E-BUSINESS ADOPTION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED TOURISM FIRMS IN IRAN: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

Information technologies play a vital part in managing a tourism firm efficiently. As SMEs form the major share of tourism industry, they are increasingly adopting e-business to benefit from its numerous advantages. However, to adopt e-business, SMEs may encounter a plenty of challenges and find it not a trouble-free path. In Iran, by growing the number of internet users, more and more tourism SMEs are adopting e-business, to enhance their competitive advantage in the market. The paper is aimed to explore the challenges and prospects of e-business adoption by travel and tourism SMEs in Iran, and role of government in facilitating the process. To serve the purpose, mixed method is adopted to identify these barriers and benefits. The results of an in-depth interview with e-tourism experts and tourism SMEs' managers, and a questionnaire containing close-ended questions showed that macro-level challenges are of the major importance, and the benefits fell into to marking strategies and e-CRM categories.