Original Scientific Article
Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
in Travel Agencies
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández
University of Holguin, Cuba
jorgeraulavilahdez@gmail.com
Nolberto Cruz Aguilera
University of Holguin, Cuba
nca790913@gmail.com
Félix Díaz Pompa
University of Holguin, Cuba
felixdp1978@gmail.com
Maja Borlinič Gačnik
University of Maribor, Slovenia
maja.borlinic@um.si
With the integration of ict in the distribution channels, the client is increasingly in-
dependent and autonomous in obtaining tourist services and products. The covid-
19 pandemic and global physical distancing policies reinforced this, detrimentally
for traditional travel agents, who have been forced to migrate totally or partially to
an online business model. However, working online is not enough since it is nec-
essary to have online collaboration strategies that facilitate the positioning of each
participant in a hostile competitive environment. The research is developed through
a bibliometric study, using the information obtained in the Scopus database to es-
tablish the state of knowledge about online collaboration in travel agencies. Various
Excel, Bibexcel, EndNote x20, Pajeck, SciMath, and vosviewer software were used
to analyse indicators and map bibliometric networks. The results show that the state
of cooperation between travel agencies as a factor of advantage in the new tourist en-
vironments is characterized by fierce competition and the strong impact of the digital
age, which constitute the main innovative contribution of the study. It is also deter-
mined that the research topic has not had high productivity in the database. Among
the main research gaps identified are online collaboration in traditional travel agen-
cies and the impacts of cooperation on customer perception and cybersecurity. The
study identifies the field’smost influential authors, journals, publications, key themes
and trends that have emerged over time. By identifying the critical success factors
and challenges of online collaboration in the travel industry, this study can help or-
ganizations to improve their collaboration practices.
Keywords: bibliometric analysis, online collaboration, Scopus, travel agency
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.16.329-344
Introduction
The tourism sector is generally immersed in a very
complex and dynamic operating environment due to
technological innovations, increased consumer de-
mand, intense competition, and distribution systems
changes attributable to technology development (Agu-
iar-Quintana et al., 2016; Ambrož & Omerzel, 2018).
For this reason, in the tourism sector, it is necessary
that all the actors constantly participate and, at the
same time, receive both primary and complementary
training to face the challenges imposed by the devel-
opment of new technologies (Mekinc et al., 2022).
The main reason behind this is that the tourism in-
dustry supports Internet-based distribution channels
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023 | 329
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
more, mainly due to the characteristics of the services
it generates: exhaustible and non-storable (Castillo-
Manzano & López-Valpuesta, 2010). With the ad-
vent of new technologies, consumer behaviour, travel
planning, and purchasing products and services have
also changed radically (Chang et al., 2018). With the
widespread use ofmediawith increasingly intuitive in-
terfaces, users generate and receive information in real
time. Each experience, fundamentally those associ-
atedwith tourism, leisure, and recreation, generates an
incredible volume of multimedia information, which
most users use as a pre-purchase evaluation criterion.
Considering the above and according to the profiles
and demand segments, we could speak of intelligent
tourists to the extent that they have more knowledge,
are more demanding, are connected, and share data
(Ivars Baidal et al., 2016).
Information and communication technologies have
indisputably been integrated into the tourism indus-
try. Traditional business models have changed sub-
stantially. As defined (Liang & Wang, 2011), ‘in terms
of its characteristics and models of services and con-
tent, the tourism industry is much more adaptable for
the online process.’ The development of these models
and their premature integration into tourist activity
led to entry into the era of electronic commerce (Guo
et al., 2014).
However, this development has undergone a lot of
modifications and has acquired actual shape in the
last 20 years (Liang & Wang, 2011), although it con-
stantly undergoes changes through the introduction
of new technologies such as the development of arti-
ficial intelligence (ai) in the so-called industrial revo-
lution 4.0 (Fedorko et al., 2022) and the introduction
of crypto-assets as a means of exchange (Aydoğan &
Aydemir, 2022).
Considering the above, it is easy to understand that
positioning itself in the online environment is a prior-
ity task for any tourism company. In this sense, it can
be said that for traditional intermediaries, it has been
quite tricky. The competition among these tourist ac-
tors is at a higher level. Technology has posed an enor-
mous challenge for the traditional forms of intermedi-
ation and promotion because its main strength lies in
the main weaknesses of these activities: the distance
to complete the acts of buying and selling, the greater
reach of the public and the reduction of costs for bro-
kerage concepts, which translates into more competi-
tive prices (Chang et al., 2018). New technology, there-
fore, constitutes one of the variables in the mandatory
care environment needed to attain the competitiveness
of any company in the environment in which it oper-
ates. In addition, ‘its future will depend on its correct
application in any business model’ (Aguiar-Quintana
et al., 2016; García & García, 2017).
Being such an essential link in the travel industry
has served well for travel agencies for more than 80
years. Initially, travel agencies were just brokers, paid
by airlines and other travel players to distribute their
products. The role of travel agencies in the tourism
industry has been influenced by the consolidation of
the sector and the advent of new technologies (Aguiar-
Quintana et al., 2016; Kutty & Melwin Joy, 2020).
