The Defence Strategy of Inbound Tour Operator Member of ASITA Bali in the Online Business Era Competition

Abstract

This research is to answer the concerns of the members of Association of Indonesia Tour Operators and Travel Agencies (ASITA) Bali about the presence of online travel agents that disrupt their business, which operates in the form of a platform and as well as a marketplace, such as: Agoda.com, Booking.com, and others. Concerns that eventually developed into discussions about how the inbound tour operator can stay alive continuously to emerge among ASITA members when they witnessed the phenomenon of cooperative relations between inbound tour operators and hotels which were indicated to provide far cheaper prices to online travel agents than the prices given to the inbound tour operators. This research was designed as deep interview period April – September 2019, which took place in Denpasar, Badung, Tanah Lot and Ubud-Bali. The data collection technique carried out was purposive  sampling by conducting in-depth interviews with 34 (thirty four) well experienced owner of inbound tour operators, the government officials (Bali Provincial Tourism Office, Denpasar Municipal Tourism Office and Badung Regency Tourism Office) and Bali tourism organizations, they are: PHRI (Indonesia Hotel & Restaurant Association), PAWIBA (Bali Tourism Transportation Association), PUTRI (Indonesia Tourism Attraction Organization), HPI (Indonesia Guide Association) and online travel agents. The analysis procedure uses the MICMAC analysis method, MACTOR analysis, and PROMETHEE analysis. This study concludes that the most influential factors that cause many inbound    tour operators to be inactive are: motivation, innovation, regulation, access and ICT. While the role of the government to maintain the inbound tour operator member of Asita Bali has little influence on the sustainability of the inbound tour operator member of ASITA Bali. In the context of the strategy for maintaining inbound tour operator in the online business era, are formulated through a Hybrid, Business as usual and Collaboration model. The new findings of this study is the Hybrid Model, which is a combination of business as usual and ICT (information, communication, technology).