Assessing Consumer Awareness Towards Online Travel Portals
Main Article Content
Abstract
The fast advancement of digital technology and internet penetration has altered the travel and tourism business, resulting in greater use of online travel portals (OTPs) for accommodation booking and travel-related services. The current study seeks to assess consumer awareness of online travel portals by looking at five key dimensions: awareness of online travel booking services, knowledge of digital promotions, awareness of loyalty benefits, awareness of monetary advantages, and consumer participation. A quantitative, descriptive research approach was used, with main data obtained via a structured questionnaire distributed to customers acquainted with online travel sites. A total of 532 valid responses were collected and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
The reliability investigation showed acceptable internal consistency, with Cronbach's Alpha values ranging from 0.801 to 0.858 and Composite Reliability (CR) values ranging from 0.883 to 0.904. The measuring instrument's validity was validated by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sample adequacy (0.981) and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (χ² = 6960.588, p < 0.001), showing that the data is suitable for factor analysis. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified a dominating factor with an eigenvalue of 11.05, accounting for 61.39% of the total variance, with communality values ranging from 0.691 to 0.817, indicating excellent construct validity.
The results show a reasonable level of consumer awareness across all dimensions, with mean scores ranging from 3.23 to 3.34 and standard deviations ranging from 1.240 to 1.304. Among the aspects, participation and loyalty rewards had somewhat greater levels of knowledge, while awareness of online trip booking services and monetary incentives remained relatively low. The study emphasizes the role of digital marketing, loyalty programs, and financial incentives in raising customer awareness and engagement. The findings help online travel businesses boost their marketing communication strategies and increase customer connection with digital travel platforms..