Technology integration has generated new com-
petitors for travel agencies (Capriello & Riboldazzi,
2021), such as the classic integrated tour operators
that dominate their distribution channels. Tour op-
erators restructure their positioning strategies using
the Internet’s broad spectrum of tools. In this way,
they reach more customers who, through the online
medium, have access to millions of Internet possibili-
ties. The modern consumer has little free time to plan
all the details and review all possible offers, which is a
critical factor for companies. Among the main com-
petitors, we can mention the well-known web pages
selling tourist products and services, such as Expedia,
E-Dreams, Travelocity, and other online travel agen-
cies (otas). All these competitors have forced tradi-
tional intermediaries to move part of their business to
a virtual environment to remain competitive. In doing
this, new clients are not limited to making a simple
reservation by phone. Instead, they can use extensive
resources and e-tools to opt for services and products
with a level of personalization which cannot be found
otherwise: consult user opinions, compare prices, and
find more information regarding the selected destina-
tion (Mendoza García, 2018).
According to Slusarczyk et al. (2016), it is not eno-
ugh for intermediaries to develop the marketing of
their offers online since, in this environment, compe-
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
tition is even fiercer. At this point, these actors must
adopt online collaboration strategies to form multi-
ple market networks (Liang & Wang, 2011), which al-
lows them to take full advantage of the Internet phe-
nomenon. This will give each of the actors in the col-
laboration competitive advantages in the face of envi-
ronmental changes.
Most travel agents around the globe understand the
importance of cooperation, which is why they develop
competitive and cooperative relationships with their
counterparts in search of improving the development
performance of their products (Ku et al., 2013). With
this in mind, they need to know their positions and
roles in the industrial network.
Analogous competitors may share the market and
temporarily group customers to organize tour groups
(Chang, 2020). There is no doubt that this horizontal
collaboration is vital for the competitiveness of travel
agencies since the changing market of the travel in-
dustry requires strategic formulation based on feed-
back where collective knowledge is the central repos-
itory in which all beneficiaries of the alliance sup-
port themselves. However, collaboration with other
tourism players is vital for the correct functionality
of the travel agency, its existence, and online business
model, whose heart is the website. Regarding the first
criterion, Aguiar-Quintana et al. (2016) note that: ‘the
intermediary role of a travel agent requires a high de-
gree of communication and cooperation between con-
sumer and provider;’ this element can be observed in
the fundamental participation of dissimilar actors in
the creation of tourist packages.
The collaboration and formation of strategic al-
liances have been concepts widely studied, and from
different points of view. According to researchers such
as Marisol (2019), it is the process of combining ef-
forts, resources, and talents in the achievement of
a joint project, which among other benefits, allows
the achievement of competitive advantages (Ramírez
Orozco & Valencia, 2019; Išoraitė, 2009) from the
balance of collective objectives over individual ones
(Kazakova et al., 2018). Among the aforementioned
competitive advantages is the establishment of a bet-
ter preparedness to face the insecurities of the environ-
ment in the business sector imposed by globalization
(Išoraitė, 2009). It is also essential for solving prob-
lems for small and medium-sized companies (Mora
Castellanos et al., 2019), investment sharing, resources
(Hernández Leal et al., 2019), risks, knowledge, and
the possibility of entering new markets and reducing
costs.
Themain differentiating element of this traditional
type of collaboration is the use of technological tools
applied to these forms of cooperation. These tools are
presented to tourism businesses as platforms to join
efforts in the marketing process in the online environ-
ment (Abou-Shouk, 2022).
The advantages offered by this type of collabora-
tion, specifically in the network in which the travel
agency operates, are: reduction of costs for online op-
erations; integrated digital marketing actions, access
to new market segments offered by the integration of
technologies; improvements in knowledge manage-
ment applicable to the measurement of consumer be-
haviour; the creation of onlinemanagement platforms
that standardize operational communication between
each of the actors in the collaboration network; as well
as the advantages stated above of traditional forms of
collaboration.
Virtual collaboration relationships in travel agen-
cies can be summarized in two fundamental aspects,
‘Business-Business’ (b2b) and ‘Business-Consumer’
(b2c) relationships. In the b2b e-commerce of the
travel market, the wholesaler can develop virtual dy-
namic transaction platforms where buyers and sup-
pliers are brought together. From the point of view of
value chains, to be more efficient, a b2b collaboration
model enables travel agencies to improve performance
with the offer of electronic services (Huang, 2006).
As in traditional forms of collaboration, the rela-
tionships that can be established horizontally and ver-
tically are considered; however, this new medium has
generated a unique factor to consider, which is vital
for a travel agency and any online business – the con-
sumer. A satisfied customer acts as a powerful ally who
will unwittingly serve as a promoter because of the
mass feedback they generate about everything they
experience. For this reason, a second collaboration
model, b2c, focused on the consumer, is necessary
(Anas &Wee, 2020).
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
The integration of Information and Communica-
tion Technologies in the collaboration networks of the
tourism system, specifically those with which tourism
intermediaries interact, has not been deeply studied.
This is because it constitutes an emerging topic in the
scientific literature closely linked to the development
of Information andCommunicationTechnologies and
its integration into the tourism industry, specifically
the travel industry.
