EXPERIENCED BASED TRAVEL:
How Technology Is Changing the Hospitality Industry
(From Academic perspectives: Analyses of Academic Article)
By: Rahmadhani, M.Bus
The selected article “Experience-based Travel” highlights the current and future role of information technology in the hospitality sector of the tourism industry. Its main themes are the impact of information technology on the future customer’s purchasing behavior, its influences on the organizational and managerial practices in the human resource department and the alterations it brings to the traditional distribution channels.
The author has successfully acknowledged to the readers about the future impacts of information technology on the hospitality sector of tourism, and the issues it will raise for the industry. The main themes are explained with recent and some past examples from the tourism industry and invites the industry to become aware of the emerging issues due to changes in technology and prepare to face the challenges of the competitive but uncertain business marketing environment in order to explore better opportunities.
The research article highlights the main changes that will be supported in the future by any change in information technology. Accordingly there will be a change in the customer’s behavior about brand loyalty, the role of traditional intermediaries will diminish and an incredible alteration is on the way for the human resources management decision-making process in the hospitality sector.
The research findings warn about the information technology drivers of change and their future impact on the hospitality sector. It indicates that connected computers will provide direct access to information and greater opportunities in order to redesign an organizational policy to communicate its internal and external potential market. The cyber pass regulations, data mining process, and further training and education facilities for executives will change the nature of the hospitality business environment
It cautions that the financial issues will be a big challenge with the emergence of investment in technology and will create barriers to the hospitality sector, where the customer’s behavior and the market’s future is unpredictable.
Consequently the drivers of change will introduce a customer in the hospitality market who will be least brand loyal, more knowledgeable and will insist on more customized services. The hospitality industry will have to provide the best product, and invest in innovative marketing strategies and tactics to retain the future disloyal customer.
How Technology Is Changing the Hospitality Industry
(From Academic perspectives: Analyses of Academic Article)
By: Rahmadhani, M.Bus
The selected article “Experience-based Travel” highlights the current and future role of information technology in the hospitality sector of the tourism industry. Its main themes are the impact of information technology on the future customer’s purchasing behavior, its influences on the organizational and managerial practices in the human resource department and the alterations it brings to the traditional distribution channels.
The author has successfully acknowledged to the readers about the future impacts of information technology on the hospitality sector of tourism, and the issues it will raise for the industry. The main themes are explained with recent and some past examples from the tourism industry and invites the industry to become aware of the emerging issues due to changes in technology and prepare to face the challenges of the competitive but uncertain business marketing environment in order to explore better opportunities.
The research article highlights the main changes that will be supported in the future by any change in information technology. Accordingly there will be a change in the customer’s behavior about brand loyalty, the role of traditional intermediaries will diminish and an incredible alteration is on the way for the human resources management decision-making process in the hospitality sector.
The research findings warn about the information technology drivers of change and their future impact on the hospitality sector. It indicates that connected computers will provide direct access to information and greater opportunities in order to redesign an organizational policy to communicate its internal and external potential market. The cyber pass regulations, data mining process, and further training and education facilities for executives will change the nature of the hospitality business environment
It cautions that the financial issues will be a big challenge with the emergence of investment in technology and will create barriers to the hospitality sector, where the customer’s behavior and the market’s future is unpredictable.
Consequently the drivers of change will introduce a customer in the hospitality market who will be least brand loyal, more knowledgeable and will insist on more customized services. The hospitality industry will have to provide the best product, and invest in innovative marketing strategies and tactics to retain the future disloyal customer.
The research findings have concluded that the gatekeeper and matching techniques will be a better solution of the problem. (The gatekeeper’s role in the industry on the supply side provides help to the customer in order to maximize the desired travel experience; however the Matching principal is to provide the best match to the customer from the organization’s service portfolio). Accordingly the customer focused marketing practices in the future will empower the customer resulting in a higher service demand on the suppliers. Human resource management will recruit more information technology educated, highly intelligent, socially aware employees who can perform managerial tasks.
