Information exchanges associated with Internet travel marketplaces

The traditional means of procuring airline tickets and associate travel arrangements are rapidly changing. The advent and proliferation of computers, coupled with the increasingly acceptable leveraging of the Internet has caused some major changes in the travel industry. These changes are primarily being facilitated by Internet travel marketplaces (such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelvelocity) that claim to provide an easier, less expensive alternative to traditional methods of ticket procurement without sacrificing service quality. If travel marketplaces are to be successful then they need to understand their customers and what the motivations behind their actions when it comes to shopping for discount travel. However, there are required information exchanges on the part of both the service provider and the consumer that are not without perceived risks and required a sense of mutual trust. This paper looked at online consumer behavior as it pertains to e-travel through the theoretical perspectives of expectancy theory and the technical acceptance model by inspecting selected motives and experiences of the consumer and specifically what these Web sites offer.