eTourism in Greece Buhalis and Deimezi

Academic papers

E-tourism developments in Greece:Information communication technologiesadoption for the strategic management of theGreek tourism industry

Dimitrios Buhalis and Ourania DeimeziReceived (in revised form): 6th August, 2003

Centre for eTourism Research (CeTR), School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford,

GU2 7XH, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1483 876332; Fax: +44 (0)1483 876301; E-mail: [email protected];

[email protected]

Dr Dimitrios Buhalis is the Course Leader

of the MSc in eTourism and Director of the

Centre for eTourism Research (CeTR) at

the School of Management, University of

Surrey, Guildford. He has published widely

on e-tourism and the strategic implications

of the internet for the tourism industry.

Ourania Deimezi graduated from the MSc in

eTourism at the University of Surrey, where

she undertook research on the level of e-

commerce developments in the Greek tour-

ism industry. She is currently a marketing

executive at traveldailynews.com.

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS: e-tourism, Greece, informa-

tion communication technologies, destina-

tion management systems, small and

medium-sized tourism organisations

Information communication technologies(ICTs) have revolutionised the travel industryin the last decade. E-tourism reflects the digitali-sation of all processes and value chains in thetourism, travel, hospitality and catering indus-

tries. It emerges as a term describing the entirerange of applications of ICTs on tourism andthe implications for the tourism value chain.Major opportunities and challenges haveemerged and need to be addressed by all industryplayers. The level of e-tourism developments,however, varies between regions, countries andcontinents. The key objective of this researchhas been to examine the e-tourism developmentsin Greece as a country that is gradually embra-cing e-commerce. In particular the researchexamines the level of ICT diffusion in smalland medium-sized tourism enterprises(SMTEs) as well as whether the level ofonline presence is sufficient to make up for thelack of a destination management system(DMS). Results indicate that the Greek onlinetravel market is at the early stages of its e-com-merce deployment, but that it demonstrates greatpotential for further e-tourism developments.The low level of cooperation between SMTEs,however, and the serious doubts about the abil-ity of the National Tourism Organisation tocoordinate the destination makes the prospect ofa DMS development in Greece doubtful. Theresearch concludes that ICT-enabled local coop-

03

Tourism and Hospitality Research Volume 5 Number 2

Tourism and Hospitality Research,

Vol. 5, No. 2, 2004,

pp. 103–130

# Henry Stewart Publications,

1467–3584

eration can potentially assist SMTEs toenhance their competitiveness and increase theirglobal presence.

INTRODUCTION

Tourism as an industry requires a diverserange of information and lends itself wellto the support offered by developing mul-timedia, communication technologies andinformation systems (Sheldon, 1993; Poon,1993; Cho, 1998). Therefore, informationcommunication technologies (ICTs) havebeen changing the global tourism industryrapidly. The implications of the internetand other growing interactive multimediaplatforms for tourism promotion are far-reaching and alter the structure of theindustry. As tourism plays a significant rolein the Greek economy (Buhalis, 2001), thisresearch aimed to explore the impact ofICTs and the internet in particular for thefuture competitiveness of the destinationand its small and medium-sized tourismenterprises (SMTEs). The EU (2003)defines SMEs as organisations that employless than 250 people and have less than¤50m turnover or ¤43m balance sheet intotal. In the absence of previous researchon the topic, this paper explores the cur-rent state of e-tourism developments in theGreek tourism industry and examines theuse of the internet in SMTEs. In addition,it investigates a number of issues related toe-tourism developments in Greece, includ-ing: levels of tourism establishments usingthe internet and e-commerce penetrationand usage; linkages in the marketplace;degree of online cooperation for tourismindustry players; and the intention of keyindustry players towards the developmentof a destination management system(DMS). The paper also assesses how e-tour-ism concepts and techniques can contributeto the improvement of Greek tourismcompetitiveness, while it identifies transfer-able lessons for other regions around theworld.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A number of different disciplines contri-bute to the issues studied in this paper.Academic research and publications ininnovation diffusion, information commu-nication technologies, e-commerce, strate-gic management and marketing, as well astourism management and marketing andtourism in Greece were revised to providethe contextual framework for the research.The literature review therefore focuses onthe impacts of ICTs on tourism and the e-commerce developments in Greece. It alsoincludes a brief section on tourism inGreece which provides the contextualenvironment that determine the require-ments for e-tourism in the country.

Diffusion of innovation and ICT/

e-commerce developments

The theoretical context of diffusion ofinnovation, as introduced by Rogers (1995,1976) can explain a whole range of pro-cesses experienced in the adoption of ICT/e-commerce. Diffusion of innovation is theprocess by which an innovation is commu-nicated through different channels overtime to members of a social system. Inno-vation diffusion includes four main ele-ments. The innovation itself can be an idea,object, practice or process that is perceivedas new by an individual or other unit ofadoption. Communication channels areused to transfer messages between indivi-duals by which innovation is communi-cated and announced. Time is also critical:the time that an innovation-decision pro-cess requires; the relative time in which aninnovation is adopted by an individual orgroup; and finally the innovation rate ofadoption. The social system provides theset of interrelated units engaged in jointproblem solving to accomplish a commongoal and includes the cultural elements thatcan encourage or discourage innovation.Research has shown that society’s use ofinnovations increases and evolves over time

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E-tourism developments in Greece

and the model can be extended to organi-sations (Damanpour, 1991).Innovation diffusion includes several dif-

ferent stages, which can be summarised asfollows. First, knowledge indicates expo-sure to the existence of the innovation andan understanding of its functions. This caninclude awareness knowledge that innova-tion exists; knowledge on how to use theinnovation properly; and principle knowl-edge underlying how the innovationworks. Secondly, persuasion indicates theforming of a favourable attitudes towardsinnovation and interest in exploring themechanisms and requirements of adoption.It also demonstrates an element of expectedbenefits from the adoption. Thirdly, a deci-sion indicates the commitment to adoptinnovation and to invest in its deployment.Fourthly, the implementation stage is con-cerned with how innovation is put intouse. Finally, a confirmation stage provides areinforcement of the innovation, based onpositive outcomes from its usage (Rogers,1995).Organisations often adopt innovation for

a variety of reasons. Sometimes these arenot rational and well-determined factorsbut irrational and personal image factorssuch as fashion, imitation, curiosity,novelty and bandwagon effects (McBride,1997; Murphy et al., 2003). In addition, thepressure from sales people to adopt a piece-meal approach to technology is frequentlyalso evident. As a result, often organisationsadopt an inappropriate or incomplete set oftechnologies, rather than be seen as lag-gards; they have a fear of being different(Raymond, 2001; Abrahamson, 1991;Wolfe, 1994). These irrationalities can leadto an assimilation gap (Fichman, 2000),which is often reflected in the tourismindustry in the form of perceived barriersto effective implementation of internettechnologies (Heung, 2003; Wober, 2003;Peacock, 1994).Innovation characteristics, adopter char-

acteristics and social influences shape thespeed of technology adoption by indivi-duals. Innovation diffusion is faster ifpotential adopters perceive the innovationto have a relative advantage over the idea,object, practice or process it supersedes.Compatibility with existing values, pastexperiences and needs can also increase thediffusion speed. Simplicity of the innova-tion and the ability to understand and usethe innovation without having to gothrough difficult procedures also influencethe rate of diffusion. The degree to whichinnovation can be experimented with on alimited basis and with a limited financialcommitment is another significant factor.Finally, the visibility of expected and per-ceived benefits in early adopters is a majordeterminant for the rate of diffusion. Table1 illustrates the different types of innova-tion adopters and their characteristics.A number of models have emerged in

the last few years to explain the gradualdevelopment and deployment of ICTs ande-commerce in organisations as illustratedin Figure 1. They demonstrate that organi-sations are at different levels of e-commercetake-up, often defined as tiers or steps(Cisco, 2000). Although not all organisa-tions follow the same steps, it is arguedthat these are the major stages of ICT/e-commerce adoption.eCIC (2003) explains that e-commerce is

always evolving and it can be difficult forSMEs to determine just where they are onthe evolutionary path. The e-commerceladder enables SMEs to determine wherethey are and what they need to do todevelop their competitiveness. On the e-commerce ladder, SMEs do not need toprogress from one step to another.Depending on business needs, certain stagesmay be jumped as more advanced uses ofe-commerce are taken on board.