Industrial Perspective
A collection of articles from industrial journals and magazines were gathered in order to analyze industrial views on the role of information technology in regard to distribution and communication channels in the hospitality sector with the focus on the use of information technology in terms of the worldwide web internet, and computerized systems in the tourism industry. The industrial perspective about the issues is raised as follows:
Website technology
The Internet, for example, is having a huge impact on how we conduct our lives and our business dealings, and has a major effect on the way in which tourism and hospitality products are distributed by redefining how travelers discover and purchase tourism products. Sawyer, Srathongrod and Cordes (2001) points out that the travel industry is probably the best example of an industry that has been profoundly transformed by technology. They further describe that the single most important factor bridging tourism supply and demand is information technology that has changed the way that the travel and tourism industry does business.
Computerized technology
In the hospitality industry, IT (information technology) has been extensively used for more than twenty years and now is still being used it in different ways. As mentioned by Buhalis (1994) that information technology has been one of the most important strategic weapons of tourism and hospitality organizations since the early 1970s. IT helps companies meet the challenges of new environments and demands and brings to the end-users new options at a more competitive price.
Industrial Perspective
A collection of articles from industrial journals and magazines were gathered in order to analyze industrial views on the role of information technology in regard to distribution and communication channels in the hospitality sector with the focus on the use of information technology in terms of the worldwide web internet, and computerized systems in the tourism industry. The industrial perspective about the issues is raised as follows:
Website technology
The Internet, for example, is having a huge impact on how we conduct our lives and our business dealings, and has a major effect on the way in which tourism and hospitality products are distributed by redefining how travelers discover and purchase tourism products. Sawyer, Srathongrod and Cordes (2001) points out that the travel industry is probably the best example of an industry that has been profoundly transformed by technology. They further describe that the single most important factor bridging tourism supply and demand is information technology that has changed the way that the travel and tourism industry does business.
Computerized technology
In the hospitality industry, IT (information technology) has been extensively used for more than twenty years and now is still being used it in different ways. As mentioned by Buhalis (1994) that information technology has been one of the most important strategic weapons of tourism and hospitality organizations since the early 1970s. IT helps companies meet the challenges of new environments and demands and brings to the end-users new options at a more competitive price.
However, today IT has provided tools for management and marketing that have enhanced the capabilities of organizations, such as by providing Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS). By it was not until the mid 1980s that the system was initially introduced in to the hospitality industry, such as Holiday Inns, Sheraton and Marriott.
Software and hardware systems
Furthermore, software, hardware, information management, and telecommunications systems have allowed for the processing and flow of information among organizations in the travel industry. Many sources claim that the way in which tourism organizations take advantage of IT tools will determine their future success in the marketplace. The tourism and hospitality industry has considered the importance of the IT trend by implementing an effective IT system for marketing, distribution, promotion and co-ordination of the industry.
IT and Human Resources in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry
However, the tourism and hospitality industry with employees of poor human resources in adopting information technology will result in negative customer service quality. In other words, the HR managers in the hospitality industry have realized how IT will allow the company to leverage the HR investment in a way that will enable the company to respond to HR needs and challenges efficiently and effectively in a timely manner. Withiam (2000) states that the success of a hotel chain has long depended on excellent operations, marketing and human resources. Sunoo (1995) states seven targets of opportunity or areas where there is the most potential to improve the HR functions through the use of information technology:
a. Speed handling vast quantities of data quickly and efficiently
b. Accuracy reducing the propensity of human error involved in data handling
c. Memory maintaining and rapidly accessing historical files
d. Comprehensiveness automating a wide array of HR functions
e. Availability making information available to more users in department in and outside HR
f. Objectivity increasing the use of factual or objective data in decisions related to employees
g. Economy reducing the operational and paperwork costs associated with HR
Furthermore, there are eight powerful forces with implications for the use of technology at work that impact on employees in today’s world:
a. As individuals we are learning to take more control of the things that affect us
b. We are getting more comfortable interfacing with devices, many of which have a computer imbedded in them
c. We are coming to expect and use services that operate continuously
d. We are learning how to obtain comparative information that allows us to make better decisions
e. We are less afraid of using technology to help us make critical decisions that affect our lives
f. We expect assurances that the transactions we initiate are correct, that they can be reversed if necessary, and that we can receive feedback about them
g. We demand speed: we dislike waiting for a system to download the next input or for a transaction to take an inordinate amount of time
h. We can, when necessary, reach out and interact with the highest authority in a company providing a particular service.
