E- Tourism

• Author: Dan Pauna
• Pages: 280-290

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2017

280

E- Tourism

Dan Păuna1

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to emphasize that part of tourist activity which we interact with the most

often. It is the service we use more and more, a package of services we dream of and buy without knowing

what actually lies behind the advertisement on an Internet site. This e-tourism, developed in an exponential rate

during the last 10 years, offers a unique opportunity to interact with the virtual environment where the market

is a control box accessed both by supply and demand. This study refers to the occurrence and development of

internet booking services.

Keywords: e-tourism; World Wide Web; computer reservation system; Global Distribution System

JEL Classification: L83; Z32

1. Introduction

1.1. Tourist Products and Their Promotion

Tourist product is a multiple combination of interesting features (natural and anthropic tourist resources)

offered by an area (given destination) and the specific and nonspecific services (the result of workforce

on the general and specific material resources). In a narrow sense, the tourist product is all the goods

and services offered to tourists by one or more tourist companies (travel agencies or direct providers –

hotel, restaurant, etc.).

Consequently, the touristic product is a form of trading the tourist offer, while its elements (transport,

accommodation, food, entertainment, spa, etc.) are sold as a package or separately. There is a relation

of interdependence among the elements of the tourist product, each of them holding an essential role in

creating customer satisfaction, as follows (Snack, 1994):

A feature of tourist consumption would be the consumers’ preference for new places under the pressure

of daily stress, while goods consumption is mostly based on previous experience and purchasing again

the products they trust. This makes tourist advertisement even more difficult. The advantages of using

advertising (Balaure & al., 2005) are: increasing the number of tourists attracted by a destination or

making them loyal customers, preparing the entrance of the travel agency on new markets, promoting

all forms of tourism (spa, winter sports, cultural tourism) nationally and internationally, boosting extra

season tourism, encouraging sightseeing during the trip, increasing demand for supplementary services

1 Senior Lecturer, PhD, Danubius University of Galati, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd, Galati,

Romania, Tel.: +40372 361 102, fax: +40372 361 290, Corresponding author: paunadan@univ-

danubius.ro/pauna_dan@yahoo.com.