ICTs in tourism

New technologies have been changing the

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Buhalis and Deimezi

way in which tourism companies conducttheir business and how the entire systemoperates (O’Connor, 1999; Werthner andKlein, 1999; Connell and Reynolds, 1999).The dynamic growth of the use of ICTshas resulted in dramatic changes in the

structure and operations of travel and tour-ism industries. Changes are particularlyobvious in the way that tourism organisa-tions communicate with their individualand institutional clients and how theymanage their distribution function. These

Table 1: Innovation adopters and their characteristics

Adopter categories Percentage Shared characteristics

Innovators 2.5 Innovators require a shorter adoption period than any other group. They areoften risk takers who can identify innovations and cope with a high degree ofuncertainty. They often pay for unprofitable innovations.

Early adopters 13.5 Early adopters are often opinion leaders and demonstrate upward socialmobility. They are often successful and are respected by peers. Innovationadoption is seen as part of their success.

Early majority 34 The early majority adopters interact frequently with peers and deliberatebefore adopting a new idea. They seldom hold positions of opinion leadership.

Late majority 34 The late majority adopters respond to peer pressure and economic necessity.They are sceptical, cautious and risk-averse.

Laggards 16 Laggards are often isolated and often cherish the past rather than the future.They are suspicious of change and innovations and have limited resources forinnovation.

Source: Adapted from Rogers, 1995

Step 3: Basic website

and e-mail

Step 4:Effective website

Step 5:Transactions

& e-commerce

Step 6: Integratede-business

Step 7:Transformed

organisations

Businessstagesandbenefits

Extent of organisational change and sophistication

- basic websiteoffering onlinebrochure- efficientinternal andexternalcommunicationsthrough e-mail

- effective andinteractivewebsite- place inworldwidemarket- window onworldwidesuppliers

- order and payonline, reducingtransactioncosts- maximiseaccessibility andspeed

- integratesupply chainsomanufactureand deliverybecomeseamless- minimisewaste at everystage of thesupply chain

- open systemsof information fore-businesscustomers,suppliers andpartners- new businessmodels based oninterworkingbetweenorganisations andindividuals

Step 2:Internal systems

and passive internet

- basic internalsystems foraccounting andword processing- access tointernet

Step1:Starting

point

- limitedexposure toICTs ande-commerce andinterest to learnmore

Figure 1 E-adoption ladder

Source: Adapted from Cisco led information Age Partnership study on e-commerce in small business

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developments present a major opportunityfor innovative tourism organisations anddestinations to improve their relative posi-tion in the international market. By embra-cing new and innovative business modelsand electronic commerce (e-commerce)they can extend their distribution channeland expand their value chain dramatically.E-tourism, therefore, is emerging as a

way forward for many destinations andorganisations around the world. At the tac-tical level, it includes e-commerce andICTs for maximising the internal efficiencyand effectiveness of tourism organisations.At the strategic level, e-tourism revolutio-nises all business processes, the entire valuechain as well as the strategic relationshipsof tourism organisations with all their sta-keholders. The internet allows tourismorganisations to interact with all their sta-keholders, including potential and loyalcustomers, local groups and public authori-ties. By taking advantage of intranets(internal systems that are accessed byemployees) organisations can re-engineerinternal processes, while extranets can sup-port the development of close relationshipswith trusted partners that can lead toonline transactions, expansion of the distri-bution channel and extension of the valuechain. Hence, e-tourism will increasinglydetermine the competitiveness of the orga-nisation (Buhalis, 2003).Marcussen (2003) demonstrates that

online travel sales reached ¤7.6bn in theEuropean market in 2002 and are expectedto reach ¤17.6bn by 2006. This represents amarket share of 3.6 per cent of the overalltravel sales market. By the year 2006 themarket share of online travel sales willreach 7.4 per cent of the European market.The UK and Germany remain the largestonline travel markets, constituting 38 percent and 22 per cent of the Europeanonline travel market, respectively. Greece,Italy, Spain and Portugal are the smallestonline markets, as they constitute only 8

per cent of the total European market. It istherefore evident that e-tourism is matur-ing fast as a mainstream distributionmechanism. Competition in ‘cyberspace’tourism marketing is increasing dramati-cally on both domestic and internationallevels. Establishing internet presence and e-commerce strategies, for both micro andmacro levels, will increasingly become ofcritical importance for destinations toremain competitive.The literature on the diffusion of ICTs

and e-commerce in the tourism industry isgrowing (Werthner and Klein, 1999; Shel-don, 1997; O’Connor, 1999). A number ofresearch studies regarding online develop-ments relating to the tourism industry havebeen conducted worldwide (Countryman,1999). Most of them predominantly focuson technologically advanced Europeancountries and the USA and mainly reflectthe situation in large tourism organisations.However, e-commerce and internet diffu-sion varies tremendously between countriesand according to the size of organisations(Werthner and Klein, 1999). Most of the e-tourism literature has failed to researchthese issues in countries with differentdevelopment levels, such as Greece. Thereis no explicit information, therefore, toindicate whether Greek tourist enterprisesare connected to the internet or whetherthey provide their products and servicesonline.

ICT developments and e-commerce in

Greece

To contextualise e-tourism in Greece, anexamination of electronic commerce (e-commerce) is required. E-commerce hasemerged as a global phenomenon and isgradually increasing its market share. Sincethe early 2000s, the market has shown clearindications of maturity, as many of theinternet bubbles burst leaving behind orga-nisations with viable business models.Although the USA and a number of eco-

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nomically developed countries experiencee-commerce maturity, many regions stillstruggle in terms of internet and electroniccommerce utilisation. Indeed, the vastmajority of the world population does nothave access to the internet and lacks thetechnological skills and knowledge to doso.

As far as the demand/consumption side isconcerned, the figures in relation to inter-net and electronic commerce adoption inGreece are not very optimistic. E-com-merce in Greece is still in its infancy. Itclearly is at least five years behind mainEuropean markets (Braliev and Yatromala-kis, 2002). Consumer e-commerce ‘remainslargely embryonic throughout the regionas only 12 per cent of internet users or 3.5per cent of the Greek population buy pro-ducts online’ (Stat Bank, 2002). There areclear indications, however, that educationis propelling the use of ICTs at all levels asa larger proportion of the younger genera-tion habitually use ICTs.

— During 2001, 50 per cent of the Greekpopulation used mobile phones, 20 percent used a personal computer (PC) andonly 10 per cent used the internet.These figures almost doubled in 2002,however, demonstrating the fast paceof internet diffusion in Greece.

— The percentage of internet penetrationfor the first time passed 10 per cent of thepopulation (over 15 years of age) at theend of the first half of 2001 and it wasexpected to exceed 12 per cent by theend of the same year (CORDIS, 2002).

— A large number of new internet usersare emerging, as 75 per cent havestarted using the network since the year2000 (Karounos and Goussiou, 2001;Papazafeiropoulou et al., 2001).

The development of internet penetration inGreece and the European Union for theperiod 1999–2004 is illustrated in Figure 2.

