Academic literature on the topic 'Tourist information services'

The article substantiates the need to create tourist information centers in Ukraine as one of the important tools of information support for the development of modern tourism and the promotion of a national tourism product. The success of the tourism industry in Ukraine in the context of the formation of a global information space is largely determined by the effectiveness of information support for the tourism sector. It is noted that an important task of the policy of local authorities in tourism management is to improve the information support of this process, since without advertising and information that attracts consumers of certain services, the development of tourist and recreational activities is impossible. The activity of the TIC is extremely important for destinations with a significant share of independent tourists, because, in this case, they are the main centers for the provision of information services. The essence of the concept of “tourist information center” is revealed and its main tasks are defined. It was noted that the tourist information center is an important tool of the tourist infrastructure, with the help of which tourists and other tourism entities have the opportunity to receive complete tourist information and advisory services on tourism activities in the area and beyond. The TIC can provide information support to the system of state regulation and tourism management in the region, since it is necessary to constantly update the regulatory and informational and analytical framework that provides effective management of the development of tourism and resorts. The following goals of creating tourist information centers in Ukraine are proposed: promoting the development of domestic tourism; providing information to local and foreign tourists and tourist organizations; promoting cooperation between tourism organizations of the city; conducting trainings and seminars for specialists in the field of tourism; development of tourist opportunities of the city; attracting more tourists to the area; improving the competitive advantages of the area by improving the tourism infrastructure; replenishment of the local budget due to taxation of tourism business entities; rational use of tourist and recreational resources of the area; attracting investment in the tourism business; creating a positive international image and popularizing tourist areas. The world experience of organizational and economic aspects of the activity of tourist information centers is investigated. In the developed tourist countries of the world, an extensive modern network of tourist infrastructure institutions, which includes information centers, is successfully operating. Such establishments allow tourists to receive the necessary tourist information and advisory services on tourist destinations. In the USA, each state has its own tourist information centers. The “Hospitality Center” is a recreation area, including a center for visitors, they are funded by local taxes included in each bed. In South America, the most active tourist information centers operate in Peru. Free centers provide tourist information and assistance for domestic and foreign tourists. Information includes monuments and recommended itineraries. In Australia, most visitor centers are run by local or state authorities, and in some cases by the Tourism Operators Association on behalf of the government. These information centers provide services such as housing selection and booking tours (automobile, air, bus, rail). They are the first link in acquaintance of a visitor with a city or region. The practice of the work of tourist information centers in Ukraine is considered and a list of them is compiled. It is noted that today tourist information centers have been created in most regions of Ukraine and in small cities of the Western region of Ukraine. Keywords tourist information center, world experience, domestic practice, creation goals, objectives, activity results.

Tourist destination information is an important element in tourism promotion and marketing. The need for tourism facilities that can respond to problems related to the availability of tourism information and at the same time play a role in tourism promotion and marketing activities of a tourist destination requires the presence of a Tourism Information Center/TIC. Tourist Information Center (TIC) activities are service activities with the core being the delivery of tourist information. This research is exploring the three previous research conducted by Brady Cronin (2001), Gronroos (2000), and King (1987), which aims to investigate the optimization of TIC services. Sampling in this study was 175 respondents. Data processing uses SPSS and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) AMOS 24. Service users were predominantly male, with an age range of 26-35 years, and the majority of undergraduate education, occupational status was dominated by private employees. While natural wonders become the main choice of tourists and the length of stay between 8-14 days. The main purpose of tourists visiting the TIC to get tourism information and transportation information. Whereas the tourist objects most favored by tourists are natural wonders and adventure wonders. Furthermore, the results of TIC service analysis show that physical environment quality, interaction quality, outcome quality affect service user satisfaction, while E-Technology quality does not affect service user satisfaction.

This study aims to find preferences of Middle Eastern tourists towards tourism products of Badung Regency and involved 100 purposively selected respondents. The data was collected through questionnaires then processed using crosstab analysis method and chi-square test. The results of this study are: 1) Characteristics of Middle Eastern tourists visiting Badung Regency are dominated by women, aged between 25 – 44 years, private employees, married, nationality of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, purpose of visit for vacation, information about Bali from internet, mostly traveled by tour packages, length of stay between 4 - 6 days, and mostly it’s their first time visit to Bali. 2) Preferences as follows prefer for natural attractions, stay in Kuta/Legian area, prefer to use a car rental, reserved resort as their accommodation through booking services, dining at restaurants, a watersport as entertainment activities, online media as information services, tourism consulting services are Bali tourism research, do not use tourist flights, and do massages when traveling to Bali. The characteristics of Middle Eastern tourists that correlate with the preference of selection of tourist products in Badung Regency is; Age correlates with tourism consulting services. Jobs correlate with tourist transport services. Nationality correlates with tourism transportation services, travel services, accommodation provision, tourism consulting services, travel services, tirta tours, and spas. Resources correlate with tourist transportation services, and the provision of accommodation. Travel organizing correlates with tourist transportation services, travel services, food and beverage services, and travel services. Travel periods correlate with tourist attractions, and tourism consulting services. Periodic travel correlates with travel services.

Heritage tourism is a tourist trip by visiting places that have historical and heritage value as a tourist attraction. In this study selected three locations in Indonesia are Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Bali. The tourism phone application is an application service tour guide encourages tourists to get information on the journey of heritage tourism. With this application, the user chooses the tourism package according to the area that the user wants to visit. Heritage tour guide application uses the user-centred design (UCD) method. UCD is an iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process. This application makes it easier for tourists because it is a tool for carrying out heritage tourism trips. Tourist can access routes, and tourist destinations will be addressed in the Heritage journey. The results of the design of tour guide services with a confidence scale of 95% intervals, which showed this study was successful in designing tour guide services that were in line with user expectations.

Increasing the volume of tourism in the regions of Russia, improving the quality of tourist services provided, creating new, original, and non-standard tourist brands are urgent tasks for Russian regions, especially in modern conditions of increasing interest in domestic tourism. To solve such important problems, it is necessary to use modern technologies for creating an information space, popular means of communication,the development of modern digital environments that allow consumers of tourism services not only conveniently and individually receive, but also to take part in the creation of original content about various thematic attractions in the country’s regions.The use of mobile applications should ensure full and diverse satisfaction of the mass demand of individual tourists, thus increasing the sustainable interest of tourism in all regions of Russia.

