TOUR 121 - REVIEWER PDF

CHAPTER 1 - INFORMATION IN TOURISM AND - a hotel guest “consumes” a hotel stay INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY as it is being “produced” by service...

CHAPTER 1 - INFORMATION IN TOURISM AND - a hotel guest “consumes” a hotel stay INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY as it is being “produced” by service providers. What is Tourism and Information Technology? - Information plays important role in Information technology defined as "the ensuring that this co- production and application of computers and telecommunications co-creation of tourism experiences. equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and 5. Global - tourism industry (one of the most global manipulate data” industries in the world). This characteristic is Information technologies are often referred to as central to it and contributes further to its Information systems. "Information systems are information intensity. International travelers need combinations of hardware, software and access to border control information such as visa telecommunications networks (to collect, and passport regulations etc.. create, and distribute useful data) IT provides the information backbone that Information is the lifeblood of the tourism industry. The facilitates tourism (Dutta and Bilbao-Osorio, 2012). application of IT to its operations, therefore, is critical to its growth and success. - Product is frequently used in the industry to refer to accommodation, transport attraction and even Applications of Information Technologies in Tourism destinations The following are the different sectors of the tourism industry - Tourism can also be described as a type of that have adopted IT at different rates. service. 1. Aviation Sector - Sometimes the tourism product is also referred to 1950s with the implementation of as an experience. computer reservation systems. These - Products are manufactured, systems evolved and became known as - Services are delivered Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) - Experiences are staged. as they integrated all types of travel - Experiences are usually co-created through reservations in addition to (main tool of interactions of travelers, tourism organization and travel intermediaries when booking trips) settings. 2. Airline Sector Yield management systems to Characteristics of Tourism Services strategically price airlines’ seats to 1. Heterogeneity - a typical trip is complex and maximize revenue. Self-check-in consists of many component parts, therefore by terminals in airports have been nature is heterogeneous. Coordination and introduced. Automated call centers cooperation between each of these attempt to further reduce labor costs. organizations, agencies and the consumer are Use of the Internet for booking flights necessary to create the heterogeneous experience and IT applications that allow travelers called a “trip”. to use their smartphones for boarding 2. Perishability - if an airline seat is not sold on a passes, updates on flight status etc. given flight, that particular seat can never be sold 3. Travel Intermediaries again. The seat, or rather the revenue from it, has Travel agents and tour operators have “perished”. Accommodation, attraction, tours, been significantly affected by technology transportation - time-sensitive to the degree that their existence is at 3. Intangibility - potential consumers are often stake. They have had to adapt to the unable to see, touch or feel a vacation or a “disintermediation” – Internet giving business trip and its components before they consumers access to the same purchase it. information and more. - They need detailed information about 4. Hospitality Sector the destination or experience via many Hotel operations are run by property different media. management systems (rooms, - Websites, pictures, videos, and accounting, housekeeping and customer virtual reality allow travelers to records) “Sample” the trip before making a Hotel reservation system are crucial purchase. links to customers. 4. Inseparability - Tourism consumption is Electronic locking systems, digital room inseparable from the production of experience. keys, guest room automation, voice There is interaction between service providers command technology, and self-check-in and travelers because the production of the terminals are also becoming common, experience happens simultaneously. particularly in business hotels.  Hotels offer a seamless, fully distribute them, which are discussed automated experience (without ever below. speaking to a real person) Restaurants’ main use of IT – Different Types of Travel Information point-of-sale systems, menu 1. STATIC TOURISM INFORMATION management systems and restaurant Tourism information does not change management systems. very frequently and therefore is relatively 5. Attractions, Entertainment, Casinos and static. Static tourism information may Conventions change in the long term but not in the lT have specialized IT systems. Since short term. Examples: product the arrival of the Internet, these smaller description, transportation routes. organizations have gained market power Signages and location information. as they now are able to access distant 2. DYNAMIC TOURISM INFORMATION international markets in the same way Information changes frequently. A large as large multinationals. volume of tourism information, however, 6. Tourism Destinations is dynamic and requires digital format for Incorporating IT into their marketing and frequent updates and rapid management strategies. Social media transmission. Dynamic information and mobile technologies such as Global changes daily, weekly, monthly and Positioning Systems (GPS) and seasonally. Examples: product Geographic Information Systems (GIS). availability schedules, fares and rates, 7. Travelers travel reviews, weather conditions) Gaining much benefit from IT developments. Social media and mobile COMPUTER technologies provide ubiquitous access The first commercially available computer to information about destinations, travel (UNIVAC 1) was unveiled in 1951. organizations. IBM