The paper uses bibliometrics (Kresic & Gjurasic,
2023; Demir & Zečević, 2022), an analytical tool for
identifying the established online cooperation of travel
agencies as a factor of advantage in newer tourism en-
vironments characterized by modern ict tools. The
scientific questions that will focus the research process
toward the achievement of its general objective are as
follows:
• Has the topic investigated been productive?
• Howupdated is the bibliography available in Sco-
pus?
• Are there authors and impact scientific journals
that have systematized research to date?
• Who/which are the authors, journals, and docu-
ments with the greatest impact?
• How has authorial collaboration behaved?
• What are the main thematic lines the research
topic has moved through?
• What are the main research gaps?
Methodology
A methodology composed of logical steps that con-
stitute the common thread for developing the biblio-
metric analysis was used. It starts with selecting the
terms to build the search equation for publications
on online collaboration in travel agencies. The equa-
tion is defined as follows: ‘travel agency’ and (Col-
laboration or Coopetition or Alliance) and (On-
line or e-commerce or electronic commerce). The
articles indexed in the Elsevier Scopus database were
selected, coinciding with the criteria of Codina et
al. (2020), considering that it constitutes one of the
databases with the most significant impact on the so-
cial sciences (in 2020, this database had a represen-
tative coverage with 38,589 scientific journals in all
Figure 1 Methodology System for the Development
of the Bibliometric Study
research areas). The data is exported in ris and csv
files. Subsequently, these outputs are normalized using
the EndNote x20 software. 0 positives and duplicates
are recorded, so a total of 25 articles obtained from
the Scopus database that meet the search criteria are
documented. Bibliometrics has a quantitative charac-
ter based on the analysis of productivity and citations,
and qualitative based on the state-of-the-art mapping
and the study of social networks. Figure 1 shows the
aforementionedmethodological framework of our re-
search.
A set of three bibliometrics was detected (Table 1),
whose objective is to know the behaviour of the scien-
tific literature on collaboration in the tourism sector
(Ávila-Hernández et al., 2022; Chim-Miki & Batista-
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Table 1 A Set of Three Bibliometrics
Category Chim-Miki and Batista-
Canino ()
Cruz Aguilera et al.
()
Ávila Hernández et al.
()
Procedure for development of bibliometrics Yes Yes Yes
Database Scopus and wos wos Dimensions
Study period – – –
Systematic Literature Review (slr) Yes Yes Yes
Methodology for slr No No No
Bibliometric
indicators
Productivity Per Time × × ×
Per Author × × ×
Per Country ×
Per Affiliation ×
Per Journal × ×
Citations Per Authors × ×
Per Institutions ×
Per Journals ×
Per Documents × ×
Per Countries × ×
Thematic Index
Scientific Index
Recency Price ×
References usefulness ×
Half-life ×
Age of references ×
Impact Authors H-index
Journals H-index
G Index
Bradford Law
Network Co-authorship ×
Co-citation
Co-occurrence
Citation ×
Maps Time
Word Clouds
Strategic map
Tree map
Dendrogram
Canino, 2017; Cruz Aguilera et al., 2018). For this rea-
son, even though their field of research is broader, they
are taken as a precedent.
As previously mentioned, the indicators and other
elements of analysis are declared based on the scien-
tific questions (Table 2). This corresponds to the final
phase of the procedure and is fundamentally aligned
with the general research strategy.
Further, a literature review is developed to deter-
mine trends and future research gaps to complement
the analysis of the strategic framework. This is guided
by the prisma (Preferred Reporting Items for Sys-
tematics Reviews andMeta-analysis) protocol (Moher
et al., 2009). This analysis has four phases:
1. Identification
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Table 2 A Set of Scientific Questions
Scientific questions Analysis unit Software
Has the subject been extensively studied? Productivity per year Bibexcel and Excel
Are there authors and impact scientific journals that have
systematized research to date?
Productivity per author
Most frequent magazines
Bibexcel and Excel
How up-to-date is the bibliography available in Scopus? Price Index Bibexcel and Excel
Who/which are the authors, journals and documents
with the greatest impact?
Price Index
Citations per authors
Citations per documents
H Index per author
Bibexcel and excel
How has authorial collaboration behaved? Collaboration between
authors (map)
Collaboration between
countries (map)
Bibexcel, Excel, ucinet , Net-
Graph, Pajeck, Vos Viewer
What are the main thematic lines through which the
research topic has moved?
Strategic chart SciMat
What are the main research gaps? Strategic chart
Systematic Literature review
SciMat
2. Presentation
3. Eligibility
4. Inclusion
The method proposes the consecutive and gradual
application of exclusion criteria in each phase. In the
first instance, during identification, articles are usu-
ally excluded through false positive and duplicate cri-
teria. In the second phase, quality exclusion criteria
are introduced, such as detailed information on the
methods used or the results obtained. The appropri-
ate design of the study and the quality of the jour-
nals in which they are housed is the third phase. In
its last phase, the articles whose content will be com-
pletely analysed are defined, resulting from the exclu-
sion in the eligibility phase. The exclusion criteria of
this phase consist of the total review of the content and
the elimination of articles whose basic focus is not the
analysis of online collaboration in travel agencies.
