Cybermediation in the tourism and travel industries

Travel and tourism are second only to pornography in adopting internet-based technologies to intermediate between those supplying the total travel experience and those seeking to satsify leisure needs by engaging in tourism. The Internet has encouraged customer self-service and an on-going debate regarding the future of traditional travel trade intermediaries. The intermediation debate suggests the emergence of 'hybrid' intermediation systems combining customer self-service with face-to-face customer contacts characteristic of traditonal travel agents.