Customer Perceived Value of Travel and Tourism Web Sites: An Outlook on Web 2.0 Developments

Today the Internet is an integral part of many people’s daily lives. Twenty percent of the world population has access to the Internet: the penetration rate in Asia is 20%, in Europe it is 53% and in North America it is 76%. (Internet World Stats. com, 2010). The number of web sites increases by the minute, and the magnitude of services and information offered on the Internet is staggering. This development and growth imply that businesses and customers perceive that the Internet provides them with value. Travel and tourism have, for a long time, been one of the top categories of web sites visited by Internet users. In Europe for instance, half of the online population visited a travel web site in March 2007 (ETC New Media, 2007). Internet users choose to visit travel and tourism web sites to search for information or to buy travel and tourism products such as airline tickets, accommodation, event tickets and packaged tours. Before booking ABSTRACT