Chapter Fifteen

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Chapter Fifteen

Community Tourism and E-Commerce

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Agenda

Benefits of e-commerce for community-controlled tourism

A general methodology for development of a community-based website

Implementation of the methodologyGeneral IssuesIs ANY community a “community” in this

sense?

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Why Tourism?

Important contribution to the economyProvides jobs to the localsGood example of E-commerce impactsMuch of the product is intellectualProduct selection process is highly

segregated from product realization processCan use benefits of IT (low transaction and

coordination costs, for example)

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E-Commerce Benefits to Tourism

Knowledge management and marketingChanging consumer behavior through ITNew product developmentDisintermediationLabor market impactsEmpowerment of small and medium enterprises

through ITLow entrance and exit costs

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Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces

TraditionalRivalryAmongFirms

Suppliers Buyers

Lock in via switching costs

Lock in via switching costs

Substitutes

New EntrantsLock out via barriers to entry

Lock out via

barriers to entry

Where does IT contribute? Do things work differently “internationally”? What’s going on?

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Porter Revisited, Upgraded

Porter speaks of barriers to ENTRY to keep out those nasty

competitors…

What Porter forgot was the expensive barriers to EXIT

that prevent graceful takedown

It’s cheap to get into E-Commerce. What’s expensive is getting out: loss of prestige, face, actual money for contracts, loss of customers’

confidence, etc.

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Community Tourism Goals

Provide an experience that: Respects traditional values Generates economic benefits for the host

population Is authentic Is ecologically sound Is politically viable

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Website Benefits for Community Tourism

Websites are flexible, they can be easily updated Internet sites provide an international presence. Individualized customer relations Websites have potential to reflect community Nurture partnerships among agencies Customer can make better decisions Cost savings in distribution, service, marketing and

promotion Demographic profile of users Internet is at low cost and many people are using it now

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North Hokianga Geography:

Communities sit on Northern shore of Hokianga harbor

Forest, sun dunes and beaches (tourist attraction)

Population density is very low

Inhabitants are Maori descent, indigenous people of NZ

Education: Poor Education levels Little technological

knowledge

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North Hokianga Cont’d.

Strong community regionNo manufacturingLogging industry onlyMostly small subsistence farms (made up of cows,

chickens and horses)A growing reliance on the sale of cultivated

marijuanaLow income levelsWelfare grantsStrong cultural heritage

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Web Site Plan

Welcome

Picture Gallery

Travel documents

Things to do Business register

Information download

Sales & bookings

Culture/place

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Looks nice, eh? Wanna visit?

Click here to visit New Zealand

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Problems, Barriers

Phased approach ignored realitiesCommunity really didn’t respond, wasn’t

really readyNeeded “web raising”Didn’t recognize dual interestsDidn’t recognize role of agents

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Issues for Community Website Development

Content Source: Developers or Community?AcceptabilityRisk: Is community ready to accept risk of change?Commitments: Does the community have the time to commit?Cultural Values: Clash between open information and closed societal values wrt. InformationRewarding Efforts: Unequal costs and rewards create problemsMeasurement: What are the effects? Is the website successful? How do we know?

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Dual Interest Web Methodology

GetOperator

Commitment

Align Business Offerings

Refine and Revise Offerings

Define Community Image

GetCommunityInvolvement

Monitor and Approve Community

Content

MeasureNeed

CreateCommunity Support

Content

LaunchWebsite

Record Responses

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Technology Helps…

But communication and attitude change are the keys to changing consumer behavior …

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4-Stage Attitude Change Model

Attention

People must pay attention to what you are “saying”

Comprehen-sion

They have to understand what you are “saying”

YieldingThey must think

your point of view is

worthwhile

Action orBehavior

The goal is to have others change their actions or behavior

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Attitude, Behavior Change and E-Commerce

Attitude Change Model

Attention

Comprehension

Yielding

Action/Behavior

Website/E-commerceUser has got there by own

actions; strong

Literacy, language, culture are hurdles

Multimedia, interaction, links are advantages

Can initiate buying, ful-fillment of intellectual services

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Agency Theory

Managers act as agents for ownersIn community tourism, the community is

the “owner” of the “property”, although this is questionable.

The operators “manage” the business.There is an inherent conflict of interest.

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Generalizability

What is a “community”?To what extent does EVERY community

require a dual or even multi-interest approach?

Is the standard SDLC problematic?How do various “communities” differ? Is

any business a “community”?

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Your Thoughts?