Caravanning is a traditional type of tourism for the Republic of Crimea. Quality of service in the caravanning is formed by the level of their performance, which is dependent on their compliance with modern requirements. The modern development of information and methodological support of tourism requires its improvement for trailering. The author of the article prompts to introduce a numerical score for impressions of the route depending on car safety. The author anticipates a significant improvement in traveling experience due to the flexible capabilities to modify the route with an objective assessment by car tourists. The basis for such decisions is the method of determining the characteristics of the route using graph theory. Knowledge of highway congestion and evaluation of tourist facilities and service companies will allow adjusting the car tourists´ travel itineraries. The proposed evaluation of the quality of services on the route can reasonably conduct design. Creation of tourist information centers of the tourist resources of the Republic of Crimea with the representation in estimates of impressions from visiting the tourist sites allow users to create their generalized objective assessment. Development of the trailering must be based on respect for the principles of sustainable trailering. The introduction of innovative solutions for family trailering make it more competitive in the tourism market. Openness and availability of information on the quality of camping, catering, leisure, etc. will make caravanning more attractive in the Republic of Crimea for both domestic and foreign tourists.

The tourism industry has grown rapidly in recent years, and IT technology is also having a big impact on tourists. Tourism services, information generated by tourists and other sources can be used to build models of tourist behavior. These models can improve the travel experience in various ways. The author presents the system for analyzing tourist behavior based on the concept of a digital pattern of life. The system determines the tourist, possible data sources, ways of storing and presenting data, as well as tools for analyzing behavior. The author used artifi cial neural networks to analyze behavior from a dataset of tourist travels made with cars. One scenario of tourist behavior using artifi cial neural networks is presented. The collected results will be used for improving tourist services.

This study aims to analyze the factors that influence tourists to travel for medical tourism in Malaysia. The four main factors used were destination competitiveness, service quality, tourist attitudes, and costs, with 6 additional factors as supporting factors. This study used a quantitative approach. The data were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis run by SPSS and AMOS 22.0. The sampling technique used was non-probability sampling with the sample consisted of 100 respondents. Results showed that there were 44 elements adopted from the study. Based on the anti-image results, 5 factors were removed. According to the component rotation matrix table, 9 factors influence tourists to visit Malaysia for medical tourism. Then, these 9 factors labelled with the new names, i.e., internal and external factor, location attractiveness, ease of accommodation and services, tourist attraction and service quality, transportation and political condition, information and environment, medical service quality, medical tourism and language, and medical personnel. Keywords: cost, destination competitiveness , medical tourism , service quality, tourist attitude

The problem of ensuring the rights of Russian tourists - one of the most acute and unsolved. Multiple cases of death Russian citizens and infliction injury to their health during foreign tours, theft of property, improper fulfillment of contract terms in transport and accommodation, lack of high culture of service - the most typical range of violations of the rights of compatriots, considered by the author. The most important normative legal acts in tourism are considered in the article and conclude about the need to improve the mechanism of protection of the tourist’s rights is made. The most promising ways to protect the rights of tourists are revealed by the author. These include: maintaining the register of tourist companies with their compulsory registration, increased contributions to the funds of tourism associations cooperating with tourist companies, in the interests of tourists. The official publication of comments about tourist companies as a preventive measure for protecting the rights of tourists from the activities of unscrupulous tourist agencies is offered. Author offers the organizational ways of protection the rights of tourists: providing for tourists together with a voucher, ticket and contract for rendering of tourist services and other necessary information - a guide, a map of the state of stay, the appropriate dictionary, telephone handbook of destination in their native language, annex to the contract which would revealed the full range of services included in the tour ticket. The article concludes that need to create the appropriate legal, financial, social, cultural, and other conditions for the safe and favorable recreation of Russian tourists abroad, which largely depends on the coordinated interaction of public and social sectors.

The perception of tourists attraction was very important to be learnt to provide some information for manager to object tourism attraction. The purpose of this research was to analyzed the perceptions of tourists to the objects tourism attractions, accommodation, infrastructure, facilities and services at the Botanical Garden of Liwa. The method used was a questionnaire. The results of this research showed that Liwa Botanical garden has 5 objects tourism attractions that were Ornamental Garden, Fruit Garden, Araceae Garden, Aren Garden and Photo Spot . Araceae Garden, and Aren Garden had the lowest score based on the tourist perception. The highest tourist perception value is the Photo Spot; while the tourist perception of Araceae Park and Aren Park has the lowest value that is classified as not good because the object has not been opened for tourists. Perception of infrastructure was higher than accommodation, facilities and service. Development need to be carried especially in tourist lodgings, objects tourism attraction, the parking area and promotion to introduce Liwa Botanical Garden to the tourists.

As an information intensive industry and as one of the most progressive industries in information technology adoption, travel and tourism provides an ideal context in which to investigate how new technologies such as interactive television challenge our understanding of media and media use. This research looks at how interactive television can be used by consumers and how it may be best applied by marketers in international holiday travel. Using the UK international traveller market to Western Australia as case in point, this research had three main research goals: 1) to understand how travellers use information sources with a focus on interactive television; 2) how an individual’s previous interactive media and travel experiences may pre-dispose them to using interactive television; and 3) to better understand why individuals interact and what impact the interaction has on the promotional effort. A travel ad and a travel show segment were used to explore these with impulse (brochure request) and telescopic (destination video) interactive opportunities. The treatments were deployed over a video-on-demand platform in greater London and participants took part in their homes via their televisions and a self administered questionnaire. This research has furthered the use of the multi-dimensional grid in understanding information sources in relationship to one another and updated the landscape with modern information sources such as television, teletext, the Internet and interactive television. Findings from this area of investigation suggest that current interactive television offerings cater better to short-haul destinations and although it currently plays a minor role, interactive television has the potential to significantly contribute to travellers’ long-haul holiday planning process. The finding that individuals understand interactive television through their experience with teletext rather than the Internet and are more likely to use interactive television if they are thorough and experienced planners supports the theory of knowledge transference. However, most importantly, if an individual has a positive experience with interactive television they will interact again in the future. Contributions were also made to a better understanding of the interactive television user and the use of interactive television applications to the travel and tourism industry in particular. Exploration of the differences between the Impulse and Telescopic approaches to interactivity highlighted that while interactivity generally enhances the promotional effort each approach has its own strategic applications.

