Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

ONLINE MARKETING of TOURISM DESTINATIONS 
Being one of the largest industries in the world (Oorni & Klein, 2003), travel and tourism quickly staked a 
place among the most important application domains on the Internet (Werthner & Klein, 1999). Over time the 
Internet has proved to be an “ideal medium” for the travel and tourism industry (WTO, 2001) with online travel 
websites disseminating inexpensive, high-quality information about travel, destinations, and product alternatives. 
Like other service industries, many tourist products are intangible i.e. they cannot be touched, seen, tasted or smelt 
and are therefore difficult for tourists to grasp and evaluate (Liu, 2000). Furthermore, tourists cannot actually assess 

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