The use of ınternet in hotel ındustry: Comparing hong kong and northern cyprus hotel ındustries

Abstract

Despite the continuously increasing number of published work on use of internet in tourism and hospitality literature, little has been written on destination based comparisons and lessons to be learnt from the successful practices. Indeed, analyzing the well performing destinations and comparing their practices with not so well performing counterparts would provide useful insights for the hoteliers around the world in general and later hoteliers in particular. The aim of the study is first to find out the usage of Internet in the hotel industries of two tourist destinations, namely Hong Kong and Northern Cyprus then compare the internet related practices carried out by hotels in these two locations. To do so, a research process carried out through members of major hotel associations in both locations. The research process was carried out by using a questionnaire that developed for front office and marketing managers of 56 hotels in Hong Kong and 47 in Northern Cyprus. According to research findings hotels in Northern Cyprus are not efficient in internet using than hotels in Hong Kong especially in having professional service in designing their web sites, updating, online reservation, registering search engines etc. Discussion of research findings, implications and limitations are also given.

Keywords

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Otel endüstrisinde internet kullanımı: Hong kong ve KKTC otel endüstrilerinin karşılaştırılması

Öz

Turizm ve konaklama literatüründe internet kullanımına ilişkin giderek artan sayıda yayınlanan çalışma olmasına rağmen, bunların pek azı destinasyon temelli karşılaştırmalar ve başarılı uygulamalardan alınan dersler üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Gerçekten, başarılı destinasyonların analizi ve uygulamalarının başarı düzeyi daha düşük olan destinasyonlarla karşılaştırılması, genel olarak tüm dünyadaki ve özellikle gelişmekte olan otel işletmelerine işlevsel bir anlayış kazandıracaktır. Bu çalışma, Hong Kong ve Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti (KKTC) destinasyonlarının otel endüstrilerinde internet kullanımını belirlemeyi ve otellerin internet ile ilgili uygulamalarını karşılaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda Hong Kong ve KKTC'nin belli başlı otel birliklerine yönelik olarak bir araştırma gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu araştırma Hong Kong'da yer alan 56 ve KKTC'de yer alan 47 otelin ön büro ve pazarlama yöneticilerine yönelik geliştirilen bir soru formu kullanılarak yürütülmüştür. Araştırma bulgularına göre KKTC otellerinin internet kullanımı, Hong Kong'daki benzerlerine oranla özellikle web sitesi tasarımında profesyonel hizmet kullanımı, güncelleme, online rezervasyon, arama motoruna kayıtlılık gibi alanlarda yetersiz kalmaktadır. Araştırma bulgularına yönelik ayrıntılı tartışma, çıkarımlar ve sınırlılıklar ayrıca metin içinde belirtilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

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Kaynakça

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