soon followed with the world's first mass-produced computer, the IBM650. TYPOLOGIES OF INFORMATION The invention of the transistor by Bell 1. Information is not used up or depleted as it is Laboratories eventually led to the development of consumed. Instead, it expands as it is used. a second generation of computers, which were - As one traveler gives information to smaller, faster and more powerful. another about a favorite hotel, museum 1970, Intel Corporation invented the or beach, that information is duplicated microprocessor for use in microcomputers. Major and not lost by the giver – create commercial microcomputers included the Apple II opportunities or threats depending on and the IBM PC. the nature of the information and the 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore observed receiver. that the number of transistor and integrated 2. Information and information technology can circuits in computers doubled roughly every two actually be used as substitutes for the other years. Prediction known as Moore's Law, has three resources of land, labor and capital. proved to be accurate for over 50 years and can Telecommunicating is an example of be applied to processor speed, memory etc. using IT to substitute for land – NETWORKING AND THE INTERNET employees telecommute need no longer IBM, Apple and Microsoft laying the foundation to rent or purchase so much high-price of the Digital Revolution, some organizations land in expensive districts. were already thinking about the potential of linking IT can be used to substitute for labor. At computers together using networks. higher levels of operations, IT can 1970, the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke augment human resources with decision made the following prediction in the magazine support systems, expert systems, and Popular science other applications of artificial Arthur C. Clarke's prediction became a reality 12 intelligence. years later when network at the Advanced Peer-to-peer networks such as Airbnb Research Project Agency (ARPA) and several demonstrate how value can be created universities in USA were connected to create the for the organization. Internet -a network of networks. 3. Information has a tendency to leak. The internet expanded rapidly in Europe and Information can be produced by the Australia in the mid-1980s and to Asia in the late private sector or the public sector or by 1980s and early 1990s. travelers. Different types of travel information may require different type of UBIQUITOUS TECHNOLOGY information technologies to process and  Early 1990s the miniaturization of electronics and can strategically change and move batteries made pocket-size portable devices forward. It can provide more shared possible triggering the new product category of meaning and direction. IT is an PDAs. excellent tool to assist in the Development of mobile phones and PDAs is listening process. significant because the convergence of these two technologies in 1994 resulted in the first CHAPTER 2: The Internet and the Tourist smartphone, the IBM 'Simon' Period of intense competition between mobile The Internet and travel are perfect companions - phone manufacturers, computer makers and information is the lifeblood of the tourism industry and the electronics companies, eventually leading to the Internet has become a critical tool for providing visually rich release of the first successful mass-marker content to inspire and support all stages of the travel smartphone, the Apple iPhone. lifecycle. 2007, the proliferation of mobile devices and apps has created many new benefits for both travel HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET industry and for travelers. - Internet is a global network comprising of many worldwide networks that use common protocols Ways that Enterprises can use IT Strategically (i.e. communication standards) to communicate 1. Managing Value Chains with each other. Value chains are activity, or series of - Derived from the idea of ‘‘internet working’’, activities, that create and build value for implies the connection of many host computers destination, intermediaries, suppliers or and their networks together to create a network of travelers. This can be done through the networks. design of product and services or - 1960s - network called ARPANet used to send the through supply chain management. first data messages between a computer science 2. Managing Knowledge professor's laboratory at the University of The expert management of information California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to another at and data resources is essential for Stanford Research Institute (SRI). success. Knowledge management - 1982, a protocol called TCP/IP was standardized system in tourism involves the and introduced for the Internet. This was the birth sophisticated use of computers to of the Internet. generate information that can be used in - 1995 – (ARPANet and NSFNET) were decision-making. decommissioned that the internet became Computer technology offers huge commercial. potential in this area. - Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) Database management system can soon emerged to offer individuals and store and process millions of costumer organizations access to the Internet. records, accounts, product reviews and - UN Working Group on Internet Governance - etc. – to generate knowledge that will which deals with policy governance issues guide strategic decision making. - Internet Engineering Task Force - which deals 3. Marketing and Competitive Advantages with technical issues. Application of IT provides a strong - The Internet expanded rapidly to Europe and competitive advantage in the areas of Australia in the mid-1980s and to Asia in the sales and marketing. The use of late 1980s and early 1990s. electronic distribution channels, social - First Internet search engine known as Archie. media platforms and other innovations - Users prefer websites in their native language. connect the supplier with new and - Multilingual websites are important for tourists different markets. who access sites from all over the world; however, 