School of Hospitality Management

MIS in Tourism

School of Hospitality Management

Definition of Terms

• Tourism “the activities of persons travelling to

and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year, for leisure, business and other purposes” (UNWTO, 1998)

School of Hospitality Management

Definition of Terms• Technology– is the totality of Tools, Processes,

Systems driven to make jobs more efficient, work more effective and human lives more convenient.

• Tools –application of scientific theories

manifested in materials and physical objects.

School of Hospitality Management

Definition of Terms

• Processes – sequence of interdependent linked procedures that consumes resources at each stage that produce a simple result

• Systems – a collection of processes that produce a complex result

School of Hospitality Management

Information Technology

• The collection of tools that make it easier to use, create, manage and exchange information.

• The Internet is the latest of a long series of information technologies, which includes printing, mail, radio, television and the telephone.

• Columbia University Graduate School of Business

School of Hospitality Management

Information Transfer

School of Hospitality Management

Role of Technology in Tourism

• Technology as Provider• Technology as creator or enhancer of the

tourism experience

• Technology as Facilitator• Pre Activity Facilitator• Activity Facilitator• Post Activity facilitator

School of Hospitality Management

Role of Technology in Tourism

• Technology assisting the Industry• Support Services concerned with Tourism

• Technology as the Attraction• Technology as the focal point of the Tourism

business

School of Hospitality Management

Technology and Experience

• Technology enables the tourist to be in control of the activities they experience– Pre Experience Facilitation• Itinerary building through virtual

media and pre travel preparations• Setting the mood for the experience

through teasers and media on the destinations and activities

School of Hospitality Management

Technology and Experience

– Activity Facilitation• Use of technology allows the tourist to be

involved in the activity

– Post Activity Nostalgia• Technology allows post activity “hang over”,

by enabling capture of the experience through media

School of Hospitality Management

Improvement of Services

• Technology allows support services to be performed at heightened levels of efficiency and expertise.

• By providing systems and processes, technology allows the industry servicemen to provide better service to their guests.

School of Hospitality Management

Improvement of Services

• Monitoring of the activities allows proper study and analysis of the destination, as technology provides vital information about what is happening in the inside

• Information dissemination technology allows the destination to reach more possible tourists, surpassing the boundaries such as demographics and geographic

School of Hospitality Management

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

School of Hospitality Management

Competitive Advantage

• Competitive Advantage – Characteristics of an organization that

makes it stand out from the rest of the industry

School of Hospitality Management

Competitive Advantage

• COST LEADERSHIP / COST ADVANTAGE– Being able to deliver the same benefits

with other organizations but with a lower cost

• DIFFERENTIATION ADVANTAGE– Being able to deliver benefits that

exceed the norms of the industry

School of Hospitality Management

School of Hospitality Management

Competitive Advantage

• Competitive Advantage is created by using resources and capabilities to achieve either cost advantage or differentiation from other products in the industry.

• It is a choice for a firm to either be a COST LEADER or a DIFFERENTIATED PRODUCT / PROVIDER.

School of Hospitality Management

Competitive Advantage

• This decision oftentimes is built on available information to the company is very important in its competitive strategy

School of Hospitality Management

Relation of Info Sys and Comp Adv

• Information Systems provide management with data that is very important in decision making. – Strategy Making

• Information systems provide a view of the operations to management, that would allow them to react to situations. – Situational Management

School of Hospitality Management

BUSINESS PROCESSES AND INFO SYSTEMS

School of Hospitality Management