E-Tourism Adoption of the Travel Agencies in Cebu City, Philippines

Information Communication Technology (ICT) plays an active role in the tourism industry. The application and integration of ICT are essential for the success of a tourism enterprise. ICT assists the individual in an enterprise to access information on the World Wide Web in a single click which changes the traditional brick and mortar travel agency operations. Even with the emergence of Technology 50 years ago, Small Medium Enterprises are reluctant to operate and adopt Technology Applications for Technological and Non-Technological Reasons. The study used an adapted research instrument from Davis (1989) and Turban et al. (2008). Principal respondents are the accredited travel agencies in Cebu City as of 2017. Using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis (1989), respondents perceived that ICT is useful regarding accomplishing the task quickly, increase productivity and effectiveness and it is easy to use regarding operating and interacting ICT. Respondents would probably use the technology in the workplace for sales and marketing and to recommend the technology to others for Business Operations. However, there is no significant relationship on the ease of use (PEOU) and usefulness to the in the Intention to use. This means that the respondents may or may not adopt ICT because of Non Technological and Technological Reasons.


Rationale of the Study
The Internet is the most significant innovation since the progress of the printing press. Currently, millions of people globally rely on the internet for working, learning, socializing, entertainment, leisure, and shopping (Buhalis,2011). There had been a new e-commerce sector the so-called E-Tourism, eTourism is a way of transacting sales using the internet in selling tourism-related services such as Flight & Hotel Bookings, Car Rentals and even purchasing Tour Packages (Raez, 2011).
The evolution of the Internet and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) has been transforming the implications for the Tourism Industry (Bethapudi, 2013). Today, many travel-services websites are using the Internet to access a variety of travel-related services to plan for trips, distributing information to the traveling public to book for flights and hotels. The current activity of Tour Operators would mean that these online travel suppliers could easily access to the traveling public which is also an indication that there is a stiff competition of the traditional travel agencies and virtual/online travel agencies (Namin et al., 2013).
Today, Tour and Travel Suppliers are reaching millions of travelers using the internet and new online distribution channels (Zare, 2013). Distribution of Internet users globally was presented by percentage, Asia that has 49 percent, Europe 17 percent, Latin America 10.5 percent, Africa 10.2 percent, North America 8.5 percent, and the Middle East 3.6 percent, Lastly the Oceania & Australia 0.7 percent (Internet World Statistics, 2018). It is also interesting to indicate that in 2010, the total number of internet users were more than one billion and fortysix million. Besides, these numbers highlight the rapid shift on electronic users in general and particularly in related travel services; therefore, there should be an adoption of the technology among traditional travel agencies (Namin, 2013).
The use of technologies in operations would make tourism offer more attractive, efficient, inclusive, and economically, socially, and also environmentally sustainable than its predecessor (UNWTO, 2018). It has also facilitated improvement and rethinking of processes, intending to tackling challenges such as seasonality and overcrowding, and evolving smarter destinations.
Digitalization has a positive ecological impression and can yet have a greater one, with innovations in manufacturing, smart assets, and competent use of resources contributing to a more maintainable industry footprint. Some significant impacts on the sector as a whole are the development of smart travel assistance, smart destinations, and a new wave of career profiles.
During the adaptation of ICT, especially in e-tourism, Tourism distribution structure has been changed, the adoption of new information technologies provides SME (Small & Medium Enterprise) travel agents with opportunities for reintermediation and the retail. Also, there have been studies showing the benefits of technology in improving cash flow, increase productivity, and promote greater competitiveness through reaching new customers not just walk-ins but expanding business globally (Abou-Shouk et al., 2012).
Previous research indicates that the diffusion of e-commerce would significantly enhance the survival of SME and that the extent and nature of its adoption are uneven across organizations depending on many factors. However, despite the mentioned benefits of e-tourism in the operation of the Travel Agencies, some SMEs are characterized by their reluctance to take risks and are cost conscious due to their limited access to capital resources (Abou-Shouk & Eraqui, 2015). Traditionally, travel agencies have always been intermediaries between consumers and suppliers (Claravall, 2014). With the rapid rise of the internet, this changed the complex distribution and communication channels, once the domain of the travel agent, became disentangled (Zare, 2013).
In Asia Pacific (APAC), travelers are using social media platforms to inform leisure travel decisions. Also, previous studies have shown that the social media websites such as Tripadvisor & Virtual Tourist are ranked second and third after travel intermediary websites in the case of online hotel information search among Hong Kong younger travelers (Sun et al., 2016).
In the Philippines, 87 percent of tourism establishments use Facebook as a channel to promote their business, followed by youtube, Instagram, and blogs at 28.6 percent, 19.5 percent and 9.1percent (Buted et al., 2014). Currently, 63 percent of the Philippines total populations are active in Internet and social media, 62 percent are mobile social users (Sunstar, 2018). Revenue in the Philippine eTravel market amounts to US$2,170m in 2018, and this revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate o (CAGR 2018-2022) of 15.0 percent resulting in a market volume of US$3,794m in 2022, and the market's largest segment is the Segment "Mobility Services" with a market volume of US$1,358m in 2018US$1,358m in (www.statista.com, 2018. Furthermore, revenue in the Online Travel Booking segment amounts to US$812m in 2018 and revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-2022) of 17.1 percent resulting in a market volume off US$1,526m in 2022. The market's largest segment is the segment "Package Holiday" with a market volume of US$376m in 2018.
It is evident that E-Tourism plays a significant role in purchasing travel needs, especially in Mobility Services and Package Holiday. Traveling Public in the Philippines preferred to book their travel needs online with comfort in their own home using their computer and smartphones. However, the traditional travel agencies in the Philippines do not offer online transactions, but only showing their services through the website and social media. Online Transactions versus traditional brick and mortar agencies in the Philippines are still arising, not unless if the Travel Agencies would use the technology in their company.
Technology plays a vital role and will give benefits to SMEs. The researcher determined the Acceptance of Technology among Travel Agencies in Cebu City, Philippines, mainly the Accredited Travel Agencies. In determining the level of acceptance, the researcher Anchored the work of Davis et al., (1989) Technology Acceptance Model. This model is widely used in the determining adoption of Information Communication Technologies. Through determining the level of the Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and the Perceived Usefulness of technology (PU) and determined their relationship to the Intention to Use and adopt the technology. Despite the availability of the Internet, there are Travel Agencies who are not open in creating their own Social Media Platforms. The Reasons for Non-adoption is also presented and ranked accordingly.