However, supporting the changes in the new economy will be a vast pool of talented human capital anxious to bring new ideas and new technologies to bear on the traditional ways of doing business and, in doing so, steadily increase the pace of productivity improvement. If the hospitality industry is to respond to this coming reality, it will need to address some of its most vexing challenges, particularly those relating to the recruitment, training and development of human capital. The human capital inventory for an e-business will require entrepreneurship, as well as visionary leadership, strength in sales and marketing and commitment to customer relationship management (Cline, 2000).
In addition, effective implementation of technology can decrease costs and increase efficiency. It can leverage resources and aid decision-making processes. IT can enhance guest services, keep the organization up-to-date with information and provide new opportunities for growth and expansion.
It is crucial that tourism enterprises take advantage of the emerging technologies in order to improve management abilities and develop sound business plans focusing on the most efficient means of delivering value added products and services to customers. In this respect, tourism organizations will be able to maintain a competitive advantage over those who are not technologically advanced.
The importance of information with the view that tourism involves the movement, accommodation, entertainment and general servicing of clients from one geographical location to another. These activities must be combined differently, integrated and packaged to suit complex and rapidly changing consumer requirements. Services in terms of hotel bed nights, car rental, package tours and airline seats are not physically transferred to travel agents who in turn stock them until sold to customers. Rather, it is information about availability, price, quality, location and convenience of these services that is communicated and processed. However, the tourism and hospitality industry has grown fast and depends on IT to carry out its day-to-day business operations. Through reservation systems it can reach new, larger markets collect better guest information and deliver more personalized, consistent service.
The impacts on customer behavior and marketing
Many studies reveal that of all the technical developments in the hospitality and tourism industries, the Internet is the prime mover as it is the one currently having the greatest impact on the business environment and will be the distribution channel of the future (TTS, 2000).
It is clear that the Internet is having a huge impact on how people conduct their lives and businesses. In the United States, it took 38 years for television to get into 50 million homes, but for the Internet, it took just five years (Cline, 2000).
According to the study that surveyed 1,351 leisure and 1,200 business travelers on 30th April 2002 and that was carried out by Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown (eTourism.com, 2003), 39% of leisure American travelers think that the Internet is easier and faster to use for travel planning than a travel agent. The figures prove extremely important, not only for the future of the tourism sector but also on a behavioral point of view. This indicates how positively the Internet has been developing in the last few years such as the improvement of their interfaces as well as their very rich contents and offers which now allows more than a third of American leisure travelers to use the Internet rather than a travel agent.
The study also provides that with 58.5% of the American population who uses the Internet, 66% of them think that the services provided by their travel agent are not as good as the ones provided by tourism websites.
Cline (2000), in another study, provides that for those U.S. consumers that are online, four out of five believe that the Internet is the best invention ever and six out of ten prefer e-mail to paper mail for business correspondence and over one in four check their e-mail while on vacation. This would imply that only a third of Internet users nowadays prefer dealing with a travel agent as compared to a website and that is something to be concerned about in this trade.
The Internet is also changing the customer relationship that it is undermining and redirecting the customer’s attention to new sellers of products and services and away from their traditional relationships. And as this occurs, the traditional approaches that hospitality and tourism businesses have taken to distribution are all being affected.
The study also provides that 32% of the American leisure travelers who were polled made a reservation on the Internet in the last twelve months while a year ago only 25% of them claimed making a reservation on the Internet (Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown, 2002). This is a huge increase as it corresponds to a 28% growth in just a year, which leads to the declining role of the travel agent.
Impacts on customer satisfaction
The Internet is changing where and how customers search for hotel accommodation as well as what they expect hotels to provide. According to Comscore Networks data (cited in Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown, 2002), it indicates that one out of three Americans now uses the Internet to make a reservation. The benefits from accessing these Internet facilities of the group studied found that, first; they will have many new places to look and book accommodation as well as other tourism products. Next, they will have a variety of choices in seeking and selecting travel as well as accommodation to match their situation or destination needs. So, they are likely to be less loyal to brand images. Finally, those travelers’ options will be simplified in respect to the purchasing process as a result of smart software that will be introduced in filtering unnecessary information.
Impacts on real time and consistency
The reality today is that the balance of power is shifting from sellers to buyers and in so doing it makes the importance of delivering high quality services, convenience, and value for money ever more compelling (Cline, 2000). The Internet has clearly leveled the playing field by making price information broadly available to the consumers. In addition, consumers require both convenience and consistency. The study reveals that those in the group studied want information and they want it fast.