The difference between Greece and theEuropean Union is evident throughoutthese years. For the year 2004, Greece esti-mates have been based on two differentscenarios relative to the mode of internetgrowth. The first scenario assumes that aconstant growth rate will be maintained,whereas the second is based on exponentialrates, equivalent to those undergone by themobile market in Greece during its launchyears. It is argued that for the Greek inter-net market to acquire the crucial impulse,certain essential obstacles need to be over-come. The most significant appears to bethe limited use of personal computers. Theprediction of fast infiltration of mobile tel-ephony, which will constitute the vaultinghorse for the growth of the internet, is alsodoubtful. The Greek public does not usemobile internet services (WAP), becauseinternet access via mobile telephones stillencounters technical difficulties (Karounosand Goussiou, 2001).

However, these predictions already seemoutdated. By 2002 the National Researchin Information Technology and Informa-tion Society demonstrated that 67 per centof the Greek population were using perso-nal computers, 20 per cent used the inter-net and 70 per cent used a mobile phone(Infosoc, 2003). Therefore it is expectedthat a rapid growth in internet use willbring Greek internet and e-commerce usersto similar levels as other Europeans.

On the supply/production side, e-com-merce adoption is also in its infancy, parti-cularly for SMEs. SMEs are of criticalimportance for Greece and the EuropeanUnion in general (EU, 2002b). AlthoughSMEs represent more than 99 per cent ofthe EU enterprises, their importance in theeconomy is not matched by their ability touse e-business tools. According to a bench-marking project by the European Commis-sion, the level of SMEs’ utilisation of ICTin Greece is the lowest throughout Europe,as demonstrated in Table 2 (EU, 2002a).

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As far as tourism is concerned, thegrowing popularity of using internet tech-nology in destination marketing by manynational tourism organisations is evidentglobally (Au, 2001). However, the publicsector in Greece has failed to develop acomprehensive and serious approach torepresent the country on the internet. In2000, the Greek National Tourism Organi-sation (GNTO) launched its website ‘Dis-cover Greece’ (www.gnto.gr). TheGNTO’s site offers information about awide field of tourism activities, brokendown into two distinct categories: editorial

content, and data about specific products,services and providers. The website aims toentice and inform the potential customerand includes a wide range of tourism infor-mation on areas, events and attractions aswell as photographs, maps and posters.Editorial information is supported by dataon tourism suppliers, attractions, activities,events and amenities (Trifona, 2001).Nevertheless, it does not offer online reser-vation facilities and fails to use a compre-hensive destination management system tomanage information and to improve custo-mer interfaces.

20%25.70%

34.30%

66%

49.40%

67.50%

5.50% 7.30% 10.10%

1999 2000 2001 2004

EU average

Greece

Greece,Estimate 1

Greece,Estimate 2

Figure 2 Internet use in Greece and the European Union

Source: Karounos and Goussiou, 2001: 10

Table 2: SME e-business adoption rates in 2001

% of SMEs Using ICT Having webaccess

Own website Third-partywebsite

Making e-commercepurchases

Making e-commerce sales

Austria 92 83 53 26 14 11Denmark 95 86 62 N/A 36 27Spain 91 66 6 28 9 6Finland 98 91 58 N/A 34 13Greece 84 54 28 8 5 6Sweden 96 90 67 N/A 31 11UK 92 62 49 11 32 16Germany 96 82 65 21 35 29Luxembourg 90 54 39 13 18 9Netherlands 87 62 31 N/A 23 22Italy 86 71 9 26 10 3Norway 93 73 47 N/A 43 10

Source: European Commission, 2002: 5

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Buhalis and Deimezi

Tourism in Greece

To appreciate the ICT and e-commercerequirements of tourism in Greece a briefintroduction is required. Tourism inGreece has a long tradition and has rapidlyexpanded since the 1960s. The country hasbeen attracting tourists for many decadesdue to the extensive ancient historicalattractions, cultural resources and good cli-mate. Until the 1970s it provided custo-mers with an older heritage of importantcultural and archaeological tourismresources (Briassoulis, 1993). Mass tourismcame once the European package holidaydiscovered the country’s beauties and the‘sea, sun and sand’ tourist attractions. Sincethen, a plethora of tourist destinations hasgrown rapidly, especially island destina-tions that receive the majority of incomingtourist arrivals. Greece is one of the mostpopular tourist destinations worldwide interms of arrivals and it is currently rankedas the 15th most visited country by theWorld Tourism Organisation (WTO). Anestimated 12.5 million visitors arrived in2000. Most visitors (94 per cent) originatefrom Europe and 70.4 per cent from EUcountries (WTO, 2001a). Tourism gener-ates significant economic resources and it iscritical for the economic structure espe-cially in the peripheral and insular regions

where as much as 80 per cent of the localGDP is often based on tourism. In 2000,the average length of stay in the countrywas ten days, while the average expendi-ture per arrival reached a level of US$727(GNTO, 2001a).

The main countries of origin given inFigure 3 illustrate that the UK and Ger-many are the predominant markets, jointlycontributing almost 50 per cent of all arri-vals; followed by Italy, France and theNetherlands. Domestic tourism is also veryimportant as Kappa Research (2002) foundthat 82 per cent of Greeks take at least onedomestic holiday a year. As illustrated inFigure 4, more than 80 per cent of visitorsarrive by plane, with charter flightsaccounting for approximately 75 per centof the arrivals (GNTO, 2001a). With spe-cial reference to the two most importantgroups of incoming tourists, 84.2 per centof those who arrived by air from the UKcame on charter flights, while the corre-sponding figure for Germans is slightlylower at almost 78 per cent (GNTO,2001a). This type of transport is favoureddue to Greece’s relative isolation from themain originating European countries ofdeparture, but it creates a dependency ontour operators that own charter airlines(Wanhill, 1998).

5%

18%

21%

6%4%4%5%

37%

France

Germany

UK

Italy

Sweden

Austria

Netherlands

Other

Clockwise from top:Figure 3 Main incoming markets

Source: GNTO, 2001a

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The Greek tourism product is mainly dis-tributed to incoming markets by interna-tional tour operators such as TUI,MyTravel and Thomas Cook. In addition,a number of smaller, specialist operatorssuch as Sunvil, Laskarina and Attica alsopromote the country abroad. The vastmajority of Greek tourism suppliers areSMTEs and suffer from functional andstructural weaknesses (Ioannides et al.,2001); therefore they depend almost entirelyon tour operators for their communicationwith customers and visibility in their majormarkets (Buhalis, 2000; Briassoulis, 1993).Despite its popularity and growth over

the last 40 years, the Greek tourism industryhas reached a stage where both its potentialand competitiveness have become question-able. At the micro level, the Europeantravel trade and intermediaries warn thatthe Greek tourism product is no longercompetitive. At the macro level the govern-ment has failed to implement a nation-wideplan that will enable the country to opti-mise its impact and capitalise on its fullpotential. Hence, unless the Greek tourismindustry and government address the majorstructural problems and challenges for theGreek tourism product as summarised inTable 3, its future will be seriously jeopar-dised (Buhalis, 2001; Kakos, 2002; Paulo-

poulos and Kouzelis, 1998; Buhalis andDiamantis, 2000; Paulopoulos, 1999). Thesechallenges are in a number of critical areas,such as planning, environment, manage-ment, marketing, distribution, privatesector and competitiveness. Therefore, theGreek tourism industry needs to seek newmarkets and production processes to adjustto new tourism trends in demand.The above points demonstrate that the

Greek tourism industry lacks the strategicvision required to enable it to reach its fullpotential. Despite the large number ofbodies that share responsibility, so far therehas been a failure to make a valuable inter-vention and strengthen the competitivenessof the country. Lack of strategic directionand a comprehensive master plan, as wellas lack of public–private sector collabora-tion have resulted in major deficiencies ingeneral planning and coordination (Komi-lis, 1994; Zacharatos, 1989). This affects therepresentation of the country online; thereis currently no destination managementsystem or a comprehensive portal that pro-motes Greece. It also affects the diffusion ofICTs in SMTEs, as there is a lack of suita-ble policies that promote training for entre-preneurs and assistance in purchasingequipment and achieving global network-ing.