4. Service Delivery and Customer Relationship they are not commonly found. Management - German tourists - one of the largest international Customer relationship management markets, found that travel sites did not (CRM) is a business philosophy that accommodate their language, making it difficult for attempts to create a meaningful focuses them to book online. on the consumer and market - As an example of cultural differences, relationship with them India (one of the fastest-growing 5. Strategic Listening countries in Internet usage) (Khare and Part of an organization's success is Khare, 2011). based on listening to employees, customers, suppliers and competitors, Intranet and Extranet and this provides a deeper - Internet - serve as the backbone for private understanding of how the organization communications within organizations. This  communication occurs through an intranet and algorithm developed by its founders Larry extranet. Page and Sergey Brin. - An intranet uses the same TCP/IP protocol to - First commercial cable modem was marketed share proprietary information that is relevant to in 1996, but not until 2000 did broadband services that organization, and to share its computing become more affordable. services - Users had to connect to the Internet using a - It is not open to the general public. dial-up modem, which was limited in speed and - Takes the form of one or more websites connectivity This limited the use of images and hosted on a server, but all of its pages video. are behind a secure firewall, allowing - Faster internet speeds have supported new photo- only authorized users to access the and video-sharing sites such as Instagram and information. YouTube - Intranets can be used for tasks such as - Web 1.0 consisted of one-way communication employee training, collaboration on with static content created by those with the projects, corporate information or human technical knowledge of web authoring resource issues. Each employee in the - Web 2.0 allowed open communication with an organization will have their own portal to emphasis on web-based communities of users the intranet that allows access to areas. sharing data, information, knowledge, resources - Extranet uses Internet protocols and is not and files. accessible to the general public - Development of wikis, blogs, social - It connects together one or more networks, Really Simple Syndication organizations, customers, suppliers or (RSS) and the media-sharing sites. other approved stakeholders. - Part of Web 2.0 include Wikipedia, - These can be useful in the tourism YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, context where different groups in a LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, destination need to collaborate. which can be generally characterized as social media. The travel industry also World Wide Web embraced Web 2.0, with sites such as - World Wide Web (WWW), or “Web” Wikitravel, TripAdvisor, Yelp and - One of the most popular and powerful uses of the Urbanspoon having a major impact on Internet. travel behavior. - Internet and the WWW are not the same. - Like email, the WWW is a service supported by DOMAINS, PROTOCOLS AND LANGUAGES the Internet. There are three key technologies that underpin the WWW: - Tim Berners-Lee laid the foundations for the Domains, Protocols and Languages. WWW in 1991 while working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). 1. Domains - Berners-Lee combined the concept of hypertext - The Internet Corporation for with the Internet to create a system of interlinked Assigned Names and Numbers documents. (ICANN) coordinates and oversees the - WWW was initially designed as a communication two main name spaces in the Internet, system for CERN, its application as a worldwide namely the Internet protocol address system was quickly recognized space and the domain name system. - 1993 CERN announced that the WWW would be - Each web page has an identifier called free to everyone. the Universal Record Locator (URL). - Mosaic browser, which provided a graphical user For example, the United Nations World interface (GUI) for navigating the web. Tourism Organization has as its URL - Number of browsers have been developed, http://www.unwto.org wherein http including Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox, Microsoft stands for the protocol and Internet Explorer and, more recently, Safari and www.unwto.org the host name. In this Google Chrome. case,.org is the top-level domain, - Proliferation of web pages soon created a need for signifying that it if an organization. a search engine and the development of the W3Catalog in 1993 was followed a year later by 2. Protocols WebCrawler, which searched for text on websites. - Primary protocol on the Internet is TCP/ IP - Followed by search engines, including Google in (transmission control protocol/ Internet 1997. protocol), which relays information around the - Popular search engines in the late 1990s Internet between networks. disappeared as Google established itself with - Another protocol is SMTP (simple mail transfer superior search results using the Page Rank protocol) which is responsible for transferring emails.  - Two other standards that are in common use on 1. Global information dissemination - Travel the Internet for the transmission of documents. products and destinations can be marketed over - To transfer files across the Internet, vast distances. another protocol called File Transfer 2. Integration - Websites can be linked to other Protocol (FTP). sites or databases to provide the user with - Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) relevant real-time data. used for data communication on the 3. Mass Customization - Organizations can tailor web. Hypertext transfer protocol their products to meet the specialized needs of a Heron (HTTPS) is used for secure traveler. communication and payments over the 4. Interactive Communication - Customers can internet. communicate directly with suppliers to ask questions and their bookings. 