How GIS could be used as a tool to enhance the tourism sectors? A case study of Eritrea

Abstract

The tourism phenomena have attracted not only Eritrea, but almost the entire world. Tourism is being recognized as a source of economic benefits to a country by a way of gaining foreign exchange and employment generation on a truly international scale. It also makes a tremendous contribution to the improvement of social and political understanding. Though, Eritrea’s tourism industry is currently rated as one of the lowest foreign exchange earners in the country, the potential of tourism industry to become a leading source of foreign exchange earnings in Eritrea has not been far realized. It is evident that the country’s tourism potential has not been fully explored and marketed. Though several attempts have been made to enhance its rapid development, but these efforts have suffered some major drawbacks due to lack of a comprehensive spatial database of tourism facilities and destinations. By using GIS, a common platform can be defined to provide a spatial databank with integrated multimedia features. This paper discusses the use of GIS as a tool for archiving, analyzing, and displaying of tourism information to enhance the tourism sectors in Eritrea.Turistični pojavi so pritegnili ne le Eritrejo, temveč skoraj ves svet. Turizem je prepoznan kot vir gospodarskih koristi za državo, saj omogoča pridobivanje tujih valut in ustvarjanje delovnih mest na resnično mednarodni ravni. Prav tako izjemno prispeva k izboljšanju družbenega in političnega razumevanja. Čeprav je turistična industrija v Eritreji trenutno ocenjena kot ena od držav z najnižjimi deviznimi prihodki, potencial turistične industrije, da postane vodilni vir deviznih prihodkov v Eritreji, še zdaleč ni izkoriščen. Očitno je, da turistični potencial države ni bil v celoti raziskan in prodan. Čeprav je bilo narejenih več poskusov za pospešitev njegovega hitrega razvoja, so ta prizadevanja imela nekaj velikih pomanjkljivosti zaradi pomanjkanja celovite prostorske baze podatkov o turističnih objektih in destinacijah. Z uporabo GIS je mogoče opredeliti skupno platformo za zagotavljanje prostorske banke podatkov z integriranimi multimedijskimi funkcijami. Ta članek obravnava uporabo GIS kot orodja za arhiviranje, analiziranje in prikazovanje turističnih informacij za izboljšanje turističnih sektorjev v Eritreji.