Research Article
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Knowledge Development in Tourism Distribution Channels: From Single Channel to Omnichannel

Year 2022, , 387 - 403, 01.09.2022
https://doi.org/10.30519/ahtr.958114

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the periodic changes within the content of tourism distribution channels and identify key themes in this field. The study will be able to identify changes and trends by examining through scientific/academic research.A bibliometric method was employed. About 6245 publications in the Web of Science database were analyzed using VOS viewer, as the study tool.The results show an increasing trend in scientific publications on distribution channels in field of tourism by the last decade. The year 2019 held highest rank in terms of the total number of scientific papers published per year with 813 articles, and the highest citation rate belongs to 2017 with 10037 citations. Also, the majority of the publications in this field were original research articles (57.90%), and Law R., Buhalis D., Pan B., and Xiang Z. were identified as the most productive and most-cited researchers. Besides, co-authorship network visualization of journals in the field of tourism distribution channels was implemented. Co-word analysis was then used to track the evolution of research themes over time. The key themes are Single-channel, Dual-channel, Multi-channel, Cross-channel, and Omni-channel. Finally, this study calls for future research in the field of tourism distribution channels.

Supporting Institution

This manuscript extracted from PhD dissertation of Nima Soltani nejhad at University of Tehran, Iran.

References

  • Avery, J., Steenburgh, T. J., Deighton, J., & Caravella, M. (2012). Adding bricks to clicks: Predicting the patterns of cross-channel elastic cities over time. Journal of Marketing, 76(3), 96-111.
  • Beck, N., & Rygl, D. (2015). Categorization of multiple channel retailing in multi-cross, and omni-channel retailing for retailers and retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 170-178.
  • Benckendorff, P., & Zehrer, A. (2013). A network analysis of tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, 121-149.
  • Berman, B., & Thelen, S. (2018). Planning and implementing an effective omnichannel marketing program. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 46(7), 598-614.
  • Buhalis, D. (2000). Relationships in the distribution channel of tourism: Conflicts between hoteliers and tour operators in the Mediterranean region. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 1(1), 113-139.
  • Buhalis, D., & Amaranggana, A. (2014). Smart Tourism Destinations. In Z. Xiang, & I. Tussyadiah, (eds), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Switzerland: Springer.
  • Chiang, W. Y. K. (2010). Product availability in competitive and cooperative dual-channel distribution with stock-out based substitution. European Journal of Operational Research, 200(1), 111-126.
  • Cobo, M. J., López-Herrera, A. G., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Herrera, F. (2011). Science mapping software tools: Review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(7), 1382-1402.
  • Coelho, F., Easingwood, C., & Coelho, A. (2003). Exploratory evidence of channel performance in single vs multiple channel strategies. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31(11), 561-573.
  • De Faultrier, B., Boulay, J., Feenstra, F., & Muzellec, L. (2014). Defining a retailer’s channel strategy applied to young consumers. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 42(11/12), 953-973.
  • Ding, Y., Chowdhury, G. G., & Foo, S. (2001). Bibliometric cartography of information retrieval research by using co-word analysis. Information Processing & Management, 37(6), 817-842.
  • Dorcic, J., Komsic, J., & Markovic, S. (2019). Mobile technologies and applications towards smart tourism–state of the art. Tourism Review, 74(1), 82-103.