3. Online Programing Languages 5. Transactional Support - Tourists can conduct - Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) business and make reservations without human is a representational Language that can support. be used to create web pages readable 6. Disintermediation - Cutting out the travel by a web browser when displaying a intermediary and reaching customers more directly page. - Extensible Markup Language (XML), E-commerce refers to the selling of goods and services and which is used to encode documents into related transactions using the Internet or other a format that is both human- and communication technologies. E-commerce models describe machine-readable. various types of digital in interactions between consumers, - There are also languages and common businesses and governments: file formats to transmit audio and video 1. Business-to-consumer or B2C e-commerce necessary for interchange of multimedia 2. Business-to-business or B2B e-commerce information. 3. Consumer-to-business or C2B e-commerce - SMIL (Synchronized 4. Consumer-to-consumer or C2C e-commerce Multimedia Integration 5. Government-to-consumer G2B e commerce Language) is a language 6. Government-to-citizen or G2C e-commerce used for interactive 7. Government-to-government or G2G e-commerce multi-media presentations allowing the combination of A Typology of Travel Websites audio, video, hypertext and *Travel intermediaries - Agents (OTAS), metasearch images, engines, aggregators and other intermediaries that allow - Java owned by Oracle, is travelers to compare (Ex. expedia.com and kayak.com) used by application *Travel suppliers - Corporate and consumer websites for developers to run applications airlines, transport, hotels, attractions restaurants and other on different platforms. suppliers, usually providing information about the - JavaScript is a Lightweight organization's products (Ex. ihg.com and singaporeair.com) language primarily for creating *Social media - Websites that support the creation of interactive web page content. user-generated content such as tripadvisor.com and - Ajax, short for travelpod.com Asynchronous JavaScript *Online travel portals - Combine a range of services, and XML, allows web including booking tools, social media, feature articles and applications to send and other content to offer travelers a compelling mix of trip retrieve information (visualtourist.com) asynchronously *Online travel guides - The sites have often evolved from Functionality Of Travel Websites hard-copy travel guides to provide a mix of information and Travel providers can use the web in many ways to enhance commentary (lonelyplanet.com and frommers.com) their operations. Pan and Fesenmaier (2000) distinguish *Trip planning - These sites provide tools to build between: customized travel itineraries (utrip.com and mygola.com) 1. Travel websites (focusing on the needs of *Destinations - Official visitor information sites for national, travelers, including communication with travel state and local destinations. These are usually maintained by professionals) DMOs or CVBs. Some DMOs maintain separate corporate 2. Tourism websites (focusing on communication (australia.com, tourism.australia.com, visit-queensland.com, between tourism professionals or tourism visitbrisbane.com) researchers). *Government - Most government tourism ministries maintain websites featuring information about visas and passports, Most commonly used features of travel websites: travel advisories, statistics and reports. (tourism.gov.in, smartraveller.gov.au, usa.embassy.gov.au) *Education - Many universities and colleges offer education 1. Whether or not the keywords are in the Uniform projects and conduct research in the travel area and their Resource Locator (URL) of that page. websites often include research (tim.hawaii.edu) 2. The frequency and size of the keywords on a web *Non-government organizations (NGOs) - NGOs also page. maintain websites that provide statistics, information and 3. The keywords in the link anchor text (those pieces reports about various aspects of (unwto.org, of text that contain a link). tourismconcern.org.uk, ecotourisrn.org) 4. Alternative text for images. 5. Metatags, keywords in titles and descriptions ONLINE INFORMATION SEARCH embedded on a given web page. - Information search is one of the most important How people use Search engines for travel purposes can be activities in consumers’ consumption of products. illustrated using a general framework with three distinct - Role in travel and tourism is prominent because stages: the product is complex and intangible 1. Pre-search conditions – which reflect the Online Information Search Behavior travelers experience of using the Internet, - Traveler have specific information needs such as including search engines, for travel planning. utilitarian needs, hedonic needs and social 2. Search process – which includes the task frames needs – which determine what search activities as well as the behavioral aspects such is he/she is likely to engage with and what websites generation of search queries and the evaluation of to use. SERPs. - The most important factors include attitudes, 3. Evaluation of the overall search process – cognitive style, decision frames, involvement, which culminates in attitude formation toward situation, socio-demographic characteristics search engines and online travel planning. and trust. 1. Attitudes are defined as a positive or negative Intelligent Assistants and Online Recommender evaluation and contain cognitive, affective and Systems behavioral components. - Intelligent assistants and online recommender 2. Cognitive styles refer to the ways in which systems are developed to provide personalized individuals process information. information about products. 3. Travel-related decisions are framed depending - Fesenmaier et. al. (2006) – recommender on personal preferences for decision making systems match user preferences with alternative strategies and the needs from the specific products using different approaches. trip-planning situation. 