University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing
Abstract
OVERVIEW
This chapter explores how technology has radically reshaped the tourism industry in the last few decades. In particular, IT applications such as the internet since the 1990s, and more recently smartphone Apps, have contributed to that change. Today, travelers and tourists use the internet to explore the many options available to them in terms of transport, lodging and entertainment at popular tourist destinations. Therefore, many local brick and mortar agencies have disappeared and have been replaced by large, platform-based players such as Expedia, Airbnb or Booking.com. The many pictures they upload constantly while traveling, and the feedback collected immediately after service delivery by actors such as Booking.com, inform the choices of those searching for tourism services online. The chapter also discusses how the tourism experience occurs mainly at destinations, which are clusters, were many actors offering services such as transport, lodging and entertainment converge. At these destinations, the existence of many options enriches the attractiveness of the cluster itself. Finally, many examples are provided showing how Apps and emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR) are reshaping the tourism experience in ways that we are only beginning to imagine.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, the student will be able to:
- Understand the significant changes to the traditional tourism value chain brought about by the introduction and democratization of information technologies.
- Learn about the dynamics of information gathering and use by customers in the current tourism industry.
- List the main technology-induced changes and the key factors that have transformed the tourism value chain.
- Understand the concepts of value chain, clusters, co-creation and user experience (UX).
- Describe the tourism value chain from the traveler’s point of view.
- Provide an overview of the IT evolution and the IT applications that have impacted the tourism industry.
- Know the main technologies of data transmission that are relevant to tourism.
- Understand the importance of Apps in the travel experience.
- Learn about the IT technologies behind the scenes, and how they can boost the companies’ efficiency.
- Discover the emergent IT technologies, their state of maturity, and their level of implementation in tourism.
- Learn about recent technologies that can impact the traveler’s experience in a significant manner.
- Discover of the importance of the UX.
- Learn about the importance of the human factor in UX.
DOI
https://www.doi.org/10.5038/9781732127593
Recommended Citation
Costin, H., & Eslava, A. (2021). Emerging technology trends in hospitality and tourism. In C. Cobanoglu, S. Dogan, K. Berezina, & G. Collins (Eds.), Hospitality & tourism information technology (pp. 1–24) . USF M3 Publishing. https://www.doi.org/10.5038/9781732127593
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
