ABSTRACT
The wide-scale integration of the Internet in the hospitality and tourism industry has drawn the attention of researchers worldwide to the issue of the disintermediation of travel agencies. Despite the existence of numerous prior studies on disintermediation, only a very limited number of published articles have focused on the perceptions of industry practitioners of the impact of the Internet on the role of travel agencies. This empirical study makes an attempt to investigate the perceptions of Hong Kong hotel managers of the impact of Internet technology on the role of travel agencies as an intermediary. Using a survey of 88 hotel managers, the study shows that the perception of disintermediation can be initially grouped into five dimensions: (i) Price, (ii) Product, (iii) Participants, (iv) Place and (v) Process. Experimental results show that hotel practitioners do not perceive that disintermediation of travel agencies will occur. However, the respondents also predicted that the share of e-business in total hotel room sales will increase. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: < https://www.HaworthPress.com" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.HaworthPress.com > © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
