E-Commerce in China: The case of travel

Online travel purchasing: A literature review

“…In contrast, other studies found that the number of trips taken did not distinguish online purchasers from nonpurchasers (Li & Buhalis, 2006) and that travel frequency was not related to the likelihood of purchasing airline tickets online (Beldona et al, 2011). Morrison et al (2001) and Buhalis (2005, 2006) interestingly found that having a membership in a frequent flyer program did not influence that probability of purchasing travel online.…”

“…They concluded that travelers are more likely to purchase travel online if they know that others are doing similarly. In contrast, Li and Buhalis (2006) asserted that communicability was not important in explaining the adoption of online travel shopping.…”

“…In fact, in Morrison et al's model (2001), education was found to be the only sociodemographic variable that affected the likelihood of using the Internet to purchase travel. Yet, other studies found that there was no relationship between them (Beldona, Racherla, & Mundhra, 2011;Garín-Muñoz & Pérez-Amaral, 2011;Li & Buhalis, 2006;Wolfe et al, 2004). Strangely, Chen (2006) found that consumers with higher education levels did not trust travel websites as much.…”

“…On the contrary, Wolfe et al (2004) actually claimed that travelers who used a travel agent were more likely to be in the upper income levels. Regarding China, Li and Buhalis (2006) found that there were no significant differences in income levels between lookers and bookers. Regarding age, there are also contradictory results.…”

“…However, individuals between the ages of 25 to 55, possessing higher levels of education and income, were more likely to purchase travel online. Effectively, the majority of the succeeding studies also found that travelers with higher education levels were more likely to purchase travel online (Heung, 2003;Kamarulzaman, 2007Kamarulzaman, , 2010Kim & Kim, 2004;Law, Leung, & Wong, 2004;Lee, Qu, & Kim, 2007;Li & Buhalis, 2006;Morrison, Jing, O'Leary, & Cai, 2001;Wolfe, Hsu, & Kang, 2004), but not without some contradictory evidence (e.g., Weber & Roehl, 1999). In fact, in Morrison et al's model (2001), education was found to be the only sociodemographic variable that affected the likelihood of using the Internet to purchase travel.…”