Open AccessThe Proliferation of the Online Sales of Tourism Activities
Author(s) -
Zachary Powers
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tourism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1849-1545
pISSN - 1332-7461
DOI - 10.37741/t.69.4.10
Subject(s) - tourism , business , marketing , accommodation , payment , service (business) , advertising , geography , finance , archaeology , neuroscience , biology
The onlinesales of tourism activities are increasing despite once-sluggish growth,especially in contrast to other tourism segments, i.e., transportation andaccommodation, which already had a more significant share of online sales. Thisarticle aims to provide a narrative as to why tourism activities took longerthan other travel segments to be sold online and why the trend of being sold increasinglyonline will continue into the future. The article concludes that two keyfactors, the nature of tourism activities (i.e., subjective and customizable)and technological advancements, have contributed to this trend. Thesetechnological advancements include tourism activity bookingsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS), innovation in payments technology, applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs), big data, and dynamic packaging. Additionally,the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this trend.