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1. INTRODUCTION
The increasing presence of the Internet in daily lives has resulted in the Internet an essential media
in marketing communication. To gain competitive advantage in the demanding tourist market,
it is important nowadays for a hotel company to have its own website, promote its products
through social networks and mobile applications, use e-mail as a channel of communication
with its business partners and customers, and apply all available information-communication
technology (ICT). It needs to provide all information for potential clients in one place at any time of
day, from anywhere in the world. That can be possible by using innovative ways of communication
and by adapting business operations to demanding requirements of the modern tourist market.
This imposes the innovation of practices and the implementation of new technologies in business
processes. Therefore, there is a need for awareness about the necessity of applying ICT in the hotel
business.
Previous studies have highlighted the importance of ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry
(Andrli, 2007; eri, Gil Saura, 2012; Sigala, 2003; Pitoska, 2013). They were mainly focused on
the role and importance of websites in the marketing of a tourist destination (Govers, Go, 2004;
Wang, 2008; Woodside et al. 2011), the importance of social media for destination marketing
organisations (Rui, Bilo, 2010), and destination choice (Tham et al. 2013) etc. In addition,
PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Primorska 42, 51410 Opatija, Croatia.
E-mail: dinal@fthm.hr
2
MA, Agent in customer service, Transcom WorldWide d.o.o., Jurija Zakna 4b, Pula, Croatia. E-mail: nensi.radetic@
gmail.com
3
Received: 27. 2. 2015.; accepted: 7. 4. 2015.
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3. 1 Research Methodology
Empirical research was conducted using the survey method. We applied a structured questionnaire
consisting of six groups of questions selected from research on the application of e-marketing in
tourism. The first set of questions referred to the application of e-marketing in the hotel industry.
To estimate the application of e-marketing in the Istrian hotels we used a slightly modified scale
created by Brodie et al. (2007) and Coviello et al. (2001). The extent of e-marketing practice in
hotels was based on nine items and measured on a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (always)5. The second
group of questions referred to the application of ICT at the hotel. Respondents were asked to
choose those technologies that are applied in their hotels, as well as in communication with
the target market. The components offered were taken from previous research (Seric et al.,
2011; Ruiz et al., 2010; eri, Gil Saura, 2012). The managers attitudes on the application of
e-marketing in the hotel industry were examined by a third set of questions. The respondents
were offered 38 items measured on a scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree).
The scale was designed in accordance with previous studies of Petek and ii (2010) and
Primorac et al. (2012). Additionally, we explored the reasons for insufficient use of ICT in
hotels in accordance with the study of Buchalis and Deimezi (2004). In the fourth part of the
survey, questions were aimed at collecting data on business performance, while the fifth part
was related to information about the hotel. The sixth part of the questionnaire referred to the
demographics of the respondents.
The survey comprises 43 independent hotels and hotel companies operating in Istria County in
accordance with the list of the Ministry of Tourism6. Hoteliers were contacted by email and
asked to complete a questionnaire that was located on the Internet. The study lasted from 11
to 23 May 2014. It was completed by a total of 18 hotels or hotel companies, which represents
a return rate of 41.8 %. Most of the respondents were female (66.7 %), aged 21-30 years
(44.4 %) and holding a university degree (55.6 %). They had different positions in the company:
27.8 % of them were top managers; 16.7 %, marketing managers; 11.1 %, sales managers; 5.6 %,
ICT experts; and 33.33 %, people in other positions in the company.
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NUMBER OF HOTELS
PC and laptop
16
88.88
38.88
LCD screens
15
83.33
Touch screen
11
61.11
12
66.66
16
88.88
Cable TV in rooms
38.88
Interactive TV in rooms
22.22
DVD in rooms
11.11
15
83.33
44.44
Internet
17
94.44
Wi Fi
16
88.88
Bluetooth
50.00
Intranet
11
61.11
Electronic payment
13
72.22
Most hotel companies (94.44 %) use the Internet, and 88.88 % use a PC and a laptop, digital satellite
TV in rooms, and Wi-Fi Internet. The least used are DVD (11.11 %) and interactive TV in rooms
(22.22 %). We can conclude that the hotel companies tend to use different technologies that help
to maintain relationships with clients and meet their needs, but also help employees do their jobs
more easily.
