Research Note: The Importance of Online Tourism Demand

Abstract

Over the last two decades the combination of tourism and information and communication technologies (ICT) has led to considerable changes in tourists' behaviour. As can be inferred from the increasing number of online reservations observed in recent years, the growing number of tourism companies online has positively contributed to tourism demand growth. In this paper, using panel data models, the authors investigate the importance of ICT as a potential determinant of tourism demand. Overall, the results show that the technological developments observed over the last two decades, in particular the Internet, have had a positive impact on tourism.