  • Garcia, A., Linaza, M. T., Gutierrez, A., & Garcia, E. (2019). Gamified mobile experiences: Smart technologies for tourism destinations. Tourism Review, 74(1), 30-49.
  • Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179-188.
  • Hall, C. M. (2011). Publish and perish? Bibliometric analysis, journal ranking and the assessment of research quality in tourism. Tourism Management, 32(1), 16-27.
  • Jamal, T., Smith, B., & Watson, E. (2008). Ranking, rating, and scoring of tourism journals: Interdisciplinary challenges and innovations. Tourism Management, 29, 66-78.
  • Jiang, Y., Ritchie, B. W., & Benckendorff, P. (2019). Bibliometric visualisation: An application in tourism crisis and disaster management research. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(16), 1925-1957.
  • Johnson, A. G., & Samakovlis, I. (2019). A bibliometric analysis of knowledge development in smart tourism research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 10(4), 600-623.
  • Jørgensen, M. T. (2017). Reframing tourism distribution-activity theory and actor-network theory. Tourism Management, 62, 312-321.
  • Khasseh, A. A., Soosaraei, M., & Fakhar, M. (2016). Cluster analysis and mapping of iranian researchers in the field of parasitology: With an Emphasis on the Co-authoreship Indicators and h index. Iranian Journal of Medical Microbiology, 10(2), 63-74.
  • Koseoglu, M. A., Rahimi, R., Okumus, F., & Liu, J. (2016). Bibliometric studies in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 61, 180-198.
  • Kracht, J., & Wang, Y. (2010). Examining the tourism distribution channel: evolution and transformation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(5), 736-757.
  • Larke, R., Kilgour, M., & O’Connor, H. (2018). Build touchpoints and they will come: Transitioning to omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 465-483.
  • Law, R., Leung, R., Lo, A., Leung, D., & Fong, L. H. N. (2015). Distribution channel in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 431-452.
  • Leong, L. Y., Hew, T. S., Tan, G. W. H., Ooi, K. B., & Lee, V. H. (2020). Tourism research progress–a bibliometric analysis of tourism review publications. Tourism Review, 76(1), 1-26.
  • Leung, X. Y., Sun, J., & Bai, B. (2017). Bibliometrics of social media research: A co-citation and co-word analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 66, 35-45.
  • Li, K., Rollins, J., & Yan, E. (2018). Web of Science use in published research and review papers 1997–2017: A selective, dynamic, cross-domain, content-based analysis. Scientometrics, 115(1), 1-20.‏
  • Lu, Q., & Liu, N. (2015). Effects of e-commerce channel entry in a two-echelon supply chain: A comparative analysis of single-and dual-channel distribution systems. International Journal of Production Economics, 165, 100-111.
  • Manser Payne, E., Peltier, J. W., & Barger, V. A. (2017). Omni-channel marketing, integrated marketing communications and consumer engagement: A research agenda. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 11(2), 185-197.
  • Marchet, G., Melacini, M., Perotti, S., Rasini, M., & Tappia, E. (2018). Business logistics models in omni-channel: a classification framework and empirical analysis. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 439-464.
  • McBurney, M. K. & Novak, P. L. (2002). What is bibliometric and why should you care? In Proceedings of the Professional Communication Conference, 108-114.
  • McKercher, B. (2008). A citation analysis of tourism scholars. Tourism Management, 29, 1226-1232.
  • McKercher, B., Law, R., & Lam, T. (2006). Rating tourism and hospitality journals. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1235-1252.
  • Merigo, J. M., Mas-Tur, A., Roig-Tierno, N., & Ribeiro-Soriano, D. (2015). A bibliometric overview of the journal of business research between 1973 and 2014. Journal of Business Research, 68(12), 2645-2653.
