C A B I TO U R I S M T E X T S

2nd Edition

Tourism Information
Technology
PIERRE J. BENCKENDORFF
PAULINE J. SHELDON
DANIEL R. FESENMAIER

COMPLIMENTARY TEACHING MATERIALS

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Chapter 13
The Future of Information
Technology and Tourism
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Chapter 13 Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter you should be able to:
1. identify the technological developments that will affect
the future of the travel industry;
2. understand the relationships between the development
of various information technologies, the traveler and the
tourism industry; and
3. apply this understanding to anticipate the strategic,
operational and structural changes that will impact on
tourism.
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Key Concepts
 virtuous cycle of technology use
 big data
 convergence
 digital elasticity
 hybridization
 nanotechnology
 open systems
 sensory marketing
 technology-supported networks
 the singularity
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Use

Satisfaction Impact

Figure 13.1 Virtuous cycle of technology use in travel.

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Trends in Tourism Information Technologies

1. Ubiquitous artificial intelligence
2. Fragmentation of information
3. Digital elasticity
4. Storytelling
5. The empowered digital traveler
6. Big data and analytics
7. Smart machines
8. Material technologies
9. Open systems
10. Convergence
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 UbiquitousC Aartificial
B I TO U R I S M T E X T S
intelligence
Dertouzos (2001, p. 6)
• the real benefits will be realized only when computer
technology becomes more human-centered; that is, when
technology adapts to the needs and lifestyles of human
beings.
• information appliances – computer systems that focus on specific tasks
and are connected through the Internet or wireless technology – are the
basis of ubiquitous human-centric artificial intelligence.
• emerging technologies are becoming powerful enough to empower the
individual within the framework of the human experience rather than
defining human behavior around the needs of computer designers.
• Examples of tourism technologies that are becoming mainstream
include websites and apps that provide travel recommendation systems,
virtual reality, travel guidance systems such as Google Maps and Google
Street View, as well as wearable computers such as Samsung Galaxy7
Gear, Google Glass, Nike Fuelband and Oakley Ski Goggles
 Fragmentation
C A B Iof
T O information
URISM TEXTS

The growth of secondary products such as dining, shopping and ticketing services
offers opportunities for businesses to develop novel combinations of products to
gain market share.
This trend impacts particularly on destinations.
There is a risk that the importance of destination management organizations
(DMOs) will continue to decrease as destination websites decrease and, once a
destination has been chosen, the likelihood for the traveler to look further for
information about the particular destination will decrease

This is caused by the fragmentation of the travel distribution system and the growth of other
channels (e.g. online travel agents and social media) and mobile Internet access.
Destinations are losing their ability to communicate effectively with
travelers as a result of the following developments:
● A variety of online systems (e.g. GDSs and CRSs), which exert control
over a huge portion of the hotel, airline, cruise ship and events markets.
● Search engines such as Google and Kayak have increased their impact
within the online search market.
● Travel community websites and other forms of user-generated content
such as TripAdvisor, Facebook and Instagram have become more popular
as travelers can overcome the control that marketers seek to effect over
travelers’ decisions. 8
 Digital elasticity
C A B I TO U R I S M TEXTS

Trip planning is becoming more open, fluid and fragmented due

to the ubiquity of the mobile technologies and access to the
social world. This digital elastic-ity dissolves the boundaries
between work and play and means travelers remain
electronically linked with everyday life as they explore differ-ent
places (Pearce, 2011).

Mobile technologies enable organizations to blend together

publish-ing, real-time communication, broadcast and
narrowcast. Furthermore, advances in technol-ogy are
increasingly producing “blended expe-riences”, which combine
virtual content and social spaces with the physical world.

The Internet is special in that both con-sumers and firms can

interact with the medium, provide content to the medium,
communicate one-to-one or one-to-many, and have more direct
control over the way they communicate than other media.
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Storytelling
Travelers will increasingly evaluate products more on their experiential
aspects than on objective features such as price and availability. Tourism
organizations should focus on the experiential aspects that make the
consumption of the product most compelling – that is, the five senses

Effective experiential marketing is sensory and affective. It approaches

consumption as a holistic experience and acknowledges that consumers
can be either rational or emotional or both at the same time. Whereas
traditional market-ing is based on consumer behavior, product features
and benefits, experiential marketing is driven by an understanding of
consumer experiences, the need for personalization, and the ability to
inspire creative experiences

Thus the central focus on storytelling blurs the borders between the
destination, advertising, purchase and use (the activities at the destina-
tion) as they merge the destination and the travel experience

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The empowered digital traveler
IT empowers travelers by enabling them to control the process
of co-creating and shaping brands. Empowered travelers are
independent in making consumption decisions and like to share
stories about their travel experiences with members of different
communities

The increasing scarcity of time and trust will mean that digital
travelers will rely more heavily on electronic word-of-mouth
and the expert opinions of like-minded others.

