R I T T I: I G: Ole of Nformation Echnology in Ourism Ndustry Mpact and Rowth

ROLE OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY IN
TOURISM INDUSTRY:
IMPACT AND GROWTH
 According to the World Tourism
Barometer of the United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Foreign
Tourist Arrivals or FTAs in the World
Tourism Market is growing at an average
rate of 4% each year.
 With the changing trend in the human behaviour,
the industry of travel and tourism is evolving itself
in a way, so as to cater to the needs and likes of
customers belonging to various market segments.
This has led the industry giants to create niche for
them by being equipped to respond, or better still,
take a proactive approach towards the demands
of the customers.
 One of the biggest challenges faced by this
industry is in providing correct, accurate and
localised data, while keeping in mind to maintain
a cordial relationship with their customers.
 Computerised Reservations Systems (CRS)

were among the first applications of IT
worldwide. Their main usage is to store and
retrieve information and conduct transactions
related to travel-fare, reservations, and other
activities. As a largely consumer oriented sector,
the focus of this industry is to provide services as
well as correct information to the end users.
ROLE OF IT IN THE TOURISM
SECTOR, AND ITS GROWTH
 Expansion into new market
 Empowerment of employees
 Lowering of costs
 Enhancing distribution
USES OF IT/ICT IN THE FIELD OF TRAVEL
AND TOURISM
 E-Tourism:
--- E Tourism or Travel Technology is the
digitisation of all the processes and value chains
in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering
industries that enable organisations to maximise
their efficiency and effectiveness. The scope of e-
tourism includes not just computer reservation
system, but also incorporating the broader
tourism sector as well as its subset the
hospitality industry.
 Travel technology, includes all business functions
such as –
 E-commerce and E-marketing

 E-finance and E-accounting
 E-HRM
 E-Procurement
 E-Strategy
 E-Planning
 E-Management
APPLICATION OF E- TOURISM
 Flight Tracking System: Travel technology is
used to monitor as well as manage travel, and
also includes flight tracking system. Global
aviation software such as Plane Finder,
RadarBox24, Flight Stats.com, etc., are useful in
tracing the activities of flights from across the
world.
 Dynamic Packaging: The freedom offered to
customers in order to create their own travel
package by choosing the transportation services,
flight tickets, accommodation types, activities to
get involved in, rental services, etc. instead of
choosing a package predefined by the agent is
called dynamic packaging.
 Computer Reservation System: CRS is famous for
the ability to store the information and retrieve it
when required. It is also used for conducting
transactions related to hotel books, air tickets,
car rental, etc. Some of the most widely used CRS
around the world are Amadeus, Abacus
(currently owned by Sabre), KIU, Mercator,
Navitaire, Sabre, Travel Technology Interactive,
Travel Sky, Travelport, etc. Global Distribution
System is a CRS which sells tickets for major
airlines across the globe.
 Global Distribution System: GDS forms a is a
linkage between the service providers in the
travel industry, such as airlines, hotels, car
rental companies and enabling automated
transaction between travel service providers and
the travel agencies.
 Extensible Markup Language: Extensible

Markup Language based technologies are of
great importance in the travel and tourism
industry. As the support the reservation of
tickets for airlines, or in implementing
merchandising functions and optional services in
the booking process.
 Customer Relationship Management:
CRM is famous for the convenience it brings
in when it comes to managing an organisation’s
interaction, not just with current customers, but
also future customers. CRM helps in analysing
customer data and pulls out the history when
need be which helps the company in
understanding the needs of the customer and
what to cater to.
 Audio Tours:
Another interesting development in
the world of Information technology’s integration
into tourism is the Audio Tours. An audio tour is
a pre-recorded message or commentary which
includes the details of the places the tourist visits
 Biometric Passport:
Also known as E-Passport, contains the
biometric information that can be used for
identification of the traveler. It combines paper
passport along with electronic biometric
information of the owner.
 Virtual Tour:
A virtual tour is an online media
presentation that represents a real location in
the most realistic form possible. It comprises of
videos as well as sill images and may include
sound effects, text, narration and music.

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ROLE OF INFORMATION

 Computerised Reservations Systems (CRS)

 E-commerce and E-marketing

 Extensible Markup Language: Extensible

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