Exploring the Impact of E-Marketplaces on Egyptian Tourism Intermediaries

Abstract

More people are globally becoming attracted to buying and selling products and services via the internet as the Internet is offering a vast opportunity and an easy way to book packages, search for information and get reviews about services through Customer Generated Content (CGC). It is claimed that both suppliers and consumers are working to push the intermediaries out of the value chain; in order to reduce the costs. The Egyptian tourism market is based on the relation between the three main partners in the supply chain: service providers "upstream partners", tourism intermediaries "downstream partners" and customers. Tourism intermediaries, symbolized in tour operators and travel agencies in Egypt, represent the main partners responsible for marketing and distributing the tourism services. Thereupon, it was of great importance to analyze the current and future situation of those intermediaries, especially in the massive changes resulted from the emergence of the e-marketplaces in the Egyptian tourism market. The study aims at answering some research questions in order to decide which scenario will take place for Egyptian tourism intermediaries amidst the new changes: Disintermediation, Re-intermediations or Cybermediation. A qualitative research approach was used to answer the research questions. In-depth interviews with Egyptian Tourism Intermediaries, represented in traditional Travel Agents (TAs) in Egypt, Egyptian Online TAs (OTAs) and Egyptian Facebook Travel Agencies were conducted to explore the effect of the e-marketplaces on their work. The results showed that the Egyptian intermediaries were greatly affected by the emergence of emarketplaces and are taking serious steps to counteract the disintermediation effect to reintermediate in the market. This was accomplished by introducing innovative products, forming alliances, offering niche products and adopting price differentiation strategies. The study also provides recommendations for stakeholders in the tourism industry to help them in persisting within the changes of e-marketplaces.

E-tourism in developing and underdeveloped countries: Case of Cameroon

“…The Internet offers the possibility of making information and booking facilities available at a relatively low cost to a large numbers of visitors. It also offers a communication tool between suppliers of tourism, intermediaries and end users [8] .…”