Road

13%

Sea

6.5 %

Rail

0.5% Air

80%

Charter

flights

75%

Scheduled

flights

5%

Figure 4 Means of transport of incoming tourists for 2000

Source: GNTO, 2001a

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To fulfil the objectives of this research anumber of methods were used. As therewas no previous research on e-tourism inGreece, exploratory research wasemployed. Both primary and secondarydata were therefore essential. Given the

dynamic nature of the subject area, multi-ple primary research approaches wereadopted, including both qualitative andquantitative methods (Phillip, 1998).Bryman (1998) explains that the two meth-ods are complementary rather than com-peting, especially for exploratory research.

Table 3: Structural problems and challenges for Greek tourism

Planning Inadequacy of the Greek planning processLack of incentives for rational tourism developmentInadequacy of infrastructure to serve the ever-expanding demandPlethora of anarchically developed and behaving SMTEsDevelopment of tourism as a single regional development option

Environment Almost unregulated environment, with nearly complete lack of controlLack of environmental culture by entrepreneurs and employeesDeterioration of natural, social and cultural resourcesLack of tourism research to identify the impact of tourism

Management Gradual deterioration of tourism product and lack of reinvestment in improvementsLack of coordination at the destination and disrespect for tourists’ needsUnsuccessful and inconsistent programmes of government intervention

Marketing Increase of tourism arrivals but decrease of tourism expenditure per capitaImage of Greece as cheap, simple, unsophisticated, undifferentiated, sun-sea destinationFailure to promote Greece as a differentiated tourism productInappropriate and ill-timed marketing campaign which has little effectivenessNegligence with regard to new tourism demand challengesInability to take advantage of customer relationship management

Distribution Dependence upon major tour operators for promotion and distributionInadequate distribution mechanismsOver-dependence on existing intermediaries

Private sector Plethora of SMTEs aiming at short-term profitabilityOversupply of tourism amenities and fierce price competitionLack of professionalism and training in both state and private tourism establishmentsIndividualistic behaviour by SMTEs and unwillingness to cooperate on a destination basisFailure of the private sector to invest in long-term projectsLack of training and education for SMTEs employees and enterpreneursEmployment of unqualified staffSMTE’s inability to resist in global concentration of the tourism industry

Public sector Inadequate and inappropriate political interventionInadequately coordinated policies between different government departmentsHeadship of tourism seen as a junior political post, generating frequent changes

Competitiveness Global concentration of the tourism industryOver-dependence on traditional intermediaries and tour operatorsFailure of both the private and public sectors to learn from internationally gained experience intourism development and marketing

Lack of professionalism at several levels

Sources: Buhalis, 2001; Briassoulis, 1993; Donatos and Zairis, 1991; Leontidou, 1991; Tsartas, 1992

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As Henderson (1990: 181) concludes, ‘thevalue of multiple methods is that they leadto multiple realities’. An explicit discussionof all the methods employed to gather pri-mary information follows.Initially, comprehensive secondary

research was undertaken on issues relatedto e-commerce, e-tourism, tourism inGreece and SMEs. This identified relevantliterature and paradigms from otherregions. Given the exploratory nature ofthis subject area, primary research includedboth qualitative and quantitative methods.Following the secondary research a com-prehensive research design was developedthat included three research waves as indi-cated in Table 4.First, a qualitative approach was adopted

in order to enable an appreciation of allaspects of the subject and to develop a setof the most critical variables to be incorpo-rated afterwards into a questionnaire. Thefirst stage of the primary research consistedof the identification of tourism organisa-tions that have already established anonline presence. Lederer et al. (2000) sug-gest that ease of understanding and ease offinding predict ease of use and informationquality predicts the usefulness of revisitedsites. The main aim was to establish objec-tively the level of e-commerce and the

online representation of Greek tourism. Inaddition, the degree of cooperationbetween organisations, as represented bythe existence of hypertext links in tourism-related sites was examined. A survey of allthe tourism organisations that listed theirunique resource locator (URL) in theGreek Travel Pages (GTP) was undertaken.The GTP includes a record of all the 8,000hotels in Greece as well as about 3,000travel agencies around Greece. It is consid-ered to be the most comprehensive direc-tory of Greek tourism and is used widelyby the industry. In addition, two Greeksearch engines, in.gr and robby.gr (http://www.in.gr; http://www.robby.gr) wereselected and considered as critical Greekportals. Both of these portals include tour-ism directory listings and are well used.This process identified 348 websites repre-senting hotels, travel agencies and othertourism enterprises, which were thenexamined to assess the level of e-commercematurity. A critical examination of thewebsites was undertaken by using anexploratory web survey instrument thatrecorded the online booking capabilities.These included e-mail, booking forms,real-time booking capability and otherchannels of bookings but no online book-ing. A critical review was then undertaken

Table 4: Primary research stages

Stages Key objective Method/instrument Expected results

First Identification level of e-tourism presence

Comprehensive researchon GTP as well as in.gr,and robby.gr

Level and capability ofonline interaction

Second Identify critical issues andkey factors that determinee-tourism in Greece

Semi-structured face toface interviews

Data on e-commerce andinternet strategies intourism

Third Increase number ofrespondents and ensureparticipants from remoteregions

Questionnaire via e-mail Elicit quantitative dataregarding e-commerce andinternet strategies

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Buhalis and Deimezi

online to assess the level of interactionoffered, the links provided and their abilityto transact online. The analysis of thehyperlinks also provided an indication ofthe level of networking in the marketplace.This method enabled the researchers toestablish the level e-commerce and onlinerepresentation in Greek tourism.

The second stage involved semi-struc-tured interviews which aimed to elicit criti-cal issues and to explore the key factorsthat determine the development of e-tour-ism in Greece. In-depth interviews are con-sidered to be the most appropriate methodto obtain information about perceptions,attitudes and beliefs (Frankfort-Nachmiasand Nachmias, 1996; Finn et al., 2000;Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). Judgmentalsampling was employed and intervieweeswere selected as pioneers in e-tourism inGreece, as determined by their online pre-sence assessed in the previous phase of theresearch. Owners and marketing managersof organisations that run innovative web-sites, as demonstrated by the methods usedto interact with their clientele, were tar-geted and an interview was requested. Thesample was chosen to include intervieweeswho would be informed, reflecting their

particular experience and outlook on theresearch area. Fifty-five telephone contactswere made and finally 28 interviews wereconducted, which resulted in a 51 per centresponse rate, as demonstrated in Table 5.The interviews were conducted over aperiod of three weeks at the respondents’place of work and each of the interviewsdiffered in length, with an average time of45 minutes.