Theoretical Framework
The purpose of this study is to determine the level of Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEU). Also, to identify if there is a significant relationship to the respondents Intention to Use (IU) or adopt the Technology, the selected model is Davis (1989) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to which the researcher believed that this would best answer the research objectives/sub-problems.
The following figure presents the framework of Davis (1989) as Technology Acceptance Model which is used in this study.
Technology Acceptance Model adopted from Davis, F. (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota. September 1989 accessed on August 12, 2017.
TAM is a commonly referenced theoretical model for predicting the intention to use and acceptance of the information system by individuals. It proposes that perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) determine the attitude toward adoption of ICT. According to Lucas et al., (1999), Venkatesh et al., (2000, & Moon, (2000) this attitude, in turn, leads to an intention to use ICT and the eventual acceptance of the information technology. According to Davis (1989), PU defines as the "degree to which a person believes that using a certain system would enhance his/her job performance," and PEOU as the "degree to which a person believes that using a certain system would be free of effort." Numerous scholarly articles show that PEOU and PU are potential motivators for users to accept, adapt, and use web service (Lucas et al., 1999;Venkatesh et al., 2000;Devaraj et al., 2002).
This model is the most influential theoretical approach in the study determinants related to the use of information technology, due to its robustness, flexibility and explanatory strength (Li & Bai, 2011). The TAM provides a link between the acceptance of the technology and user behavior. According to this model, the use of a technological product depends on the intention to use (IU), which depends in turn on the attitude towards it. This attitude is forming an assessment of the perceived ease of use (PEOU) and the perceived usefulness (PU) of a technology.

Objectives of the Study
The purpose of the study determines the relationship between perceived usefulness and ease of use among DOT accredited travel agencies in Cebu City in their intention to adopt the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in predicting the user behavior. Specifically, the study has the following research objectives: 1. Profile of the travel agencies in terms of 1.1 Type of Business Ownership; 1.2 Size of the Business; 1.3 Years of Operation; 1.4 Services Offered; 1.5 Online Presence, 2 The level of perceived usefulness, ease of use, and intention to adopt ICT, 3 Relationship among perceived usefulness, ease of use and intention to adopt ICT, 4 reasons for non-adoption of ICT and 5 propose strategies to encourage adoption of ICT by travel agencies.