Smart travel communities are brand com-munities or communities

of interest and are imagined, involve limited liability, and focus on
a specific consumption practice. Smart travelers scan information
based on personal relevance and ignore irrelevant advertising.

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 Big data andC Aanalytics
B I TO U R I S M T E X T S

Leading tourism organizations such as Destination Marketing Association Interna-

tional (DMAI), Tourism Canada (now called the Canadian Tourism Commission),
Tour-ism Australia, the European Travel Commis-sion and European Cites
Marketing (ECM) are developing guidelines and tools needed to support
destination evaluation.
For example, DMAI has developed a series of measures to assess (and
benchmark) performance across a range of activities within the organization.

Tourism Canada offers the Canadian tourism industry cutting-edge tools to support
knowledge creation including an online library and interactive tools to access online
market-ing data and to facilitate connections between and among travel
firms/organizations located throughout the country.
Tourism Australia has developed a toolbox enabling destinations to conduct
research and to evaluate their marketing strategy.

Various systems are now collecting data such as how travelers perceive their
hotel stay, the restaurants where they eat and places they visit; indeed,
leading European cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona are now part of IBM
efforts to create smart cities wherein they actively market to and manage travelers
to their cities. 12
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Smart Machines
The increasing trend toward ambient and arti-ficial
intelligence is connected with parallel hardware
developments in mechanics and elec-trical
engineering.
Several applications of robotics in the travel industry,
from animatronics and driver-less cars to baggage-
handling robots.
The use of mechatronics to create hybrid systems that
combine mechanics, electronics and computing.
Many tasks required to create memorable tourist
experiences can be automated.
The impact of driverless cars on tourism will be
significant in the future.
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Materials Technologies
Technologies are also creating new materials that have
applications in the travel industry.

In particular, advances in the field of nano-technology will

result in new materials that are stronger and lighter and which
have a vast range of applications.

New materials such as graphene are lightweight, flexible and

durable and can be used in the devel-opment of mobile
display screens, electric circuits, solar cells, energy storage,
aircraft bodies and surface transport applications.
These materials further support the min-iaturization of mobile
devices, allowing for improved portability, or, alternatively,
more space to incorporate new features.

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Open SystemsC A B I TO U R I S M T E X T S

There is a trend towards open systems that enable

interoperability, portability and open software standards.
Open systems and standards are the key to unlocking the
enormous potential of big data and streamlining many of
the information-intensive processes used in the travel
industry.

This trend can be seen in efforts such as IATA New

Distribution Capability (NDC).

The trend towards open systems will facilitate cross-

platform compatibility, open-source access and
interoperability between various IT systems that currently
do not interact with each other. Travelers will come to
expect that these sys-tems will automatically exchange
data without the need for human intervention
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 ConvergenceC A B I TO U R I S M T E X T S

Technology convergence has resulted in devices such

as smartphones, which pack a lot of punch into tiny
handheld computers.
The convergence trend is linked with many of the other
trends in this chapter, including artificial intelligence,
smart machines, open systems and materials
technologies.
New technological advances are continually being
embedded into devices to increase their ubiq-uity,
functionality and sensory abilities.

While it is likely that travelers will continue to use a

range of technologies, they will increasingly expect
interoperability to enable any of these devices to be
used for a range of tasks.
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Discussion Questions
1. What are the key forces of change in society as we
face the next decade? How do they relate to the travel
industry and its use of IT?
2. What is in a virtuous cycle? What are the “actors” that
comprise the virtuous cycle and how do they relate to
each other in shaping travelers’ use of the Internet?
How do the actions differ between each of the actors?
How does this relate to use of Internet by the travel
industry? Last, how do these two actors influence the
products developed by technology firms?

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Discussion Questions
3. Ten trends were identified that will shape the future of
the travel industry. Are these short-term or long-term
trends? Which are more important? Discuss in detail
how these trends affect travelers and the travel
industry.
4. What role will IT play in shaping how travelers use the
Internet in the future? How do tourism organizations
adjust to these changes?
5. We have briefly discussed the concept of a
technological singularity. Conduct your own research
to learn more about this idea. What are the
implications for travel, and indeed for humankind?
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Useful Websites
Tourism Australia Google Glass
www.tourism.australia.com/industr
y-advice.aspx glass.google.com

Tourism Canada
Tripit.com
en-corporate.canada.travel/
www.tripit.com
resources-industry/tools

Smarter Planet SMART Tourism

www.ibm.com/smarterplanet www.smarttourism.org

Tourism Futures
www.tourism-futures.org

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