Les fournisseurs de services géo-localisés (LBS) offrent des données textuelles et spatiales complémentaires, parfois incohérentes et imprécises, représentant les différents points d’intérêt (POI) sur un territoire donné. Ainsi, une même requête lancée auprès de divers fournisseurs de services touristiques peut donner des résultats différents et parfois incohérents, pour les attributs terminologiques et/ou les attributs spatiaux. De plus, chaque fournisseur utilise sa propre convention graphique pour représenter les POIs. L’intégration de ces données spatiales hétérogènes dans un contexte dynamique, large échelle, utilisant des sources incomplètes et de qualités variables est actuellement un verrou technologique. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous cherchons une solution à cette intégration aussi bien au niveau des données que de leur représentation
Location Based Services (LBS) had been involved to deliver relevant geospatial information based on a geographic position or address. The amount of geospatial data is constantly increasing, making it a valuable source of information for enriching LBS applications. However, these geospatial data are highly inconsistent and contradictory from one source to another. We assume that integrating geospatial data from several sources may improve the quality of information offered to users. In this thesis, we specifically focus on data representing Points of Interest (POIs) that tourists can get through LBS. Retrieving, matching and merging such geospatial entities lead to several challenges. We mainly focus on three main challenges including (i) detecting and merging corresponding entities across multiple sources and (ii) considering the uncertainty of integrated entities and their representation in LBS applications

The modern day tourists do not want to deal with the hassle of using a large number of travel guides and paper maps while travelling. They would prefer to be able to access required information via their mobile phones or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). We realise that the delivered information may be originally available in numerous information formats. To support the administrator of the tourist guides the programme is required to help sorting information from these different sources and to help inserting them into a system. Our goal with this project is to develop a software support for processing information import via a graphical user interface, to support the administrator in identifying and extracting the appropriate sight information from various resources. The interface also helps in transferring and storing the structured and unstructured data into the TIP database.

Digital technologies have a substantial impact on the tourism industry by affecting thetraveller's behaviour before, during and at the end of the trip and by transforming thetraditional travellers to the digital travellers and smart tourism. Data lies at the core ofall smart tourism activities and received considerable attention in the context of tourists'privacy concerns, precisely, location-based service (LBS). LBS is an example of smarttechnology to enhance travellers' experience and to provide significant benefits to users.Although, LBS become popular among tourists due to high information availability, easeof use, and cheapness, lack of location information protection make the users vulnerable.The latter is a great concern for users when they unintentionally allow the LBS providersto collect all information related to their location. Therefore, this study was conductedby focusing on the general concept of privacy to determine the issues related to the LBSusing in Småland tourism industry. The tourists' perceptions and understanding ofprivacy while using LBC were considered as a general concept of privacy.The study was performed through qualitative research by collecting data from thestructured-interview based on open-ended questions. The qualitative research presentedin this study was based on different viewpoints of interviewees. Thematic analysis wasused to obtain a comprehensive understanding of interviewees' privacy concerns to useLBS. The result indicated four major themes, such as personal information, privacybreach, hesitancy/conditionally and hedonic, that impact differently on tourists' intentionto use LBS. Furthermore, the personality of people, their perceptions and demands couldenhance their privacy concerns for using LBS. These concerns, however, might besuspended when the benefits of gaining information from LBS is considerable. Someother factors, such as the ease of use, user-friendly design, pleasant impression, alongwith providing useful information in the tourism destination, were also considered asessential for LBS adoption among tourists.

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e Telecomunicações
No Turismo e concretamente para os Destinos Turísticos, o desenvolvimento de uma estratégia de E-Business permite reduzir a dependência de intermediários para a distribuição de produtos turísticos. Neste âmbito, oconceito de sistemas de gestão de destinos tem sido utilizado nos últimos anospara descrever a infra-estrutura em termos de tecnologias de informação e comunicação de uma organização de gestão de destinos. Por sua vez, a integração da Internet, Turismo e das Tecnologias de Informaçãoe Comunicação associadas ao comércio provocaram alterações no comportamento e na atitude do turista, uma vez que vieram permitir aosmesmos construírem a sua própria viagem, à sua medida, abandonando ospacotes tradicionais Tendo isto em vista, um Sistema de Informação de Suporte ao E-Business no turismo de uma região deverá permitir duma forma concisa divulgarinformação turística relativa a uma dada área de interesse. Efectuar reservas e contratualizar actividades tais como alojamento, transportes e animação devemser temas centrais. Permitir que o e-turista elabore o seu próprio pacote dinâmico com diferentes componentes à escolha e com apresentação do preçoem tempo real é uma mais-valia preciosa. No âmbito deste trabalho, pretende-se numa primeira fase estudar os conceitos ligados às diversas áreas de interesse e enquadrar o projecto nestas áreas. Numa segunda fase, é esperada a modelação dum sistema que responda às questões colocadas acima de modo integrado e que permita conhecer as basesde um sistema inovador de suporte ao E-Turismo. A implementação dum protótipo exploratório deverá validar os conceitos desenvolvidos.
In Tourism and specifically for Tourism Destinations, the development of an E-Business strategy allows the reduction of the intermediary dependency for thedistribution of tourism products. Following this, the concept of DestinationManagement System has been used to describe an infrastructure in terms of information and communication technology for a Destination Management Organization. The integration of Internet, Tourism and Information and CommunicationTechnologies associated with business brought changes in the behavior andattitude of tourists, thanks to the possibility for them to create their own trip,based on their likings, in contrast with the traditional static packages. Having this in mind, an E-Business Information System for supporting Tourism in a region should be able to provide touristic information about aselect area of interest. Making reservations and booking activities such aslodging, transports and cultural events should be fundamental procedures. Allowing the e-tourist to build his own dynamic package with differentcomponents while the price is automatically updated is a valuable bonus. In a first phase of this project, a general study of concepts linked to the variousareas of interest is expected along with the insertion of these concepts in the general objectives. In a second phase, the modulation of a system that respondsto these objectives in an innovative and functional manner is highly desired.The implementation of an exploratory prototype should enable the validationof the concepts developed.