4. Level of involvement - highly involved travelers Pre-search conditions are likely to use more criteria, search for more - Information search activities information, use more information sources etc. - Usefulness of Internet tools 5. Socio- demographic characteristics, including - Use of search engine for travel age, education, income and marital status, can be Search Process surrogates for traveler resources and constraints. - First Planning task 6. Trust is essential for the success of any online - Task specificity business and plays a critical role in online travel - Search Queries planning by enabling travelers to manage the - SERPs evaluation complexity of online travel planning. Overall Evaluation - Overall satisfaction Search Engines - Ease of use - Search engines become essential for everyday - Plan quality life as well as for locating travel information and - Trust products. - Search engines can be thought of as the "Hubble DIGITAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS telescope of the Internet", as they provide - The Internet makes it possible to cost-effectively access to the huge amount of information on the market to as many or as few people as - Google claims to index trillions of web pages, the appropriate. entire information space on the Internet can only - Hoffman and Novak (1996) explain how the be covered in part by a single search engine. Internet has transformed communications between - Search engines take user queries, retrieve organizations and customers by contrasting the related documents found in the searchable traditional marketing communications model with a indexes etc. model for computer-mediated environments. - Search engine algorithm used to rank web - Internet has revolutionized marketing pages in organic listings determines which web communications by establishing new models pages to display and in what order. replacing the simple linear process where marketing messages were sent to a passive Ranking of a web page is mainly determined by: audience.  - The intangibility, perishability, inseparability and DESIGNING AND MAINTAINING TOURISM WEBSITES heterogeneity of tourism experiences makes the - Website is a virtual extension of an organization's industry very different. physical presence. The website should be viewed The eight Ps of tourism marketing (also known as the as a touch point for travelers before, during and tourism marketing mix) provide a comprehensive framework after their journey. for considering the delivery of online travel services - Benckendorff and Black (2000) published one of (Morrison, 2010). the first comprehensive studies of website design - Product in tourism. - Price - They identified 12 elements of successful website - Promotion development and grouped these into four - Point-of-sale categories: planning, design, content and - People management. - Programming - Packaging PLANNING - Partnership - Kotler and Armstrong (2012) argue that an essential step in developing a framework for any MANAGEMENT marketing effort involves the definition of goals and - Site maintenance is essential for a site to be strategies in a marketing plan. accurate, competent and professional. The DESIGN maintenance involves removing outdated in a. Navigation - One of the most important issues formation and links (linkrot) and the addition of facing users is the problem of being "lost- in the new information. virtual space provided by a website. - The process of improving search engine rankings b. Interaction - Site design should make use of the is known as SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION unique attributes of the Internet to provide an (SEO). interactive experience. - Managerial issues are a necessary part of the c. Aesthetics and Functionality – Internet marketing effort. Changes in user Aesthetic school and supporters are demographics, social media and computer usually designers who emphasize new technology mean that a website requires constant and different ideas. monitoring, maintenance and promotion. Functionalist school and supporters EVALUATION usually include marketers and IT experts - A website is a dynamic and organic medium and who argue for less emphasis on visual needs to be monitored continuously to maintain its design and more focus on content and usability. This should be done using both internal usability. and external benchmarking. d. Cross-Platform Compatibility - Internal benchmarking involves monitoring site - Means the website should render correctly and metrics and analytics to identify performance continue to function in different web browsers (e.g. issues and user trends. Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari) across - Website metrics provide quantitative data about different operating systems (e.g. Windows, Linux, user behavior, including log files, landing pages, OSX, iOS, Android), different form factors (e.g., the number of visits to individual pages, the time desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones) and on spent on individual pages, referring websites, different screens (i.e. different sizes and broken links, conversion rates, click rates, heat resolutions). maps and other tools. DELIVERY - Google Analytics is the most commonly used a. Readability and Credibility web analytics service but many ISPs and other - Trust is a major issue for Internet users and vendors provide analytics tools with various credible content is one of the most important traits features. of a well-designed site. - External benchmarking can include comparing - Using high-quality graphics and proper written the usability and features of a website with those expressions can increase credibility. provided by competitors. - There is more to credibility than ensuring that content is accurate and up-to- date. Two common CHAPTER 3 - Social Media for Travel Organizations elements of credibility are trustworthiness and MODULE 3 expertise (Fogg et. al., 2001). b. Personalization Social Media for Travel Organizations - This suggests that target markets must he identified in the planning stages because the UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MEDIA information provided by the website must be The term social media has two components, tailored to the users' needs. "media" is the plural of