Impact of IT on Tourism Industry

Question: Discussthe impact of IT on Tourism Industry. Answer: Introduction Tourism industry has recently revolutionized as a result of technological changes that has occurred within the industry in the past. Implementing information technology in Tourism industry is divided into three sectors that is transport sector, accommodation sector and attraction sector all these sectors involve application of information technology to ensure that all the sectors work properly. Information technology has continued to offer a wide variety of support in the management of activity in tourism industry (Bennett 1993). Therefore it is important to appreciate information technology as a discipline and to recognize the role played by IT in tourism industry. However there are other risks that may be associated with introducing IT in tourism industry. IT has to be monitored closely to ensure the information system works properly. This article provides a detailed analysis on how IT has affected tourism industry both positively and negatively and evaluate whether tourism industr y really need IT to manage information about the industry. Does tourism industry need I.T? With the increasing growth in tourism industry, manual services may be time consuming and expensive. Tourists are gradually growing in number and considering this trend, it will be very difficult to manage large number of tourist that has been significantly growing in the recent past. It is important for tourism industry to implement the use of information technology to assist in the management of this sector. Information technology will provide faster and reliable services as compared to manual services. Computer programs will also allow employees to process large amount of information regarding tourist than the manual methods (Black Lynch 2001). Labor cost paid to manual employees will be saved as manual employees will not be required. Importance of I.T on tourism industry survival Tourism industry can use information technology to reduce business costs that are incurred when manual services are offered to customers. Information technology helps the tourism industry in a number of ways. Record keeping can be done online via the use of information technology. Accounting and payments can also be done online. Tourists planning to visit certain attraction sites can book online without physically visiting the management offices to be offered for such services. The management staff can also make advertisement online hence helping them in marketing the services they offer (Buhalis Law2008). Tourists are also able to make enquiries concerning their visits. Requirements to apply I.T to tourism industry Applying information technology to tourism industry is a procedural process that should be conducted in phases under the care of well trained personnel. The cost of setting up a good information system in tourism industry may be relatively high. Therefore it is advisable for any tourism industry during the process of setting up an information system to manage their system that enough capital is required t set up a good system. A proper plan needs to be developed to determine the key areas where the system will manage. For example user support is a key area that should be automatically served by these machines. Design issues need to be addressed. A well designed system need to be set up by a team of well trained technicians (Inkpen 1998). Equipments that can be used to manage tourist activities such as automated tellers need to be set up. During the process of installing these machines, many factors need to be considered. A suitable place should be identified that will serve the tourists better without favor. Installation is a crucial stage in determining how best the system will serve the tourists. Therefore it is recommended for someone who is highly skilled to spearhead this stage. It is important for the industry to install the system in most offices to serve large number of clients. Employees should also be accessible to these machines. Training programs should be conducted properly to ensure that the entire employees are able to operate the machines without any distractions. It is important to note that training will determine the general outcome and performance of the entire system. It is important for the tourism industry to conduct a well detailed user training to ensure that both employees and system users are able to operate the machines without any distraction. How tourism industry uses I.T Information technology is used to perform various tasks within the tourism industry. With the help of database, data has become easy to manage. The organization can store relevant information in databases in the computer system. During complex decisions, information technology is used to make complex decisions. It therefore acts as a decision support tool that is used to make decision when the problem is not structured. Processing various transactions is done in a simple way by information technology. IT is able to capture transaction information and create new transaction based on transaction information. Tourism industry also uses information technology for communication either within the industry or outside the industry. Electronic mail is a form of communication service offered by IT. Employees and managers within tourism industry need to communicate with one another to complete various transactions. An executive support is offered by information technology. This is a tool that i s used by managers in tourism industry and even outside the industry to address problems arising within the industry. Advantages of I.T in tourism industry Information technology continues to shape tourism industry. The impact is profound and has brought many benefits in tourism industry. Some of the benefits of using information technology are discussed below (Law, Leung Buhalis 2009). Improved services time saving: tourism industry has benefited greatly from information technology. Better services have been offered to tourists at cheaper cost and within less period of time. Improved communication: communication within tourism industry has been greatly improved by the emergence of information technology. Employees have been able to communicate easily both managers and tourists. Improved financial management and cuts cost of operation within the tourism industry as manual methods of operation have been replaced by more reliable and cheaper technological methods. This has lowered the cost of employing manual labor. Improved tourist-management relationship: tourism sector has embraced social technology to improve the relationship with the tourist. Strong relationship between the tourism sector and the tourist has resulted into competitive advantage with other sectors. Risks associated with introducing I.T to tourism industry Implementing information technology to manage tourism industry has side effects that may impact negatively in tourism sector (Sheldon 1997). Below is a detailed analysis of some of the risks that may be experienced: Online fraud; there are number of scams that are brought by use of computers to manage information in tourism industry. For example someone may steal access to account that does not belong to him and manipulate data. Wireless internet vulnerabilities: this condition may result into stealing information that does not belong to someone. Session hijacking for example is a common fraud that has resulted into loss of data in some systems. Loss of data: data may be lost if the employees within the tourism industry are not properly trained. Loss of data may result into loss of tourists which may later impact the business negatively. Maintaining and monitoring I.T in tourism industry The success of information technology on any business largely depends on the ability of that particular business to maintain and monitor their systems. A properly maintained system deliver services faster and are reliable. Therefore it is important for tourism industry to maintain and monitor the condition of their machines to ensure that they can perform over a longer period of time. Automated system monitoring is important to ensure that systems hardware is properly functioning. System engineers should be hired to identify and correct the problems before they impact the business. Backup should be created to ensure that data of the system is properly maintained. The industry should ensure that they conduct a daily backup of data to ensure that incase of any system failure, information relating to customers can be retrieved (Werthner Klein 1999). Wireless networks should be given serious security concern to ensure that the industry wireless network is invisible and inaccessible by unauthorized people. Anti-viruses should be installed in the computers to ensure that computers are well protected from Spam and virus attacks. Conclusion In this article, I have discussed impacts of Information Technology in tourism industry. I have also realized that information technology plays a major role in shaping tourism sector in both positive and negative ways. Information technology continues to contribute to tourism industry worldwide and some countries have earned foreign exchange as a result of information technology. Even in the world of today tourism has generated a large amount of income and has also created employment. Information technology has also advanced the idea of human development in tourism industry resulting into socio-economic development. It is also important to note that for tourism industry to thrive well under information technology, we should maintain and monitor information technology to ensure that services offered are up to date and reliable. References Bennett, M. M. (1993). Information technology and travel agency: A customer service perspective.Tourism Management,14(4), 259-266. Black, S. E., Lynch, L. M. (2001). How to compete: the impact of workplace practices and information technology on productivity.Review of Economics and statistics,83(3), 434-445. Buhalis, D., Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the InternetThe state of eTourism research.Tourism management,29(4), 609-623. Inkpen, G. (1998).Information technology for travel and tourism(No. Ed. 2). 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