Les services géolocalisés (LBS) sont destinés à délivrer de l'information adéquate aux utilisateurs quelque soit le temps et l'endroit et ceci en se basant sur leur profil, contexte et position géographique. A travers n'importe quelle application dans ce domaine, par exemple m-tourisme, les utilisateurs souhaitent toujours recevoir une réponse rapide et précise en se déplaçant. Cependant, la qualité de service proposée par les fournisseurs cartographiques actuels (i.e. Google Maps, Bing, Yahoo Maps, Mappy ou Via Michelin) dépend de leurs données géographiques. En général, ces données sont stockées de plusieurs bases de données géographiques (BDG) dans le monde entier. D'autre part, le nombre croissant des différentes BDG couvrant la même zone géographique et la récupération des données/métadonnées non erronées pour un service quelconque, impliquent de nombreux raisonnements et de contrôles d'accès aux BDG afin de résoudre les ambiguïtés dues à la présence des objets homologues dupliqués sur l'écran mobile. Mon travail consiste à permettre cette intégration cartographique pour les applications mtourisme et ceci en récupérant les informations spatiales/non-spatiales (noms, positions géographiques, catégorie du service, détails sémantiques et symboles cartographiques) de plusieurs fournisseurs. Cependant, ceci peut conduire à visualiser des objets dupliqués pour le même point d'intérêt et causer des difficultés au niveau de la gestion des données. En outre, l'utilisateur sera dérouté par la présence de résultats multiples pour un même point. Donc, mon but ultime sera de générer automatiquement une carte unique intégrant plusieurs interfaces des fournisseurs sur laquelle les objets homologues seront intégrés avant de les visualiser sur l'écran mobile. Nos nouveaux concepts, basés sur certains algorithmes de fusion, sur l'ontologie pour assurer l'intégration au niveau sémantique et cartographique, sur l'orchestration des géo web services, sont implémentés dans des prototypes modulaires et évalués.

Viešojo administravimo magistro baigiamojo darbo tema yra aktuali, kadangi Lietuvai įstojus į Europos Sąjungą vis svarbesnis šalies turizmo vaidmuo ne tik Europoje, bet ir kitose užsienio šalyse. Turizmo industrijos plėtra labai priklauso nuo informacinių paslaugų sistemos išvystymo, kuri skatina vietinį ir atvykstamąjį turizmą. Turizmo informacinių ir rinkodaros paslaugų plėtros išplėtojimą lemia ES struktūrinės paramos fondai, kurių dėka projektų įgyvendinimas yra būdas Lietuvos ir jos regionų mastu pagerinti viešąją turizmo infrastruktūrą. Spartėjant turizmo plėtrai ir turizmo informacijos sklaidai Lietuvoje, viena iš aktualių problemų yra viešosios turizmo informacinės infrastruktūros trūkumas Lietuvos regionuose. Tyrimo objektas – turizmo informacinių paslaugų sistema Lietuvoje ir užsienyje. Tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti turizmo informacinių paslaugų sistemą viešajame sektoriuje. Hipotezė: Lietuvos miestuose ir rajonuose nėra tinkamai išplėtota viešoji turizmo informacijos infrastruktūra. Tyrimo metodika: mokslinės literatūros analizė, teisinių dokumentų analizė, statistinių duomenų analizė, anketinė apklausa, interviu, SSGG analizė. Teisiniai dokumentai reglamentuoja turizmo informacinių paslaugų sistemos organizavimą bei viešųjų įstaigų, teikiančių informacines paslaugas, steigimą. Lietuvoje turizmas prasideda nuo nacionalinio turizmo, kur turi būti išvystytas vietos turizmas, skatinantis užsienio turistus atvykti į Lietuvą. Tačiau siekiant tai įgyvendinti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]
Master thesis on public administration is very relevant since Lithuania joined European Union and tourism is taking a more sizeable role not only in Europe but also in other foreign countries. The expansion of tourism industry depends on information service system development, which promotes local and international tourism. The development of tourism information and marketing services determines the size of received support from EU’s structural funds. Implementation of such projects is the way to develop the public tourism infrastructure of Lithuania and its regions. While tourism business is expanding together with information’s about tourism penetration the remaining problem is the lack of public tourism information infrastructure in Lithuania regions. Investigation object – tourism information service’s system in Lithuania and abroad. Investigation purpose – to analyse information services system of tourism in public sector. Hypothesis: public tourism information infrastructure in Lithuania cities and regions is not properly developed. Methodology of investigation: analysis of scientific literature, analysis of law documents, analysis of statistical data, questionnaire, interview, SWOT analysis. Documents of law regulate the organization of tourism information services system and establishment of public institutions’ which provide information services. Lithuania’s tourism starts from national tourism, where local tourism has to be developed and promoted to tourists from... [to full text]

This project provides an audio notification about nearby tourism place to visit (named sight in this thesis), a chapter based Audio Books related to the current sight and involving Digital Library to provide text for the Audio Books for the Tourist Information Provider on a mobile device (TIP). The current system plays a background sound for the sight only when the system displays the specific information for that sight after user selects it. This has been improved to provide a notification by which to receive audios from the recommendation service, and then keep sending audio data to clients on real time. So users can know the sight nearby before they look at their screen. The limitation of current Audio Books is that it only provides Audio Books when the books start from the current sight. This problem is solved by providing a list of books that has any chapter related to that sight, and users can add them into a now-playing list. The Travel Planning Service has been involved to place the Audio Books chapters into the now-playing list based on the order of the visiting sight in their plan. The TIP/Greenstone Service, which can load particular text from Greenstone Digital Library into TIP, has been involved in this project to provide related chapter-based text for those Audio Books. The implemented prototype has been evaluated on effeteness and performance based on the purpose of this project. The result has been discussed to prove it has effectively solved the problem described above. Finally, the result of the experiment on distinguishing audio, and technology for implementation and audio transfers, has been left for future study.

The Master's Thesis focuses on the ways of tourist information centres contribution to the support of the tourism. The analysis is demonstrated on the tourist information centre of CzechTourism. The chapters contain tourist information centre's activities, the information about the Association of Tourist Information Centres in the Czech Republic, about CzechTourism, basic facts about state-funded institutions and methods of effectiveness evaluating in the non-profit sector. The practical part provides knowledge about the activities of the information centre on the Old Town Square, assesses its present situation and its contribution to the tourism support.