medium and refers to the c. The Digital Marketing Mix communication channels through which  information, news and entertainment is delivered; Social networks- western (Facebook) Chinese the “social" part of the phrase suggests that these (Qzone, Renren, Pengyou) media support connections and interactions. Video sharing- western (YouTube) Social media can be defined as “a group of Chinese (Youku, Tudou) Internet-based applications that build on the Location-based- western (Foursquare) Chinese ideological and technological foundation of Web (Jiepang) 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of Review sites- western (TripAdvisor) chinese user-generated content" (Kaplan and Haenlein, (DaoDao) 2010, p. 61). Messaging- western (Facebook Messenger, Social media allows users to access, discuss, WhatsApp) Chinese (WeChat) share, collaborate and update web content (Lange-Faria and Elliot, 2012). Social Media Functions This “collective intelligence” challenges the Kietzmann et. al. (2011) proposes a honeycomb hegemony of marketers and public relations framework of social media made up of seven managers who have produced most of the functional building blocks (see Fig. 5.3). information traditionally used by travelers to plan Kietzmann et al. (2011) highlight overlaps between their trips (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). the functional blocks and note that they are not THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE always present in every social media context. Social media includes many diverse platforms and technologies, including social networks, blogs, Seven functional building blocks wikis, forums, social bookmarking, media sharing 1. Identity- is the extent to which users reveal their and virtual social worlds. An organizing framework identities in a social media setting. is useful for making sense of all of these. 2. Conversations- refer to the extent to which users Six Different types of social media communicate with other users in a social media 1. Publishing: sites that allow content curators and setting. curators to develop new content, create “mashups” 3. Sharing- is the extent to which users exchange, of existing content or to post questions and distribute and receive content answers (eg. Blogger, Wikipedia, Quora). 4. Presence- is the extent to which users can knew 2. Sharing: sites that allow users to share text, links, where others are and whether they are available. images, slides, documents and videos (c.g. 5. Relationship- is the extent to which users Pinterest, YouTube, Slideshare). converse, share objects, meet up or list each other 3. Playing: sites that support online multiplayer as friends. games (e.g. Zynga, Playdom), 6. Reputation- is the extent to which users can 4. Networking: social networking sites that allow identify the standing of others, including users to share updates and information for themselves, in a social media setting. personal or professional contexts (e.g, Facebook, 7. Groups- refer to the extent to which users can Qzonc, Linkedln). form communities and sub- communities. 5. Buying: social commerce sites that provide customer intelligence, reviews and ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH recommendations (e.g. TripAdvisor, Urbanspoon, The influence of word of mouth (WOM) has been Bazaarvoice). acknowledged in the consumer behavior literature 6. Localization: mobile apps and websites that for many decades (Dichter, 1966; Richins, 1983), provide information and opportunities for social WOM has been defined as “all informal interaction based on the location of users (e.g. communications directed at other consumers Foursquare, Tinder, Yelp). about the ownership, usage, or characteristics of particular goods and services or their sellers” The major players (Google, Facebook and Twitter) (Westbrook, 1987, p. 261). are included at the center of the model because Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) can be defined they have developed a full-range social media as: "any positive or negative statement made by ecosystem where functions and tools are potential, actual, or former customers about a connected. product or company, which is made available to a There are a number of regional differences in the multitude of people and institutions via the use of social media. Internet” (Hennig-Thurau et. al., 2004, p. 39). Popular western and Chinese social media platforms eWOM differs from traditional WOM in a number of Blogs- western (Blogger, Wordpress) chinese ways: (Blogbus) 1. Scale: eWOM can influence travelers on an Microblogs- western (Twitter) Chinese ( Sina unprecedented scale because it is available in a Weibo, Tencent Weibo) digital format that can be searched, linked and Wikis- Western (Wikipedia) Chinese (Baidu Baike) shared (Dellarocas, 2003; Litvin et. al., 2008).  2. Relationships: the strength of the relationship construct a public or semi-public profile within a between communicators and recipients is often bounded system; (ii) articulate a list of other users weaker in a social media setting. The recipient of with whom they share a connection; and (iii) view an eWOM communication may not even know the and traverse their connections and those made by original communicator. others within the system. 