The influence of the assessment of internet websites offering tourist services on the manner of purchase of holiday packages

Abstract

The influence of the assessment of internet websites offering tourist services on the manner of purchase of holiday packages Tomasz Szopiński To cite this article: Tomasz Szopiński (2017) The influence of the assessment of internet websites offering tourist services on the manner of purchase of holiday packages, Economic Research

Socio-economic factors determining the ROPO trend in the travel industry

“…Interestingly, only 26% of them declared that when purchasing tourist services in the future, they will use only the Internet channels, every third plans to follow the traditional method of making tourist purchases, whereas nearly 40% of the respondents are going to purchase them through both online and offline distribution channels (authors’ own estimations based on the data provided by Opiniac.com survey conducted in 2016). The results of a similar research carried out by Szopiński (2017) among 505 Polish citizens using the Internet-based questionnaire indicate that two-in-three respondents declared having sought travel information online. According to this study, the ROPO effect concerned 21.1% of total respondents, whereas 43.4% of the respondents who sought information on holiday packages on the Internet also purchased these services online.…”

“…ROPO and r-ROPO refer to consumers’ switching between the two information and distribution channels (online and offline) during the buying process (Reddy and Nagarjuna, 2017). The first pattern refers to a consumer’s behaviour, who uses the Internet for information search and the actual purchase (service booking/reservation) performed through a stationary/offline distribution channel (Flavián et al, 2016; Szopiński, 2017; Wolny, 2015). The second phenomenon means buying the decision-making process, which begins offline information searching and consultation in a brick-and-mortar store (e.g.…”

“…travel agency) or via phones (e.g. service providers’ call centres) and the subsequent purchase is finalized via the Internet (Flavián et al, 2016; Szopiński, 2017). Showrooming affects predominantly the market of retailing clothes, toys, household items and electronic equipment rather than the tourist market.…”

“…The subject literature and research on the r-ROPO highlight that 7.7% respondents who sought information about holiday packages offline, later purchased these services over the Internet (Szopiński, 2017). The stronger impact of the r-ROPO effect on consumer behaviour was examined by OEX DIVANTE & IMAS (2016).…”

“…It is clearly higher in the case of household goods and appliances and lower when buying jewellery, multimedia, or computer games. The existing studies of the ROPO trend in tourist behaviour indicate its occurrence also in the case of tourist services (OEX DIVANTE & IMAS, 2016; Opiniac.com, 2016), including holiday packages (Szopiński, 2017).…”