Reinventing the package holiday business

Threatened by disintermediation and the emergence of new information and communication technologies in the travel and tourism industry, tour operators are being forced to reinvent their business activities. The author shows how major European tour operators are developing and implementing new information and communication technology strategies as a response to these threats, thus securing their strategic position in the package holiday business. This research gives a detailed insight into the tour operator sector, particularly in Britain and Germany. Moreover, a theoretical framework is developed and proposed, largely based on industrial organisation and new institutional economics literature, providing a useful methodology for the study of a sector or industry.