3. Anonymity: the anonymity of many social media SNSs such as Facebook, LinkedIn and WeChat platforms calls into question the legitimacy of allow individuals and organizations to find new same eWOM communications. connections or establish and maintain 4. Durability: eWOM messages are more durable - relationships with people may know offline. once a message is in the public domain it Most SNSs fall into one of four categories: continues to influence consumers over time. Universal SNSs: general networks with global 5. Variety: eWOM can take many forms, including appeal open to anyone above a minimum age with blogs, product reviews, social network status an email address. Example facebook, Twitter updates, tweets and YouTube videos. Professional SNSs: services that allow professionals to interact and build business Twitter has also become a popular platform for networks. Examples include Linkedin customer complaints. Regional SNSs: these include sites that are used Communication scope refers to whether the in particular regions of the world, such as channel involves one-to-one communication, Vkontakte in Russia, Biip.no in Norway, and one-to-many communication or many-to-many Qzone and Renren in Chiaia. communication. Niche SNSS: sites that cater for groups based on Level of interactivity can be organized on a shared interests or activities. Examples include spectrum ranging from asynchronous to school reunion networks (e.g. Class- mates.com, synchronous. Friends Reunited) Asynchronous communication takes place For travel organizations SNSs offer four major between individuals who respond at different times opportunities: while 1. First, organizations can create pages for travelers synchronous communication involves real- time to join or "like” or "live” responses. 2. Second, this allows organizations to use SNSs as Sender- Message- Receiver (SMR) communication into online touch points to deliver customer service. many-to-many communication. 3. Third, while then are privacy and ethical concerns 1. Sender- The first important element in the SMR related to the use of personal data, many sites model. harvest this "big data” to develop detailed profiles sender characteristics: of consumers. Motives attempt to explain why a sender might 4. Finally, many travel industry professionals use share their experiences online. professional SNSs such as LinkedIn tor Appearance can be difficult to establish unless networking, strategic listening and recruitment. the social media platform uses profile photos. Source Credibility is how believable, competent WIKIS, BLOGS AND PRODUCT REVIEWS and trustworthy the sender is believed to be. WIKIS WIKI is a real-time editable website that helps 2. Message- The second key element of the SMR model. users create content through cooperative Four dimensions contribute to information quality: relevance, development and ownership. Wiki Ward accuracy, timeliness and completeness. Cunningham created the first wiki in 1995. The 3. Receiver- The third key element of the SMR model. The word was derived from the Hawaiian wiki-wiki characteristics of the receiver can also influence how the which means quick. message is received and how the recipient responds. Wikipedia contains many entries about places 4.Relationship- between the sender and receiver- The final that travelers may use as an authoritative element of the SMR model. Relationships are a key function information source. of social media. Wikitravel attracts more than 350,000 readers per Strong ties ( ties strength) usually provide day and is a good example of a travel wiki. emotional or substantive support while weak ties tend to propagate information sharing on more two types of wikis: diverse topics 1. wikis in the public domain- which allow Homophily refers to the similarity between the anyone to contribute content sender and receiver in gender, age, education and 2. private wikis- where access is limited to users lifestyle. collaborating together on a project. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS IN TRAVEL BLOGS AND MICROBLOGS Social network sites (SNSs) are defined as web-based services that allow individuals to; (i)  Blogs have evoked separately from wikis. The first Many travelers share photos and videos of their blogs emerged in the late 1990s as online diaries, journey using media-sharing sites like Flickr, allowing authors to record regular entries. YouTube and YouKu. Greater bandwidth and cheaper electronic devices capture images and TYPES OF BLOG video has caused media-sharing sites to grow 1. Traditional blogs: personal entries or opinion rapidly. pieces in text format and organized in reverse These sites not only facilitate the easy upload of chronological order. visual content but also allow followers to share, 2. Microblogs: sometimes called "social blogs", rate and leave comments about images and microblogs allow users to broadcast short status videos. updates (140-200 characters) to followers. Photo-sharing sites like Flickr have obvious Microblogs can be public or distributed to private applications for the tourism industry; which often followers. relies on evocative images to sell holidays. 3. Multi-author blogs: some blogging platforms Video-sharing sites offer tools for travelers to support blogs with multiple authors (e.g. share their journey with family and friends. Aside Wordpress). from documenting their trips, travelers are also 4. Video blogs: video blogs use tools like YouTube, using Youtube to share their reviews of hotel VouKu and Vimeo to allow bloggers to share their rooms, tours and attractions. opinions and content in video format. Video Another application of media sharing sites is the 5. Curated blogs: curated blogs involve discovering, use of document-sharing services such as gathering and presenting digital content on a SLideshare and Scribd. These sites allow specific topic from a variety of sources. organizations to share documents such as reports, infographics and presentations with internal and PRODUCT REVIEW SITES external stakeholders. Document-sharing sites offer another UGC platform for travelers to record also allow readers to rate, comment on and share their travel experiences. Unlike blogs and wikis, uploaded content. product review rites aggregate short reviews from m a n y t r a v e l e r s i n a searchable database. Crowd Sourcing TripAdvisor is perhaps the best-known example in - Using the Internet to "find people to perform tasks the travel industry. that computers are generally lousy” TripAdvisor, originally focused on accommodation, - Offers a number of opportunities for destinations. has expanded to provide reviews on attractions, - 2012 - Philippines government decided to tours and restaurants. crowdsource its next tourism campaign by asking Facebook and Twitter followers to combine the FORUMS "It's More Fun in the Philippines” Forums represent one of the oldest examples of - Involves the use of Local experts to provide social media. An Internet