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for shopping. It was also shown that there was no association between any
of the demographic variables including gender, income, and attitude to-
wards the Internet in general, and shopping online in particular. This group
is characterized by a high level of ICT adoption including the Internet and
mobile Internet. It was concluded that e-commerce and m-commerce have
a great potential with the young generation of students and young profes-
sionals in those three markets.
However, the respondents in the present study pointed out the exis-
tence of limiting factors in ICT adoption. Specifically regarding the pur-
chase and booking of travel products on-line, it was pointed out by the
interviewees that heterogeneity of Internet adoption within the population
is a limiting factor for the development of e-commerce. Another important
limiting factor is a banking system that does not support on-line purchas-
ing. Credit card transactions are poorly regulated; the banks do not take
any responsibility for unauthorized transactions and put limits on on-line
transactions. For instance, the credit card from the Popular Bank (Narodnij
Bank) imposed a limit for on-line transactions of 200 dollars. It is obvious
that most airfares cannot be purchased within this limit. The most popular
sites for shopping are www.homeshop.kz.
The most popular algorithm in searching for information on a des-
tination is through social forums (http://ct.kz (tsentr tiazhesti), http://
vk.com (v kontakte), http://yvision.kz). The most popular site for pur-
chasing airfares is the Air Astana website. The interviewees pointed
out that the website is user friendly and provides a wide range of ser-
vices. The Air Astana website (www.airastana.com) was awarded “the
best Kazakh site” in 2009. However, the very group who are the most
advanced technology users (younger than 25 years and eligible for the
special category of tickets for young people) is prevented from making
such a purchase online. This cheaper fare category can be purchased
only through travel agents. According to the respondents, bookings and
ticketing through agents will continue and this situation is not likely to
change in the near future.
Similarly to the official statistic data interviewees in the presented
study talked of very high mobile phone adoption. According to the re-
spondents, “Everyone has a mobile phone.” There was no noted disparity
between rural and urban areas for mobile phone adoption.
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