Presentation for ENTER2012 - Helsingborg - PhDworkshop - "The Web 2.0 in tourism. An Opportunity for Hospitality Organizations"

1. The Web 2.0 in tourism.
An Opportunity for Hospitality
Organizations
Cristina Fabi
cristina.fabi@live.it
PhD Candidate
Department of Theories and Policies
for Social Development
University of Teramo, Italy
1ENTER 2012 Research Track

2. Problem definition
2ENTER 2012 Research Track
The Post-Modern Tourists search
on-line information to package
their holidays, to find advice during their
trips and to easily share feed-back and
photos around the world.
The buying decisions are mixed with
the social aspects of the net, the
on-line dialogues are provided by
other users during whatever phase
of the journey they might be in.
Public and Private Operators
sometimes encourage the formation
of the real virtual communities, with the
aim to maintain a direct relationship
with their clients/users.
The e-tourism has dramatically
affected the strategies and the
operational management of tourism
companies and organizations, but
at the same time it has opened up new
possibilities for the smaller and
medium-sized tourism enterprises
(Buhalis, 2003).
These innovations seem
to be moving in much
slower ways than the
tourism demand and supply.

3. Research Questions
3ENTER 2012 Research Track
How is the tourism industry changing
its on-line presence in relation to the
Post-modern consumer behaviour?
The case study:
the Abruzzo Region
Which is the role of Web and Social Networks
for small-medium tourism firms
and local tourist destination?
Investigation of the on-line presence
of the hospitality establishments
Interviews with operators to understand
the motivation to utilize the Information
Communication Technologies

4. Theoretical Background
4ENTER 2012 Research Track
The term Web 2.0 is introduced by Tim
O’Reilly in order to define the second
generation of web services
based on UGC that emphasises on-line
collaboration and sharing among users.
The Web Interface plays a critical role in the Web 2.0 tourism research.
A website’s quality is dependent on
the following factors: quantity/quality
of the contents, interaction services
offered, advantages to the end user,
ease of use, and level of user
involvement (Baggio, 2011).
The web site evaluation as the act
of determining a correct and
comprehensive set of user requirements,
ensuring that a website provides useful
content that meets user expectations and
a setting of usability goals.
The long tail (Anderson, 2006) extends
itself to satisfy a high number of niche
markets and opens new possibilities to the
lesser-known territories and to the small
and medium companies, which
can now compete at a global level.

5. Methodology
5ENTER 2012 Research Track
- Overview those structural elements which characterise the Web 2.0: a descriptive background
analysis to understand the most used social networks, especially for travelers
- Choice of the case study: the Abruzzo Region
- Website evaluation: selection of the counting method and of the success factors to evaluate
the websites of hospitality establishments
- Prepare the checklist to verify the existence or absence of specific attributes
and then transform the list into a questionnaire
- Analysis of the web sites and social involvement by the researcher
- Choice of particular witnesses to submit one-on-one in-depth interviews to obtain qualitative
data to understand which are the reasons that push or pull operators’ decisions to utilize
ICT
- Analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data

6. Anticipated results
6ENTER 2012 Research Track
Web sites
71% of the accommodation structures
of the Province of Teramo are present
on the Web (401/564), but within these 23%
have just a showcase website without any
possibility of interaction with the user.
25 %
2 %
They adopt 5 different types of on-line behaviour
1) Excellent - usability, accessibility, accuracy of
information and images, booking on-line and the use of
social networks and travel sites;
2) Good - usability, accuracy of information, contact
information and the use of social networks;
3) Sufficient - static website with little information, no use
of social networks;
4) Special - the use of only social networks;
5) Insufficient - no on-line presence.
30 %
Social Networks

7. Anticipated results
6ENTER 2012 Research Track
Web sites
71% of the accommodation structures
of the Province of Teramo are present
on the Web (401/564), but within these 23%
have just a showcase website without any
possibility of interaction with the user.
25 %
2 %
They adopt 5 different types of on-line behaviour
1) Excellent - usability, accessibility, accuracy of
information and images, booking on-line and the use of
social networks and travel sites;
2) Good - usability, accuracy of information, contact
information and the use of social networks;
3) Sufficient - static website with little information, no use
of social networks;
4) Special - the use of only social networks;
5) Insufficient - no on-line presence.
30 %
Social Networks