Web-enabled cooperation in tourism-a case study from the region of Lake Constance

The diffusion of global telematic infrastructures and electronic commerce in the travel and tourism sector has caused the emergence of new communication and distribution channels. In order to utilize the technological potential and to succeed under global competition, competing tourism principals are increasingly forced to engage in regional cooperative networks. In this paper we discuss the combination of strategic and technological antecedents of cooperative networks in tourism. The example of the Electronic Mall Bodensee, located in the Region of Lake Constance illustrates how technology can be used and embedded into an organizational framework in order to facilitate changes in a specific regional and industry setting. The impact of the structural and organizational properties of the Web (World Wide Web) is finally analyzed in comparison and in contrast to the diffusion of EDI