Abstract

The study investigates the nature of marketing information systems within tourism small- and medium- sized
enterprises and focuses on the usefulness of the Internet for external information gathering. The findings indicate
that tourism SMEs make use of informal marketing information systems which concentrate on immediate
operating data at the expense of external data, and that the Internet has not yet been recognized as an important
source for marketing intelligence despite having the benefits of providing much of the necessary data for good
decision- making more quickly and at a lower cost compared with many other sources. The study identifies
obstacles and challenges that reduce the uptake of the Internet, and suggests practical solutions.

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