The bibliographic review details the selection pro-
cess of clinical articles to be analysed and theworkflow.
prisma is used to determine trends and future
research gaps, as defined in the materials and meth-
ods section. The workflow is detailed in Figure 2. The
first phase of this procedure coincides with the search
process and filtering of search results carried out in
the bibliometric analysis, so the number of articles re-
mains unchanged (n = 25).
Results
Bibliometric Indicators
Productivity per Year
Although collaboration between competitors is awide-
ly studied topic in industry areas, it has not had the
same follow-up in the travel and leisure industry
(Chim-Miki & Batista-Canino, 2017). For this rea-
son, it can be stated that online collaboration between
travel agents to achieve common objectives regarding
the management of electronic commerce is a novel
subject, as the first article was only published in 2001.
It is also necessary to consider that the development
of this theme is conditioned by technological innova-
tions and the degree of integration of these into tradi-
tional tourism distribution channels.
Figure 3 shows an increasing trend from the date
of the first publication. It is observed that until the
year 2022, only 25 publications related to the research
topic have been registered in the database. The anal-
334 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Records identi-
fied through data-
base search: Scopus
(n= 25)
Records removed:
duplicates (n=0),
false records (n=0)
Records screened
(n= . . .)
Records excluded
after quality
assessment (n= . . .)
Full text assessed for
eligibility (n= . . .)
Excluded irrelevant
articles based on full
texts (n= . . .)
Studies included in
review (n= . . .)
Id
en
ti
fic
at
io
n
Sc
re
en
in
g
El
ig
ib
ili
ty
In
cl
ud
ed
Figure 2 prisma protocol
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022
y = 0.09664x + 0.8952, R2 = 0.1502
Figure 3 Analysis of Productivity per Year
ysis of Figure 3 shows that despite the importance of
the research topic, it did not have the development that
would be expected if it were compared with other re-
search topics, at least in this database.
Almost half of the investigations have been pub-
lished in the last five years. Eleven of the 25 are grouped
within the period 2017–2022, meaning that the bibli-
ography available to continue with this line of research
has a topicality rate of 44.
Authorship Analysis
Table 3 shows compliancewith the generalization dem-
onstrated by Lotka’s law in that at least 60 of the au-
thors of a research field make a single contribution in
Table 3 Analysis of Productivity and Systematicity of the
Authors
Authors () () ()
Guo, X.; Ling, L.   .
Rose, A. N. M.; Ozdemir, O.; Neysen,
N.; Pastor-Ruiz, R.; Rivera-García,
J.; Hsu, L.; Ozturk, A. B.; Leung, R.;
Kizildag, M.; Knudsen, D.-R.; Huang,
C.-C.; Kot, S.; Beldona, S.; Lan, Y.-
C.; Belleflamme, P.; Barnett, M.; Ji, J.;
Bourmistrov, A.; Ghanem, W. A. H.
M.; Fan, Y. W.; Kaarbøe, K.; Lan, Y.-
C.; Fernandez-Villaran, A.; Kurth, B.
L.; Liang, Z.; Nayar, A.; Mody, M. A.;
Huang, L.; Lin, C.-N.; Adi, S.; Saany,
S. I. A.; Yang, L.; Yan, H.-L.; Yeh, C.-
C.; Zheng, X.; Zhang, T.; Yusoff, M. H.;
Xiong, H.; Smolag, K.; Slusarczyk, B.;
Shen, C.-C.; Standing, C.; Wang, S.;
Tekin Bilbil, E.; Gao, Z.; Abou-Shouk,
M. A.; Starosta, K. D.; Ku, E. C. S.;
Ching, R. K. H.; Chen, K.; Chen, J.-S.;
Chen, J.-S.; Compart, A.; Dogru, T.;
Dogru, T.; Delgado-Ballester, E.; Budz,
S.; Altin, M.; Hui, A. C.; Hernández-
Espallardo, M.
  .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) number of sig-
natures, (2) number of authors, (3) productivity index.
the period. At the same time, as the number of contri-
butions from a single author increases, the number of
authors with that number of publications decreases. It
can be calculated using the formula:
xnyx = c, (1)
where yx is the number of accredited authors with x
number of publications, n and c are the constants that
need to be estimated (Antoinette Askew, 2008).
Based on the previous analysis focused on the
number of authors, the equation that follows the pre-
cepts of Lotka’s Law is related, but that focuses on the
classification of productivity. From the analysis it is
obtained that only 3.22 of the authors have a produc-
tivity index of 0.33, and the remaining 96.78 have
only one publication, so their productivity index is
zero. Therefore, no author can be considered prolific,
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Table 4 Most Cited Authors
Authors References Authors References
Huang, L.  Kizildag, M. 
Delgado-Ballester, E.  Mody, M. A. 
Hernández-Espal., M.  Ozdemir, O. 
Guo, X.  Ozturk, A. B. 
Ling, L.  Zhang, T. 
Yang, C.  Kot, S. 
Zheng, X.  Slusarczyk, B. 
Barnett, M.  Smolag, K. 
Standing, C.  Fan, Y. W. 
Altin, M.  Ku, E. C. S. 
