With the increasing use of technology in every sector, the success of any business largely depends on the correct use of information technology and future vision. Correct use of technology and innovation helps in increase of the market share and financial gain of a business. Use of Information technology is widespread in the field of tourism and the involvement of information technology in tourism has helped in considerable business growth over the years. The travel agencies have evolved over the years and now include online websites for booking and planning a trip (Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier 2015). The report discusses the need of IT in the tourism sector and the process of implementation. It further discusses the risks associated with the system and the process of monitoring the IT requirements in tourism business.
There is a varied need of IT in tourism business. IT can act a medium to enhance the level and collaboration between the tourism operators for example between travel agencies and the service providers of tourism. Moreover, it helps in lowering the cost of maintenance and manual work labor. The tracking system helps in monitoring and managing the travel. Different travel agencies can implement IT in their business by launching a website where people can plan and book their own holiday packages Bethapudi 2013). This will help in managing the whole process in a better way and requires less or negligible manual labor. With the increase of internet users, implementation of Information Technology in tourism sector becomes necessary need. Moreover, with e marketing, and advertisement, tourism business can reach a wider audience and in a negligible cost.
Information technology is important in business survival, as people nowadays prefer online services instead of manual services. This is because; online services are easy to access and are available to the user 24*7 (Baltzan 2012). With the implementation of Information technology in tourism business, customers will be able to access the distribution channels of the traditional tour operators quite easily over the internet. An online website can guide the customer and provide necessary details such as the package cost, sightseeing places and the services to be offered. This will not only automate the whole process but will also benefit the customers and save their time. This is a cost effective solution for the business as well.
The requirements of implementing IT in tourism business are listed below-
1) A online website can be designed that will contain the necessary details of the travel agency and will also have different options for customers, such as book a trip, plan a trip and so on.
2) A website development does not require much time and cost, however the designing should be effective and useful. A proper website developer may be hired for this task and the security of the website should be maintained (Benckendorff, Sheldon and Fesenmaier 2014).
3) The website launching should not take much time; however, proper advertisement of the website is required so that it reaches the masses.
4) The equipments needed in implementing Information technology in tourism business includes, computers, telecommunications equipments, monitors, keyboards, printers, servers, drives and network HUBs. These basic equipments simple equipments can bring a large change in business perspective.
5) After installation of the required equipment and before the final launching of the tourism website, the employees and staffs are needed to be trained properly on using the back end devises and services of the live website.
The use of IT in tourism are elaborated below-
Employees- The employees use computer systems to stay connected with the clients. Mobile communication is also maintained to keep the customers advised of the changes, updates and delays. The communication can be done through emails, GPS tagging or text messaging. The employees use the website as an administrator to confirm the booking done by the clients.
Customers- The customers are benefitted the most with the implementation of Information Technology in tourism. The website contains all information about a travel package, place of visit and the services provided by the travel agencies including the costs of the services. People can easily fetch the information and customize their packages in the website. The website also contains a secure payment gateway that will enable them to pay for the services they have booked with a particular travel agency. Thus, the whole trip planning and booking a trip can be done effortlessly with the help of Information technology. The acknowledgement of the booking and the payment with necessary details about the trip is send to the customers using electronic means. Thus, the whole process is automated and the customers make use of these automated services to plan and book a trip effortlessly (Molz 2012).
The advantages and the benefits of implementing Information Technology in business are as follows (Drnevich and Croson 2013)-
1) Information Technology helps in advancing and automating the communications, reservations and the services provided to the client. Technology helps in continuous communication and streamlining the services offered to the client from reservation to the completion of the tour.
2) Attraction sector of tourism needs an intense communication to inform tourists about the services offered. This can be effectively done with the help of technology.
3) Online advertising reach a greater audience than the other marketing ways and strategies. Social media marketing is very effective in advertising the contests of a website and the services offered by the travel agencies. Informative websites guides the client in a better way thus increasing the business (Goldfarb 2014).
4) With the involvement of technology, clients have the option to book tickets from home and on the go, which, benefits the clients as well as the business.
5) Clients get a clear idea of the package from the web contents, which contain detailed illustration of the places of visit. The rich content and graphics of the helps in creating a positive effect on the customer’s mind.
6) Technology helps in developing an easier feedback path that in turn helps in improving the services offered.
The risks that is associated with the implementation of Information Technology in tourism business are listed below (Slovic 2013)-
1) Security – The online websites enables the clients to pay for the bookings they have made. The websites thus exposed to certain security risks. The payment should be containing a secure gateway and proper encryption to eliminate the security risk (Peltier 2013).
2) Privacy- Customers puts their data into the website for making the booking. This contains the personal information of the clients and thus the privacy issue arises.
3) Confidentiality- The confidentiality of the credit and debit card details of the customers should be properly protected in order to prevent any data breach.
The Information Technology requires very less or negligible monitoring. The systems are to be updated time to time and the security essentials should be monitored on regular basis to eliminate any active threats (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015).
Conclusion
Therefore form the above discussion, it can be concluded that, the implementation of IT can bring a considerable change in the business of tourism sector. The implementation cost of the system is considerably low and offers a varied number of benefits. The implementation of IT will benefit the business of tourism considerably. However, there are certain security concerns with the implementation of IT, which has to be kept in mind.
References
Baltzan, P., 2012. Business driven technology. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Benckendorff, P.J., Sheldon, P.J. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2014. Tourism information technology. Cabi.
Bethapudi, A., 2013. The role of ICT in tourism industry. Journal of Applied Economics and Business, 1(4), pp.67-79.
Drnevich, P.L. and Croson, D.C., 2013. Information technology and business-level strategy: Toward an integrated theoretical perspective. Mis Quarterly, 37(2).
Goldfarb, A., 2014. What is different about online advertising?. Review of Industrial Organization, 44(2), pp.115-129.
McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P., 2015. Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press.
Molz, J.G., 2012. Travel connections: Tourism, technology, and togetherness in a mobile world. Routledge.
Peltier, T.R., 2013. Information security fundamentals. CRC Press.
Slovic, P., 2013. Risk, media and stigma: Understanding public challenges to modern science and technology. Routledge.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2015. Information technology and consumer behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.244-249.
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