A Study of the Loyal Purchasers of Bus and Shuttle Tickets from Online Travel Agencies (Otas) in Indonesia

Abstract

An online travel agency (OTA) is an online-based marketplace that allows consumers to research and book travel products and services, including hotels, flights, cars, tours, cruises, activities and more, directly with travel suppliers. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the tourism sector, Indonesia as one of the favorite tourist locations in the world has sped up the vaccination process which is a good momentum for the revival of the national tourism sector. Those conditions led to competition between OTAs starting to get intense again and each OTA company must strengthen its business by improving and creating new services to win the market. The Bus and Shuttle are the most common ground public transportation in Indonesia which is one of the flagship products of OTA and has grown over the last 3 years. This study aims to determine the values of online bus and shuttle tickets through OTA perceived by the loyal consumer. The result implies that functional, informational, preference values, and bus or shuttle usage satisfaction are important factors in getting loyal consumers. These loyal consumers will be of high value because apart from having a good impact on the company's economy, they will also ultimately tend to invite the surrounding environment through e-WOM.