Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ICT AND TOURISM
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be defined as
manufactured products and services intended to enable or stimulate in-
formation processing, communication, use of electronic means to detect,
measure or record physical phenomena or to control physical processes
(OECD, 2001). Starting from the first Computer Reservation System
(CRS) in the 1950s, information technology has both transformed the way
in which customers plan and purchase their holidays and how the tourism
industry promotes and sells its products and services.
The fast and efficient exchange of information between the players in
the tourism is essential for efficient distribution, sales and customer ser-
vice. This information dependence has placed the industry at the forefront
of ICT adoption (Mason and Milne, 2002). The Internet and electronic
commerce development in the late 1990s and their adoption by tourism
as one of the prime business to business (B2B) and business to consumer
(B2C) applications has changed the industry and has shifted the traditional
way tourism and travel products are distributed (Buhalis, 2003; O'Connor,
1999; O'Connor and Frew, 2002).
Tourism suppliers (particularly airlines, car rental firms and hotel
chains) have taken advantage of the new opportunities offered and have
developed e-commerce applications by allowing users to directly access
their reservation systems. This includes single supplier providers such as
British Airways (britishairways.com), Marriott Hotels (marriot.com), Avis
(avis.com), and multi-supplier web pages that support airlines (opodo.
com; orbitz.com). In addition, destinations have developed management
systems to distribute their smaller properties and present the destination as
a holistic entity (tiscover.com; holland.com). A number of web-based TAs
have also emerged (e.g., Expedia.com, ebookers.com, Travelocity.com),
and some off-line agencies have developed on-line provision (thomascook.
com; lunnpoly.com). Moreover, Internet portals (Yahoo, Altavista, Excite)
and vertical portals (or vortals—web site portals that provide information
and resources for a particular industry) have also developed on-line travel
distribution systems, often by sourcing their content from external on-line
agents and suppliers (ski.com; golfonline.com; tennis.com).
The effective use of ICT is pivotal in the tourism industry. Commen-
tators have noted that “A whole system of ICT is being rapidly diffused
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