In addition to the use of technology in the hotel, we were interested in the use of technology in
communicating with the market. The results are shown in Table 2.
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NUMBER OF HOTELS
12
15
11
9
10
12
12
8
6
6
2
0
10
15
12
6
7
4
5
12
3
2
3
4
1
66.66
83.33
61.11
50.00
55.55
66.66
66.66
44.44
33.33
33.33
11.11
0
55.55
83.33
66.66
33.33
38.88
22.22
27.77
66.66
16.66
11.11
16.66
22.22
5.55
Promotional CD/DVD
Own website
Promotional films on internet e.g. Youtube
Informative e-leaflet
Multimedia (3D, virtual tour)
Hotel booking system without payment facilities
Hotel booking system with payment facilities
Computer reservations system (CRS)
Global distribution systems (GDS)
Booking system of tourist destination
M-commerce
Self-service solution - check-in check-out
Call centre
E-mail marketing/direct marketing
Loyalty program
Searchers and meta searchers
Price comparison / predictor
Virtual web community
Online order remittance / reception
Social networks e.g. Facebook
Blog
Forum on internet
VOIP Internet Telephone
Video conference
Others
Source: research results
Most respondents (83.33 %) answered that the company uses its own website and e-mail
marketing. This suggests that they recognize the importance of the use of web marketing and
e-mail marketing for communication with their customers. In addition, 66.66 % of the surveyed
companies use promotional CD / DVD, online reservation systems, loyalty programs and social
networks. None of the examined companies has the possibility of self-service check-in, check-out,
and only one respondent said that they use other technologies.
To explore their attitudes on the application of e-marketing in the hotel industry, respondents
were offered 38 statements and asked to rate their agreement with the statements on a scale from
1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The results are shown in Table 3.
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MEAN
4.83
4.94
SD
0.38
0.24
4.72
0.46
4.17
3.94
3.83
3.33
3.11
3.61
3.39
2.61
0.71
1.39
1.58
1.45
1.49
1.24
1.50
1.29
4.17
0.79
3.17
4.61
4.22
3.72
4.06
1.46
0.78
0.94
1.18
1.06
4.00
1.08
4.78
0.43
4.17
4.67
4.67
4.50
3.78
3.61
4.00
3.67
3.72
4.28
4.50
0.79
0.59
0.69
0.79
1.11
1.24
1.19
0.91
1.23
0.89
0.62
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Much
worse
Worse
According to
expectations
Better
Much
better
5.6
5.6
5.6
-
44.4
33.4
38.9
33.3
44.4
33.3
44.4
27.8
33.3
44.4
38.9
33.3
44.4
27.8
27.8
33.3
16.7
22.2
16.7
16.7
27.8
The results show that companies mainly operate in accordance with their expectations or even
better than that. Only one company (5.6 %) indicated that revenue growth, market share and
profitability were worse than expected.
To examine whether companies that have reached a higher level of e-marketing implementation
achieve better business performance, Spearmans rank correlation coefficient was applied. We
found that those companies that generate a higher level of e-marketing implementation attracted
more customers (rs = 0.496, p = 0.036), retained existing customers (rs = .469, p = 0.050), achieved
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Dr. sc., docent, Fakultet za menadment u turizmu i ugostiteljstvu, Primorska 42, 51410 Opatija, Hrvatska.
E-mail: dinal@fthm.hr
2
Mag. oec., agent u slubi za korisnike, Transcom WorldWide d.o.o., Jurija Zakna 4b, Pula, Hrvatska.
E-mail: nensi.radetic@gmail.com
3
Datum primitka rada: 27. 2. 2015.; datum prihvaanja rada: 7. 4. 2015.
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