Strengths of Online Travel Agencies From the Perspective of the Digital Tourist

Abstract

Recent tourism literature reviews the movement of the current distribution landscape toward disintermediation as the Internet and mobile technologies provide consumers with more and more tools for researching suppliers/providers and purchasing products and services directly. This calls into question the necessity and role of retailers in the industry. Focusing on online travel agencies (OTAs), this chapter is aimed at solving three main research questions: What is the current position of online tourism retailers as indirect channels in the online tourism distribution system? What are the strengths of OTAs as seen by their customers? and How should OTAs face the future? A database drawn from a survey of Spanish digital tourists is used to illustrate the initial theoretical discussion and concluding remarks.