The Role of Online Travel Agents in the Experience Economy

1
The Role of Online Travel Agents in the
Experience Economy

• Anton Bogdanovych
• anton_at_it.uts.edu.au
• University of Technology Sydney

2
Outline

• Experience Economy
• Motivation Tourism
• Why Online Travel Agents?
• Motivation 3D Virtual Worlds
• 3D Electronic Institutions
• The World Trotter Travel Agency
• Conclusion

3
Experience Economy

• In the emerging experience economy, the
  experiential component of a product or service is
  increasingly the basis of profit.
• Just as people have cut back on goods to spend
  more money on services, now they also scrutinize
  the time and money they spend on services to make
  way for the more memorableand more highly
  valuedexperiences (Pine and Gilmore, 1999,
  p.12).

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Features of the Travel Product

• Tourism product is intangible in nature.
  (Jackson, 1997). For this reason, tourists need
  to get as much correct information as they can
  feel confident that their desires and
  expectations will be fulfilled.
• It is remote in nature with the person selling a
  product possibly never having seen the
  destination sold and yet being the prime source
  of advice (Jackson, 1997). This has a consequence
  that the collective intelligence is required to
  provide customers with correct information about
  the trip.

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Features of the Travel Product

• The description of a product is always subjective
  (somebodys perspective) and background related
  (Gee et. al, 1997). This suggests that the more
  real is the travel product presentation the less
  uncertain is the customer about its
  characteristics.
• The product is delivered by many different firms,
  which are typically different in terms of their
  functions and capabilities (Palmer Bejou,
  1995). For the customer this means that the more
  components are present in the desired package,
  the harder it is to order the package without
  help from travel intermediaries.

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Features of the Travel Product

• Few other industries link so many diverse and
  different kinds of products and services as the
  tourism industry (Edgell 1990, p.7). The list of
  all travel-oriented commodities is too large,
  so a catalogue is not feasible to produce (Rugg,
  1973).
• The travellers of today decide to buy or not to
  buy depending on the quality of experience they
  receive during the trip selection (Yeoman et. al.
  2005).

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Motivations of travelers

• sense of power (visitors demanding service and
  attention)
• search for romance
• desire for cultural exchange
• need for leisure/escape
• desire of social contact
• following social trends
• change from routine to new experiences,
• satisfying curiosity and personal values (i.e.
  trips to places of religious significance)
• Involvement with the booking experience

8
Destination characteristics

• scenic beauty of a place
• pleasant attributes of the local people
• destination visitor image vs actual self-image
  and ideal self-image
• suitable accommodations
• rest
• relaxation
• airfare

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Consequences Summary

• Engaging experience is important
• Need as much Information as possible
• Objective representation of information
• Collective Intelligence is required
• Reduction of the package complexity
• Human expertise
• Social factors
• Self image recognition user preferences

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Travel Agents pros

• Expertise of the travel agents
• Impulse decisions
• Group booking
• Social interactions
• Loyalty
• Travellers value that their preferences are
  remembered

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Online booking pros

• Convenience
• Comfort of the familiar home environment
• Fast responses
• Multitasking

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Motivation 3D Virtual Worlds
Virtual worlds are one of a few online businesses
that make money on the Web
Norrath, The online world created by Sony

• Has more residents than Miami
• Has bigger GNP per capita than Bulgaria

Edward Castronova, USA, 2003
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3D Electronic Institutions
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Methodology
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Vision
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Runtime Architecture
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World Trotter Travel Agency
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World Trotter Travel Agency
Booking and destination search
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World Trotter Travel Agency
Hotel Visualization Service
20
World Trotter Travel Agency
Destination Visualization Service
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World Trotter Travel Agency
Destination Visualization Service
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World Trotter Travel Agency
Shop Service
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Conclusion

• Online travel agents are the most promising
  travel provider for the experience economy
• We propose 3D Electronic Institutions technology
  to be utilized for the implementation of online
  travel agents
• The World Trotter Travel Agency demonstrates our
  vision of how this technology can be employed

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Conclusion

• The World Trotter Travel Agency
• provides immersive 3D visualization
• allows interaction with tourism products
• facilitates implicit training of assistants
• supports group booking
• provides the grounds for a lively tourism
  community
• fosters social interaction and the exchange of
  personal experiences