Research Design
The study aimed to "Determine the Significant Relationships of Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) & Perceived Usefulness (PU) in the Intention to use the Information Communication Technology among Department of Tourism Accredited Travel Agencies in Cebu City. The study used purposive sampling and research questionnaire.
The Research questionnaire has been categorized into three (3). First Part is the Business Profile. The Second Part is the Technology Acceptance adopted from Davis, (1989) as quoted by Dalbouh, (2013). The Third part is the reasons for Non-ICT Adoption as adopted by Turban et al., (2008) as quoted by Buhalis, (2011).

Research Site
For the purpose of anonymity, the research environment shall be named Cebu City. There are 53 Department of Tourism (DOT) Accredited Travel & Tour Agencies and Operators.

Participants
The participants of the study are the Travel Agency Front Liners (Travel Agents) since they are in the position of maneuvering operations, particularly in communicating the tourists/clients. The researcher aimed to acquire the whole population. 100% of participants to be surveyed and interviewed. Thus, there were only 43 travel agencies that responded.

Instruments
The research Instrument was categorized into three (3) parts; the first part is the Business Profile containing the Type of Ownership, Business Size, Years of Operation, Services Offered, and Online Presence.
In this study, "NO RESPONSE" means none involvement, usage, application to the items in the questionnaire. The second part is a collaborative research questionnaire, the questions on the Technology Acceptance particularly in the area of Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness and Intention to Use are adopted from Davis, (1989), and on the other hand, the scaling was adapted from Dalbouh, (2013). In Dalbouh's research entitled "A Questionnaire Approach Based on the Technology Acceptance Model for Mobile Tracking on Patient Progress Applications. In the methodology and the materials, a Likert Scale was applied for each set of questionnaires. The Likert scale was designed to scrutinize how strongly subjects agree or disagree with statements on a five-point scale with the following anchors: (1) Strongly disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Nature, (4) Agree, (5) Strongly agree (Chomeya, 2010).
The Likert part of the instrument was pretested with 10 respondents prior to the conduct of the study, and reliability results gave a Cronbach Alpha value 0.95, which is interpreted as an instrument with very high reliability. Refer to the reliability testing results below. The third part of the instrument are the reasons for Non-Adoption of ICT, adopted from Turban et al., (2008) quoted by Buhalis, (2011) in the study entitled E-Tourism.

Data Collection and Analysis
In gathering the data, the researcher initially requested permission from the managers/owners of the accredited travel agencies in Cebu City. The survey questionnaires were administered personally after the agreed schedule/appointment. Then it was forwarded with a cover letter describing the study and indicating confidentiality of the information that may be given out to the participants. The researcher used statements that could easily be understood. An explicit instruction before answering the questionnaire was delivered and relayed to the participants for factual information. Percentage Distribution, Mean, Pearson Correlation was used to analyze the questionnaire administered to the participants.

Business Profile of the Travel Agencies in Cebu City
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3416057

On the Type of Business Ownership
There are thirty-two (32) respondents under a corporation with 78% of the total population. It is followed by Sole Proprietorship with eight (8) respondents, which is equivalent to 19.5%. There is only One (1) respondent on Partnership with 2.4% in the total respondents of the study. In general, Accredited Travel Agencies mostly are Corporations.

On the Size of the Business
There are Twenty-Three (23) of the respondents are Small Enterprises (1-9 employees) which is 56.1% of the total respondents. It is followed by Medium-Sized Enterprise (10-49 Employees) that has Eighteen (18) respondents equivalent to 43.9%. In general, Small Enterprises is the most common business size of Travel Agencies in Cebu City.

On the Years of Operation
There are Fourteen (14) respondents that existed 20 years ago equivalent to 34.1%; then respondents existed 1-5 years with Twelve (12) respondents equivalent to 29.3%. 11-15 years in the Business with Eight (8) respondents equivalent to 19.5%. Right after, business operations from 16-20 years with Six (6) respondents equivalent to 14.6%. There is only One (1) respondent in the 6-19 years of operation equivalent to 2.4% in the population. In general, the Department of Tourism (DOT) accredited travel agencies in Cebu City are mostly long-standing of over 20 years and the new travel agency which has been in the business for the last 5 years.

