The Impact of User-Generated Content on Digital Transformation of Tourism and Travel Services: Evidence from the Egyptian Travel Agencies

The continuous development of information technology has fundamentally revolutionized our communication patterns and behavior through the Internet, establishing a digital medium in which information is consumed and disseminated. In this context, most tourism researches focus on the role of UGC in directing the decision of visitors in determining the tourist destination that could be visited or the service provider that could be selected. 
This research aimed at measuring the impact of user-generated content on the digital transformation of Egyptian travel agencies as well as investigating how UGC can stimulate the digital transformation of tourism and travel services.
For this purpose, the researchers used the deductive approach and quantitative method. Semi-structured questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 278 managers out of 1008 travel agencies, in addition to a sample of internet users including social media users, using a simple random sampling technique.
Moreover, researchers analyzed the literature regarding the fast-paced e-commerce environment to understand the complicated behaviour of consumer which shows that consumers are rapidly changing and that is what they also expect from the mediums they are dealing with. Findings of the study have indicated that User-generated content has a weak positive effect on the digital transformation of Egyptian travel agencies.
Implications for practice were suggested to support the digital transformation of Egyptian travel agencies based on user-generated content.