Coordination Analysis of Sustainable Dual-Channel Tourism Supply Chain with the Consideration of the Effect of Service Quality

Abstract

The development of the Internet has changed the way that tourism products are sold. More and more tourism product providers (TPPs) use online travel agencies (OTAs) and offline travel agencies (TA) to sell their tourism products. With increasing consumption, service quality has also become an important factor for consumers to choose tourism products. Analysing the effect of service quality on pricing, demand, and profits under centralised and decentralised decisions helps the tourism industry development more sustainably. The study found that the level of the TPP service quality has a positive effect on channel pricing and demand, while the effects of the OTA and TA service quality on channel pricing and profits are affected by the sensitivity of consumer testing to cross-channel prices and services. The results of a comparative analysis of centralised and decentralised decisions show that supply chain members cannot reach an optimal state under the decentralised decision method. Supply chain optimisation is achieved through wholesale price contracts coordinating the distribution of profits among supply chain members. This study used numerical examples to verify the validity of the relevant conclusions and to the coordination mechanism, and propose some managerial implications. This work is pioneering in that it develops a dual-channel tourism supply chain with OTA channel participation, taking into account the service quality of all the members in the tourism supply chain. It suggests further research direction in studying sustainable tourism supply chain development.