Thesis (MBA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2011.
The use of the web-based technology to conduct business has been growing in many industries globally, this has been the case in the tourism industry. The growing popularity of the web-based technology can be attributed to the benefits it brings to the tourism industry. The study has look into the overall benefits brought by the web-based technology in the tourism industry and how it can be further exploited to benefit the organizations. The application of the web-based technology has included the introduction of the website. The website has given companies exposure to the global market and has been a platform for conducting marketing activities. The website has been used extensively in the tourism industry as a source of information. The website has enabled travel consumers purchase tourism products and services. Having a website may not be sufficient in meeting an organisation’s intended objectives. Many companies in the tourism industry are making use of the website, hence the use of website in search engines has become competitive. Companies need to implement website optimisation techniques to benefit both the travel suppliers and travel consumers. To conduct the organisations marketing activities successfully, the websites needs maximum exposure to the target audience. This can be achieved through the website design aimed at ensuring that the website is highly ranked by search engines. Added features like video, up to date information and photos add value to travel consumers. Through these features travel consumers are able to understand tourism products and services, and hence make informed decisions. The study has looked at the application of the web-based technology in four sectors of the tourism industry in South Africa. These are attraction, accommodation, tour operators and transport. Suppliers in each sector were selected for analysis and they are: - in attraction, Kruger National Park and Hluhluwe Game Reserve; - in accommodation, Hilton hotel and Southern Sun hotel; - in tour operator, Thompson Holiday and Tourvest; and - in transport, Kulula, South African Airways, Avis and Europcar. Suppliers in the tourism industry in South Africa were found to use the website for the following reasons: - Provides information about the organisation and its products and services. - Used as a marketing tool: The website is used to facilitate communication between the travel supplier and the travel consumer. It is also a platform to sell tourism products and services. - Used to enhance collaboration in the industry. Collaboration through websites has resulted in a better supply chain. Customers have been able to buy one package including the airline ticket, accommodation and car hire using one website. - Used to conduct business transactions: Customers have been able to make bookings and reservations and payments through the website. - Used to attract customers to the organisation’s products and services. Attractive features such as photos and videos have been included in the website. The Safari Company is a tour operator in South Africa. Using web-based technology; the company has changed its business model to be able to serve its customers better. The company has developed a new website that adds value to both travel suppliers and travel consumers. Travel suppliers are able to market their services and products through the website. The website provides travel consumers with the latest information and expert advice in tourism products in the Southern and Eastern Africa. The Safari Company website has been a platform for the company to communicate its social responsibility with the global community. The Safari Company donates 10% of its revenue to an organization called Touch the Land. Touch the Land is a foundation that implements projects in Southern and Eastern Africa aimed at poverty alleviation.

AbstractThe personalisation-privacy paradox demonstrates a two-fold effect of tourists’ awareness about personalisation on their experience. Compulsory personal data agreements under the GDPR and similar legislation acts raise tourists’ concerns regarding privacy and security. The role of tourist awareness about the value of data-driven personalisation in their co-creation behaviour remains underexplored. This paper applies an exploratory experiment methodology to identify the effects of information about personalisation on tourists’ experience with travel information websites. It triangulates the data from eye-tracking and self-report techniques, to compare the co-creating behaviour of respondents who have or have not been informed about the value of personalisation. The study demonstrates the presence of a personalisation-privacy paradox. It further reveals that awareness about data-driven personalisation motivates tourists to reinforce value co-creation by ensuring the accuracy of information filtering. The study advances our understanding of tourist digital behaviour and provides insights for the design of personalised information services.

AbstractAs a result of travel activities, overtourism has become a global issue. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic, the topic of overtourism would benefit localized overcrowding as a new occurrence in the tourism industry. Since there is no specific measurement to evaluate tourist experiences at crowded attractions, this study aims to explore the perception and feelings of tourists when they visit popular and crowded attractions through topic modeling and sentiment analysis based on TripAdvisor online reviews as of the end of 2019. By investigating the top 10 attractions in Paris, the results present 24 topics frequently discussed by tourists. Examples of some topics related to overtourism are safety, service, queuing, and social interaction. Specifically, tourists felt the most negative towards safety and security among all the identified topics. By bridging overtourism, text analytics, and user-generated-content, this study contributes to the field of tourist experiences and crowd management.

AbstractThe introduction of the sharing economy has revolutionized resident-tourist relationships and provides further implications of destination sustainability. Built on several well-established theories, this conceptual study intends to develop a new and holistic framework to examine destination sustainability, focusing on the change of resident-tourist relationships. The framework is first guided by the stakeholder theory to identify the four key stakeholders in the new sharing economy context: residents, tourists, governments, and the sharing economy platform. With the collaboration theory and resource theory as a foundation, the framework then describes each stakeholder’s specific needs and resources. The service-dominant logic further supports service exchanges and value co-creation among stakeholders. The framework then adopts the capital theory approach to conceptualize destination sustainability in terms of human, social, natural and manufactured capital. Finally, three propositions are developed to justify the new peer-to-peer collaboration paradigm that leads to destination sustainability. The proposed framework is aligned with the six-pillar transformation in e-Tourism research and serves as an intelligent solution to destination sustainable development in the sharing economy context.

Communication and information technologies have greatly influenced the changes of tourism as an activity, especially when it comes to distribution channels in tourism, achieving more accurate and closer communication with customers/tourists, easier access to information, which ultimately affected the creation of market competition with the focus on the tourist. Communication in the tourism industry is of universal importance if the goal is an adequate level of tourist satisfaction as well as competitiveness in the local and global market. Communication is not just promotional activity aimed at attracting tourists, but the totality of relationships that are realized before arrival, during staying and after the departure of tourists, and their quality determines the ratio of expected and achieved satisfaction of a service user. The aim of the research is to understand the different effects that communication (verbal and non-verbal) has in restrictive business conditions. In addition, the paper seeks to point out the practical aspects of the communication process of all participants, directly or indirectly, involved in the creation and provision of services in the tourism industry, with reference to the time of the pandemic.