Dogru, T. 
not equalling or exceeding ten publications (Table 3).
The Lotka productivity index is calculated through the
relationship: Ip = log 10n (Cruz Aguilera et al., 2018).
The low productivity values may be due to the
high-quality standards required by the journals in-
dexed in the database. Only two authors exceed a sin-
gle publication: Guo, X. and Ling, L.
TheMost Cited Authors and h-Index
Once themost prolific authors have been analysed, lo-
cal authors (authors appearing in the research refer-
ences and in the list of researchers who have published
on the subject) are analysed.
As shown in Table 4, Guo, X., and Ling, L. are
among themost cited authors, with 51 references each,
divided between their two publications on the subject.
Although having only a single publication, Huang,
L., receives 54 citations for a single work; Delgado-
Ballester (50), Hernández-Espallardo,M. (50); Zheng,
X. (43); Yang C. (43); Barnett, M. (40) and Standing,
C. (40) also equal or exceed the 40 citations received.
Table 5 shows the relationship between the h-index
and the number of citations. Local authors with 40 or
more received quotations are selected. The h-index is a
quality indicator that relates the number of sources to
the author’s productivity. Guo, X. and Ling, L. are es-
sential authors on the quality of scientific production
regarding the research topic.
Table 5 H-Index
H-index/authors Citations H-index/authors Citations
 Huang, L.   Yang, C. 
 Guo, X.   Zheng, X. 
 Ling, L.   Standing, C. 
 Delgado-Ballester, E.   Barnett, M. 
 Hernández-Espal., M.    authors >
Collaboration Between Authors
This indicator makes it possible to measure the extent
of the collaboration between the actors in developing
research topics. The collaboration index, which results
from the ratio between apparent signatures and the
number of articles (Cruz Aguilera et al., 2018), is 2.51,
which is equivalent to an average of almost three au-
thors per article. Decomposing this result, it is deter-
mined that collaborative investigations predominate
since they represent 80 of all studies and over 20
of inquiries done by one author. Figure 4 presents the
collaboration network between authors.
Productivity by Country, International Authorial
Collaboration
The analysis of this indicator (productivity by coun-
try, international authorial collaboration) determines
that more than 50 of the research comes from Asian
universities, which is presented in Figure 5.
Taiwan has the highest number of contributions in
this regard (see Figure 6), with six studies on the re-
search topic. This is due to the environmental condi-
tions that are better for establishing strategic alliances,
the growing number of small business travel agencies,
and the pressure that e-commerce imposes in such a
competitive industry, as expressed by Huang (2006).
Next is China with five studies, the United States with
three, Spain andAustralia with two, and the remaining
countries with only one study.
When analysing collaborations between authors, it
can be seen that relationships between authors from
the same country predominate. Only Taiwan registers
international associations with the United States and
Australia.
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Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Figure 4
Collaboration Network
between Authors
Taiwan () .
China () .
usa () .
Australia () .
Norway () .
Belgium () .
Poland () .
Romania () .
Turkey () .
Malaysia () .
Indonesia () .
Figure 5 Representation Map of the Distribution
of Investigations
Figure 6 Collaboration Network by Country
TheMost Cited Documents
The most important document regarding the level of
citations they have received (over 50 sources) are the
articles by Huang (2006) with the title: ‘Building up
a b2b e-commerce strategic alliance model under an
uncertain environment for Taiwan’s travel agencies,’
Delgado-Ballester and Hernández-Espallardo (2008):
‘Building online brands through brand alliances in the
internet,’ and Guo et al. (2014): ‘Online coopetition
between hotels and online travel agencies: From the
perspective of cash back after stay.’
The first investigation starts from the decomposi-
tion of the theory of strategic alliances in four dimen-
sions with a specific order:
1. the environmental conditions for the establish-
ment of partnerships,
2. the inter-organizational motivation,
3. the selection of the collaborators, and
4. the evaluation of the performance of the strategic
alliances.
Subsequently, Guo et al. (2014) determine the vari-
ables that fall within the dimensions previously de-
fined in the context of Taiwan, based on a set of surveys
focused on general travel agencies, tour operators, and
Internet Service Providers (isps). These variableswere
used to establish the b2b model in the travel agencies
of the destination.
The research byDelgado-Ballester andHernández-
Espallardo (2008) focuses on brand alliances. Specif-
ically, it addresses the effect that the online purchase
of a product from a new agency that has developed a
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023 | 337
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
Table 6 Most Cited Documents
Authors Citations
Huang () 
Delgado-Ballester et al. () 
Guo et al. () 
Barnett and Standing () 
Kizildag et al. () 
Slusarczyk et al. () 
Ku and Wen Fan () 
collaboration with another well-known agency with
a brand reputation has on the consumer’s perception.
The novelty of the research is that this topic had tradi-
tionally been studied in the online context.
The study conducted by Guo et al. (2014) values
the collaboration established between hotels and on-
line travel agencies to distribute rooms in the same
hotel. The pricing policies of both actors are analysed,
with the result that, as part of the alliance, online dis-
tribution was agreed upon through both channels at
the same price. However, due to the guarantee of ob-
taining rooms, clients prefer to purchase directly with
the hotel. For this reason, the otas have defined a
new pricing strategy: paying a percentage (cash back
after stay) to customers who buy through the post-use
platform, intending to attract consumers. The research
objective is to evaluate consumer behaviour through
an economic game analysis. Within Table 6 we can
check seven of the most cited documents according to
research in the area of online collaboration in travel
agencies.
