The impact of e-commerce on the tourist purchase decision: an empirical analysis

Abstract

The development in the tourist industry linked with the rapid growth in e-commerce has put in evidence the existence of a new customer. We empirically investigate the microeconomic determinants of the internet purchased tourist goods. We adopt a reduced form demand for online goods model, extended to incorporate possible selectivity biases stemming from interactions between unobserved individual heterogeneity associated with specific internet use choice. The model is estimated using a very rich dataset from EGATUR (Encuesta de Gasto Turístico), the Spanish Foreign Tourist Expenditure Survey. The sample allows us to explore the influence of price and income related variables as well as personal characteristics on internet purchased goods. Price and income results are consistent with theory. Unobserved individual heterogeneity linked with the use of the internet is significantly correlated to unobserved individual heterogeneity related to online purchases.