Technology In The Travel And Tourism Industry
This project is based on the description of the analysis importance of delivering quality services in the hospitality industry, what is community base tourism, the pros and cons of community base tourism, alternative type of tourism that can be used to diversify the Jamaica tourism product sand the impact of technology in the development of the tourism industry.
Important of delivering quality service in the hospitality industry
According to (unknown, 2012) in the hospitality industry, it is absolutely vital that companies stay on top of consumer demand in an attempt to maintain their competitive advantage. In the current technologically driven business industry, it has become increasingly important for businesses to utilize every bit of information and data collected from current and potential customers when examining ways of remaining competitive in the hospitality industry.
Pertaining to (William et` al, 1999) delivering quality service in the hospitality industry can be a major challenge facing hospitality managers in the opening years of the next millennium. It will be an essential condition for success in the emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets. While the future importance of delivering quality hospitality service is easy to discern and to agree on, doing so presents some difficult and intriguing management issues.
Since the delivery of hospitality service always involves people, these issues center on the management of people, and in particular on the interactions between guests and staff, interactions that are called service encounters. In the eyes of our guests, our hospitality businesses will succeed or fail depending on the cumulative impact of the service encounters in which they have participated.
Hospitality industry would include hotels, restaurant and other related tourism organizations. This means that the tourists have to encounter with staffs, therefore the industries have to have good customer representative that can communicate with their guest and help them resolve their issues. There are three elements in the hospitality which motels. Includes restaurant that provide beverages and food entertainment by the theatre and accommodation provide by the industrial service.
In the service delivery in the hospitality industry and service delivery in other businesses there are little are no differences because they both have good customer service which is very important in both industries, they both provide quality service to increase their revenue and to ensure that they satisfy their customer needs and want in the industry.
Community based tourism
According to (oikos, 2009) Community based tourism is tourism in which local residents (often rural, poor and economically marginalized) invite tourists to visit their communities with the provision of overnight accommodation. Community based tourism enables tourists to discover local habitats, wildlife, and celebrates and Respects traditional cultures, rituals and wisdom.
The community will be aware of the commercial and social value placed on their natural and cultural heritage through tourism, and this will foster community based conservation of these resources.
Community-based tourism affords travelers with rare opportunities to experience local communities first hand. It’s distinctive in that it provides an alternative to development that’s not sustainable, giving rural and poor communities an additional source of income.
In supporting community-based tourism, you can immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of local and indigenous people while helping them to preserve their environment and cultural heritage.
The residents earn income as land managers, entrepreneurs, service and produce providers, and employees. At least part of the tourist income is set aside for projects which provide benefits to the community as a whole.
Tourists will spend time near areas that are rich in culture and biodiversity, and, at the same time, will get to know the locals at the grassroots level.
Many successful experiences in development countries prove that tourism can become a leading sector for the people who conserve natural resources and live on it. Local people of these countries jointly cooperate in Community Based Tourism and this gives not only economic benefits for them but also becomes an example of community involved decision making.
A community by definition implies individuals with some kind of collective responsibility, and the ability to make decisions by representative bodies.
Localsaa‚¬a„? participation, traditional culture, cross-cultural issues and raise of local income are basic principles of tourism and it is fundamental to get more in depth for development countries where tourism is dominantly operate by great foreign companies.
Usually familiesaa‚¬a„? interviews make obvious that locals are interested to take part in tourism activities but they donaa‚¬a„?t know how.
Often the creation of Community Based Tourism is the best solution for local people or at least a great help for them for example in these countries where the main income is from livestock and the desertification, the spread of unproductive land deprived of vegetation, is one of the main concerns.
Community Based Tourism is the jointly planned and managed tourism activities of local group: this new business never can be the main or only income source of the communities and cooperatives but can be additional income possibility
Issues like generating additional incomes for locals and reducing impacts on environment are included in the government policy about tourism, but there has been little implementation and no integrated policy at the national level.
The pros and cons of community base tourism
Base on the information of (mozer, 1995-2012) Advantage -depending upon implementation some of these can turn into disadvantages.
Employment- (1 emp/1000 tourist) labor intensive, few administrative positions, little upward mobility.
Infrastructure development -roads, water, electricity, telecom and cybercom, but not necessarily local priorities.
Cultural preservation- economic incentives to preserve food, fashion, festivals and physical history, but these tend to be superficial elements of a culture.
Environmental protection- econ incentives to preserve nature, wildlife and urban cleanliness.
Foreign exchange .generates resources to import food, pharmaceuticals, technology, consumer goods.
Development of health care services -those these aren’t always available to local people.
Disadvantages -depending upon implementation some of these can turn into advantages.
Cultural destruction-(modernization world mono-culture), freezes culture as performers, loss: language, religion, rituals, material culture.
primary products- sun, sand, surf, safari, suds, ski, sex (little value added, neo-colonialism)
Environmental destruction -game drives, resorts: golf, ski, beach, desert, world as playground, SUV.
Marginal employment -low skill, low wage, menial services, prostitution, drug trade, gambling, hustlers.
Low benefits -no job security, no health care, no organizing, and no work safety rules or environ standards.
Development of illegal and/or destructive economic activities- markets for drugs, endangered species, etc.