  • Negrusa, A., Toader, V., Sofica, A., Tutunea, M., & Rus, R. (2015). Exploring gamification techniques and applications for sustainable tourism. Sustainability, 7(8), 11160-89.
  • Nusair, K., Butt, I., & Nikhashemi, S. R. (2019). A bibliometric analysis of social media in hospitality and tourism research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(7), 2691-2719.
  • Page, S. J. (2005). Academic ranking exercises: So they achieve anything meaningful? A personal view. Tourism Management, 26(5), 663-666.
  • Park, H. J., & Park, B. G. (2016). The analysis on the relationship among information search motivation, tourism omni-channel satisfaction and purchase intention in data technology age. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(40), 1-6.
  • Pearce, D. G., & Schott, C. (2005). Tourism distribution channels: The visitors’ perspective. Journal of Travel Research, 44(1), 50-63.‏
  • Pestana, M. H., Wang, W. C., & Parreira, A. (2020). Senior tourism–a scientometric review (1998-2017). Tourism Review, 75(4), 699-715.
  • Rasini, M., Marchet, G., Melacini, M., Perotti, S., & Tappia, E. (2018). Business logistics models in omni-channel: A classification framework and empirical analysis. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 439-464.
  • Rosenbaum, M. S., Otalora, M. L., & Ramírez, G. C. (2017). How to create a realistic customer journey map. Business Horizons, 60(1), 143-150.
  • Ruhanen, L., Moyle, C. L., & Moyle, B. (2019). New directions in sustainable tourism research. Tourism Review, 74(2), 138-149.
  • Ryan, C. (2005). The ranking and rating of academics and journals in tourism research. Tourism Management, 26, 657-662.
  • Saghiri, S. S., Bernon, M., Bourlakis, M., & Wilding, R. (2018). Omni-channel logistics special issue. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 362-364.
  • Saghiri, S., Wilding, R., Mena, C., & Bourlakis, M. (2017). Toward a three-dimensional framework for omni-channel. Journal of Business Research, 77, 53-67.
  • Sengupta, I. (1988). Three new bibliometric parameters and physiology periodicals. Annals of Library Science and Documentation, 35(3), 124-127.
  • Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2014). Visualizing bibliometric networks. In Measuring scholarly impact (pp. 285-320). Cham: Springer.
  • Van Raan, A. F. (2005). For your citations only? Hot topics in bibliometric analysis. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 3(1), 50-62.
  • Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: Introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174-181.
  • Verhoef, P. C., Neslin, S. A., & Vroomen, B. (2007). Multichannel customer management: Understanding the research-shopper phenomenon. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24(2), 129-148.
  • Vizcaino-Suárez, L. P., & Díaz-Carrión, I. A. (2019). Gender in tourism research: perspectives from Latin America. Tourism Review, 74(5), 1091-1103.
  • Vošner, H. B., Kokol, P., Bobek, S., Železnik, D., & Završnik, J. (2016). A bibliometric retrospective of the journal computers in human behavior (1991–2015). Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 46-58.
  • Wiener, M., Hoßbach, N., & Saunders, C. (2018). Omnichannel businesses in the publishing and retailing industries: Synergies and tensions between coexisting online and offline business models. Decision Support Systems, 109, 15-26.
  • Xu, F., Buhalis, D., & Weber, J. (2017). Serious games and the gamification of tourism. Tourism Management, 60, 244-256.
  • Zhu, Y., Cheng, M., Wang, J., Ma, L., & Jiang, R. (2019). The construction of home feeling by AirBNB guests in the sharing economy: A semantics perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 308-321.
  • Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational research methods, 18(3), 429-472.
Year 2022, , 387 - 403, 01.09.2022
https://doi.org/10.30519/ahtr.958114

