Customer Satisfaction Evaluation for Greek Online Travel Agencies

Introduction

In the digital era that we live in, IT has a major role in every organisational aspect. Practically, every company and institution is considering the new opportunities offered by innovative technology. Kekre et al (1995) clearly states that IT is one of the most important issues discussed in management nowadays, and that there is high chance of improving the performance of organisations by adopting the appropriate information system.

In addition, Colier et al (2003) become more specific and describe the immense expansion of the web technology, claiming that internet infrastructures and practices are the mean for organisational development. Enterprises proceed in the adoption of information systems in order to achieve reduced costs, higher production and high quality services to their customers (Legris et al, 2003). In fact, IT is “just and an enabler” (Malhotra, 2005) in using this invisible force of knowledge which finally allows organisations to stay strong in business. In contrast to this view, IT, along with competition and globalisation, can be considered as environmental factors that keep pressuring organisations in adopting strategies (Zack, 1999).

Two decades later, the most popular technology which appears to have significant impacts on business is the Internet. The web technology allows the establishment of networks which enable vast amount of information to be transferred around the globe. Considering that the capacity of computers is growing rapidly, Collier et al (2003) state that almost all enterprises have been influenced and searched for opportunities provided by the use of internet and information technology.

Benbya et al (2004) also note that the use of IT enables organisations to store, and exchange vast amount of information allowing the generation and the sharing of useful knowledge. Thus while, the business world is transforming around technology, the e-business appears to be steadily expanding and the use of knowledge is becoming important for organisations that are looking for extensive information technology opportunities in order to adapt more quickly in the knowledge – based global economy.

The tourism industry is one of the largest users of IT and has some of the largest computer installations in the business world. IT provides both opportunities and challenges for the tourist industry. (Buhalis, 1994). The development of new technologies is making the tourism world a much smaller place. The communication between tourism organisation and the customers is now faster and more flexible. Tourist organisation is already taking big advantages of the new technologies to increase the scope of their products.

According to D. Buhalis (2003) IT, is one of the most dynamic motivators of global economy. IT is a powerful tool for economic growth for the industry to continue being competitive and to provide strategic opportunities. Information technology can reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly improve service quality and customer experience. Technology in this case has been described as a profit and efficiency maximisation tool that revolutionises the way business is conducted and removes all geographical boundaries.

The aim of this chapter book is to present an original customer satisfaction survey in Greek Online Travel Agencies. This chapter book is organized into 6 sections. Section 2, presents the literature review, regarding tourism as an industrial sector, information technology in tourism industry and customer satisfaction on online tourist services. Section 3 presents the MUSA (Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis) method, which is the Decision Support System that was used in order to measure the customer satisfaction. Section 4 presents the methodological frame and section 5 the results of our research. Finally, section 6 presents some concluding remarks, as well as future research in the context of the proposed method.