If some hospitality companies or travel providers do not deliver convenience, than somebody else inevitably will (Comscore Networks, 2002 cited in eTourism Newsletter.com, 2002). According to Nielson Netratings (eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002), 90% of business and/ or leisure travelers consider that the most important function on an Internet Web site is to have access to the lowest fares, flights, hotels or car rentals as well as other special offers.
Moreover, customers also looking for consistency, though it is a simple concept, it is central to whether a brand has value or not as well as the sites that have been searched are more reliable. According to Nielsen Netratings (eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002), there are top ten sites that registered a higher number of visits in March 2002. They are ranked in order as follows:
Expedia (with 11.6 million unique visitors)
Travelocity (with 10.2 million unique visitors)
Orbitz (with 6.5 million unique visitors)
Southwest Airlines (with 5.2 million unique visitors)
Cheap tickets (with 4.4 million unique visitors)
American Airlines (with 4.2 million unique visitors)
Yahoo! Travel (with 4.2 million unique visitors)
Delta Airlines (with 3.9 million unique visitors)
Priceline (with 3.8 million unique visitors)
AOL travel (with 3.6 million unique visitors)
Impacts on business model
Technology is redefining and reshaping the hospitality and tourism industries in many aspects. According to the debate conducted by the hospitality executives, consultants, and developers of tech-based products and services at the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHARA) (TTS, 2000), the think tank on technology recognizes the huge changes that are occurring in the way business is being conducted and planned in earnest as to how they will respond to the advancement of technology. The discussion finds that the roles of technology that play in the hotel industry, especially Guestlink Global System, will constitute to the hotels’ principal assets in the following ways:
Knowledge will replace location as the key to competitive advantage
The speed at which hotels convert data to knowledge and apply it to create unique, value adding experiences
Rather than a place to sleep, the hotel itself must become a packager of products, services, and experiences
Controlling guest data and opportunities for building relationships with the customers
Increase emphasis on bottom line performance and efficient use of resources; less emphasis on craft, more on business and technology related acumen
The hotel of the future will be a multi-use facility like a shopping mall with multiple concepts both competing and complementary with the possibility of brands from different companies run by the same or different managers
The trends will include technologically sophisticated hotels without staff, customizable hotel rooms, and the elimination of paper invoices by introducing smart cards
In 1994, Thomas Cook, an international travel company with its own travel agency network, piloted a kiosk at its Marble Arch shop in London. Using a 43-centimetre screen, integrated video link telephone handset, credit card reader and laser printer, the kiosk allowed the customer for the first time to access electronic versions of the company’s 1994 City Breaks and EuroDisney brochures. Bookings can be made via a link-up to a Thomas Cook sales representative who appears as a live image on the screen (Marion, 1995). In 1999, Sun City claimed to be the first hotel in South Africa has applied In-Room Internet TM via the new Guestlink Global System, a web-based productivity, and entertainment and communication tool for business leisure travellers.
Soon, to remain competitive, other top hotels are scrambling to install systems that add Internet connectivity and e-mail to traditional hotel systems in ways that makes sense both economically and from a guest relation’s viewpoint.
Conclusions
Tourism industry business success is based on the customer driven market and is strongly influenced by the social, political, and economic business environment. There is an urgent need of cooperative research from both industry and academic schools of thought in order to solve the industrial requirements and provide a realistic insight into the future academic researcher work. Because in the near future the advance of technology will connect the industry and academics together and their success will depend upon their mutual cooperation and so providing excellent results in the tourism industry.
There is the need for the developing part of the world to contribute in the ongoing tourism industry’s academic and industrial research, as tourism is globalizing. A selected article from an academic publication and a range of collections from industrial publications don’t highlight the issues in regard to the developing part of world, but it provides mainly the western perspectives of the issues raised. Due to the inequality of the global economy there will be an increased disparity between users and non-users on the advanced information technology. It is recommended that further research be conducted to bring about a resolution of the issues mentioned above.
It is recommended that future research should be conducted on the business ethics and socio-economic issues that will be raised as a result of technology change and their impact on the tourism industry in the global tourism market.