Tourism business development perspectives mostly depend on the level of infrastructure. Tourism infrastructure includes a group of industries which provides passive tourism balance. It has its own resources: natural, recreational, production assets - service enterprises, personnel, relations with other sectors of economy, providing accommodation, feeding, recreation, information and transport services for tourists. Tourism infrastructure contributes to the adequate functioning of tourist’s leisure. Despite all efforts to develop tourism in Kyrgyzstan, good results of its development are not yet observed, the share of tourism in GDP still remains very low. Tourism infrastructure is developing very poorly. Today, tourism rests solely on natural beauty, only beach tourism remains developed, in recent years, recreation at ski resorts has become more or less popular. Taking into account all the above, in this article we will try to assess the current state of development of the republic’s tourism infrastructure, identify the main problems inhibiting the development of quality tourist services and identify the main directions for the development of tourism infrastructure in the future. Creating a quality level of tourism infrastructure, in our opinion, is one of the factors for increasing the share of tourism in the GDP of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The measures taken by the states of the world to limit the disease with the Sars Cov 2 virus imposed, in the first phase of the pandemic, numerous restrictions on mobility and physical distance, a situation that significantly changed the way tourism is carried out worldwide. In this context, some typologies of tourist activities were highlighted, which before the pandemic represented only a small segment of tourist flows and economic benefits. The natural areas with dispersed tourist objectives, with low population densities, the local villages, have entered the sphere of interest of some social categories of population that access the international tourism or the urban cultural areas. Virtual tourism has gained more and more ground, the circulation of tourist information in the online environment has intensified through photos showing the behavior of tourists in the circumstances of the pandemic. The study aims to measure, through a comparative and diachronic analysis (before and during the pandemic), the perception and representation of tourism through geocoded photography and assess how the attractiveness of tourist resources in two geographical areas (Suceava County and Maramures County) has changed. Among the existing web photo distribution platforms, we analyzed the geocoded photos on the Picasaweb platform, this platform being in direct contact with the web service and Google street viewing services, popular in Romania. The research aims at analyzing the photographic appearances of the localities from the two counties, Suceava and Maramures in the period February - August 2020. Research methods used: analysis of tourist areas, statistical recording of tourist flows during the pandemic, comparison of the two regions with the intensity of tourist traffic reflected in the attached photos online, cartographic method by presenting tourist information on territorial options. In conclusion, it is observed that the hostile period of the pandemic had a positive impact on the sustainability of tourism, especially of those territories that are of great interest and became overcrowded in the same period of previous years.

Purpose – the main goal of tourism clusters is to attract more tourists to the region and improve the quality of regional tourism products. The aim of this paper is to verify whether the initiative of the Eastern Poland Tourism Brands Cluster has contributed to the development of tourism services and products offered by local firms. Research methodology – to achieve the goal, we described and evaluated cluster activities based on secondary sources of data and questionnaire interviews conducted with the representatives of entities involved in the cluster. We used the modified COO effect model to evaluate the services according to the following criteria: modernity, diversity, prestige and quality. We employed a 5-item Likert scale in our questionnaire. Findings – the results of the analysis showed that despite the increased recognition of tourist brands and products, the cluster did not survive. This experience shows that clusters operating in the tourism industry have less chance of survival than industrial clusters. Research limitations – main limitation of the research is the scarcity of source materials and a low number of surveys returned by cluster members. Personal meetings with respondents would add valuable information. Practical implications – the results of research can be used as an indication for the development and maintenance of tourist cluster initiatives on the market. In recent years, more and more studies focus on the development prospects of tourism clusters. Originality – until now, however, no study on cluster performance has employed the COO effect model or its derivatives, which makes our paper novel in this aspect.

The article discusses the theoretical and applied aspects of a new approach to the management of tourist and recreational systems based on a network-centric model. The model is based on the application of a network structure of information exchanges between tourist enterprises, consumers of tourist services and marketing organizations. In this network structure, clusters or aggregations of objects consisting of homogeneous small and medium-sized tourist enterprises are distinguished. The principle of self-synchronization in the network-centric construction of management in tourist and recreational systems is considered. The concept of "tourist and recreational attractor” is introduced. The strategy of "borrowing" in the application of mechanisms for the diffusion of innovations and advanced tourist and recreational technologies in the tourism industry of Russian regions is justified. A multi-network scheme of innovative development of the tourist and recreational sphere, including the educational segment, is proposed. The tourist and recreational system is considered at the municipal level. A multi-network scheme of innovative development of the tourist and recreational sphere, including the educational segment, is proposed. Approbation of the research results was carried out within the framework of tourist and recreational design of the Moscow and Tver regions municipalities. It is concluded that the network-centric concept, being innovative, has a high applied value and allows solving existing problems in their interrelation, providing competitive indicators (the volume of tourism, employment of supporting personnel, the size of investments). The results obtained in the study can be successfully replicated at the regional level of tourism and recreation management.

This article examines the concept and principles of organization of tourist-excursion activities in the framework of the project «The freshman’s days of navigation» aimed at students of Don state technical university in connection with the need for the most rapid adaptation of freshmen in higher education. This paper discusses the organization of tourist and excursion services using modern information technologies and popular online services.

Countries around the world have endured over a year of extreme uncertainty in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, and economies in the Caribbean have suffered more than most. But with the increasing availability of vaccines and prospects for a resumption of international travel, light is emerging at the end of the Pandemic tunnel. With this in mind, The Inter-American Development Bank Caribbean1 Departments most recent Quarterly Bulletin reviews the latest available information regarding the crisis impacts on citizens, their economies, and key factors that will determine the speed and depth of recovery. As also discussed in previous editions, prospects for tourism-dependent economies will depend heavily on vaccine penetration and border normalization in source countries particularly the United States and Western Europe, while commodity-intensive economies could benefit from upward revisions to global demand growth estimates. All countries in the region can do much to support a rapid recovery through forward-looking policies aimed at ensuring they are well positioned to take advantage of post-Pandemic preferences with respect to travel and tourism, services trade, and investment. Our latest report considers these issues, what may lie ahead, and how counties can best position themselves for a recovery in 2021 and beyond.