A semi-structured interview and aninterview schedule were designed toanswer a series of specific questions on aface-to-face basis. The interview instru-ment was divided into four parts. Part 1explored the business rationale for theinterviewees internet presence, and the e-commerce strategy that guides their devel-opment. Part 2 focused on current exploi-tation of online cooperation as well asviews and beliefs about future prospectsregarding DMS. The aim of part 3 was toexamine general trends of market demand,and personal/demographic informationabout the respondent could be found inpart 4. The semi-structured nature of theinterviews enabled the researcher toexplore in depth specific areas of particularinterests. Respondents were asked for their

Table 5: Number of in-depth interviews

Targeted Achieved Success rate (%)

Hotels and other lodgings 15 7 46.6Travel agencies 10 4 40.0Museums 4 1 25.0Cruise companies 3 2 66.6Airlines 2 0 0.00Ship companies 3 1 33.3Tourism associations 3 3 100.0E-travel portals 6 4 66.6Car rental firms 4 2 50.0Coach company 1 1 100.0Tour operator 3 2 66.6Online media 1 1 100.0Total 55 28 50.9

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own views and experiences in order todevelop a clear picture of the current situa-tion, they were encouraged to speak freelyabout the topic and every effort was madeso the questions would not be misleading.Probing was achieved by picking up on asentence and repeating it to the respondentin a questioning manner, or some suchtechnique. Notes were kept on all addi-tional questions asked. Interviews providedqualitative and anecdotal data regarding e-commerce and internet strategies in tour-ism. They also demonstrated the degree ofcooperation between tourism organisationsand explained the organisations’ views onand beliefs in DMSs. Content analysis wasemployed to determine the presence ofconcepts within the interview results. Datawere sorted into thematic frameworkssummarised in tabular form and were ana-lysed in four dimensions including not dis-cussed, discussed, discussed in detail andemphasised (Jankowicz, 1991; Finn et al.,2000).Finally, the third part of the research

included a quantitative survey, conductedto complement the web survey and inter-view findings. This phase aimed to increasethe number of respondents and also toensure that people from remote regions inGreece participated in the research. Follow-ing the completion of the semi-structuredinterviews, a structured questionnaire wasdrafted and was administrated via e-mail.The questionnaire contained 22 questionsdivided into four parts. The questions weremostly closed-ended questions with twoopen-ended questions included for further

expression of opinion. It was translatedinto Greek and was piloted on five Greektourism students to ensure that the ques-tions asked were clearly worded. This wasparticularly critical since no interviewerwould be present to explain any of theconcepts further. For the questions aimingto measure attitudes, opinions and beliefs afive-point Likert scale was utilised, rangingfrom ‘very unimportant’ to ‘very impor-tant’. The GTP Greek monthly travel andtourism guide provided a mailing list total-ling 750 e-mail addresses, of which 654were still valid (about 96 e-mails bouncedback). After a period of six weeks, a totalof 54 questionnaires was completed, whichproduced an 8 per cent response rate. Thisis a relatively low response rate, but accep-table given the high season for the indus-try. The objective of the questionnaire wasto elicit quantitative data regarding e-com-merce and internet strategies, the degree ofcooperation and respondents’ views on andbeliefs in DMSs. This allowed quantifying,relating and justifying opinions and atti-tudes of a greater number of people (Clarket al., 1998; Kumar, 1996). In addition, thequestionnaire allowed information to begathered from several regions and an assess-ment to be made of issues commonthroughout the country. Table 6 indicatesthe response rate for each part of theresearch.The analysis employed descriptive statis-

tics and content analysis to provide awealth of information that can provide acomprehensive picture. The data obtainedfrom the questionnaires as well as the struc-

Table 6: Primary research summary

Instrument Targeted Achieved Response rate (%) Response assessment

Web survey 348 348 – –In-depth interviews 55 28 51 GoodQuestionnaires 654 54 8 Poor

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tured answers from the semi-structuredinterviews were put into SPSS. Descriptivestatistics such as frequencies, means andstandard deviations were computed. Inaddition a number of cross-tabulationswere run.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

Qualitative research indicated that the gen-eric state of e-commerce in Greece is stillunderdeveloped. The majority of theexperts agreed that worldwide, e-com-merce ranks very highly for the tourismindustry. They felt strongly, however, thatuptake is disappointingly slow in Greece atthe moment. Participants felt that althoughthey would like e-commerce to have a cen-tral role in their strategy, at the moment ithad little importance. Although theyrecognised that international markets pre-dominantly use web-based travel agenciesand portals in the countries of origin tomake their bookings, they still felt that theGreek tourism industry has not moved fastenough. This was attributed to the low

internet access and inertia regarding e-com-merce shown by the overwhelming major-ity of the Greek population. They arguedthat although the international market isvery important, they are also dependent onthe domestic market. An interviewee fromthe hotel sector further commented thatproblems may arise if hoteliers publicisetheir own prices on their websites, as thismay upset the international tour operatorswith whom they collaborate. Hence, heexplained that hotels were required bywholesalers to publish official rack rates ontheir websites, making them unattractivefor direct bookings. Therefore, respondentsfelt that e-commerce was not currentlytheir main priority.

GREEK TOURISM ORGANISATIONS:

ONLINE PRESENCE

Table 7 indicates the percentage of enter-prises that promoted their website and e-mail address in the GTP (2002). As the vastmajority of the Greek tourism enterprisesare represented in the TTG this list pro-

Table 7: Frequency of internet representations in GTP

Total number ofestablishmentsincluded in GTP

Number ofestablishmentshaving websitepresence and/ore-mail

Having websitepresence and/ore-mail as % of total

Alternative tourism establishments 15 15 100.0Airlines (only Greek carriers included) 2 2 100.0Conference and meetings 6 5 84.0Yacht brokers 35 22 63.0Hotel chains 51 29 57.0Travel agencies 1,706 868 51.0Rent-a-car 121 50 41.0Motor coach companies 111 23 21.0Shipping companies 72 15 21.0Cruise companies 42 5 12.0Hotels and other lodgings 5,156 587 11.4Campsites 48 2 4.2Museums, sites and monuments 577 8 1.4

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vided a close approximation of the e-tour-ism map of Greece.Independent internet presence referred to

establishments that have their own internetwebsite. All of the interviewed tourismestablishments and 98.1 per cent of thequestionnaire respondents were found tohave an independent internet presence.This was due to the sampling criterion thatdetermined which participants had to havean online presence before being targeted.The overall picture from the 348 totalwebsites assessed, however, was that thevast majority of tourism organisationswere at a very early stage of e-tourismdevelopment. The website layout wasrather simple, with limited informationand a low-quality interface. E-mail andcomment forms were the most commonforms of interactivity, however, somewebsites provided guest book facilities andmailing lists for further contact. In terms oflanguage coverage, 90 per cent of the web-sites examined offered their content inmore than one language, with the mostfrequent languages cited being Greek andEnglish. This was considered as a positivesign of development as the number ofavailable languages determines the extentto which international customers can actu-ally understand and use the system.In an attempt to explore the technologi-

cal levels and their involvement, bothinterviewees and respondents had to statewho was responsible in their organisationfor their online presence. In most casestourism organisations outsourced theirwebsite development to specialist compa-nies. According to interviewees, the timepressures to launch their site and the lackof internal knowledge or expertise forcedtourism enterprises to assign the develop-ment, hosting and management of theironline presence to web design companies.Often it was these companies that haveinitiated the process and have sold an e-solution to tourism enterprises. As most

people do not have the technical expertiseand tools to deploy and manage a websitethey feel that outsourcing is the only realis-tic option. In most cases there was no cleare-commerce strategy and a website wasseen mainly as an electronic brochure.

E-commerce: Distribution channels,

value chain and online bookings

The internet revolutionises the tourism dis-tribution channels, as it enables individualand institutional customers to place book-ings directly. The most commonly avail-able reservation features in the Greektourism internet arena are e-mail provisionand booking forms (Table 8). Real-timebookings, that enable consumers to get aconfirmation on the spot, were a rarity. Itwas surprising that in some cases websitesonly displayed telephone and fax numbers.Interviewees justified this by saying that atthis stage their website has been developedsimply for information provision and theyhave found the procedure to provideonline booking too complex. One inter-viewee commented, ‘if we provide themwith [an] e-mail address, then we willhave to arrange money transfers and otherissues. Therefore why should we spend thetime to read e-mails and reply when weare just one phone call away? If we aregoing to do it someday, we will providethe complete booking solution’. Thisdemonstrates that the potential benefits ofe-commerce are not fully explored in theGreek tourism context. Quite frequently,Greek tourism entrepreneurs think andoperate primarily in a fashion that servesthe domestic market, while ignoring inter-national markets and their modern expec-tations.E-commerce is in its infancy, as the

majority of respondents and intervieweesstated that internet bookings representbetween 1 per cent and 5 per cent of theirtotal reservations. Lack of knowledge as tohow to manage and market their website

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was identified as a limitation. The possibili-ties highlighted in the literature for onlinepromotions (O’Connor, 1999; Buhalis,2003), such as discounts to encourage inter-net bookings, upgrades and other methodsused, were neither mentioned by intervie-wees nor observed in the web survey.Moreover, a significant difference wasfound between small and larger companies,with the latter achieving higher numbersof online bookings. This was attributableto the better financial resources available,the gradual appreciation of e-commercepotential and the ability to employ techni-cal expertise in order to promote onlinebookings.

