E-marketing as a Fundamental Tool for the Competitiveness of Tourist Firms: The Case of Alqueva Surrounding Area

Abstract

The present study is focused on the need for tourism enterprises to acquire new strategic instruments to operate in the market, namely in terms of the adoption of e-marketing-based strategies, in order to achieve a higher degree of competitiveness in their sector. The main aim was to verify the importance of the use of e-marketing techniques to foster higher competitiveness in tourism enterprises. For that purpose, an empirical research was carried out, to analyse the efficiency of commercialisation of their services via the Internet. The final results enabled us to make a diagnosis the current performance of the enterprises in this area, as well as to conclude that problems lie mainly on the on-line management of the tourism enterprises analysed. The conclusions obtained in the study confirm that, considering the features of the new tourism consumer, the on-line presence of tourism companies should be dynamic and interactive and develop a commercial performance directed not only to an increased sales volume, but also to the fidelisation of the customers.