TheMost Productive Journals
A total of 24 journals have indexed the 25 publications
on the research topic, which are presented in Table
7. Among the related journals, only the International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management sur-
passes a single article.
The Thematic Structure of Online Collaboration Between
Travel Agencies and Research Opportunities
Figure 7 shows a strategic diagram resulting from pro-
cessing the authors’ keywords and the words defined
Table 7 The Most Productive Journals
Journal Articles
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management

Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management 
Journal of the Operations Research Society of China 
International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous
Engineering

Total Quality Management and Business Excellence 
Tourism Management 
Tourism Management Perspectives 
Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 
Journal of Vacation Marketing 
Technological Forecasting and Social Change 
Actual Problems of Economics 
Advances in Tourism Economics: New Developments 
Figure 7
Strategic
Chart
by the sources (index keywords) through SciMat. The
strategic framework distributes the different thematic
groups into four quadrants that delimit the axes of cen-
trality (x) and density (y). Each labelled globe consti-
tutes the central node of particular networks in which
other thematic axes are related, in this case, based on
conglomeration algorithms. The distribution is de-
fined as follows:
• First quartile (>x/2; <y/2): Specialized topics
• Second quartile (<x/2; <y/2): Motor themes
• Third quartile (<x/2; >y/2): Basic issues
338 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
• Fourth quartile (>x/2; >y/2): Emerging or disap-
pearing themes
In quadrant ii we can detect the motor themes
within the thematic line of study, which are much
more easily related to other fields of knowledge (Díaz-
Pompa et al., 2022). Within this quadrant are ‘Book-
ing.com,’ air transport, business information technol-
ogy, complementary products, demand model, net-
work analysis, and business processes.
The essential underdeveloped topics in the third
quadrant constitute research opportunities. Delimited
by this quadrant are traditional travel agencies, com-
petition, social networks, competitive advantages, and
competitiveness.
Other elements such as environmental changes,
economic and social effects, demandmodels, business
models, brand equity, and digitization constitute the
peripheral issues since they present trivial importance
for the research field. These are in the first quadrant.
Finally, there are electronic commerce, online trav-
el agencies, relationship management, distribution
channels, blockchain technology, online booking, and
collaborative marketing. These are emerging or disap-
pearing topics, which, if classified as the first group,
constitute a potential study gap.
In Figure 7, it can be seen that the transversal
themes located in the third quadrant, more than ba-
sic themes, are evidenced as the original themes of
the selected field of research and constitute the trigger
for the need for their study. The reason is that tradi-
tional travel agencies with their respective distribu-
tion channels are entering an increasingly competitive
market heavily dependent on technology. Therefore,
they need to focus their strategies on using the nu-
merous and changing tools provided by the Internet
to achieve competitive advantages in commercializ-
ing the services and products they offer, compared to
millions of competitors in the networks, through col-
laborative ties, but in the online medium.
Online collaboration relationships are studied be-
tween the same traditional travel agencies (Barnett
& Standing, 2001; Delgado-Ballester & Hernández-
Espallardo, 2008; Huang, 2006), and between travel
agencies and other actors within the tourism system
(Abou-Shouk, 2022). Barnett and Standing (2001) see
online collaboration as a massive opportunity in the
face of the growing disintermediation trends faced by
traditional travel agencies. It also reports other advan-
tages of this type of collaboration.We should consider
that it is necessary to adopt online media and chan-
nels to carry out marketing. It turns out that the in-
vestment for developing web pages in travel agencies
is not high when compared to traditional ways of revi-
talizing their products and services. The authors note,
among other things, that online collaboration between
traditional travel agencies can improve competitive-
ness in the market, can increase customer satisfaction
and loyalty and efficiency, and reduce costs, leading to
increased competition and reduced profitability.
Electronic commerce gives even more dynamism
to the environment of tourist activity; therefore, ignor-
ing or underusing the new tools places any tourism
company at a clear competitive disadvantage. That is
why the competitive space of the tourism industry,
specifically the travel industry, is undeniably condi-
tioned by the development of icts. For the year 2011,
according to Liang and Wang (2011), there was an in-
crease in the number of small andmedium-sized travel
agencies, which were characterized by the develop-
ment of their e-commerce model, the lag in the use of
online marketing, and underdevelopment of informa-
tion and lack of understanding of the connection at
the enterprise level.
This lag and the underutilization of the competitive
advantages offered by the online medium took its toll
on many tourist intermediaries. However, it should
be noted that travel agencies with a particular market
niche have not been so affected (Rodríguez Cid et al.,
2015).
External factors such as the development of the
covid-19 pandemic, economic crisis, and inflation at
a global level further increased the instability of the
environment in which the tourism system develops in
travel agencies and further accelerated the paradigm
imposed by the new technologies (Hernández Flores
et al., 2021).
