E-tourism and roles of travel agencies: a case study of promoting Japanese inbound tourism in Sri Lanka

Abstract

E-Tourism and Travel Agencies play a more and more important role in the tourism and hospitality industry by contributing to a large volume of transactions and revenue. Many studies have evaluated tourism websites through different research methods. Website usability in general has improved dramatically but problems remain. Very few studies focus on the use of e-tourism and roles of travel agencies in Sri Lankan context. This research uses a mixed-methods approach. The results show that e-tourism information search is mostly utilitarian in nature; the complex interface and advertising messages either confuse or were ignored by most users.