Development stages and online marketing analysis of “open trip” e-tourism websites in Indonesia

Abstract

E-Tourism business along with the growing speed of the internet access and supported by the use of a website is more effective way to improve communication and engagement between customers and this business. Online travel agents (OTA) are one of the services that are gaining popularity in Indonesia lately which has changed the buying behavior of tourists, especially ‘open trip’ tour package. ‘Open trip’ provides trip that can be adjusted or customized for tourists according to the flexible budget, schedule and destination choices for private, joint, or group travelers to accommodate millennial travelers' preferences. This study used the extended Model of Internet Commerce Adoption (eMICA) in evaluating and analyzing the level of website development in Indonesian OTAs and propose a new e-commerce evaluation model to assess how effective online marketing strategies are. From the keyword ‘open trip Indonesia’ on Google search, 57 relevant open trip websites have been found. The findings from the eMICA model analysis shown that evaluations on the open trip website are not fully developed. The results showed that websites that reached Stage 3 and had a secure online payment system were only 28%. There are 3 key success factors to reach a fully functional website at Stage 3 of eMICA i.e. functionality, usability, and security. The higher the functionality of a website leads to the better usability and enhances the trusted perception of security among its users.