Information Technology Applications in Hospitality and Tourism: A Review of Publications from 2005 to 2007

The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale

Application of Werthner and Klein’s Model in Tourism Context

Web evaluation has become a critical process in DMOs’ performance measurement efforts.  However, Web evaluation research over the past decade has led to diverse approaches and findings rather than a unified understanding of success factors that should be measured in order to gauge a Web site’s performance.  The common success factors and potential additional factors identified in this study provide an important basis for practical Web evaluation implementation and simultaneously serve as a useful input for future research.  The major benefit of this study is the digest of a large volume of key factors into one comprehensive model that can be tested and applied to Web site development and evaluation problems.  This integration helps to identify not only commonalities but also gaps in existing approaches. Keywords: Destination marketing; DMOs’ performance measurement; E-satisfaction; E-loyalty; E-quality; Qualitative meta-analysi

Analysis of determinant factors of a convention and visitors bureau website service quality: Perspectives of meeting planners

Website service quality is widely accepted as one of the key determinants of online business success. Several studies identified key factors that determine the website service quality factors appropriate for online business environments (Kaynama & Black, 2000; Van Riel, Liljander, & Jurriens, 2001). A convention and visitors bureau (CVB) website is a service portal that delivers information online about a destination so users can develop an overall image of the location; CVBs struggle to deliver positive destination images because the competition among destinations to host conventions is intense. In spite of the important role of CVBs and the beneficial spillover effect of CVBs, there are few studies available reporting on the unique service qualities of a CVB website; The primary purpose of this study was to examine the determining factors that are appropriate for CVB websites from the meeting planners\u27 perspective. The research questions are: What are the determining factors of service quality of a CVB website? Do the determining factors of CBV website service quality positively influence meeting planners\u27 satisfaction? The new conceptual framework was developed from a variety of destination marketing and Internet marketing concepts: e-servicescape management, web community network, Internet service encounter management, and online system quality; Empirical results indicate that three of the four factors, that is, e-servicescape, web community network, and online system quality are important determinants in evaluating CVB website service quality. The findings also show that three determinants have significant and positive influence on meeting planners\u27 satisfaction. The findings from this study will provide meaningful advice for CVB website quality management. To enhance the CVB website service quality and satisfaction level of meeting planners, these three determinants should be considered of the utmost strategic importance and priority

Quality modeling in electronic healthcare: a study of mHealth Service

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to radically transform health services in developing countries. Among various ICT driven health platforms, mobile health is the most promising one because of its widespread penetration and cost effective services. This paper aims to examine Quality Modeling in Electronic Healthcare by using PLS based SEM

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges

Branding as an essential element in the creation process of the image of the brand in national tourism destinations

Purpose: Presentation of branding as an important element in the creation process of the brand image of national tourism destinations on the example of the operation of 39 National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) in Europe. Design/Methodology/Approach: For the selection of NTOs the following criteria were taken into account. 1. The functional criterion: the main functions attributed to NTOs were accepted as the grounds for the verification, firstly, it was considered whether the promotion of a given country on foreign markets is included among these tasks. 2. The economic criterion: possession of an autonomous financial budget by a given organization (regardless of the percentage share of funds from the budget of the state or from the private sector, or from any other sources) was accepted as the grounds for verification. 3. The organizational criterion: a separation of a given organization in the structure of a superior body was accepted as the grounds for verification. The research methods used include a method of diagnostic survey including a questionnaire technique, a direct interview and a statistical analysis. Findings: The analysis demonstrated among others that the vast majority of the NTOs examined (92.3%) implement the objectives of branding in practice. At the same time, a significant part of these organizations (86.1%) recognized the activities taken within branding to be very effective. Moreover, the vast majority of the NTOs analysed (91.7%) undertake the initiatives realized as part of branding on the global tourist market. Practical Implications: The conclusions following the study can be used by various entities which are responsible for an effective realization of the management process of the brand of tourism destinations on the different levels of administration. Originality/Value: The study constitutes an entirely new insight into the functioning of NTOs while presenting a substantially broader spectrum of the areas of interest for this type organizations as compared to those presented in the source literature till now.peer-reviewe

Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism

Strategic planning remains one of the most popular management tools, but theoretical and empirical developments in the academic literature have been a slow burn. This paper addresses this gap and provides an up-to-date review of hospitality and tourism strategic planning research. We review strategic planning research from 1995 to 2013 in seven leading tourism academic journals, and adopt a modern and broad conceptualization of strategic planning. While there is some awareness of effective tourism strategic planning processes, academic research has not kept pace with practice. To stimulate a resurgence of research interest, we provide future research directions. We observe a methodological introspection and present some new research methodologies, which are critically important in researching the turbulent, chaotic and nonlinear tourism environment

An Analytic Image-Technology Inventory of National Tourism Organizations (NTOs)

The Internet is playing an increasingly crucial role in destination marketing and it is used as a major marketing tool among National Tourism Organizations (NTOs). Website design is influential for consumers\u27 Website preference and destination selection. This study is to understand the application of image-based technology by the major National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) through the collection and comparison of static images and dynamic images presented in their official tourism Websites. Data collected from the sampling of the world\u27s top 25 tourism destination nations reveals that all National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) use either static images or dynamic images for their Websites, but the use of static images are far more popular than that of dynamic images

The moderating effects of personal characteristics and motivational factors on the propensity to use sports events tourism websites

Despite plenty of research related to the Internet has been conducted throughout the world, there remains a shortage of knowledge pertaining to personal characteristics and motivational factors as the moderating effects on the propensity to use sports events tourism websites. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate roles of moderating effects on the relationship between customer-perceived value and the propensity to use sports events tourism websites. This study has utilized the Sport Website Acceptance Model (SWAM) and the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) as the research background theories. Therefore, four components of customer-perceived value which extracted from the factor analysis were accessibility, flexibility, interactivity and reliability, acted as independent variable. While, motivation in terms of informativeness gratification and entertainment gratification acted as the moderating variables. This study has utilized a self-administered questionnaire adapted from a standardized questionnaire based on the literature review. The sample of the study comprised of 530 sports tourists’ (315 males and 215 females) who participated in three major sporting events conducted in Malaysia in 2013. The probability sampling technique was applied to select the respondent. The results of Pearson correlation analyses showed that there was a significant relationship between customer-perceived value and the propensity to use the websites. The stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that amongst four moderating variables of personal characteristics (age, gender, education, and income) except income did not moderate the relationship between customer-perceived value and the propensity to use the websites. The result of the study also indicates that 14.8 percent of the total variance of the propensity to use the websites was explained by customer-perceived value, entertainment gratification, informativeness gratification, the combination of customer-perceived value and entertainment gratification as well as the combination of customer-perceived value and informativeness gratification. The research findings would be practical and useful for sports tourism organizations in providing distinctive sports tourism websites on how to market their products and/or services effectivel