Understanding the Tourism System

• The presence of the 4A's (Attractions, Accessibility, Accommodations, Amenities) helps attract visitors and ensures visitor satisfaction

What is a System?

• A regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole
• It can stand by itself, but for tourism, the items must be unified to satisfy the tourists
• A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network
• The tourism system involves the movement of tourists

What is a Tourism System?

• Comprised of two main drivers: demand and supply
• Tourism demand pertains to the visitors who consume tourism products
• Tourism supply pertains to the network/chain of tourism sectors who provide the tourism product
• Supply components should be present and linked together to provide a satisfactory tourism experience
• Disconnected tourism supply = Hindi connected by transportation
• With disconnected tourism supply there may be attractions and transportation but a lack of accommodations, resulting in only day trips for tourists
• Maximize if present and connected

Essential Pull Factors in a Tourist Destination

• Visitor attractions are at the heart of the industry and motivate people to travel
• Attractions can be natural, man-made, events-based, or activity-based
• Attractors must be managed to become successful
• Anything may be an attractor but successful tourism attractions are managed and may require intervention

Other Factors to Consider

• Accessibility and Opening Hours
• On-site amenities such as parking, visitor center, signs & labels, shops, guides, refreshments, toilets, litter bins, seating, and disabled provision
• Off-site amenities like signposting, local accommodation and local services
• The organization and its resources
• The product
• The market
• The management of the attraction

Transportation

• Vital in facilitating tourism by enabling tourists to travel from their origin to destination and return
• Tourism is inconceivable without transportation
• Transportation is essential to facilitate visitor movement into and within a destination

Services

• Travel service businesses represent the greatest economic contributor to tourism
• Services include accommodations, food service, transport, the travel trade and other ancillary businesses
• Services enable satisfactory consumption of attractions in a destination

The Functioning Tourism System

• The Gunn Model includes:Demand, Supply,Attractions, Promotion, Transportation, Information, Services

Characteristics of the Tourism Industry

• Tourism is service and experience products
• Tourism is co-created through the interactions of travelers, tourism organizations, and settings
• Tourism is Heterogenous, Intangible, Perishable, Inseparable, Global

Heterogenous

• A typical trip is complex and consists of many component parts
• To research and plan a trip, travelers must interact with many private and public sector organizations
• Information and IT provide crucial links between different industry sectors to create a seamless travel experience
• The more complex and international the trip, the more information is required
• Differences may arise and can be differentiated

Complexity of Trip Components

• A trip encompasses the experiences from place of residence to the destination region
• Research is indispensable for transportation and accommodation
• Considerations include airlines, passenger details, VISA requirements, what to bring, and how to act

Intangible

• Detailed destination/experience info is needed to substitute for the lack of tangibility
• These are needs which intangible aspects can provide
• Travel/destination information is increasingly available in electronic form
• Rich and immersive digital content like websites, pictures, and videos allows travelers to "sample" the trip before booking

Perishability

• Tourism products have a time-sensitive nature
• Missed flights cannot be used again
• IT can assist with monitoring inventories and dynamically adjusting prices to maximize load factors, occupancy, and attendance rates
• Computer reservation systems (CRSs) use revenue management systems to assist with these challenges

Inseparable

• Interaction between service providers and travelers is simultaneous
• Co-creation and high-quality experiences are vital
• Changes in lifestyle and priorities have made time an important commodity
• IT applications personalize experiences and serve tourists more efficiently

Global

• Tourism is among the most global industries
• International travel generates vast amounts of information not found in domestic industries
• Geographic dispersion requires data communication networks around the globe to link tourism entities
• Information is the lifeblood of the industry and key to managing 4A's, therefore IT is critical

Strategic Assets

• Information and data are important assets that must be carefully managed with other resources
• This is especially important when starting a business

Actors of Tourism Information

• Stakeholders are those who use it and what they are looking for

The Attributes of Information

• Information is reusable. The opposite of land, labor, capital

The Requirements of Information

• Resources must be secured and private
• Protected from possible crisis in the future

