E-COMMERCE AND BUSINESS IN THE REGIONS: REGIONAL TOURISM AND THE INTERNET
Dr Patrice Braun
The Internet provides tourism industry businesses of all sizes with far-reaching
opportunities to offer virtual tourism product and develop or enhance relationships
with their customers. In many parts of the world, small and medium sized tourism
firms (tourism SMEs) make up the majority of the tourism industry and therefore
make a substantial contribution to regional economies. This article discusses the
adoption of e-commerce technologies by regional tourism firms in general and by
regional Australian small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in particular.
Australian tourism SMEs continue to be reluctant e-commerce adopters as they have
a negative perception on the effectiveness of networked technologies. As a result,
industry preparedness falls well short of the requirements to operate within a now
mainly ICT-driven sector.