1.1 Macroeconomic summary Economic recovery has consistently outperformed the technical staff’s expectations following a steep decline in activity in the second quarter of 2020. At the same time, total and core inflation rates have fallen and remain at low levels, suggesting that a significant element of the reactivation of Colombia’s economy has been related to recovery in potential GDP. This would support the technical staff’s diagnosis of weak aggregate demand and ample excess capacity. The most recently available data on 2020 growth suggests a contraction in economic activity of 6.8%, lower than estimates from January’s Monetary Policy Report (-7.2%). High-frequency indicators suggest that economic performance was significantly more dynamic than expected in January, despite mobility restrictions and quarantine measures. This has also come amid declines in total and core inflation, the latter of which was below January projections if controlling for certain relative price changes. This suggests that the unexpected strength of recent growth contains elements of demand, and that excess capacity, while significant, could be lower than previously estimated. Nevertheless, uncertainty over the measurement of excess capacity continues to be unusually high and marked both by variations in the way different economic sectors and spending components have been affected by the pandemic, and by uneven price behavior. The size of excess capacity, and in particular the evolution of the pandemic in forthcoming quarters, constitute substantial risks to the macroeconomic forecast presented in this report. Despite the unexpected strength of the recovery, the technical staff continues to project ample excess capacity that is expected to remain on the forecast horizon, alongside core inflation that will likely remain below the target. Domestic demand remains below 2019 levels amid unusually significant uncertainty over the size of excess capacity in the economy. High national unemployment (14.6% for February 2021) reflects a loose labor market, while observed total and core inflation continue to be below 2%. Inflationary pressures from the exchange rate are expected to continue to be low, with relatively little pass-through on inflation. This would be compatible with a negative output gap. Excess productive capacity and the expectation of core inflation below the 3% target on the forecast horizon provide a basis for an expansive monetary policy posture. The technical staff’s assessment of certain shocks and their expected effects on the economy, as well as the presence of several sources of uncertainty and related assumptions about their potential macroeconomic impacts, remain a feature of this report. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, continues to affect the public health environment, and the reopening of Colombia’s economy remains incomplete. The technical staff’s assessment is that the COVID-19 shock has affected both aggregate demand and supply, but that the impact on demand has been deeper and more persistent. Given this persistence, the central forecast accounts for a gradual tightening of the output gap in the absence of new waves of contagion, and as vaccination campaigns progress. The central forecast continues to include an expected increase of total and core inflation rates in the second quarter of 2021, alongside the lapse of the temporary price relief measures put in place in 2020. Additional COVID-19 outbreaks (of uncertain duration and intensity) represent a significant risk factor that could affect these projections. Additionally, the forecast continues to include an upward trend in sovereign risk premiums, reflected by higher levels of public debt that in the wake of the pandemic are likely to persist on the forecast horizon, even in the context of a fiscal adjustment. At the same time, the projection accounts for the shortterm effects on private domestic demand from a fiscal adjustment along the lines of the one currently being proposed by the national government. This would be compatible with a gradual recovery of private domestic demand in 2022. The size and characteristics of the fiscal adjustment that is ultimately implemented, as well as the corresponding market response, represent another source of forecast uncertainty. Newly available information offers evidence of the potential for significant changes to the macroeconomic scenario, though without altering the general diagnosis described above. The most recent data on inflation, growth, fiscal policy, and international financial conditions suggests a more dynamic economy than previously expected. However, a third wave of the pandemic has delayed the re-opening of Colombia’s economy and brought with it a deceleration in economic activity. Detailed descriptions of these considerations and subsequent changes to the macroeconomic forecast are presented below. The expected annual decline in GDP (-0.3%) in the first quarter of 2021 appears to have been less pronounced than projected in January (-4.8%). Partial closures in January to address a second wave of COVID-19 appear to have had a less significant negative impact on the economy than previously estimated. This is reflected in figures related to mobility, energy demand, industry and retail sales, foreign trade, commercial transactions from selected banks, and the national statistics agency’s (DANE) economic tracking indicator (ISE). Output is now expected to have declined annually in the first quarter by 0.3%. Private consumption likely continued to recover, registering levels somewhat above those from the previous year, while public consumption likely increased significantly. While a recovery in investment in both housing and in other buildings and structures is expected, overall investment levels in this case likely continued to be low, and gross fixed capital formation is expected to continue to show significant annual declines. Imports likely recovered to again outpace exports, though both are expected to register significant annual declines. Economic activity that outpaced projections, an increase in oil prices and other export products, and an expected increase in public spending this year account for the upward revision to the 2021 growth forecast (from 4.6% with a range between 2% and 6% in January, to 6.0% with a range between 3% and 7% in April). As a result, the output gap is expected to be smaller and to tighten more rapidly than projected in the previous report, though it is still expected to remain in negative territory on the forecast horizon. Wide forecast intervals reflect the fact that the future evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant source of uncertainty on these projections. The delay in the recovery of economic activity as a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the first quarter appears to have been less significant than projected in the January report. The central forecast scenario expects this improved performance to continue in 2021 alongside increased consumer and business confidence. Low real interest rates and an active credit supply would also support this dynamic, and the overall conditions would be expected to spur a recovery in consumption and investment. Increased growth in public spending and public works based on the national government’s spending plan (Plan Financiero del Gobierno) are other factors to consider. Additionally, an expected recovery in global demand and higher projected prices for oil and coffee would further contribute to improved external revenues and would favor investment, in particular in the oil sector. Given the above, the technical staff’s 2021 growth forecast has been revised upward from 4.6% in January (range from 2% to 6%) to 6.0% in April (range from 3% to 7%). These projections account for the potential for the third wave of COVID-19 to have a larger and more persistent effect on the economy than the previous wave, while also supposing that there will not be any additional significant waves of the pandemic and that mobility restrictions will be relaxed as a result. Economic growth in 2022 is expected to be 3%, with a range between 1% and 5%. This figure would be lower than projected in the January report (3.6% with a range between 2% and 6%), due to a higher base of comparison given the upward revision to expected GDP in 2021. This forecast also takes into account the likely effects on private demand of a fiscal adjustment of the size currently being proposed by the national government, and which would come into effect in 2022. Excess in productive capacity is now expected to be lower than estimated in January but continues to be significant and affected by high