On the Products & Services Offered
Accommodation and Reservation Booking has the highest Services Offered with Thirty-Nine (39) frequency and ranked as the 1 st service offered among Travel Agencies in Cebu City. Based on the interview, clients will book their hotels, resorts, and pension houses through the help of the Travel Agency. Most of these clients are "outbound tourists" or Filipino residents traveling outside the country. One of the reasons that the respondent stated was "Traveling Outside the Country needs an "accommodation voucher" as one of the requirements for Bureau of Immigration. The respondent added that the clients believed that it is the Travel Agency who could look for the best deal for affordability and quality of the accommodation.
Tour Package service with Thirty-Eight (38) frequency equivalent to the 2 nd rank; The tour package is composed of different travel components such as Transportation, Accommodation and Sight-seeing activities assembled into one. Based on the Interview, respondent stated that Tour Package(s) is a good source of revenue. As mentioned Tour package is composed of different travel components, each component has a specific cost. The Travel Agency would have a 15% standard mark up for the total cost of the package. The very reason why Travel agencies find Tour Package as one of the essential services in the business.
Transportation Reservation/Booking comes the 3 rd rank with thirty-seven (37) frequency. Based on the Interview, traveling public would still book their transportation needs such as "Airline Tickets, Ship & Fast-Boat Tickets, respondent added that clients do not have credit cards to pay Airline Tickets and clients find the Sea Transportation Ticketing Office (Sea Port Office) far.
Attraction/Event Ticketing Services is 4 th in the rank with thirty-five (35) frequency. Ticketing refers to the Admission Tickets on Concerts, Theme Parks and other Tourist Attractions. Based on the interview client would still buy a "Ticket alone" with no additional travel components. Especially when the clients booked their Transportation Tickets already either online or from another travel agency.
Visa Assistance services are on the 5 th ranked with Thirty-Two (32) frequency. Based on the Interview, there are Online Platforms for Visa Applications such as "Taiwan Visa" and South Korea. However, Travel Agencies are a partner with Embassy; this means that the Approval is much probable. Meaning, clients still opt to use the service of a Travel Agency than doing it on their own. Passport Assistance is ranked 6 th with Thirty (30) frequency, based on the interview with the respondents, passport assistance is not useful in the business operation because of its Online Schedule System run by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). In the second subsection, it is the "Small-Sized Enterprises who dominates the number of population. Based on the interview Passport Online System is one of the reasons that a TMC do not need an additional employee. In the advent of DFA Online System, TMC has a staff who facilitates the transaction of the clients who availed the passport assistance service. Today, a passport staff or a courier is no longer present in TMC organizations.
Car Rentals is on the 7 th rank with Twenty-Three (23) frequency, based on the interview Car Rental is no longer a potential service in the business as there are (Grab Cars) and (Uber) a type of Car Rental Application using the Mobile Telephony, that's the reason for a low frequency.
National Statistics Office (NSO) Authentic Birth Certificate process ranked 8 th with Fourteen (14) common answer from the respondents. NSO has also its own Online Presence wherein a client will fill the details in the Social Media Platform this is easier and convenient to the customers than going to a Travel Agency and the NSO Office, one of the reasons to why it has a low frequency.
Shipment/Parcel Delivery Assistance is on the 9 th ranked, with only Five (5) respondents, this kind of service is tapping with Logistics Companies such as LBC, JRS, FEDEX and 2GO which is not a practiced by some travel agencies.
The last rank, which is the 10 th rank is "Others" composed of Immigration Assistance and Cruise, with only three (3) responses. Immigration assistance means that travel agencies will cater the "full immigration requirements" of a client such as VISA, Transportation & Accommodation Voucher, Itinerary, and even Travel Orders for "Educational Tours." Based on the Interview, the respondent stated that this service is stressful, and travel agents are not prepared for it. Most notably for filing documents for Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum of Agreement 26 Series of 2015 for the "Policies, Guidelines and Procedures of International Educational Trips (IET) for Undergrad and Graduate students Cruise is also an expensive service because of the client needs International requirements based on the policies of the visited territories or destinations. Based on the Interview, with the respondent offering Cruise Services. Despite the hustle, there is still a considerable profit, which makes them continue offering the service.

