Introduction to eTourism

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Introduction to eTourism
Sofía Reino
Micro-Teaching Short course in Learning,
Teaching and Assessment
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Introduction and Learning Outcomes

• To get a general understanding of the term
  eTourism
• To get an insight into changes produced in the
  Tourism Industry by Information and Communication
  Technologies (ICTs)
• To understand how changes in one Tourism sector
  affects others

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What are ICTs?

• Hardware
• Software
• Networking and Communications
• Netware

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Why ICTs are Important to Tourism

• In few other areas of activity are the
  generation, gathering, processing, application
  and communication of information as important for
  day-to-day operations as they are for the travel
  and tourism industry
• Buhalis 2003

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What is eTourism?

• Digitalisation of all processes of the value
  chain in
• Tourism

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Changes in Tourism Industry

• Airlines
• One of the pioneer sectors investing in ICTs
• Introduced Computer Reservation Systems (CRS)
• Other tourism sectors joined the network
• CRS and Global Distribution Systems (GDS)
• The role of Travel Agencies

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AMADEUS A Global Distribution System
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Changes in the Tourism Industry

• Travel Agencies Alternatives
• Become online Expedia
• To clearly specialize
• Electronic Travel Auction

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Conclusion

• ICTs revolutionise the entire Tourism Industry
• Opportunities and Challenges
• Changes in one sector force changes in the whole
  industry

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Bibliography

• Buhalis, D. (1999) Information technology for
  small and medium-sized tourism enterprises
  adaptation and benefits, Information Technology
  and Tourism, 2(2), 79-95.
• Buhalis, D. (2003) eTourism Information
  technology for strategic tourism management,
  Prentice Hall, London.
• Buhalis, D. and Laws, E. (2001) Tourism
  Distribution Channels, Continuum, London.
• French, T. (1998) The future of global
  distribution systems, Travel and Tourism Analyst,
  3, 1-17
• Karcher, K. (1996) The four global distribution
  systems in the travel and tourism industry,
  Electronic Markets, 6(2), 20-24
• Poon, A. (1993) Tourism, Technology and
  Competitive Strategies, CAB International, Oxford
• Sheldon, P. (1997) Information Technologies for
  Tourism, CAB, Oxford
• Werthner, H. and Klein, S. (1999) Information
  Technology and Tourism A Challenging
  Relationship, Springer, New York