Abstract

References

  • Avery, J., Steenburgh, T. J., Deighton, J., & Caravella, M. (2012). Adding bricks to clicks: Predicting the patterns of cross-channel elastic cities over time. Journal of Marketing, 76(3), 96-111.
  • Beck, N., & Rygl, D. (2015). Categorization of multiple channel retailing in multi-cross, and omni-channel retailing for retailers and retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 170-178.
  • Benckendorff, P., & Zehrer, A. (2013). A network analysis of tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, 121-149.
  • Berman, B., & Thelen, S. (2018). Planning and implementing an effective omnichannel marketing program. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 46(7), 598-614.
  • Buhalis, D. (2000). Relationships in the distribution channel of tourism: Conflicts between hoteliers and tour operators in the Mediterranean region. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 1(1), 113-139.
  • Buhalis, D., & Amaranggana, A. (2014). Smart Tourism Destinations. In Z. Xiang, & I. Tussyadiah, (eds), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Switzerland: Springer.
  • Chiang, W. Y. K. (2010). Product availability in competitive and cooperative dual-channel distribution with stock-out based substitution. European Journal of Operational Research, 200(1), 111-126.
  • Cobo, M. J., López-Herrera, A. G., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Herrera, F. (2011). Science mapping software tools: Review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(7), 1382-1402.
  • Coelho, F., Easingwood, C., & Coelho, A. (2003). Exploratory evidence of channel performance in single vs multiple channel strategies. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31(11), 561-573.
  • De Faultrier, B., Boulay, J., Feenstra, F., & Muzellec, L. (2014). Defining a retailer’s channel strategy applied to young consumers. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 42(11/12), 953-973.
  • Ding, Y., Chowdhury, G. G., & Foo, S. (2001). Bibliometric cartography of information retrieval research by using co-word analysis. Information Processing & Management, 37(6), 817-842.
  • Dorcic, J., Komsic, J., & Markovic, S. (2019). Mobile technologies and applications towards smart tourism–state of the art. Tourism Review, 74(1), 82-103.
  • Garcia, A., Linaza, M. T., Gutierrez, A., & Garcia, E. (2019). Gamified mobile experiences: Smart technologies for tourism destinations. Tourism Review, 74(1), 30-49.
  • Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179-188.
  • Hall, C. M. (2011). Publish and perish? Bibliometric analysis, journal ranking and the assessment of research quality in tourism. Tourism Management, 32(1), 16-27.
  • Jamal, T., Smith, B., & Watson, E. (2008). Ranking, rating, and scoring of tourism journals: Interdisciplinary challenges and innovations. Tourism Management, 29, 66-78.
  • Jiang, Y., Ritchie, B. W., & Benckendorff, P. (2019). Bibliometric visualisation: An application in tourism crisis and disaster management research. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(16), 1925-1957.
  • Johnson, A. G., & Samakovlis, I. (2019). A bibliometric analysis of knowledge development in smart tourism research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 10(4), 600-623.
  • Jørgensen, M. T. (2017). Reframing tourism distribution-activity theory and actor-network theory. Tourism Management, 62, 312-321.
  • Khasseh, A. A., Soosaraei, M., & Fakhar, M. (2016). Cluster analysis and mapping of iranian researchers in the field of parasitology: With an Emphasis on the Co-authoreship Indicators and h index. Iranian Journal of Medical Microbiology, 10(2), 63-74.
  • Koseoglu, M. A., Rahimi, R., Okumus, F., & Liu, J. (2016). Bibliometric studies in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 61, 180-198.
  • Kracht, J., & Wang, Y. (2010). Examining the tourism distribution channel: evolution and transformation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(5), 736-757.
  • Larke, R., Kilgour, M., & O’Connor, H. (2018). Build touchpoints and they will come: Transitioning to omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 465-483.
  • Law, R., Leung, R., Lo, A., Leung, D., & Fong, L. H. N. (2015). Distribution channel in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 431-452.
  • Leong, L. Y., Hew, T. S., Tan, G. W. H., Ooi, K. B., & Lee, V. H. (2020). Tourism research progress–a bibliometric analysis of tourism review publications. Tourism Review, 76(1), 1-26.
  • Leung, X. Y., Sun, J., & Bai, B. (2017). Bibliometrics of social media research: A co-citation and co-word analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 66, 35-45.
  • Li, K., Rollins, J., & Yan, E. (2018). Web of Science use in published research and review papers 1997–2017: A selective, dynamic, cross-domain, content-based analysis. Scientometrics, 115(1), 1-20.‏
  • Lu, Q., & Liu, N. (2015). Effects of e-commerce channel entry in a two-echelon supply chain: A comparative analysis of single-and dual-channel distribution systems. International Journal of Production Economics, 165, 100-111.
  • Manser Payne, E., Peltier, J. W., & Barger, V. A. (2017). Omni-channel marketing, integrated marketing communications and consumer engagement: A research agenda. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 11(2), 185-197.
