The Internet in the Tourism and Hotel Industry

Tourism and the hotel industry depend progressively on the resource of new information technology to follow and update the tools which allow an efficient development of activities in each section of the hotel leading to better results for its management (Matoso, 1996). According to Phillips and Moutinho (1998) and Sheldon (1997), IT is one of the critical factors of success in the hotel industry.

During the 80's and 90's, several authors from companies and universities had foreseen that as new technologies were increasingly used, hotels would benefit in a great range of situations. For example, better qualified services for customers, increased sales and profits, efficiency in operation and integration of hotel sectors, quick communication and cost reduction (Van Hoof et al., 1995; Laudon & Laudon, 1999).

Technological applications enable information and knowledge to bring competitive advantage to the future profile of the hotel. The "Age of Information" idea is that the most modern companies will build their success upon the amount of knowledge they have about their clients as well as give information on their products and services and how they will profit in this new environment (Olsen & Connoly, 2000).

The Internet as a mean of communication gives several advantages or benefits comparing to other vehicles. According to Lage (2000), when it comes to the tourist area, the main points are: the new relationship between consumers and companies, marketing for actively participating consumers, the importance of detailed information, self-service application, credibility and agility of communication.

In a specific way, the Internet provides an expansion on hotel services changing this industry and giving new opportunities to clients thus being a new channel to be developed. Besides on-line reservation services, the Internet allows hotel to sell their services and charge them electronically and to offer new products through the World Wide Web (Laudon & Laudon, 1999; Blank, 2000).

Through the Web, the user can check a hotel's location, compare rates, see pictures and watch videos, get tourist destination information and about other facilities, check room availability, book and confirm their booking for the amount of time they want to stay, among other services. Hence, the interactivity of the Web provides an ideal medium for distributing accommodations online, consolidating itself as a very adequate platform for bringing information and services to the client in a very straightforward, efficient and quick way (Flecha & Damiani, 2000; Hotels, 2001).

Tourism is among the largest on-line industries and is one of the most important kinds of commerce through the Web. It corresponds to almost 40 percent of all global electronic commerce transactions (Werthner & Klein, 1999; Scottish Executive, 2000). Therefore, the data shows that all major companies linked to the tourism industry (hotels, agencies, air companies, rentals) do possess some kind of e-commerce activity through the Web (O'Connor, 1999). The Internet is probably the newest star on communication and it is extremely valuable on tourism industry. The use of the Internet and the World Wide Web is spreading quickly on most developments of the consumer's access area to travel databases. There are hundreds of thousands of suppliers' homepages, associations, e-news, newsgroups and chats for the travel and tourism community. This bunch of technologies provides many opportunities for the industry to interact with its consumers and suppliers. It is also possible that, through information technology, products and services may be personalized according to the tourist needs, and thus, becoming a differential feature for those who adopt it (Sheldon, 1997; Buhalis, 1998).

The purchase of products and services through the Internet is revolutionizing the world of business and people's lives as well. For some clients, it is more comfortable to book an air ticket through the company homepage than going to the travel agency (Franco Jr., 2001).

No technology had ever had such full acceptance to allow that to happen. As the Internet began and grew, the use of such technologies at home or work and the new opportunities that arose from the lower costs in telecommunication equipment made it possible for suppliers to distribute information to their clients and process reservations directly with the clients (O'Connor, 2001). So, it became easy for IT to link clients to suppliers and thus, many new ways of doing business were created, reshaping the industry and creating new intermediates in tourism industry. According to Jeong and Lambert (2001), the Internet has already modified the competitive strategy of some hotels. It is through the Internet that the client can have a "self-understanding" in a service that is being offered to him in a more efficient way. In hotels, check-in processes can already be completely automatic, from the Internet booking until the moment the client takes his keys in an automatic dispenser. The result is that clients can become more informed and willing to have quick answers from the orders on-line.

From the theoretical fundaments and similar studies briefly presented above, a frame been developed for the research aiming at three targets to be explored through the five dimensions of analysis that build the construct "The perception of the importance of Internet use": efficiency, access, mean of communication, benefits and difficulties.

On the other hand, to relate these dimensions of Internet use to conditioning factors, the model suggests a group of four variables: two on organizational level (Hotel Rate and Number of Rooms) and two on an individual level (Managers' Age and Hotel Experience).