Bibliography/electronic resources
Comscore Networks. Online Travel. Available: http://www.comscore.com/news/online_travel_q1_041602.htm (08/4/2008)
eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002. e-Commerce. Available: http://www.etourismnewsletter.com/ecommerceprint.htm (08/4/2008)
eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002. e-Metrics. Available: http://www.etourismnewsletter.com/emetricsprint.htm (08/4/2008)
Marion, B. 1995. Travels into the Future. Geographical Magazine, 0016741X, Feb95, Vol. 67, Issue 2. Available: http://0-web20.epnet.com.library.vu.edu.au/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln_en%2Dus+si (08/4/2008)
Nielsen Netratingsx (pdf), 2002. 51.2 Million Surfers, A 12% Increase between February and March 2002 on Travel Sites. Available: http://www.nielsonnetratings.com/pr/pr_020417.pdf (08/4/2008)
Tomorrows Technology Solution, 2000. Technology will Drive Change in the Hospitality Industry. Available: http://www.tts.co.za/technology_will_drive_change.html (08/4/2008)
Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown/Yankelovich Partners, 2002. e-Commerce. Available: http://www.ypb.com/survey_biz.html, (08/4/2008).
Software and hardware systems
Furthermore, software, hardware, information management, and telecommunications systems have allowed for the processing and flow of information among organizations in the travel industry. Many sources claim that the way in which tourism organizations take advantage of IT tools will determine their future success in the marketplace. The tourism and hospitality industry has considered the importance of the IT trend by implementing an effective IT system for marketing, distribution, promotion and co-ordination of the industry.
IT and Human Resources in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry
However, the tourism and hospitality industry with employees of poor human resources in adopting information technology will result in negative customer service quality. In other words, the HR managers in the hospitality industry have realized how IT will allow the company to leverage the HR investment in a way that will enable the company to respond to HR needs and challenges efficiently and effectively in a timely manner. Withiam (2000) states that the success of a hotel chain has long depended on excellent operations, marketing and human resources. Sunoo (1995) states seven targets of opportunity or areas where there is the most potential to improve the HR functions through the use of information technology:
a. Speed handling vast quantities of data quickly and efficiently
b. Accuracy reducing the propensity of human error involved in data handling
c. Memory maintaining and rapidly accessing historical files
d. Comprehensiveness automating a wide array of HR functions
e. Availability making information available to more users in department in and outside HR
f. Objectivity increasing the use of factual or objective data in decisions related to employees
g. Economy reducing the operational and paperwork costs associated with HR
Furthermore, there are eight powerful forces with implications for the use of technology at work that impact on employees in today’s world:
a. As individuals we are learning to take more control of the things that affect us
b. We are getting more comfortable interfacing with devices, many of which have a computer imbedded in them
c. We are coming to expect and use services that operate continuously
d. We are learning how to obtain comparative information that allows us to make better decisions
e. We are less afraid of using technology to help us make critical decisions that affect our lives
f. We expect assurances that the transactions we initiate are correct, that they can be reversed if necessary, and that we can receive feedback about them
g. We demand speed: we dislike waiting for a system to download the next input or for a transaction to take an inordinate amount of time
h. We can, when necessary, reach out and interact with the highest authority in a company providing a particular service.
However, supporting the changes in the new economy will be a vast pool of talented human capital anxious to bring new ideas and new technologies to bear on the traditional ways of doing business and, in doing so, steadily increase the pace of productivity improvement. If the hospitality industry is to respond to this coming reality, it will need to address some of its most vexing challenges, particularly those relating to the recruitment, training and development of human capital. The human capital inventory for an e-business will require entrepreneurship, as well as visionary leadership, strength in sales and marketing and commitment to customer relationship management (Cline, 2000).
In addition, effective implementation of technology can decrease costs and increase efficiency. It can leverage resources and aid decision-making processes. IT can enhance guest services, keep the organization up-to-date with information and provide new opportunities for growth and expansion.
It is crucial that tourism enterprises take advantage of the emerging technologies in order to improve management abilities and develop sound business plans focusing on the most efficient means of delivering value added products and services to customers. In this respect, tourism organizations will be able to maintain a competitive advantage over those who are not technologically advanced.
