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Chapter 5

eTourism: the dynamic interaction of ICTS and

tourism

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Chapter Objectives

The impact of ICTs on tourism Transformation of best operational

practices in tourism by ICTs The use of hardware and software

in tourism organization The Evolution of Computer

Reservation Systems

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The impact of ICTs on tourism

ICTs provide the tools and enable the evolution of tourism demand and supply by facilitating existing needs and business prospects.

eTourism refer to the digitalization of all processes in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries.

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eTourism determines the competitiveness of the organization by taking advantage of intranets extranets and the Internet.

eTourism bundles together three distinctive disciplines, namely: Business management Information systems and management,

and tourism

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Transformation of best operational practices in tourism by ICTs ICT can improve the managerial

processes in order to ameliorate control and decision-making procedures, and to support enterprises in reacting efficiently to environmental changes and customer trends.

ICTs play a critical role in customer relationship management (CRM)

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Many organizations now have to compete on a global basis and to fight against traditional and new competitors who use ICTs to access consumers and enlarge their market share.

The tourism industry needs to become more flexible, more efficient and quicker in responding to consumers requests.

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ICTs can assist the reduction of operation and communication costs by: Integrating operational systems Maximizing internal efficiency Decreasing the number of people

required for back-office jobs Reducing the amount of face-to-face

or telephone communication and Enabling consumers to have access to

all information

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ICTs can alert organization about excess capacity or demand, and thus provide more flexible management.

However, it needs to be recognized that ICT development also contribute to the cost equation of tourism organization.

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The use of hardware and software in tourism organization

A wide range of ICTs is used in order to exchange information and to facilitate the operations of the tourism industry.

The technologies used in tourism and hospitality can be examined under the following: Hardware Software Communications and networking

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Self-service terminal or kiosks Mobile devices

Most of the ICT applications used in the tourism industry are a combination of purpose-built and standardized software.

Software in tourism and hospitality is divided into Front-office applications Back-office applications

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Telecommunications and networking in tourism industry All types of telecommunications

have been used throughout the tourism industry worldwide. Teletext Computer networks

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The Evolution of Computer Reservation Systems Computer Reservation Systems

(CRSs) have had the most crucial contribution of ICTs to the tourism industry in the 1980s and have dominated the industry.

CRSs are operated by tourist producers such as airlines, hotels and tour operators and are distributed globally.

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CRSs and GDSs were the most important facilitators of change in the tourism industry before the arrival of the Internet.

GDSs satisfy the need of consumers for easy access to transparent and easily comparable information on a wide variety of choices

Internet- world wide service.

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