Tourism constitutes an important branch of economy in Mediterranean countries. Great number of people spend or are planning to spend their free time in the Mediterranean area. Extensive rentals of private apartments or houses for individual persons and their families as well as all kinds of services provided for tourists, in result, generate substantial economical incomes. Variety and diversity of offers of private accommodations are being presented on numerous tourist oriented websites, to the satisfaction of customers. In the paper, reviews and analyses of functional components of selected Internet websites of Mediterranean tourist agencies are carried out. Most influential features of tourist websites with respect to their attractiveness and usability, and in result, with regard to commercial effectiveness and profitability, are deliberatively described and examined. Four representative instances of Internet tourist agencies offering holidays in Croatia are presented: European group: Adriatica.net, two Croatian agencies: Adriatic.hr and Orebic-tours.hr, and the agency of Central Dalmatia: Trogir.pl oriented for Polish customers. The main aim is to identify and characterise components and functionalities which determine individual customer's decisions with respect to finalised e-reservations. Interest is focused on factors like: offers' presentation, customer's opinions and forums, early reservations, payment policies, insurance options, etc. As the result, a conceptual model of tourist-oriented website is elaborated with the most influential functionalities enumerated. The paper may contribute to designs of websites of tourist agencies and potentially increase their commercial profitability.
Authors
Additional information
- Category
- Aktywność konferencyjna
- Type
- publikacja w wydawnictwie zbiorowym recenzowanym (także w materiałach konferencyjnych)
- Language
- angielski
- Publication year
- 2012
