca Little business record 8 rea Suva Sampling Frame 8 0 Sample 0 asic findings Occupancy in geographical difference occupancy Occupancy % 0% % 0% (8%) (%) (%) (8%) (%) (%) 0 (0%) (%) Occupancy s (percentage) Key: % 0% % 0% % 0% * F * * 0 F % 0% % 0% % 0% % 0% % 80% 8% 0% (8%) (8%) (8%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (8%) (8%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (0%) (%) 0 (0%) (%) 0 (0%) (%) (%) (%) % 0% % 0% % 0% % 0% % 0% Don t know % 00% % 80% % 0% 8% 0% % 0% % 0% % 0% % 80% 8% 0% % 00% Number of operator in that area * F * * 8*F *F 8 8F 0* *F F *F *F *F 0F *NR 8 % 00% (8%) (%) #* Operator with and Website *F Don t know (%) (%) (%) F Occupancy not given Owned by expatriate (00 %) (00 %) (00%) 8 (00%)

3 Originating country and age of guests SMEs operators perception of Internet charge Guests from developed countries (%) Europe. (%) New Zealand ustralia US Canada sia s Pacific Islanders. (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 0s % NS % 0s % 0s % Operators having guests by age 0s % 0s % 0s % Perception of charges Charges are reasonable Charges are too expensive (8%) 0 (%) (00%) 8 (%) (%) (00%) (0%) (0%) (00%) (%) (%) (00%) NR (%) *8 (00%) Internet use (Operators various access to Internet by Country) Origin of Owner by accessibility to Internet & Web Only No Internet Origin of Owner & Web Only No Internet (8%) (0%) (%) (00%) 0 (%) 0 (%) (%) (00%) ustralia and New Zealand 8 (8%) (%) (%) (00%) Europe US & Others (%) (%) 0 (%) 8 (00%) sia Don t know 0 8 The reason operators don t have website Occupancy and Internet accessibility Reason Lack of technical knowledge and support Number % 0% Occupancy by Internet accessibility & Web Only Too expensive % 0 No Internet Lack of infrastructure % 8 Little staff support % ll the above others Non Response 0 % 0% % 00% 0 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 80% 8 0% 00% 8

4 Rate of occupancy increase by operators with Webpage marketing Successful and unsuccessful website and factors 0% mentioned that their occupancy. Group Rate of Occupancy increase Frequency by 0% by % by % Successful Promotion by 0% increase a great deal Remained the same Unsuccessful Promotion Unsuccessful Promotion Successful Promotion Country Place Coral Coast Savai i Origin of owner Germany ustralia *marketing by Swedish US Website developer IT company doesn t know IT company IT company Self IT Company Friend IT Company Cost of initial website design $0 $00 $00 T$ 0 NZ $ 000 free of charge F$,00 Year of Web creation/upd ated 00/ug /00 00/Oct 00 /Jun 00 00/Jan 00 8/00 /Jan 00 Occupancy 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0 Website development cost, quality, and occupancy Operations on shared websites and impact on occupancy No. 8 0 Increase in occupancy by a great deal by 0% by 0% by % by 0% Initial Website design cost $,000 $,000 $00 $,00 $,00 $,000 $00 $0 $0 $00 $00 Free of charge rea pia Yasawas Yasawas Pacific Habour Levuka Sava ii Web design score C C Occupancy 00% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 00% 80% 80% 0% 0% 0% 0% The results indicate that operators were aware of being on shared websites, indicated occupancy s increases * not all 8 participants are in web sites Occupancy increase is varied form 0 % to % including in 0% and 8 in 0%. Yasawa is half in s beneficiaries. by 0% C 0% $800 80% Free of charge 80% by % Free of charge Yasawas 0% Experiment Objective to measure the impact of a website on the bookings of budget accommodation businesses in through monitor and evaluate the whole process of setting a website for business

5 Website creation process Sampling operators either in Pacific Harbour or Coral Coast Website design by USP webmaster and professional photographer Peer review by Media colleague at USP domain name and hosting search. fter months, make linkage months no change so Promotion Keyword replacement for search engine etter linkage Which Websites we should link for costeffective promotion? Research a few successful operators link, and create same linkage both with public and private sites including commercial sites and FV. Cost for operators Professional photography $000 Web designer $ 0 Domain name $ 0 Hosting $ Linkage to other sites $ 00 $, 8 Results Operators feedback and limitations Number of Website hit February March pril May June July ugust Report of enquires/booking related s received by website operators 0 Operators do not monitor and keep record regularly. One of the operators had not checked any s or replied to any s. unopened s were found in their account, of these were related to bookings and enquiries Operators expected dramatic increase in bookings by being on the website in a short span of time. The operators are interested to continue having this website at the end of the one year experiment period with paying the hosting charges and taking control of the administration of the website. The operators also suggested some changes to the website design to become more attractive to the tourist. 0

6 Conclusion and Recommendation Summary and Conclusion Internet is effective for marketing of backpackers. Positive impact of Internet for occupancy both for individual and shared websites. Currently, one third has own website and use , one third has only and the remaining third without any Internet and/or facility. 0% of the own website group () responded that their occupancy. The occupancy increase varied between 0% 0%. Some operators with own website did not show positive impact to their occupancy. The results indicate that operators were aware of being on shared websites, indicated occupancy s increases. The of increase varied. Once a website is created, linkage is very crucial. Without linkage, we did not confirm significant increase of enquiries. Recommendations wareness raising: for instance, development of a basic selfhelp manual to teach operators how to check and reply s and how to develop an effective website. Visitors ureau should include more SME operators on their website. This should be done free of costs. Tourism key stakeholders in each country develop a quality assurance database of professional web site designers, shared web site promoters, and training institutes. For designing websites, operators utilise professional web site designers, particularly if they have little IT knowledge. For cost effectiveness the SMEs could develop shared websites with at least two or more operators. There should be some basic standards for the hotel service that should be regulated by a national body. Good websites might attract guests, but if they leave with a bad impression of place, the word of mouth in real and virtual community could lead to negative impact on the operation. END Thank you for your attention