ICT & Tourism

[Name of the Author]

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Research Context

The research will be an investigative study into the uses and applications of information and communication technology (ICT) for sustainable tourism development. It develops the proposition that use of such technologies can be a practical approach which destinations may use to mitigate some of tourism?s negative impacts. Specifically, this thesis will adopt a destination-focused perspective and, through the undertaking of a worldwide study, examined how ICT can be used operationally, tactically and strategically in the management of sustainable tourism. It will presents a framework for the application of ICT by destination managers and discusses the opportunities in destination management for applying ICT to sustainable tourism development. This chapter therefore introduces the context on which this work is based and discusses the rationale for why research in domain is vitally important. (Wernerfelt, 1995).

Research Problem

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and tourism are two of the most dynamic drives of our global economy. As many authors have claimed, tourism must be treated as an information-intensive industry (Poon 1993; Sheldon 1997; Inkpen 1998). Travel and tourism can be defined as an information business, because information is one of the most important quality parameters to support actions for the tourism area as a service industry. In few other areas is the generation, gathering, processing, application and communication of information as important for day-to-day operation as it is for the travel and tourism industry. In fact, tourism is a hybrid industry. More than other services, tourism services are increasingly dominated by information. However, the core product is in almost any case a physical product.

The tourism industry is steering towards a promising future. Growth and change are key words of today's development. According to the WTO (World Tourism Organization), in 1995 about 500 million travelers packed their suitcases causing a growth of 70% compared to 1985. For the year 2010 the WTO predicts about 1 billion tourists (Dettmer 1998). The tourism area is one of those industries which are able to gain synergy effects from use of ICT (Sheldon 1997).

Research Objectives

The aim of this research is to explore this phenomenon through an analysis of the market structure and determinants of competitive advantage in Australia. The main questions for our research are:

“How can companies position themselves under these new conditions? Will there be significant changes in the industry like new market players, new distribution chains? What are the implications for the hotel sector, what are the opportunities and what are the threats on the way towards a competitive position? Will they be able to define their own strategies to gain competitive advantage by the use of the Internet or will their strategy be driven by the industry?”

To provide answers to these questions, the objectives of this research are given as follows:

to develop a framework through which competitive advantage can be systematized and evaluated for eCommerce solutions,

to consolidate the business values of eCommerce to the accommodation sector, and

to explore the way that competitive ...