A Typology of Tourism Related Web Sites: Its Theoretical Background and Implications

The application of information technology especially the Internet is changing our way of life and doing business, particularly in the tourism area. A well-defined typology is necessary both to clarify the structure of the online tourism domain, to facilitate the information search process of various Internet users in the tourism area, and to provide appropriate strategies for the development of different types of tourism related web sites. After an analysis of the nature of information, the authors advance a typology of tourism related web sites based on the information communication between different information users in tourism. The implications of this typology for tourism research and tourism-related web site development are discussed