Online Transactions
Online transactions are also referred to Virtual Organizations as internet-based travel agencies who provide information and booking services to travelers (Kayani et al., 2015). No Response has the highest frequency with Twenty-One (21) responds equivalent to 51.2%. This means that over half of the respondent's population does not engaged in Online Transactions. Using a third party such as Booking.com, and the like. First is TravelOnline.com with Four (4) responses, equivalent to 9.8%. Booking.com got Three (3) frequency as well as BedsOnline with percentage equivalent to 7.5% each. Tripadvisor, Agoda, and Rezlive have Two (2) frequency which is equivalent to 4.9%. Lastly Traveloka, iLink.Ph, AsiaTravel & Via.com has only One (1) frequency equivalent to 2.4% each.
In general, Majority of the Respondents does not practice or apply online transactions. However, 48.8 % of the total population is already using these social media platforms in their Business Operations.

On the Travel Agency's Mobile Application
In data presented, there is No response of mobile applications has the highest frequency of Twenty-Six (26) equivalent to 63.4%. Surprisingly, for Android Mobile applications, Twelve (12) common response equivalent to 29.3%. Based on the interview, the respondent stated that majority of the Filipinos are using Android Smartphones, the researcher validated it through Stat Counter Global Stats, (2018) stating that in the Philippines there is 82.78% of Android users and 16.16% for IOS the reason why there is only three (3) common response for Apple Operating System (IOS Smartphones) which is 7.3% of the total population.
In general, 63.4% of the respondents are not yet able to adopt mobile applications. (Please check Table 14 for the Reasons of NonAdoption). However, there is a 36.6% of the respondents who are already present online.

On the Travel Agency Online Advertisement
Online advertisement of the respondents enables them to promote their business most specifically the products and services available for the traveling public. Data showed above, Facebook got the highest frequency of Thirty (30) and got the 1 st ranked of the social network platforms. Followed by Instagram with Seven (7) common response placed on the 2 nd rank. Youtube and Own Website with Three (3) the same frequency response placed on the same rank 3.5.
In general, Facebook is widely used as a tool for online advertisement. According to Cox (2017), Facebook has Two (2) Billion users monthly, it is evident that travel agencies use Social Networks in expanding their product offerings.

On the Level of Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, and Intention to Use ICT of Travel Agencies
The table below presents the results in determining the level of Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and the Intention to Use (IU) of Information Communication Technology on the Accredited Travel Agencies in Cebu City.  Table 3 showed the means and standard deviations of the perceptions of the respondents regarding the use of technology in their business. As reflected from the table, values of the means ranged between 4.20 and 4.32, which are all interpreted that the Technology is "Very Useful" These implied that DOT accredited travel agencies agreed that by the use of technology they can do or accomplish their task quickly, it increases their productivity, it enhances their effectiveness, and it makes their job easier. In general, the travel agencies perceived usefulness of technology averaged 4.25 with a standard deviation of 0.69. As a result of this, it is also generally interpreted as the agreement of these agencies on the implementation of technology in their work.  Table 4 showed the means and standard deviations of the perceptions of the respondents regarding the usefulness of ease of use in their business. As reflected from the table, values of the means ranged between 4.10 and 4.17, which are all interpreted the use of ICT is "Somewhat Easy." These implied that DOT accredited travel agencies agreed that by the Ease of use in Technology. It is easy on learning ICT, find it easy to get ICT to do what they want to do. The interaction with ICT would be more transparent and understandable. They would find ICT to be flexible to interact. It would be easy for them to become skillful using ICT, and lastly, would find ICT easy to use.
In general, the travel agencies perceived ease of use of technology averaged 4.14 with a standard deviation of 0.79. As a result of this, it is also generally interpreted as the agreement of these agencies on the implementation of technology in their work.  Table 5 presented the descriptive statistics for the intention to use of ICT by the respondents. Based on the figures shown above, the weighted average intention to use is 4.26 with a standard deviation of 0.37 which means that the respondents "Would probably use ICT" in the business. According to Berger et al (2006) that appealing presentations of business products and travel destinations, sophisticated visualization of tourism products, the consulting role of travel agents, the social interaction and information exchange between travelers, as well as the information richness of the Internet are key features for successful tourism e -business . It is the advantage of enterprises that can employ tourism managers who embrace new information technology and actively participate in the technology planning process to identify new users and manage their development.