Another interesting problem raised bysome of the interviews was that eventhough the internet was developed in orderto facilitate communication and cost reduc-tion with their distributors or partners,most of them are reluctant to adopt it.Therefore, they carry on communicatingthrough traditional channels such as the tel-

ephone to obtain even the most insignifi-cant information that could easily be foundon their website. This proves that the exist-ing business culture and style are based oninterpersonal relationships and the Greekindustry provides evidence of reluctance tochange.

Online cooperation and developing

entrepreneurial networks

Cooperation as much as competition is afeature of the emerging online tourismservices sector. Internet-enabled coopera-tion is propelling entrepreneurial net-works, and these have been defined asnetworks of economic ‘actors’ and activ-ities aimed at creating new resources orcombining existing resources in new waysto develop new products and service newcustomers (Hitt et al., 2001). In the tour-ism industry, intra-industry horizontal net-works can be developed among clusters offirms that are more alike than others, iesimilarity of products and services or with

Table 8: Online booking facilities for Greek tourism———————————————————

Online booking capabilities offered

Company category Totalsurveyed

E-mail Bookingform

Real time Otherchannels

No onlinebooking

Hotel and otherlodgings

238 104 141 15 12 9

Travel agency 119 63 58 3 2 4Tour operator 4 4 4 – – –Car rental 4 4 3 – – –Museum 18 18 – – – –E-travel portal 6 4 4 2 – –Cruise company 9 6 3 1 – –Coach 2 2 – – – –Tourism associations 3 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/AAirlines 2 1 – 1 – –Mainland transport 5 5 – – –Shipping companies 10 3 4 3 – –Total 420 214 217 25 14 13Percentage 100 51 52 6 3 3

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complementary services, as for examplebetween hotels and sightseeing or trans-portation companies (Gulati et al., 2000).Commercial suppliers will thereforeincreasingly provide access to each other’sresources in order to enhance their valuechain. The existence of hypertext linksamong travel-related websites is consideredto be an obvious sign of cooperation andas an attempt by one organisation to linkwith others. Interviewees suggest that theydo not trust the Greek National TourismOrganisation or public sector institutions.They claimed, however, that entrepre-neurial networks emerge as an alternativethat can assist tourism organisations todevelop comprehensive value chains attheir local level. This is similar to manyother countries, where the public sectorhas failed to lead the e-tourism develop-ments, as for example, Italy (Buhalis andMolinaroli, 2003).Out of a total of 348 Greek tourism-

related websites examined, fewer than half(45.6 per cent) offered any hypertext link.In the web survey, several types of linkswere identified. First, type A, the least fre-quent link (5 per cent of all offered links)observed between sites of similar players oreven competitors (eg a hotel offering a linkto another hotel). Nevertheless, in all suchobservations the linked competing estab-lishments were situated in different areas ofGreece, demonstrating a geographic expan-sion of the value chain. Secondly, type Blinks connect organisations to other com-plementary tourism service providers (eghotel to travel agency, taxis and transfercompanies). This type enjoyed higherlevels of occurrence, as 28 per cent of allwebsites offered complementary serviceslinks. Thirdly, 52 per cent of the sites pro-vided type C links, enabling access to otherrelated service providers, such as currencyconverters, weather information, travelbooks/guides and embassies. This indicatesthat the majority of businesses which have

an online presence have realised the benefitsto be gained by offering value-added ser-vices to their customers. Finally, 10 percent of the sites provided type D links, sup-porting access to less obviously related ser-vices such as media, journals and real estateagencies. A few links (about 2 per cent)were provided to totally unrelated services,including butchers, motor garages and acar manufacturing company.The analysis of the links did not

demonstrate the development of an orga-nised and rational network among tour-ism establishments. The diversity of thelinks observed indicates that close personalrelationships might be a leading drivingforce in some cases rather than businesssense and customer service. Hence thelow percentages of hypertext links illus-trate low levels of cooperation online aswell as little effort to develop electronicnetworking.

Drivers towards e-commerce

A number of prime drivers towards e-commerce were identified through theinterviews (Table 9) and questionnaires(Table 10). The findings clearly demon-strate that customer service, direct commu-nication with customers, market demandand modernisation are key factors, illustrat-ing that e-tourism in Greece is demand/consumer driven. These results are inaccordance with the existing literature(Ankar and Walden, 2001; Buhalis andMain, 1998).The lowest-ranked business driver was

‘fear from competitors’. This demonstratesthat the low level of ICT and internetusage by the tourism industry compared toother countries is not a concern for busi-nesses that are already advanced in ICT.Therefore, competition is not yet perceivedas a threat. This might have importantimplications for the advancement of e-tourism in Greece, as competitionencourages innovation and its absence

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might prove to be a serious drawback. Inaddition Greek tourism enterprises underes-timate the global competition emergingfrom the internet.

Advantages and challenges of e-

commerce for Greek tourism enterprises

The vast majority of the e-commerceadvantages quoted were customer related.

Table 9: Content analysis grid: Main drivers towards e-commerce

Not discussed Discussed Discussed Emphasisedin detail

n % n % n % n %

Direct communication/access to consumers

5 18 2 7 0 0 21 75

Reduce their dependenceon intermediaries

9 32 0 0 1 4 18 64

More efficient andaccurate customer service

0 0 0 0 10 36 18 64

Market demand 10 36 2 7 2 7 14 50Modernisation 18 64 2 7 2 7 6 22Cost reduction withpartners and othersuppliers

0 0 8 28 15 54 5 18

Fear of innovativecompetitors

25 89 3 11 0 0 0 0

Table 10: Qualitative research results on main drivers to e-commerce (n=54)

1–Veryunimportant

2–Unimportant

3–Neutral 4–Important

5–Veryimportant

Validreplies

Mean Std. Dev.

More efficient andaccurate customerservice

23.7%

00%

47.4%

1425.9%

3463%

54 4.48 0.79

Direct communication/access to consumers

23.7%

23.7%

35.6%

1222.2%

3564.8%

54 4.41 1.01

Modernisation 23.8%

00%

47.5%

1732.1%

3056.6%

53 4.38 0.92

Market demand 00%

23.7%

35.6%

2444.4%

2546.3%

54 4.33 0.75

Cost reduction withpartners and othersuppliers

23.8%

59.4%

1324%

1426%

1935.8%

53 3.81 1.14

Reduce theirdependence onintermediaries

47.7%

35.8%

1528%

1325%

1732%

52 3.69 1.21

Fear of innovativecompetitors

611%

713%

1426%

1324%

1324%

53 3.38 1.30

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This was consistent with the issues raisedwhen the main drivers towards e-com-merce were examined. Naturally, there-fore, most respondents and interviewees(Tables 11 and 12 respectively) rated com-munication and interaction with customersas the most significant advantages. Respon-dents also felt strongly that the internetrevolution increases competitiveness withinthe sector.