The importance of information with the view that tourism involves the movement, accommodation, entertainment and general servicing of clients from one geographical location to another. These activities must be combined differently, integrated and packaged to suit complex and rapidly changing consumer requirements. Services in terms of hotel bed nights, car rental, package tours and airline seats are not physically transferred to travel agents who in turn stock them until sold to customers. Rather, it is information about availability, price, quality, location and convenience of these services that is communicated and processed. However, the tourism and hospitality industry has grown fast and depends on IT to carry out its day-to-day business operations. Through reservation systems it can reach new, larger markets collect better guest information and deliver more personalized, consistent service.
The impacts on customer behavior and marketing
Many studies reveal that of all the technical developments in the hospitality and tourism industries, the Internet is the prime mover as it is the one currently having the greatest impact on the business environment and will be the distribution channel of the future (TTS, 2000).
It is clear that the Internet is having a huge impact on how people conduct their lives and businesses. In the United States, it took 38 years for television to get into 50 million homes, but for the Internet, it took just five years (Cline, 2000).
According to the study that surveyed 1,351 leisure and 1,200 business travelers on 30th April 2002 and that was carried out by Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown (eTourism.com, 2003), 39% of leisure American travelers think that the Internet is easier and faster to use for travel planning than a travel agent. The figures prove extremely important, not only for the future of the tourism sector but also on a behavioral point of view. This indicates how positively the Internet has been developing in the last few years such as the improvement of their interfaces as well as their very rich contents and offers which now allows more than a third of American leisure travelers to use the Internet rather than a travel agent.
The study also provides that with 58.5% of the American population who uses the Internet, 66% of them think that the services provided by their travel agent are not as good as the ones provided by tourism websites.
Cline (2000), in another study, provides that for those U.S. consumers that are online, four out of five believe that the Internet is the best invention ever and six out of ten prefer e-mail to paper mail for business correspondence and over one in four check their e-mail while on vacation. This would imply that only a third of Internet users nowadays prefer dealing with a travel agent as compared to a website and that is something to be concerned about in this trade.
The Internet is also changing the customer relationship that it is undermining and redirecting the customer’s attention to new sellers of products and services and away from their traditional relationships. And as this occurs, the traditional approaches that hospitality and tourism businesses have taken to distribution are all being affected.
The study also provides that 32% of the American leisure travelers who were polled made a reservation on the Internet in the last twelve months while a year ago only 25% of them claimed making a reservation on the Internet (Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown, 2002). This is a huge increase as it corresponds to a 28% growth in just a year, which leads to the declining role of the travel agent.
Impacts on customer satisfaction
The Internet is changing where and how customers search for hotel accommodation as well as what they expect hotels to provide. According to Comscore Networks data (cited in Yesawich, Pepperdine, and Brown, 2002), it indicates that one out of three Americans now uses the Internet to make a reservation. The benefits from accessing these Internet facilities of the group studied found that, first; they will have many new places to look and book accommodation as well as other tourism products. Next, they will have a variety of choices in seeking and selecting travel as well as accommodation to match their situation or destination needs. So, they are likely to be less loyal to brand images. Finally, those travelers’ options will be simplified in respect to the purchasing process as a result of smart software that will be introduced in filtering unnecessary information.
Impacts on real time and consistency
The reality today is that the balance of power is shifting from sellers to buyers and in so doing it makes the importance of delivering high quality services, convenience, and value for money ever more compelling (Cline, 2000). The Internet has clearly leveled the playing field by making price information broadly available to the consumers. In addition, consumers require both convenience and consistency. The study reveals that those in the group studied want information and they want it fast.
If some hospitality companies or travel providers do not deliver convenience, than somebody else inevitably will (Comscore Networks, 2002 cited in eTourism Newsletter.com, 2002). According to Nielson Netratings (eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002), 90% of business and/ or leisure travelers consider that the most important function on an Internet Web site is to have access to the lowest fares, flights, hotels or car rentals as well as other special offers.
