E-Commerce Adoption in Sri Lankan Small Tourism Enterprises; Evaluation of Strategic Use

Abstract

The adoption of Information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the tourism sector has become one of the choices that seem unavoidable because they bear so directly on the prospects for competing and even surviving in the highly competitive global tourism economy. Despite the enormous attention given to encourage the tourism industry to adopt e-commerce both by academics as well as governments, little research has been carried out in identifying strategies of ecommerce adoption for small tourism enterprises (STEs) in developing countries, especially Sri Lanka. It is, therefore, the aim of this paper to understand the factors and combinations of factors that STEs need to be considered before embracing e-commerce into their business by providing a closer look at actual experience of Sri Lankan STEs. Case study research was carried out to analyse and explain the underlying factors that are likely to determine the varying extent of e-commerce adoption in STEs. The findings of the case studies have further extended into the development of proposed practical framework to illustrate how e-commerce adoption should be carried out from a strategic perspective.