The truth is that all these external factors are a re-
minder that the integration of technology in each of
the areas of the business models of tourism companies
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023 | 339
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
is not just a trend but rather a necessity, as defined by
Hosteltur (2022), and clarifies the undeniable need for
digitization for travel agencies through e-commerce
platforms such as Traveltool that allow, among other
things, omnichannel, visibility and presence on the in-
ternet, crm for customer management and portfolio
control, and improved knowledge management.
Sadly, the mere involvement of travel agencies in
the online environment does not guarantee their suc-
cess at all; it is necessary to go further based on for-
ward-looking strategies that take into account new
forms of closer cooperationwith service providers and
competing agencies in search of reduced costs for op-
erations, combine efforts in co-marketing campaigns
that expand potential markets, and build strong in-
formation channels that also make it possible to im-
prove knowledge management, among other benefits.
As Barnett and Standing (2001, p. 143) state in their ar-
ticle ‘Repositioning travel agencies on the Internet:’ ‘A
rapidly changing business environment, driven largely
by the Internet, requires companies to rapidly develop
new affiliations and alliances.’
Another of the models analysed by the authors is
that of co-alliance. It focuses on collaborative design,
engineering, or providing electronic support between
companies. This type of cooperation shows the advan-
tages and opportunities that the web offers. A group
of agencies can form consortiums and generate more
effective transactions for the network. Alliance mem-
bers would otherwise remain independent. However,
they share costs, web development, maintenance, and
promotion. Other models are analysed, such as star
alliances, value alliances, marketing partnerships, and
virtual corridors.
Huang (2006) not only shows the opportunities of
strategic alliances between travel agencies to improve
tourism competitiveness considering the changing en-
vironment; rather, he shows the value of the relation-
ship established between intermediaries and differ-
ent service providers to grant reciprocal added value
to their goods and services through the b2b online
business approach. An online b2b transaction mech-
anism is built on a platform capable of finding themost
like-minded partners, establishing ties upstream with
suppliers and downstream with distributors and retail
agencies to reduce costs. Among the benefits of this
type of alliance that the author shows are:
1. Transaction costs decrease for both parties when
they are automated or partially online;
2. The convenience of consumers is increased thro-
ugh the decrease in the insufficiencies of tourist
products and the reduction of search costs;
3. Sales expenses, marketing, and consumer service
costs go down;
4. The efficiency of internal operations is greatly
improved through electronic commerce infor-
mation transfers;
5. The response of the market information is faster,
and the feedback on the service received is ac-
celerated through Efficient Consumer Response
(ecr).
Professor Leo Huang’s study (2006) suggests that
it is essential for travel agencies to consider a set of
elements to develop the strategic alliance of b2b elec-
tronic commerce. In conditions of environmental in-
security, travel agencies venture into strategic partner-
ships with other organizations to ensure the acqui-
sition of rare market resources. In addition, to seize
new resources through alliances, they must incorpo-
rate electronic distribution channels in real time to
reduce costs per distribution and take control of per-
formance. This can only be achieved through this type
of collaboration.
The b2b alliance makes it possible to create a net-
work in which each of its parts responds simultane-
ously to the most specific needs of the consumer and,
therefore, improves their competitiveness.
Finally, control is essential in all processes, and the
measurement of the performance of collaboration net-
works is no exception. Therefore the ‘culture of collab-
oration is a fundamental factor’ (Huang, 2006, p. 1319).
The central research gap that the professor leaves is
that this analysis starts with the travel agencies in Tai-
wan and ends with these agencies. Hence, it is neces-
sary to know to what level the dimensions, variables,
and results can be generalized and shown in this re-
search.
As stated above, collaboration helps improve the
competitiveness of entities and networks of entities.
340 | Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
However, in virtualization, the question arises of per-
suading the client to turn to the agency managed
over the competition. In this sense, Delgado-Ballester
and Hernández-Espallardo (2008) analyse one of the
aspects of the theory of alliances: the effect of co-
branding to persuade the consumer. Specifically, it
evaluates the impact of this collaboration in the client’s
mind between agencies of prestigious brands and un-
known e-brands.
One of the primary factors for a particular con-
sumer to opt for a specific online business is largely
loyalty; therefore, the attitudes that materialize be-
haviour toward online brands can be analysed through
this point. For this reason, the brand alliance between
a travel agency whose brand is not recognized with
another who has a reputation constitutes a market-
ing opportunity for the former (Delgado-Ballester
& Hernández-Espallardo, 2008). An efficient brand-
building strategy consists of both brand-building fac-
tors, such as the website, and external third-party fac-
tors, such as alliances with well-known brand agen-
cies, since both factors act positively on brand trust
and consequently on fairness and on the consumer’s
willingness to behave favourably.
Up to the time of this study, brand alliances were
only analysed from the offline perspective of busi-
nesses. Therefore, unlike this type of alliance outside
the networks, web pages are the fundamental factor in
the online environment. They generate positive per-
ceptions of brands and help the online brand to dif-
ferentiate itself from competitors and provide added
value to consumers.
Regardingwhat is behind the collaboration, Delga-
do-Ballester and Hernández-Espallardo (2008) con-
sider a set of implications at the management level.
