Knowledge Management In Online Travel Agencies

Online travel agencies are described as a digital service for selling products related to travel, accommodation, activities, airline tickets, car rental or other services. Several companies in the tourism industry have adopted knowledge management as a way to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. Currently one can find little research that relates knowledge management to online travel agencies, which are an important part of the tourism industry. In general, knowledge management is the process of creating, sharing, using, and managing knowledge to increase productivity and efficiency in organizations. The purpose of this paper was to determine the relationship between knowledge management and online travel agencies. A literature review was conducted, with the purpose of defining a conceptual model that frames and relates the best practices of the knowledge management with online travel agencies, namely by sharing information and knowledge. As a result of this work it is found that strong leadership characteristics, supported by an organizational culture are the essential pillars in the effectiveness of knowledge management. From this work it was also possible to verify the importance of the use of knowledge management support technologies for the interaction between the different actors in the process. This article ends by presenting a model of knowledge management in online travel agencies. In the model of knowledge management in online travel agencies, some practices that contribute to the dissemination of knowledge in digital travel agencies are identified, according to what was analyzed and interpreted in the literature review performed.