levels of uncertainty, as reflected in the wide forecast intervals. The possibility of new waves of the virus (of uncertain intensity and duration) represents a significant downward risk to projected GDP growth, and is signaled by the lower limits of the ranges provided in this report. Inflation (1.51%) and inflation excluding food and regulated items (0.94%) declined in March compared to December, continuing below the 3% target. The decline in inflation in this period was below projections, explained in large part by unanticipated increases in the costs of certain foods (3.92%) and regulated items (1.52%). An increase in international food and shipping prices, increased foreign demand for beef, and specific upward pressures on perishable food supplies appear to explain a lower-than-expected deceleration in the consumer price index (CPI) for foods. An unexpected increase in regulated items prices came amid unanticipated increases in international fuel prices, on some utilities rates, and for regulated education prices. The decline in annual inflation excluding food and regulated items between December and March was in line with projections from January, though this included downward pressure from a significant reduction in telecommunications rates due to the imminent entry of a new operator. When controlling for the effects of this relative price change, inflation excluding food and regulated items exceeds levels forecast in the previous report. Within this indicator of core inflation, the CPI for goods (1.05%) accelerated due to a reversion of the effects of the VAT-free day in November, which was largely accounted for in February, and possibly by the transmission of a recent depreciation of the peso on domestic prices for certain items (electric and household appliances). For their part, services prices decelerated and showed the lowest rate of annual growth (0.89%) among the large consumer baskets in the CPI. Within the services basket, the annual change in rental prices continued to decline, while those services that continue to experience the most significant restrictions on returning to normal operations (tourism, cinemas, nightlife, etc.) continued to register significant price declines. As previously mentioned, telephone rates also fell significantly due to increased competition in the market. Total inflation is expected to continue to be affected by ample excesses in productive capacity for the remainder of 2021 and 2022, though less so than projected in January. As a result, convergence to the inflation target is now expected to be somewhat faster than estimated in the previous report, assuming the absence of significant additional outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff’s year-end inflation projections for 2021 and 2022 have increased, suggesting figures around 3% due largely to variation in food and regulated items prices. The projection for inflation excluding food and regulated items also increased, but remains below 3%. Price relief measures on indirect taxes implemented in 2020 are expected to lapse in the second quarter of 2021, generating a one-off effect on prices and temporarily affecting inflation excluding food and regulated items. However, indexation to low levels of past inflation, weak demand, and ample excess productive capacity are expected to keep core inflation below the target, near 2.3% at the end of 2021 (previously 2.1%). The reversion in 2021 of the effects of some price relief measures on utility rates from 2020 should lead to an increase in the CPI for regulated items in the second half of this year. Annual price changes are now expected to be higher than estimated in the January report due to an increased expected path for fuel prices and unanticipated increases in regulated education prices. The projection for the CPI for foods has increased compared to the previous report, taking into account certain factors that were not anticipated in January (a less favorable agricultural cycle, increased pressure from international prices, and transport costs). Given the above, year-end annual inflation for 2021 and 2022 is now expected to be 3% and 2.8%, respectively, which would be above projections from January (2.3% and 2,7%). For its part, expected inflation based on analyst surveys suggests year-end inflation in 2021 and 2022 of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively. There remains significant uncertainty surrounding the inflation forecasts included in this report due to several factors: 1) the evolution of the pandemic; 2) the difficulty in evaluating the size and persistence of excess productive capacity; 3) the timing and manner in which price relief measures will lapse; and 4) the future behavior of food prices. Projected 2021 growth in foreign demand (4.4% to 5.2%) and the supposed average oil price (USD 53 to USD 61 per Brent benchmark barrel) were both revised upward. An increase in long-term international interest rates has been reflected in a depreciation of the peso and could result in relatively tighter external financial conditions for emerging market economies, including Colombia. Average growth among Colombia’s trade partners was greater than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. This, together with a sizable fiscal stimulus approved in the United States and the onset of a massive global vaccination campaign, largely explains the projected increase in foreign demand growth in 2021. The resilience of the goods market in the face of global crisis and an expected normalization in international trade are additional factors. These considerations and the expected continuation of a gradual reduction of mobility restrictions abroad suggest that Colombia’s trade partners could grow on average by 5.2% in 2021 and around 3.4% in 2022. The improved prospects for global economic growth have led to an increase in current and expected oil prices. Production interruptions due to a heavy winter, reduced inventories, and increased supply restrictions instituted by producing countries have also contributed to the increase. Meanwhile, market forecasts and recent Federal Reserve pronouncements suggest that the benchmark interest rate in the U.S. will remain stable for the next two years. Nevertheless, a significant increase in public spending in the country has fostered expectations for greater growth and inflation, as well as increased uncertainty over the moment in which a normalization of monetary policy might begin. This has been reflected in an increase in long-term interest rates. In this context, emerging market economies in the region, including Colombia, have registered increases in sovereign risk premiums and long-term domestic interest rates, and a depreciation of local currencies against the dollar. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in several of these economies; limits on vaccine supply and the slow pace of immunization campaigns in some countries; a significant increase in public debt; and tensions between the United States and China, among other factors, all add to a high level of uncertainty surrounding interest rate spreads, external financing conditions, and the future performance of risk premiums. The impact that this environment could have on the exchange rate and on domestic financing conditions represent risks to the macroeconomic and monetary policy forecasts. Domestic financial conditions continue to favor recovery in economic activity. The transmission of reductions to the policy interest rate on credit rates has been significant. The banking portfolio continues to recover amid circumstances that have affected both the supply and demand for loans, and in which some credit risks have materialized. Preferential and ordinary commercial interest rates have fallen to a similar degree as the benchmark interest rate. As is generally the case, this transmission has come at a slower pace for consumer credit rates, and has been further delayed in the case of mortgage rates. Commercial credit levels stabilized above pre-pandemic levels in March, following an increase resulting from significant liquidity requirements for businesses in the second quarter of 2020. The consumer credit portfolio continued to recover and has now surpassed February 2020 levels, though overall growth in the portfolio remains low. At the same time, portfolio projections and default indicators have increased, and credit establishment earnings have come down. Despite this, credit disbursements continue to recover and solvency indicators remain well above regulatory minimums. 1.2 Monetary policy decision In its meetings in March and April the BDBR left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75%.