The brand’s reputation must be considered while cho-
osing the partners, and the final product’s coherence
results from integrating the offerings. In addition,
due to the benefits these relationships can provide,
it is understandable that they want to place the well-
positioned brand in a prominent location on web
pages to make the connections between their brands
and other reputable ones visible. Theoretical results
of that research suggest that relationships with parties
outside the organization’s boundaries may become a
perfect way to access critical resources of small and
new intercompany unions, especially in internet or-
ganizations, where they act as ratifiers that influence
the perception of the quality of young organizations
when quality measures are ambiguous or do not exist.
Delgado-Ballester and Hernández-Espallardo (2008)
pave the way for future research that stems from the
limitation of the analysis of a single web page. For this
reason, they propose replicating these results under
different conditions. They also urge the study of other
types of co-brand alliances.
Discussions
The study contributes to the existing literature by ex-
amining the integration of ict in the distribution
channels of travel agencies. It sheds light on how this
integration affects the independence and autonomy
of customers in obtaining tourism services and prod-
ucts. This theoretical contribution helps to improve
the understanding of the changing dynamics between
travel agencies and customers in the digital age. The
study explores the state of online collaboration in
travel agencies and highlights its importance in a hos-
tile competitive environment. Researching the topic
through a bibliometric study contributes to theoretical
knowledge about the role and impact of cooperation
in the travel industry. This analysis provides insight
into the current state of travel agency collaboration
and provides a basis for further research and theoreti-
cal development.
The investigations into travel agency alliances have
developed a coherent methodological evolution with
certain similarities that can be grouped into thematic
axes. One thematic axis, the base thematic axis (Bar-
nett & Standing, 2001; Huang, 2006), starts from dis-
intermediation trends and the consequent search for
competitiveness by travel agencies and the insecurities
of the environment to establish alliances, respectively.
Another thematic axis focuses on the consumer (Kua
& Wen Fan, 2009; Delgado-Ballester & Hernández-
Espallardo, 2008) and is generated by the need to anal-
yse the motivation of the parties to share information
between the parties of the alliance to obtain a better
relationship with the client and to measure the im-
pact of co-branding-type collaboration between agen-
Academica Turistica, Year 16, No. 3, December 2023 | 341
Jorge Raúl Avilas Hernández et al. Bibliometric Analysis of Online Collaboration
cies, respectively. A third thematic axis focuses on the
value chain (product) (Guo et al., 2014; Slusarczyk et
al., 2016), specifically on the product, and is gener-
ated by the behaviour of the parties involved within
the value chain and the changes in its precepts due to
the advent of new technologies.
Finally, there is a thematic axis focused on security
(Kizildag et al., 2019), which is based on the need for
the new distribution channels to have the same trans-
parency as the previous ones. This is where the issue
of the security protocol provided by the blockchain
arises from eliminating intermediaries for the devel-
opment of transactions. This last element is an emerg-
ing topic with enormous potential in the new online
value chains and their players.
According to the research findings, the study has
practical implications, especially for travel agencies
that want to succeed in the digital age. By revealing
competition and the powerful impact of the digital
age on collaboration within the industry, the research
helps agencies understand the challenges they face
and the need for effective online collaboration strate-
gies. This practical input can guide agencies in devel-
oping and implementing collaborative practices that
strengthen their market position.
The scope of the Scopus database limits this study,
as it may not cover all relevant publications in the
field. Furthermore, bibliometric analysis may over-
look some qualitative aspects of online collaboration
that could provide deeper insights.
Conclusions
The development of this research allows us to con-
clude that online collaboration in travel agencies is an
emerging topic in the scientific literature conditioned
by the development of information technologies. Only
25 articles were totally or partially related to the topic
analysed. Despite the few investigations, there is a
growing trend, especially between 2020 and 2021, due
to the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, raising the
need for research on its, crisis, and tourism.
The most critical authors, Guo et al. (2014), only
present twopublications on the subject; however, these
investigations have had an impact, with 51 local refer-
ences for a quality index (h-index) of 2. Within the
subject of study, these two authors have dedicated
themselves to a pretty specific topic: ‘Coopetition be-
tween hotels and online travel agencies when they de-
velop cash back.’ On the other hand, only the Inter-
national Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Manage-
ment presents more than one publication.
The systematic review of the literature showed that
the four levels of integration of the most research-
developed literature regarding online collaboration in
travel agencies are the meta-level associated with des-
tinations. Themost critical issue in this approach is the
creation of online collaborationmodels at the destina-
tion level, such as web services for the standardization
of information from the various systems of tourism
actors.
The main research gaps and also opportunities
for future research revealed by the strategic frame-
work are consumer perception regarding forms of co-
branding between travel agencies, changes in the value
chain towards the purely online environment, security
within the online value chain, online collaboration be-
tween traditional travel agencies, cybersecurity, and
blockchain.
Future studies in the area of bibliometric analysis
of collaboration in travel agencies could explore tra-
ditional travel agencies’ strategies to adapt to the dig-
ital environment and encourage online engagement.
Furthermore, investigating the impacts of collabora-
tion on customer perceptions and cyber security can
contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of
the benefits and challenges associated with online col-
laboration in the travel industry.
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