Obstacles to the Adoption of E-Commerce by Tourism SME Service Providers in South Africa : The Case of Selected Smes in Pretoria

The development of the internet and information technologies has had an effect on contemporary societies in general and customer and financial services in particular. The introduction of e-commerce has ushered in a watershed in global markets. This study sought to explore the barriers that prohibit complete implementation of e-commerce by tourism SME service providers in Pretoria. This includes examining the staff's attitude to e-commerce and the level of ecommerce usage by the SMEs. The Publicise Interact and Transform (PIT)'s model of the adoption of Information and Communications Technology by SMEs was found useful. The study adopted a qualitative approach and collected data using face-to-face interviews. The data collected were grouped into thematic categories and analysed. Analysis involved the examination of data under each theme for recurring relationships and correlations. The findings revealed that high costs, lack of funds and limited technical know-how are some of the barriers to the adoption of e-commerce by the tourism SME service providers in Pretoria. However, the study found that when barriers can be overcome, the benefits are substantial. It concluded that empirical work is required to investigate the extent to which tourism SMEs in Pretoria are adapting to the challenges posed by e-commerce.