  • Marchet, G., Melacini, M., Perotti, S., Rasini, M., & Tappia, E. (2018). Business logistics models in omni-channel: a classification framework and empirical analysis. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 439-464.
  • McBurney, M. K. & Novak, P. L. (2002). What is bibliometric and why should you care? In Proceedings of the Professional Communication Conference, 108-114.
  • McKercher, B. (2008). A citation analysis of tourism scholars. Tourism Management, 29, 1226-1232.
  • McKercher, B., Law, R., & Lam, T. (2006). Rating tourism and hospitality journals. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1235-1252.
  • Merigo, J. M., Mas-Tur, A., Roig-Tierno, N., & Ribeiro-Soriano, D. (2015). A bibliometric overview of the journal of business research between 1973 and 2014. Journal of Business Research, 68(12), 2645-2653.
  • Negrusa, A., Toader, V., Sofica, A., Tutunea, M., & Rus, R. (2015). Exploring gamification techniques and applications for sustainable tourism. Sustainability, 7(8), 11160-89.
  • Nusair, K., Butt, I., & Nikhashemi, S. R. (2019). A bibliometric analysis of social media in hospitality and tourism research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(7), 2691-2719.
  • Page, S. J. (2005). Academic ranking exercises: So they achieve anything meaningful? A personal view. Tourism Management, 26(5), 663-666.
  • Park, H. J., & Park, B. G. (2016). The analysis on the relationship among information search motivation, tourism omni-channel satisfaction and purchase intention in data technology age. Indian Journal of Science and Technology, 9(40), 1-6.
  • Pearce, D. G., & Schott, C. (2005). Tourism distribution channels: The visitors’ perspective. Journal of Travel Research, 44(1), 50-63.‏
  • Pestana, M. H., Wang, W. C., & Parreira, A. (2020). Senior tourism–a scientometric review (1998-2017). Tourism Review, 75(4), 699-715.
  • Rasini, M., Marchet, G., Melacini, M., Perotti, S., & Tappia, E. (2018). Business logistics models in omni-channel: A classification framework and empirical analysis. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 439-464.
  • Rosenbaum, M. S., Otalora, M. L., & Ramírez, G. C. (2017). How to create a realistic customer journey map. Business Horizons, 60(1), 143-150.
  • Ruhanen, L., Moyle, C. L., & Moyle, B. (2019). New directions in sustainable tourism research. Tourism Review, 74(2), 138-149.
  • Ryan, C. (2005). The ranking and rating of academics and journals in tourism research. Tourism Management, 26, 657-662.
  • Saghiri, S. S., Bernon, M., Bourlakis, M., & Wilding, R. (2018). Omni-channel logistics special issue. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 48(4), 362-364.
  • Saghiri, S., Wilding, R., Mena, C., & Bourlakis, M. (2017). Toward a three-dimensional framework for omni-channel. Journal of Business Research, 77, 53-67.
  • Sengupta, I. (1988). Three new bibliometric parameters and physiology periodicals. Annals of Library Science and Documentation, 35(3), 124-127.
  • Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2014). Visualizing bibliometric networks. In Measuring scholarly impact (pp. 285-320). Cham: Springer.
  • Van Raan, A. F. (2005). For your citations only? Hot topics in bibliometric analysis. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, 3(1), 50-62.
  • Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: Introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174-181.
  • Verhoef, P. C., Neslin, S. A., & Vroomen, B. (2007). Multichannel customer management: Understanding the research-shopper phenomenon. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24(2), 129-148.
  • Vizcaino-Suárez, L. P., & Díaz-Carrión, I. A. (2019). Gender in tourism research: perspectives from Latin America. Tourism Review, 74(5), 1091-1103.
  • Vošner, H. B., Kokol, P., Bobek, S., Železnik, D., & Završnik, J. (2016). A bibliometric retrospective of the journal computers in human behavior (1991–2015). Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 46-58.
  • Wiener, M., Hoßbach, N., & Saunders, C. (2018). Omnichannel businesses in the publishing and retailing industries: Synergies and tensions between coexisting online and offline business models. Decision Support Systems, 109, 15-26.
  • Xu, F., Buhalis, D., & Weber, J. (2017). Serious games and the gamification of tourism. Tourism Management, 60, 244-256.
  • Zhu, Y., Cheng, M., Wang, J., Ma, L., & Jiang, R. (2019). The construction of home feeling by AirBNB guests in the sharing economy: A semantics perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 75, 308-321.
  • Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational research methods, 18(3), 429-472.
There are 57 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Tourism (Other)
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Nima Soltani-nejad 0000-0001-6511-9262

Hamid Reza Irani 0000-0003-4103-9975

Morteza Soltani 0000-0002-6118-1672

Hamid Reza Yazdani This is me 0000-0002-5957-643X

Publication Date September 1, 2022
Submission Date June 27, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2022

Cite

APA Soltani-nejad, N., Irani, H. R., Soltani, M., Yazdani, H. R. (2022). Knowledge Development in Tourism Distribution Channels: From Single Channel to Omnichannel. Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research (AHTR), 10(3), 387-403. https://doi.org/10.30519/ahtr.958114


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