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Chapter Fifteen. Community Tourism and E-Commerce. Agenda. Benefits of e-commerce for community-controlled tourism A general methodology for development of a community-based website Implementation of the methodology General Issues Is ANY community a “community” in this sense?. Why Tourism?.
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Chapter Fifteen Community Tourism and E-Commerce
Agenda • Benefits of e-commerce for community-controlled tourism • A general methodology for development of a community-based website • Implementation of the methodology • General Issues • Is ANY community a “community” in this sense?
Why Tourism? • Important contribution to the economy • Provides jobs to the locals • Good example of E-commerce impacts • Much of the product is intellectual • Product selection process is highly segregated from product realization process • Can use benefits of IT (low transaction and coordination costs, for example)
E-Commerce Benefits to Tourism • Knowledge management and marketing • Changing consumer behavior through IT • New product development • Disintermediation • Labor market impacts • Empowerment of small and medium enterprises through IT • Low entrance and exit costs
Porter’s 5 Competitive Forces New Entrants Lock out via barriers to entry Lock in via switching costs Traditional Rivalry Among Firms Lock in via switching costs Suppliers Buyers Where does IT contribute? Do things work differently “internationally”? What’s going on? Lock out via barriers to entry Substitutes
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 Porter Revisited, Upgraded 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.
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
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
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
North Hokianga Cont’d. • Strong community region • No manufacturing • Logging industry only • Mostly small subsistence farms (made up of cows, chickens and horses) • A growing reliance on the sale of cultivated marijuana • Low income levels • Welfare grants • Strong cultural heritage
Web Site Plan Picture Gallery Sales & bookings Welcome Business register Things to do Travel documents Information download Culture/place
Click here to visit New Zealand Looks nice, eh? Wanna visit?
Problems, Barriers • Phased approach ignored realities • Community really didn’t respond, wasn’t really ready • Needed “web raising” • Didn’t recognize dual interests • Didn’t recognize role of agents
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?
Measure Need Define Community Image Align Business Offerings Create Community Support Get Operator Commitment Get Community Involvement Content Launch Website Refine and Revise Offerings Monitor and Approve Community Content Record Responses Dual Interest Web Methodology
Technology Helps… • But communication and attitude change are the keys to changing consumer behavior …
People must pay attention to what you are “saying” The goal is to have others change their actions or behavior They have to understand what you are “saying” Attention Comprehen- sion Action or Behavior They must think your point of view is worthwhile Yielding 4-Stage Attitude Change Model
Attitude Change Model Attention Comprehension Yielding Action/Behavior Website/E-commerce User 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 Attitude, Behavior Change and E-Commerce
Agency Theory • Managers act as agents for owners • In 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.
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”?