Rania Hussein

The Adoption of Web Based Marketing in the Travel and Tourism Industry: an Empirical Investigation in Egypt Rania Hussein

The main objective of this research is to increase academic understanding as well as provide managerial implications in relation to the determinants of the levels of web adoption for marketing purposes by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Egypt. Web adoption is specifically defined in this research as the ownership of a website to communicate and/or deliver travel services to a target market. This research is thus interested in how the web is being used to interact with customers. Additionally,the levels of adoption represent the different levels that SMEs go through in their adoption process starting with not owning a website to being a simple adopter to being a sophisticated adopter. Non-adopters do not own a web site. Simple adopters own web pages that have facilities for information provision and communication whereas sophisticated adopters own web pages that have facilities for online booking and completing a full transaction online. It is worth noting that the levels of adoption are interrelated and are not static but are part of a process of eEvolution.