forum, or discussion information, tips and advice to travelers. board, is a website where members can post - Google’s Local Guides were created to provide comments and respond to posts from others. visitors and locals with a source of expert advice These comments are typically organized into about the best places to eat, shop and play. threads or topics to keep particular conversations together. VIRTUAL WORLDS Two common uses of forums can be found in the travel - Three-dimensional, computer-based simulated industry. environments through which users can interact 1. The first application involves the use of forums to using avatars. discuss particular destinations or to seek travel - Generally divided into virtual social worlds (e.g. advice. For example, TripAdvisor is not only a Second Life) and virtual gaming worlds (e.g. product review site but also a forum where World of Warcraft) travelers can pose questions about destinations, - Advantage for travelers is they can experience which are answered by local volunteers or other places that they may be unable to visit in reality travelers. because of budget or time limitations. 2. The second application is by intermediaries, - Can also offer substitute experiences for sites. suppliers and destinations for customer service - Travel organizations and destinations established purposes. For example, the Department of headquarters and sites in virtual worlds such as Tourism in Kerala, India, maintains a traveler SecondLife – Interacting with potential travelers forum where users can port questions that are (virtual brochures ,viewing videos) answered by members of the local tourism industry TRAVEL PODCASTS - Series of digital audio or video files, often in the MEDIA SHARING form of episodes, which a user can download and listen to.  - Can be subscribed to or downloaded as individual channels to ensure that they reinforce each other episodes. and are centered on the consumer. - Travel podcasts can be used to provide - Social media in the travel industry is the idea of destination information to travelers. social booking and seating. (e.g. SeatID – which - Some podcasts are produced by individual specializes in providing ticketing and booking travelers (form of social media) and others by websites and apps) major travel guides; some are audio only and Strategy: video. a. Exposure 1. Beautiful Places - Video podcast b. Engagement focusing on the outdoors c. Influence 2. Finding America - Travel every road in d. Acquisition the USA 3. Frommer's Podcast - Travel information MARKET INTELLIGENCE from the editors of Frommer's - Social media can play an important role in 4. Italy from Inside - Native Italian gives strategic listening. travel advice - BIG DATA – information about market trends, 5. Lonely Planet Travelcasts - Very customer sentiment and the impact of competitors. international in scope - audio only - Social media also allows companies to listen 6. Travel in 10 - Ten-minute tours of directly to customers by encouraging questions, destinations feedback and suggestions. 7. Travel with Rick Steves - Many individual country guides CUSTOMER SERVICE 8. The Travel Destination Podcast - Travel - Social media is essential about conversations and information and guidance on many dialogues and it provides many opportunities for destinations customer service, relationship building and public 9. Walksofa Lifetime - National relations. Geographic: selection of world's - Chatbots – which use machine learning to interact greatest walking tours with users to answer simple queries. (FB, WeChat, SNSs) – passing the Turing test. STRATEGIC APPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA - Social media is a powerful platform for converting - Social media offers a number of opportunities for disgruntled customers and creating positive public travel organizations. relations and customer service interactions. - Social media is not the panacea of marketing - it is merely a new tool in the toolbox of media and REPUTATION MANAGEMENT information channels available to travelers and - There is a broad application of the concept of organizations. reputation today due to the volume and variety of - Strategic approach means that organizations information on the Internet, particularly social need to plan their engagement with social media. media, which plays a central role in reputation Need for a strategic approach: formation and circulation for individuals and a. Learning (study, hear, explore) businesses (Marchiori and Cantoni,2011). b. Objectives - Opinion mining is an important technical tool that c. Governance framework (identify helps managers to identify topics,sentiment and opportunities, manage risk and establish trends for a variety of purposes (Pang and Lee, policies) 2008). d. Activities e. Capabilities Recruitment and partnerships f. Measured and refined - While most of the strategic applications discussed g. Engage in conversation so far focus on business-to- customer interactions h. To listen (monitoring markets, (B2C), the potential for B2B applications should communities and key influencers) not be overlooked. - Social media also creates opportunities for travel Marketing and Sales suppliers to recruit business partners and staff. - Social media may be particularly effective for The social presence of an organization should not building virtual communities around a brand. only target travelers but also other businesses and - Marketing campaigns need to be employees who are attracted by the organization's consumer-driven and integrated across several brand values. Social media provides the perfect channels, meaning that integrated marketing platform for communicating these brand values. communications (IMC) should drive marketing efforts. - IMC is a strategic marketing approach requires, China has been the world's largest source of the coordination of both traditional and digital outbound tourism tor many consecutive years, and  in 2016 its total number of outbound tourists reached 122 million WeChat, also known as Weixin in Chinese, is a multi-purpose social media mobile app developed by the tech giant Tencent.