Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
were realized in the fi rst decade, the introduction of Web 2.0 signalled a new round of adaptation
which required another new and even more transformational framework for tourism marketing.
The fi rst part of this second decade of the Internet saw the expansion of high speed Internet
where the richness of the new interactive medium could be exploited, and this enabled the
development of brochures which largely realized the interactive and personalized vision of
the early developers. The more important feature of this decade was the development of new
'social' systems which began to emerge as an 'Army of Davids' (Reynolds 2006). TripAdvisor,
for example, was launched in 2000 and now handles over 50 million inquiries monthly;
Wikipedia was launched in 2001 and now hosts over 250 million articles in 285 different
languages; and Facebook, launched in 2004, now services over one billion users annually.
Importantly, at about the same time, mobile phone systems began to penetrate the marketplace
to enable travellers to communicate more easily and from essentially anywhere on the planet.
Finally in the later part of the decade, the introduction of smartphones enriched the social
environment further such that the embedded technology in them empowers users to sub-
stantially control their travel experience. Within the tourism literature, Buhalis (2003) provided
the leading book which discussed in practical terms how the tourism industry could successfully
navigate through this new world. More recently, Sigala, Christou and Gretzel (2012) offer a
different vision which is situated within this new rich socially networked environment whereby
the 'army of travellers' is now the central player within the value chain, and Wang, Park and
Fesenmaier (2012) describe the increasing infl uences that smartphones have in mediating the
travel experience.
This emergence of the Internet over the past 20 plus years was not an isolated event that
changed the tourism industry. Concomitant with the introduction of the Internet, the world
experienced signifi cant social, economic and environmental traumas, all of which somehow
facilitated transformation in all aspects of life. These events are not discussed in detail in this
chapter, but rather briefl y acknowledged as to their vital role in shaping the various systems that
provide the foundation for the travel industry, and in particular, tourism marketing. Arguably, the
most important was the emergence of China as a leader in the world's economic and political
systems. Much has been written that documents the importance of China including the size
of its markets and the growth of the middle class, its dominance within the region and its
growing competition with the United States for global leadership (Friedman 2005). Along with
the growth in China, India, Brazil and Russia (BRIC countries) and the emergence of South
Korea, Indonesia and Venezuela have reshaped the geography of world travel.
While seismic population and economic shifts were taking place, the world was also buffeted
by the war on terrorism. September 11, 2001 will be remembered as the start of the 'war on
terror' but it is clear that the terrorism had caused many problems for tourism long before
that event. However, the worldwide response to the dangers posed by al-Qaeda was radical;
many governments passed new laws to combat terrorism. In particular, Germany enacted two
important laws to limit the ability of organizations to fund terrorist organizations while another
law focused on enabling intelligence to be gathered. In the United States, the Department of
Homeland Security was created and the USA Patriot Act provided additional powers to fi ght
terrorism. Worldwide, the response to this 'new' threat was immediate having realized the new
and threats posed by terrorism - both economically and politically - most countries created
many new barriers to the 'open skies' arrangements sought by the travel industry.
The changes in social, economic and political structures were not only recognized along
geographic borders but also in terms of consumer demographics (
Benckendorff
,
Moscardo
and Pendergast
2009). Importantly, baby-boomers fi nally began to retire while the younger
generations seemed to simply watch as the markets adjusted. Cruise ships were built and