Results also reflected that some Greektourism businesses (at least the majority ofthose surveyed) have realised the potentialof e-commerce to their businesses. Theygave a number of explanations as to howtheir businesses have benefited. One inter-viewee from the cruise sector stated that e-commerce gradually reduces marketing,interaction and transaction costs, whichnormally represent a significant portion of

Table 11: Content analysis grid: Advantages of e-commerce (n=28)


n % n % n % n %

Better communicationwith customers 0 0 1 3.5 7 25 20 71.5

Cost reduction 1 3.5 5 18 3 10.5 11 39.5Better communicationwith suppliers/partners 1 3.5 3 10.5 16 57.5 8 28.5

Enhanced competitiveness 6 21.5 6 21.5 10 36 6 21.5Better communicationwith suppliers/partners 5 18 8 28.5 9 32 6 21.5

Better intra-organisationalcommunication 15 53.5 10 36 3 10.5 0 0

Table 12: Questionnaire results on e-commerce perceived advantages

1–Veryunimportant

2–Unimportant

3–Neutral 4–Important

5–Veryimportant

n Mean Std. Dev.

Better communicationwith customers

11.9%

00%

47.4%

1120.4%

3870.4%

54 4.57 0.79

Enhancedcompetitiveness

23.7%

23.7%

611.1%

1833.3%

2648.1

54 4.19 1.02

Cost reduction 11.9%

23.8%

1018.9%

2241.5%

1834%

53 4.02 0.93

Better communicationwith suppliers/partners

23.8%

23.8%

815.4%

2548.1%

1528.8%

52 3.94 0.97

Better intra-organisationalcommunication

917.6%

611.8%

1631.4%

1325.5%

713.7%

51 3.06 1.28

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the overall costs for the sector’s operations.A hotel manager claimed that e-commercehas reinforced the natural competitiveadvantages of speed and flexibility. Severalrespondents and interviewees, however,rated the advantage of ‘better intra-organi-sational communication’ as the least impor-tant overall. This is attributable to thesmall number of employees in companiessurveyed; in some cases there were onlytwo or three, which results in little needfor internal communications.

Although it was only the qualitative partof the research that addressed the issues ofproblems faced by businesses in relation totheir online presence and e-commerce, theinferences were valuable and most of theanswers were in accordance with the corre-sponding literature. The majority of inter-viewees emphasised that lack of financialresources and low use of the internet ande-commerce by the domestic market weretheir major problems. Many stressed theneed for government financial aid (Table13). In addition, interviewees suggestedthat the current state of internet bookingsis inadequate to justify a major investmentin hardware. Other hardware and netwareis also considered uneconomical andrespondents were considering the return on

their investment. In a respondent’s words,‘telephone extensions and numerous tele-phone lines in order to connect the differ-ent departments (eg restaurant withaccounting), or the hotels with their suppli-ers to place orders electronically are per-ceived very expensive at present’.

In general the government help to goonline was perceived as inadequate.Although government initiatives for busi-nesses to go online do exist, entrepreneursfound the process quite difficult. Moreover,entrepreneurs perceive the process ofapplying to participate in those initiativesas time-consuming, due to bureaucraticprocedures.

Additionally, financial problems werealso mentioned by internet-based busi-nesses. Although they have already madethe necessary investments and developedcomplete e-commerce systems they havefailed to raise adequate returns due to thelow domestic penetration. They often facecash-flow difficulties and raise concernabout their future. One respondent sug-gested ‘we are not eligible to obtain gov-ernment aid due to our advancedtechnological stage; therefore, we have twooptions if things don’t change. Either wewill go bankrupt or we will be taken over

Table 13: Content analysis grid: Main problems with online presence (n=28)


n % n % n % n %

Not sufficient financialresources 1 3.5 2 7 8 28.5 17 61

Not used by the domesticmarket 1 3.5 3 10.5 8 28.5

1657.5

Lack of IT expertise 10 36 3 11 9 32 6 21Not easy to update 9 32 15 54 2 7 2 7Difficult to persuadepartners to use internet 20 71.5 6 21.5 2 7 0 0

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by a larger international player. We haveno other option’. It is quite apparent there-fore that most internet-based businesseshave failed to penetrate the main interna-tional markets and still rely on the limiteddomestic market, which will take years tomature.

Coordinating the destination online: The

possibility of a destination management

system

The overwhelming majority of respon-dents stressed their discomfort with theonline representation of Greek tourism bythe Greek National Tourism Organisation(GNTO). The GNTO representation onthe web was assessed as totally inadequate.Only one of the interviewees stated that hiscompany website had a link with theGNTO website. Cooperation with theGNTO was often perceived as unnecessary,as respondents claimed that there was noth-ing to benefit from such cooperation. Thevast majority, however, agreed that thesituation calls for rapid action, in order forGreece to develop suitable electronic toolsand remain competitive.Both interviewees and respondents were

invited to answer questions about thefuture prospects of a destination manage-ment system (DMS) in Greece. As there is

no DMS operating currently in Greece,interviewees were first questioned abouttheir knowledge on the subject. Only 14per cent had heard or read about DMSsindicating that Greek tourism players werenot aware of emerging trends and electro-nic tools. The lack of knowledge on suchwell-researched and frequently mentionedtools implies the essential need to raiselevels of information disseminated to theGreek tourism industry. The researchinstrument included a detailed definition ofDMSs, with the intention that respondentswould be in a position to state their viewson potential DMS developments in Greece.The vast majority (80 per cent) had a

positive attitude towards the developmentof a DMS for Greece and agreed that sucha system is required. The respondents wereinvited to justify their selection, yet only52 per cent provided a specific justification.The main reasons for and against DMSdevelopment in Greece are presented inTable 14.The positive justifications were all in

accordance with the international literatureon the advantages of DMSs. They includedmore improved and accurate communica-tion at the destination level, with all thebenefit that could bring to individual smallbusinesses. One of the respondents men-

Table 14: Positive and negative arguments for DMS development in Greece

Positive Frequency(%)

Negative Frequency(%)

Improve competitiveness throughcooperation

75 Lack of cooperation 78

Improve destination image andpromotion

60 Public sector unable to servecustomers efficiently

60

More efficient and accuratecommunication

47 Questionable success in the Greekcontext: Politics and conflicts

58

Improved professionalism oftourism sector

30 Against public sector involvement 55

Improve SMEs’ visibility 14 Fear of disintermediation 33

Note: (n=82, valid n=41)

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tioned that DMSs have already providedopportunities for other regions that Greekshave failed to take due to the ‘disorganisedand self-determination culture’ of thepopulation. He commented that Greecewould be a much wealthier and moreadvanced country in all sectors if the cul-ture was different.

The vast majority of respondents werepositive towards DMSs and acknowledgedthe possibility of better representation ofthe Greek tourism industry internationally.Some respondents, however, expressedconcern about the prospect of these systemscontributing to Greek tourism. Theyattributed their opposition to the politicsthat surround tourism issues as well as thelack of cooperation between the nationaland regional tourism organisations. Theyalso expressed concern that the potentialconflicts between various actors will bedetrimental to the success of the system.These issues clearly show that Greek tour-ism stakeholders’ interests are fragmentedand that much closer collaboration isrequired before these systems can be suc-cessfully implemented. Although themajority of participants agreed that coop-eration is quite important for the competi-tive position of Greek tourism, they onceagain raised doubts about the real possibi-lity of achieving such cooperation.

Many interviewees, however, expectedthat a higher degree of cooperation will beachieved in the future between private andpublic sector tourism organisations. Inaddition, they expressed confidence thatthe new generation of tourism managerswill be better educated and a higher degreeof professionalism will be observed in themarketplace.

DISCUSSION AND LESSONS FOR

OTHER REGIONS

It is evident that ICTs and DMSs will beplaying a more critical role in the opera-tional and strategic management of tourism

internationally. A number of internet-mature countries around the world havealready experienced the establishment of e-tourism as a mainstream distribution andmarketing mechanism in the marketplace.Organisations employ e-tourism tools forcommunicating with all their stakeholders,as well as for improving their internal pro-cesses. A number of developeding countrieshave still to adopt suitable technologicaltools however, and are going through theirinternet infancy. These are late-adopters ofinnovation. Although they have failed tobenefit from the early adoption of technol-ogy and the know-how that has been gen-erated, they can still learn from themistakes of others and ‘leapfrog’ to moreadvanced technologies.

