숙박업체의 온라인 여행사(OTA) 인식에 대한 연구

Abstract

Online travel agencies(OTAs) are becoming a problem to be solved in the tourism industry on Jeju island, not just an issue of private companies including tourist hotels. However, there has been a dearth of research on reservation fees charged by OTAs and their effect on the local tourism industry. Nearly unfair fee contracts imposed by global foreign OTAs and other issues are causing challenges to the overall tourism industry in Jeju, also leading the provincial tourism revenue to leak outside of the region. As such, the current study will provide an empirical account of the current contract systems involving OTAs and ways for improvement. To efficiently achieve its objectives, the current study utilized methods such as literature review, survey, and statistical analysis. First, the author systematically reviewed the domestic and foreign literature on the concept of OTAs and the status of the tourism industry. Going further, related measurement variables were arranged to provide evidence for empirical analysis, which was conducted on the basis of a survey on the opinions of hotel operators in Jeju about OTAs. The following results were obtained via the survey about the perception of Jeju hotel operators about online travel agencies: First, regarding the contract relationship with OTAs, must respondents refused to answer as such contracts are bound by non-disclosure clauses. This is causing limits in identifying the current status of Jeju tourism industry's relationship with OTAs and ways for improvement. It is also creating issues in generating administrative policies, which will need to be discussed continually in the future. Second, seventy-two percent of domestic tourists among the guests who stayed at the surveyed hotels were confirmed to have made their reservations through an OTA. This directly indicates that online travel agencies greatly impacts hotel management. In particular, fifty percent of all reservations were made through Korean domestic OTAs, showing the importance of such operations. Third, among foreign guests who reserved a hotel room, forty-eight percent used foreign OTAs. Except for approximately thirteen percent of guests who booked a room through a travel agency, most of the foreign visitors were found to make reservations through an OTA. Fourth, the average booking fee of foreign online OTAs was 16.57%, while Korean OTAs charged 13.98% on average. These figures were slightly lower than the previously known foreign OTA fees at twenty percent, and similar to the previously known domestic OTA fees. Fifth, in terms of the hotel operators' perception about OTA fees, 71.1% of the respondents answered that foreign OTA fees were unfair, while 55.0% answered that domestic OTA fees were unfair. Sixth, to a question regarding the importance of changes to OTA policies, most respondents answered that establishing a standard terms of contract is the most important issue, giving it 3.88 points. This was followed by developing specialized provincial online travel agencies, which was given 3.80 points. In terms of the urgency of the policy, developing specialized provincial online travel agencies was given 3.85 points, which was followed by establishing a partnership network among domestic OTA operators. The following results were obtained based on the results of the analysis: First, local tourist hotel operators must make independent efforts to mitigate the problems. Hotel facilities in Jeju are highly dependent on OTAs, which is a situation that will continue into the future. As such, hotels must seek ways to encourage guests to book rooms using their independently-operated websites. Second, local governments must make aggressive efforts to respond to the current situation. In a free market economy, legislating or developing public online services to to curb the power of OTAs may stir controversy that the government is actively destroying the market system. The tourism industry on Jeju Island, however, suffers from a profoundly unfair fee system between OTAs and hotel operators. As such, accurate studies must be conducted and favorable public opinions must be generated to legitimize the involvement of local government to solve these problems. Third, the government must play a role in stabilizing the tourism industry in the changing market environment. It will need to be proactive, accepting robust suggestions from local tourism businesses to monitor changes in the global tourism market and large global OTAs. Furthermore, surveys and monitoring activities must be executed by the government to focus on sending signals to the tourism industry.