Memoire Online - Destination Management System

The most significant strategic implication of ITs is the development of competitive advantages by product differentiation, seamless product packaging for niche markets, cost reduction in the business processing and travel distribution as well as increased speed of information retrieval and exchange.

The emerging globalization and tremendous competition between tourism destinations require great degree of efficiency in communications and operations. Adoption of ITs provides new ways of collecting, analyzing, transmitting and delivering information and new ways to facilitate the creation and transmission of knowledge throughout the tourism industry. The tourism product being a «confidence good» (Werthner, Klein, 1999), an assessment on the product quality before a buying action is practically impossible. Information of high content and knowledge is therefore needed. Organizations that offer that

degree of efficiency in information delivery, both externally and internally will be able to succeed in the marketplace. The use of ITs' tools to achieve that goal by providing instantaneous, flexible and customized products to customers constitute a certain competitive advantage in a technological driven competitive environment.

The dramatic grow of Internet has begun to fundamentally change the relationship between consumers and suppliers. The way that buyers and sellers share information and transactions has dramatically improved. Many if not most, commerce relationships are very inefficient in the travel space. (Bear, Stearns & CO, 2000). Because buyers and sellers are dispersed over wide geographic areas and the transactions execution in the travel business is by essence very complex, it almost appear as if the Internet were specifically designed to correct the inefficiencies in research and transactions that are inherent to the travel industry.

Figure 3. Current and Future Position of Online Services (Werthner and Klein, 1999)

airlines, travel agents) that pursue an online strategy. The above figure shows that technology, not only, enables direct access to the consumer, but also improves

the internal information flow and cooperation processes (Intranet, Extranet). The Internet serves as a centralized source for information on many related travel

topics (i.e., air, hotel, car, attractions, activities). Internet applications are now the electronic interface to the world's suppliers and consumers. In electronic

marketplace, marketing push is replaced by marketing pull (Fingar, Kumar & Sharma, 1999).

The Internet since its inception created a world of communities of interest where peoples share ideas, information and opinions. Services are defined now from a supplier and a consumer perspective (Werthner, Klein, 1999). The consumer pool is now a very powerful agent in the suppliers marketing strategy. Existing channels of distribution are giving way to global communities-of-interest that eliminate channel components that they do not perceive as adding value. For example, American Airlines' Travelocity was originally designed so that travel agents would still add value by being the means of delivering the ticket. Consumers who represent the travel community saw little value in this arrangement and the travel agent was disintermediated from the process (Fingar, Kumar & Sharma, 1999).

Those new intermediaries or online booking servers such as Travelocity, Expedia, Preview Travel that are potentially dangerous for travel agents act as virtual travel agents or travel supermarkets providing booking facilities for air, hotel, car rentals as well as many information retrieval services. They are new players often called «Infomediaries». They had come with innovative business models that combine consumer advocacy (being well aware of communities-ofinterest power) and flexible pricing. The infomediaries have strategically positioned their applications in order to generate benefits for customers and

suppliers such as reducing transaction's costs and generating volume for suppliers witch are not feasible in direct sales mode.

Although it is recognized that the Internet medium is chaotic, mainly because a lack of standardization and immaturity, it is evident that the World Wide Web provide inexpensive delivery of information concerning every single enterprise and destination. Thus the Internet empowers the marketing and communication functions of remote, peripheral and insular destinations as well as Small and Medium sized Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs). They are now able to communicate directly to their prospective customers and differentiate their product offering. Competitiveness and prosperity of both tourism enterprises and destination in the new millennium will depend on the degree of innovation by using the new strategic tools provided by the revolutionary information technology.

In any case failure to take advantages of Information Technology will undoubtedly lead to competitive disadvantage for organizations that fail to adapt to those sweeping changes. Hence the pervasive ITs tools especially Internet require re-engineering of business processes, as well as the development of a strategic vision and commitment. Tourism destinations and enterprises will therefore be able to embrace change and develop their competitiveness in this new digital age.

Countries	Producers	Intermediaries	Infomediaries	Consumers
D			Web based
E	Hotels	Hotel Chain	travel and
			Tourism
S
	Restaurants	Tour Operator	Hotel
T
			Chain.com	Tourists
I	Airlines	Travel Agent	Tour
N	Provisions	GDS/CRS	Operator.com
A	Entertainment	Tourism	Travel
T	Recreations	associations	Agent.com
I		DMO	Tourism associations.com
O
			DMO.com
N

Destination Management System

ICT STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FOR TOURISM