Revisiting “Disintermediation” in Travel Product Distribution of Airline Industry in Mobile Technology Era

Authors

  • Yu Fai Chan School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • Rob Law School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
  • Jing Ma School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Keywords:

Disintermediation, Mobile Internet technology, Airline Industry

Abstract

Disintermediation, which refers to dealing with customers directly through the e-booking platform, has been gradually embraced by travel product suppliers in recent years to avoid high distribution costs of the intermediaries. Additionally, the ever-increasing number of mobile users has encouraged suppliers to develop mobile-friendly websites to satisfy the needs of this growing sector. However, in the previous research, disintermediation has only been studied in the desktop technology context, while the impact of disintermediation in the mobile technology era still remains largely unknown. This study aims at filling this gap by revisiting the topic of disintermediation in the mobile technology context. 502 travellers from Hong Kong with Internet air ticket purchase experience participated in this study.

Author Biographies

  • Yu Fai Chan, School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    Dr. Yu Fai Chan is a Regional Sales Manager – Greater China of Travelport. Dr. Chan has extensive experience with the airline industry and has research interests in airfare reservation and management.

  • Rob Law, School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    Dr. Rob Law is a full professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research focuses on Information Technology, Internet and E-Commerce, Modelling and Forecasting, Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering in the context of tourism.

  • Jing Ma, School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

    Miss Jing Ma is an undergraduate studying Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Downloads

Published

2020-01-01

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 5 (2020)

Section

Late Breaking Results

License

e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR) is an international electronic bulletin for tourism research (ISSN:1941-5842). It comprises current tourism research articles, commentaries and reviews by industry professionals. The materials are provided for the personal noncommercial use of registered users of the eRTR, free to individuals and institutions. Copies of articles may be distributed for research or educational purpose, free of charge and without permission. However, commercial use of the eRTR or the articles contained herein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publisher.

In consideration for publication of your work, if published on behalf of the eRTR, the author agrees to transfer the work to the eRTR, Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University, USA, including full and exclusive rights to publication in all media now known or later developed, including but not limited to electronic databases.

The authors represents and warrants:

  • That the manuscript submitted is his/her own work;
  • That the work submitted to the eRTR has not been previously published.

How to Cite

“Revisiting ‘Disintermediation’ in Travel Product Distribution of Airline Industry in Mobile Technology Era” (2020) e-Review of Tourism Research, 17(5). Available at: https://ertr-ojs-tamu.tdl.org/ertr/article/view/562 (Accessed: 6 October 2024).

Similar Articles

1-10 of 202

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)