The use of e-business in Serbian travel agencies: Development of the EBusTour model

Conducting business by using the internet has become an everyday occurrence in all spheres of economy, as well as in the tourism sector. There is an increasing number of agencies in the world that conduct their business almost completely on-line. The aim of this research was to examine what characterizes the process of implementation of electronic business with tourist agencies in Serbia on the sample of 65 companies, and whether it differs depending on certain business characteristics. For that purpose, EBusTour model was developed that consists of 14 items grouped into four categories: online communication, online promotion, impact on sales and working hours reduction vs. sales improvement. As far as tourist agencies in Serbia are concerned, the results of the application of EBusTour model show that the most common activity in this field is basic online promotion (website implementation), followed by effects on sales. The paper also investigates whether there are differences in e-business implementation in relation to the characteristics such as: years in business, the type of licence (tour operator or sales agent) and the type of market (incoming, outgoing or combined).