Development of Information and Communication Technology: Frome-Tourism to Smart Tourism

Abstract

This chapter reviews e-tourism development across three areas: suppliers, tourists, and educational needs. Regarding suppliers, the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) begins with simplifying operational procedures, increasing employee productivity and enhancing information retrieval. Tourism managers rely on ICT and data to carry out management tasks such as promoting products online, making strategic decisions, monitoring customer satisfaction and product customization, and maintaining a sustainable business environment. Application systems within the tourism ecosystem should be interconnected and interoperable to form a smart network. An intelligent environment enables smart networks with high-speed data exchange and autonomy services. From the tourist perspective, ICT significantly changes tourists’ trip decision-making process and behavior. Destination choice and travel product information are available online without time delays or any geographical or language barriers. Multimedia and 3D virtual images expand the information richness and facilitate co-created travel experiences. Social media allow tourists to share their trip experiences with friends and relatives in real time and express their feedback about travel products on easily accessible review sites. To address employers’ and future employees’ needs, the university must revise the tourism education curricula with a significant inclusion of the ICT component to ensure students will be equipped with the necessary ICT skills in areas such as data analysis, scenario interpretation, robot management, and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.