Outside hiring- skilled middle and senior management recruited out of the area and transferred in.
Concentration employment -walled resort enclaves.
seasonal employment
Outside decision making-decisions made outside of the area, corporate dollars corrupt government.
Unrealistic expectations-divert young people from school and brighter futures.
anti-democratic collusion- industry support of repressive governments
Land controlled by the elite -people relocated, agriculture eliminated, prohibited from N.P.
negative lifestyle’s (STD’s- substance abuse, begging, hustling
diverted and concentrated development -airport, roads, water, electricity to tourist destinations, development not accessible to locals
little forex stays in country -airplanes, vehicles, booze, hot air balloons, generally have foreign owners
package programs
Cruises -eat and sleep on board so the economic benefit to the ports-of-call is very thin and limited.
Unstable market -fickle, affected by local and world events, generally highly elastic.
Health tourism -traveling to get medical procedure at lower cost has its own set of unique challenges, which include: Determining the credential, skills and quality of the facility and personnel. Language communication challenges on topics requiring a lot of details, sometimes even when both parties seemingly speak the same language. Different cultural issues and expectations around health care and the body. Post-treatment complications, after the “tourist” has left the facility.
How community base tourism can be used to increase the Jamaica tourism product and make it more competitive
Community base tourism can be used to increase the Jamaica tourism product and make it more competitive because it provides an alternative to development thataa‚¬a„?s not sustainable, giving rural and poor community an additional source of income. You can immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of local and indigenous people while helping them to preserve their environment and culture heritage.
However people in the community earn income as land manager, entrepreneur, service and produce providers, and employees. Incomes are also set aside by the tourist for project that provides benefits to the community.
The significant impact on the development of technology in travel and tourism industry
Technology in travel and tourism industry in today world control and deliver swiftness and power your need to achieve your business ambitions. It is also delivers effective solution to meet their customers precise business needs increasing profit and work rate improving customer relation and decreasing cost. However you can depend on technology with the travel and tourism industry to improve the communication process. When communicating with technology you save time and money wisely and disengage from computer frequently to communication in person and help people to keep in touch with co-workers and traders in need of information. therefore technology in the industry improve the communication process, poorly design are in appropriately use technology can inner communication with workers more than it helps and it can be used in the industry to find explore analysis to exchange and present information responsively without discrimination, it also increase internationally and has speed up the process of globalization.
According to Rosendo (cuyasen, 2012), New Technology and media has changed the way of tourism. Travelers turn to the internet to research on potential destinations and do bookings online. They even include sharing their experiences of the trips they go to. The executive director of Ctrip.com said that consumers know more about the industry and travel businesses cannot make money from the information gap anymore. The past ten years has empowered consumers greatly. A great majority of travelers do their search online for bookings, travel guides and visas. According to John Liu, the executive vice-president and head of Greater China at Google, 85% of travelers do their research on the net and the average traveler does 55 online searches before a booking. Comparing and looking for information is very easy now and all kinds of information are available on the internet.
Pertaining to Keith Evans, (Evans, 1999-2012) with the explosion of technological advancements in the mid and late 20th century, tourists discovered increasing access to a growing array of destinations. From promoting destinations and attracting traveler attention to enabling instant reservations and payment collection, communication technology continues to exhibit a significant impact on the tourism industry and travel in general. Communication technology plays a considerable role in travel and tourism, as much of modern tourism revolves around the ability of tourist destinations to communicate their benefits to potential visitors and the ability of those visitors to reach out to points of interest at the destination.
Advantages and disadvantages of technology in the travel and tourism industry
According to leelingz, (leelingz, 2011) nowadays, technology has advanced in tremendous leaps and bounds. We cannot imagine the world without technological advances such as computer, televisions, and machines and so on. However there are some advantages and disadvantages of technology. First of all, technologies play a very important role in society because it makes life easier to live on and less time consuming. Technology has the ability to create shortcuts in working. People do not have to do all the hard labor anymore. People use technology to plan their trip which makes it more convenient and easy. They can research destination to their own pace, shop around for the best fares and hotel deals, and make reservations right from your computer. On the contrary, technology also brings harm to our society. The booming of industrialization and development causes pollutions to our world. For example, the smoke from the vehicles and machines affects the quality of air and destroy the ozone layer. In addition, technologies also create financial problems in families because most of the technologies are expensive like computers. People that cannot afford to buy this kind of technology will live in a stressful life.
On my views the important of technology in the travel and tourism industry is to get information through research, help to increase the organization revenue, to get information across to their customers and other related organizations, delivers great speed, reach audience that is physically separated from the sender and increase access ability and openness in an organization and bad part about technology is that it can create tension and conflict, easy to be over used, often lack privacy and can seriously drain employment productivity. But in my case without technology the industry could not keep up their infrastructure to keep attracting the visitor and keep the place in order.
Recommendation
For the recommendations, keep off with the changing of technology as technology enhance and change make sure that the business in the tourism industries can adjust to that change without any problem arising. For any business to thrive a good customer service representative is needed to portray to good quality that the business has to offer
.conclusion
It can be concluded that good quality service is needed to any business to thrive whether it be tourism or any other business and without technology the business will not be kept up to date.
