International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

A Concept on Malaysia’s Travel Agency Readiness in Adopting Online Booking Platform

Open access

Azdel Abdul Aziz, Masrina Mohd Bakri, Noor Azmi Ahmad, Nor Maizana Mat Nawi, Evelyn Hendriana

Pages 469-477 Received: 01 Mar, 2023 Revised: 01 Apr, 2023 Published Online: 02 May, 2023

http://dx.doi.org/10.46886/IJARBSS/v13-i5/9054
The idea of an integrated booking platform is a venue for all tourism-related services such as booking of air tickets, bus tickets, ferry tickets, accommodations, transfers, tours, entrance fees to tourist attractions, theatre tickets, arts & culture shows, and many more can be done using one platform and at one click. According to a survey done by Tourism Malaysia in April 2020, Survey on Domestic Travel in Malaysia After Movement Control Order (MCO), 13,797 respondents were recorded. It was recorded 58.6% of respondents book their tour packages with Online Travel Agency (OTA). The challenge industry players need to adopt new innovative methods to remain visible in the market and offer a new experience to travelers. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the insight into Malaysia’s tourism industry players’ readiness toward adopting online booking platforms through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). This study will use non-probability through purposive sampling in which the population is among the travel agencies registered with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Arts (MOTAC) operating in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor travel agencies were chosen because they have superior internet connectivity, are more exposed to changing consumer needs, and are thus more receptive to incorporating technology into their business models. In the practical aspect, this study undoubtedly gives the means to understand industry players’ behavior toward I.T.-based marketing platforms and their readiness to shift their minds to stay competitive. This study also identifies their primary concern in adopting an online booking platform to enhance their business market segmentation and ease of managing it, whether the industry players need to be adequately trained in marketing and managing an online booking platform.
Azdel, A. A., Khalid, H., Radzi, S. M., & Yusof, R. N. R. (2016). Embedding psychographic traits into UTAUT2: A conceptual paper on online travel agency (OTA) users. Heritage, Culture and Society: Research agenda and best practices in the hospitality and tourism industry - Proceedings of the 3rd International Hospitality and Tourism Conference, IHTC 2016 and 2nd International Seminar on Tourism, ISOT 2016, pp. 489-494
Bakar, N. A., Aziz, R. C., Rahim, M. A., Nawi, N. M. M., Yusoff, A. M., & Usolludin, H. H. (2019). Behavioural Intention to Use Travel Mobile Apps in Malaysia. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Environment Management, 4(13), 09-16
Bakar, N. A., Hashim, N. A. A. N., Nawi, N. M. M., Rahim, M. A., Yusoff, A. M., Aziz, R. C., & Ahmad, G. (2020). Travel Mobile Applications: The Use of Unified Acceptance Technology Model. International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE), 9(3), 3118-3121.
Bakar, N. A., Hashim, N. A. A. N., Othman, N. A., Muhammad, N. H., Abdullah, T., Deraman, S. N. S., ... & Nawi, N. M. M. (2021). The Use of Unified Acceptance Technology Model for Travel Mobile Applications. New Ideas Concerning Science and Technology Vol. 6, 112-120.
Bogdanovych, A., Berger, H., Simoff, S., & Sierra, C. (2007). Travel Agents vs. Online Booking: Tackling the Shortcomings of Nowadays Online Tourism Portals. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2006, 418–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-211-32710-x_55
Chang, A. (2012). UTAUT and UTAUT 2: A review and agenda for future research. The Winners, 13(2), 10-114.
Chiemeke, S. C., & Evwiekpaefe, A. E. (2011). A conceptual framework of a modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) Model with Nigerian factors in E-commerce adoption. Educational Research, 2(12), 1719-1726.
Cuponation. (2021). Digital 2021. Global Digital Insights, 103.
Escobar-Rodriguez, T., & Carvajal-Trujillo, E. (2014). Online purchasing tickets for low cost carriers: An application of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model. Tourism Management, 43, 70-88.
Fadzil, F. (2018). A Study on Factors Affecting the Behavioral Intention to Use Mobile Apps in Malaysia. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3090753
Hashim, N. A. A. N., Bakar, N. A., Remeli, M. R., Samengon, H., Omar, R. N. R., Nawi, N. M. M., ... & Mahshar, M. (2020, December). Travel Mobile Technology Applications and Domestic Tourist Behavior: Analyzing the Reliability and Validity of Instruments. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 993, No. 1, p. 012095). IOP Publishing.
Hashim, N. A. A. N., Bakar, N. A., Zain, E. N. M., Yusoff, N. D. M., & Muhammad, N. H. (2020). Travel Mobile Applications Technology: Examining the Reliability and Validity of Instruments. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology.
Ho, R. C., Amin, M., Ryu, K., & Ali, F. (2021). Integrative model for the adoption of tour itineraries from smart travel apps. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 372-388. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-09-2019-0112
Kim, C. (2006). E-tourism: An Innovative Approach For The Small And Medium-Sized Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) in Korea.
Ree C. H., & Amin, M. (2019). What Drives the Adoption of Smart Travel Planning Apps? The Relationship between Experiential Consumption and Mobile App Acceptance. KnE Social Sciences, 2019, 22–41. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i26.5356
Sia, P. Y. H., Iskandar, Y. H. P., & Yusuf, A. (2018). Factors influencing the usage of mobile apps for travel among generation-Y in Malaysia. 2017 IEEE Conference on E-Learning, e-Management and e-Services, IC3e 2017, 55–60.
https://doi.org/10.1109/IC3e.2017.8409238
Tourism Malaysia. (2020), Survey on Domestic Travel In Malaysia (Part II) Since Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), 25 Sept – 19 Oct 2020
Tourism Malaysia (2020), Survey on Domestic Travel In Malaysia After Movement Control Order (MCO), 7 – 13 April 2020
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS quarterly, 425-478.
Yaacob, S. A., Abdul Aziz, A., Bakhtiar, M. F. S., Othman, Z., Ahmad, N. A. (2021). A Concept of Consumer Acceptance on the usage of Self-Ordering Kiosks at McDonald’s. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(13), 12–20.