B. On the Interrelationships Among Perceived Usefulness, Ease of Use, and Intention to Use ICT
The   Table 6 showed the interrelationships among perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use ICT among travel agencies who participated in this study. Note that there is no significant relationship between perceived usefulness and intention to use ICT (r = 0.003, p > 0.05) among travel agencies in Cebu City. In addition, there is also no significant relationship between perceived ease of use and intention to use ICT among the respondents. These results indicated that travel agencies had acknowledged the usefulness and ease of use of ICT in their operations. However, the employees may not be adept in the use of ICT such as the Internet and the like.
On the other hand, there is a high to a very high significant relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of ICT among travel companies in Cebu (r = 0.747, p < 0.000). This means that travel agencies found it useful to employ ICT in their work because, for them, it makes their work easier.   (22) responses. 3 rd rank as follows "People do not yet sufficient trust paperless, transactions, faceless transactions and "Resistant to the change from shopping at a brick and mortar store than the virtual store" has Twenty (20) responses respectively. On the 4 th rank is "Lack of Trust in E-commerce and unknown sellers hinders buying" with Eleven (11) responses. The 5 th rank is "In many cases, the number of sellers and buyers that are needed for profitable ecommerce operation is insufficient" with Eight (8) responses. On the 6 th rank is "Many legal and public policy issues, including taxation, have not yet been resolved and or not clear" with Six (6) responses. The 7 th rank as follows "National and International Government regulations sometimes get in the way" and It is difficult to measure some of the benefits of e-commerce, such as online advertising" that has Four (4) responses respectively.

C. On the Non-Adoption of ICT Among Travel Agencies in Cebu City
On the other hand, Technological Reasons were ranked accordingly. 1 st rank is "Software development tools are still evolving" with Thirteen (13) responses. 2 nd rank is "Internet Accessibility is still expensive and inconvenient." Ten (10) responses. 3 rd rank as follows "Telecommunications bandwidth is insufficient, especially for M-Commerce" and "It is difficult to integrate Internet and e-commerce software with some existing applications and databases" both with Nine (9) responses. The 4 th rank is as follows " Lack of Universal standards for Quality, Security, & Reliability" and "Special Web Servers are needed in addition to the network's servers, which add to the cost of e-commerce" with Eight (8) responses respectively. The 5 th rank is "Order Fulfillment or large-scale business to consumer (B2C) requires special automated warehouses" with Six (6) responses.

Information Communication Technology is indeed an essential platform for Small & Medium Tourism
Enterprises. It enables SMTEs to promote business products and services using the Online Travel Agencies, Mobile App, and the use of Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. The study concluded that travel agencies in Cebu City find the technology Ease to Use and useful in business operations. However, they may not use the technology because of non-technological reasons such as Online Fraud, Security and Privacy Concerns, People do not trust faceless transactions, and the customers are already used to the traditional way of transacting tourism products.
The study also concludes that the Online Travel Agencies, which is believed to be the threat of Traditional Travel Agencies, are actually Online Platforms that could sell the products assembled by the Traditional Travel Agencies. However, because of the contract agreement, and the complexity of the business operation, Travel Agency does not have time to transact with Online Travel Agencies.

Recommendations
From the findings and conclusion of the study, the following recommendations are offered for consideration: The Small & Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) regardless of what type of business ownership should adopt Information Communication technology to benefit the business operation such as efficiently selling and advertising the products and services through Online Platforms via involvement and or partnering with Online Travel Agencies, and using of social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and also to create own website to be facilitated by the Travel Agents. The assigned travel agent should attend a training or workshop in Information Communication Technology.
Travel Agencies should partner with reputable Online Travel Agencies to widen the market and able to increase sales. As if the case that the business could not attend to the needs of Online Travel Agencies especially inquiries from the clients, the Travel Agency should employ a travel agent only focuses on the Online Transactions and updating social media platforms.
Travel Agencies should at least eliminate reluctance on the adoption of Information Communication Technology by considering the proposed strategies.