Journal Article

Assessing Airline Website Content Using Tourists' Preferences of Service Quality : A Web Critique Approach

Ahmed, Hossam Samy

2011

Overview

In recent years, the e-commerce revolution and the spread of airline cost reduction strategies both reshaped the air transport industry in an unprecedented manner. There is no doubt that e-commerce is strongly correlated with airline cost reduction goals. New e-commerce solutions became a leading player in airline cost reduction strategies especially after the economic crisis. E-commerce amplified the marketing power of airlines and managed to downsize the industry's distribution costs which subsequently had a great impact on airline yields. This new web based environment made airline websites a cornerstone for air transport quality and progress. Airline websites have grown over the latest years to become mega websites that offer an array of travel and tourism-related products, especially since the rise of disintermediation; which greatly impacted travel agent operations. As a result, the theme of airline website quality became of high importance for the travel industry as a whole. This paper proposes a tool that evaluates the quality level of airline website content through a score rating mechanism: 'The Airline Website Rating Index' (AWR1). However, this research narrowed the scope of airline quality perception by focusing on the requirements of the tourist segment as a base for designing the index. The research also examines the index on a selected group of leading Arab based airlines which form the sample of the study.

• Publisher: جامعة قناة السويس - كلية السياحة والفنادق
• Subject: التسويق الإلكتروني / الخدمات السياحية / تكنولوجيا المعلومات / شركات الطيران