Moreover, customers also looking for consistency, though it is a simple concept, it is central to whether a brand has value or not as well as the sites that have been searched are more reliable. According to Nielsen Netratings (eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002), there are top ten sites that registered a higher number of visits in March 2002. They are ranked in order as follows:
Expedia (with 11.6 million unique visitors)
Travelocity (with 10.2 million unique visitors)
Orbitz (with 6.5 million unique visitors)
Southwest Airlines (with 5.2 million unique visitors)
Cheap tickets (with 4.4 million unique visitors)
American Airlines (with 4.2 million unique visitors)
Yahoo! Travel (with 4.2 million unique visitors)
Delta Airlines (with 3.9 million unique visitors)
Priceline (with 3.8 million unique visitors)
AOL travel (with 3.6 million unique visitors)
Impacts on business model
Technology is redefining and reshaping the hospitality and tourism industries in many aspects. According to the debate conducted by the hospitality executives, consultants, and developers of tech-based products and services at the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHARA) (TTS, 2000), the think tank on technology recognizes the huge changes that are occurring in the way business is being conducted and planned in earnest as to how they will respond to the advancement of technology. The discussion finds that the roles of technology that play in the hotel industry, especially Guestlink Global System, will constitute to the hotels’ principal assets in the following ways:
Knowledge will replace location as the key to competitive advantage
The speed at which hotels convert data to knowledge and apply it to create unique, value adding experiences
Rather than a place to sleep, the hotel itself must become a packager of products, services, and experiences
Controlling guest data and opportunities for building relationships with the customers
Increase emphasis on bottom line performance and efficient use of resources; less emphasis on craft, more on business and technology related acumen
The hotel of the future will be a multi-use facility like a shopping mall with multiple concepts both competing and complementary with the possibility of brands from different companies run by the same or different managers
The trends will include technologically sophisticated hotels without staff, customizable hotel rooms, and the elimination of paper invoices by introducing smart cards
In 1994, Thomas Cook, an international travel company with its own travel agency network, piloted a kiosk at its Marble Arch shop in London. Using a 43-centimetre screen, integrated video link telephone handset, credit card reader and laser printer, the kiosk allowed the customer for the first time to access electronic versions of the company’s 1994 City Breaks and EuroDisney brochures. Bookings can be made via a link-up to a Thomas Cook sales representative who appears as a live image on the screen (Marion, 1995). In 1999, Sun City claimed to be the first hotel in South Africa has applied In-Room Internet TM via the new Guestlink Global System, a web-based productivity, and entertainment and communication tool for business leisure travellers.
Soon, to remain competitive, other top hotels are scrambling to install systems that add Internet connectivity and e-mail to traditional hotel systems in ways that makes sense both economically and from a guest relation’s viewpoint.
Conclusions
Tourism industry business success is based on the customer driven market and is strongly influenced by the social, political, and economic business environment. There is an urgent need of cooperative research from both industry and academic schools of thought in order to solve the industrial requirements and provide a realistic insight into the future academic researcher work. Because in the near future the advance of technology will connect the industry and academics together and their success will depend upon their mutual cooperation and so providing excellent results in the tourism industry.
There is the need for the developing part of the world to contribute in the ongoing tourism industry’s academic and industrial research, as tourism is globalizing. A selected article from an academic publication and a range of collections from industrial publications don’t highlight the issues in regard to the developing part of world, but it provides mainly the western perspectives of the issues raised. Due to the inequality of the global economy there will be an increased disparity between users and non-users on the advanced information technology. It is recommended that further research be conducted to bring about a resolution of the issues mentioned above.
It is recommended that future research should be conducted on the business ethics and socio-economic issues that will be raised as a result of technology change and their impact on the tourism industry in the global tourism market.
Bibliography/electronic resources
Comscore Networks. Online Travel. Available: http://www.comscore.com/news/online_travel_q1_041602.htm (08/4/2008)
eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002. e-Commerce. Available: http://www.etourismnewsletter.com/ecommerceprint.htm (08/4/2008)
eTourismNewsletter.com, 2002. e-Metrics. Available: http://www.etourismnewsletter.com/emetricsprint.htm (08/4/2008)
Marion, B. 1995. Travels into the Future. Geographical Magazine, 0016741X, Feb95, Vol. 67, Issue 2. Available: http://0-web20.epnet.com.library.vu.edu.au/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln_en%2Dus+si (08/4/2008)
Nielsen Netratingsx (pdf), 2002. 51.2 Million Surfers, A 12% Increase between February and March 2002 on Travel Sites. Available: http://www.nielsonnetratings.com/pr/pr_020417.pdf (08/4/2008)
Tomorrows Technology Solution, 2000. Technology will Drive Change in the Hospitality Industry. Available: http://www.tts.co.za/technology_will_drive_change.html (08/4/2008)
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