Lessons for tourism enterprises and

SMEs in other regions

At the private sector/individual businesslevel, this study demonstrates that anumber of innovative tourism organisa-tions in Greece employ e-tourism andinternet tools, mainly to enhance theircommunications with their clientele andstakeholders. It seems that they are fairlyreluctant to adopt these technologies, butthey accept that the market is moving inthat direction. Due to the sampling techni-que used in this research most respondentsare early-adopters and between the thirdand fourth step of their e-adoption ladder.The vast majority of the private sector/individual tourism businesses in Greece,however, belong to the laggard or latemajority adoption stages. Only a few inno-vative players are at the early adoptionstage and a number of forces and barriersfor change have been identified. Greektourism as a whole, therefore, is a late-adopter and ideally should learn from mis-takes by other regions in order to advancefaster. Failure to do so will have majorimplications for its collective competitive-ness. Greece as a Mediterranean region

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already experiences fierce competition andit can only intensify once more destinationsand enterprises use ICTs for their manage-ment and the internet for their promotion.This situation is common to a number of

other regions around the world, wherealthough an internet adoption rate ofbetween 15 per cent and 30 per cent isobserved, the majority of the SMTEs haveso far failed to take full advantage of theemerging technologies. Only very fewplayers were found in Greece to be at thefifth or sixth steps of their e-adoptionladder and almost none has reached theseventh step. Similar results can beobserved in ‘second internet wave’ coun-tries such as Italy, Spain and even NewZealand (Buhalis and Molinaroli, 2003;Sancho-Perez and Maset-Llaudes, 2002,Nodder et al., 2003). This is in contrast to anumber of organisations in the developedworld, and in particular in the USA, theUK and Scandinavian countries, where anumber of tourism organisations eitheremerged to take advantage of the internet(eg Expedia, Travelocity, Lastminute.com)or transformed their organisations dramati-cally to take advantage of the emergingtechnologies (eg Scandinavian Airlines,eBookers.com, Marriott). The privatesector therefore in ‘second internet wave’countries, and SMTEs in particular, needto expand their e-commerce knowledgeand to progress through the different stepsof their e-adoption ladder in order toenhance their competitiveness and addressthe challenges of the future.

Lessons for destination management

organisations in other regions

At the destination level/public sector,Greece has failed to identify the need for e-tourism tools that will enable the countryto develop a comprehensive representationonline. It is therefore a laggard and has notyet reached the second step of the e-adop-tion ladder. The GNTO not only has

failed to develop an e-business strategy, butit has not even attempted to automate itsinternal processes and administration. Thiscan also be observed in a number ofregions around the world where DMShave not been developed or employed yet(WTO, 2001b). Destination managementorganisations (DMOs) need to re-engineertheir role as planners, coordinators, regula-tors and promoters of destinations. Theyneed to identify the wider range of tech-nologies that can support their operationaland strategic management and develop oracquire suitable solutions. DMOs need tobe catalysts for the development and pro-motion of tourism at any destination andfor fostering cooperation among the entirebody of stakeholders, but they have tradi-tionally been slow to recognise the changeof their role and their new challenges andto adopt suitable technologies. Only a fewexceptions can be observed globally,namely Austria, Ireland, Australia and Sin-gapore. DMOs therefore demand reliableand accurate systems, which can provideuser-friendly interfaces for communicationswith consumers, suppliers and the traveltrade. They also require systems that willassist them to rationalise their internal pro-cesses and procedures. Greater emphasisshould be placed on the importance of pri-vate–public sectors partnerships for the suc-cessful development and implementation ofDMSs (Buhalis and Spada, 2000). Success-ful DMSs of the future will probably needto demonstrate a number of characteristicsas illustrated in Figure 5.For those DMOs that have yet to deploy

a DMS, there are several emerging optionsthat can enable them to develop theironline presence effectively. First, they canpurchase a system from a small number ofreliable suppliers that have emerged in themarketplace. Some suppliers have gainedsignificant expertise through the imple-mentation of similar systems around theworld. Secondly, DMOs can adopt a DMS

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on an application service provider (ASP)basis from vendors, such as Tiscover.com.They can effectively pay rent for the usageof the system and benefit from the constanttechnological updates and the additionalservices offered by the ASP vendors.Finally, DMOs can develop a comprehen-sive destination marketplace, where theycan provide objective information on thedestination, but encourage existing e-com-merce operators to promote and trade theirproducts. Interoperability with a sufficientnumber of operators will ensure that thereis a comprehensive offering in the market-place. Although this model may be lessthan an ideal solution, it can be cost-effec-tive, while reinforcing the partnershipbetween private and public sectors.

CONCLUSION

The ICT penetration and the level of e-commerce on both the supply and demandsides in Greece are in their embryonicstages. The results of this study indicatethat the tourism business sector is laggingbehind the opportunities in the rapidly

changing environment. The lack of strate-gic business planning and the limited levelsof understanding of the e-tourism potentialimply that the Greek tourism sector needsto rethink its position in order to competeat an international level with other destina-tions. This conclusion is further reinforcedby the fact that the sample was made up ofusers already on the internet, but whosetechnological advancement is limited. Theneed for change is obvious when one con-siders that Greece’s main internationaltourism markets (UK and Germany) areamong the top European internet users.One of the most important inhibitors forthe advancement of e-commerce isrevealed as the Greek population’s inertiaabout online transactions. Additional rea-sons include the personal nature of busi-ness-to-customer relationships, the lack offormal information and the low usage ofthe internet by the Greek population.Greece’s challenge during the next decadeis to capitalise on new technology develop-ments and to use emerging e-tourism toolsin order to promote and market the tourist

Figure 5 Successful destination management systems of the future

. Vision, commitment and strategic understanding at the top

. Complete and comprehensive representation of the entire range of tourism enterprises and

facilities

. Accurate information, tourism product pricing and unbiased inventory display

. Guaranteed acceptance of confirmed bookings

. Strong political and industrial support

. Secure and adequate financial bases, based on a realistic business model

. Interconnectivity and interoperability of systems

. Multichannel strategies capitalising on all technologies

. Strong links with all distribution partners and mechanisms

. Technology must always follow business models, not lead them

. Wide number of added value services, based on personalised information

. Micro-sites for niche markets and specialised groups

. Convenient payment methods for consumers, guaranteed commission payment for all

intermediaries involved in a booking and prompt suppliers settlement

. Easy, clear and accessible interfaces

. A degree of standardisation between DMSs

. Marketing of DMS to both consumers and travel trade on line and offline

. SMTEs should be involved at an early stage and gain ownership

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product better. The situation is similar in anumber of ‘second internet wave’ countrieswhich are gradually reaching internetmaturity.Although the internet represents impor-

tant opportunities for independent suppli-ers, and particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises to cooperate, they areonce more finding it increasingly difficultto cope with the ever more complex andchallenging environment. Collaborativenetworking should be established, throughexchanging linkages with other compli-mentary suppliers and travel-related web-sites. The views of the Greek tourismindustry towards DMS were positive at ageneral level. The majority of respondents,however, raised serious concerns about theability of the GNTO to introduce andoperate a successful DMS in Greece. Net-working and cooperation between tourismorganisations were highlighted as signifi-cant challenges for the success of DMSs.The development of a DMS can onlyflourish in the Greek tourism context iftrust between tourism stakeholders is built.Unless the public and private sector capita-lise on the emerging e-tourism tools, Greektourism will face major competitive disad-vantage in the future. Similar conclusionscan be drawn for many destinations aroundthe world. Hence destinations around theworld will need to develop a long-term e-tourism strategy and to coordinate theirpublic and private sectors.

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