Types of Information

• Travelers: destinations, transport, prices, climate etc
• Intermediaries: consumer trends, destinations, prices etc
• Suppliers: company information, consumer behavior etc
• Destinations: trends in the industry, marketing, and planning

Categories of Information

• Static: doesn't change frequently like product descriptions
• Dynamic: change rapidly so require digital formats

Technology Innovation

• Technological changes effect user practices, markets, and the landscape
• Influences change and value

IT Technologies

• Global Distribution Systems (GDSs)
• Yield Management Systems
• Database systems
• Automated call centres
• Property management
• Reservation systems
• Electronic-locking
• Digital room keys
• Virtual conciereges
• Global positioning
• Geographic Information System
• Global Information dissemination
• Integration
• Mass customization

Tourism Information Systems

• Early websites provided limited interaction
• Web 2.0 enabled user-generated content, expanding information

Information Technology Applications

• Word processing
• Speadsheets
• Publishing and database management
• The convergence of information technologies and the increasing interoperability of various platforms creates a technical ecosystem

The Internet & World Wide Web

• Linking computers together using networks
• Enabled a range of networked services like email, the WWW, and cloud computing
• This has lead to a seamless in device usage; for Mobile phones, personal digital assistants, laptops, smart glasses

Connectivity

• Space and time are diminished

Innovation Uses

• Managing Value Chains by changing information/distribution channels
• Managing Knowledge
• Marketing and competitive advantage, better services, and larger organization

Digital Tourism Ecosystem

• The interaction between living entities (travelers, suppliers, intermediary governments), and the non living technological environment
• Devices, connections, content, and touchpoints
• The digital environment allows users to access content

Ecosystem Components

• Devices: Hardware and software with a purpose such as a desktop computer
• Connections: Links enabling moving information between devices through networks like the internet
• Content: The shared information about experiences
• Touch Points: The means for entities to interact with each other/technology

Entities & Functions

• Catalyzers support ecosystem's growth, like governments.
• Dictators seek to control ecosystem like global distribution systems.
• Milkers extract value than contribute
• Niche players offer specialized services or coexists in a symbiotic relationship
• Travelers create content
• Travel is completed in pre-trip, en-route, and post-trip phases
• Inspiration - Info is gathered to decide and plan trips
• Transactions - Booking and purchasing travel services
• Experience- Digital tools enhance your trip
• Reflection - Sharing your experiences and trips affects future travellers

Evaluation of Ecosystem Health

• Measured in terms of productivity resilience and diversity
• Digital tourist can be defined with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods

Ecosystem Economics

• Economies follow cycles based on innovation and alternating periods of growth
• Tourism disrupted by suppliers

Online Touchpoints

• Structure should align with marketing and facilitate
• Clear navigation
• Good information Optimize delivery, management, and evaluation

Dissemination

• Interactive
• Transactional Support
• disintermediation
• E-commerce

Types of entities in the travel sector

• B2C (Business to Consumer)
• B2B (Business to Business)
• C2C (Consumer to Consumer)
• C2B (Consumer to Business
• G2C (Government to Consumer)
• G2B (Government to Business)
• G2G (Government to Government)

Content providers

• OTAs
• Travel suppliers
• Government
• Education
• NPOs

Social Media

• Applications that allow the creation of user generated content.
• Users access, discuss, share and update.
• Challenges the reliance on official sources.

Touchpoints & Goals

• Publishing
• Sharing
• Playing
• Networking
• Buying
• Localization
• Integration

7 Functional Blocks of Social Media

• Identity - Extent which a user reveals themselves
• Conversations - Extent users communicate
• Sharing - Extent of content exchanged by users
• Presence - Extent users know someone is available
• Relationships - Extent user relates to others
• Reputation - Extent to which a user can know the standing of themselves and content
• Groups - Extent communities are formed and ordered

Social Media Strategies

• Market Intelligence
• Data Mining
• Customer Service
• Reputation management

• Reputation and Partnerships.

Factors which influence technology use

• Demographic - age, location, gender and orientation
• Trip Characteristics - Domestic v International, journey length and travel companions
• Psychology - Personal attitudes