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to international hotel bookings. Partially they use the Internet for the B2B
model, for instance to sell tickets to smaller non-GDS-connected agencies.
The majority of travel agencies consist of small businesses (less than 10
employees) that do not have access to any GDS and their usage of ICT is
limited to simple e-mails and phones. The majority of them have websites,
but TAs are mainly concerned with a web presence rather than website
performance. Consumers in their interviews complained about the lack of
ICT-savvy tourism specialists. The study reveals that, overall, the Kazakh-
stan tourism industry is a laggard in ICT adoption.
Consumers' in-depth interviews revealed interesting trends in ICT dif-
fusion. There
considerable geographical, social and age disparities in
ICT adoption and perception of Kazakhstan consumers. The early adopt-
ers' profile was formulated as a result of the research: up to 25 years old,
city dwellers, above the average income bracket, white-collar or students.
Privacy
are
issues, security and complexity of the shopping sites were identi-
fied as
on-line. High Internet cost,
low broadband speed, censorship of the Internet
the
main
barriers for the shopping
were barriers for the
Internet adoption and further diffusion. Official statistics gives different
figures for ICT diffusion in general population—from 15 to 34%. Interest-
ingly both official statistics and primary data indicate a very high level of
mobile diffusion—more than 100%. We concluded that mobile phones are
the potential media to reach prospective consumers.
post
KEYWORDS
Digital divide
ICT adoption
ICT diffusion
ICT impact on tourism
Tourism in Kazakhstan
Tourism industry
REFERENCES
American Airlines. (2000). American Airlines Web site . Retrieved April 3, June 14, August 20,
2000, from http://www.aa.com/.
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