Challenges and potential of the Semantic Web for tourism

The paper explores tourism challenges and potential of the Semantic Web from a theoretical and industry perspective. It first examines tourism business networks and explores a main theme of network interoperability - data standards- followed by technology deficiencies of Web 1.0 and 2.0 and Semantic Web solutions. It then explicates Semantic opportunities and challenges for tourism, including an industry perspective through a qualitative approach. Industry leaders considered that the new Web era was imminent and heralded benefits for supply and demand side interoperability, although management and technical challenges could impede progress and delay realisation

Virtual Tourism Business Networks in Developing Countries

Since the rising of Computer and Information Technologies, that enterprises and organizations explore them to run their businesses, in order to explore new business opportunities, increase profits and decrease costs. Due several reasons, most of micro, small and medium enterprises located in remote communities, especially those located in developing countries, face a number of obstacles and difficulties due to their business structure and limited access to information and communication infrastructures. This paper presents the conclusive remarks of a master thesis that aims the development of a model for a virtual business network, bringing together tourism industry players located in remote communities, in order to provide them the opportunity to, at a low cost, join to the information society, explore new business opportunities and acquire global visibility. This virtual business network is fostered and relies on a JXTA P2P distributed e-marketplace model that seems to be an effective and alternative way to overtake the presented problem

A Semantic Grid Oriented to E-Tourism

With increasing complexity of tourism business models and tasks, there is a clear need of the next generation e-Tourism infrastructure to support flexible automation, integration, computation, storage, and collaboration. Currently several enabling technologies such as semantic Web, Web service, agent and grid computing have been applied in the different e-Tourism applications, however there is no a unified framework to be able to integrate all of them. So this paper presents a promising e-Tourism framework based on emerging semantic grid, in which a number of key design issues are discussed including architecture, ontologies structure, semantic reconciliation, service and resource discovery, role based authorization and intelligent agent. The paper finally provides the implementation of the framework.Comment: 12 PAGES, 7 Figure

The New Orient Express: Current Trends and Regulations in Space Tourism And The Need For Commercial Hypersonic Point to Point Travel

This paper aims to answer the question of what the new privatized space regime will not only look like, but also if and how it will expand. In answering the question an examination of who will most be affected by space tourism and a subsequent space travel industry is required. Additionally, a cursory look at the history of airline regulation both domestically and abroad is needed to understand the future of private space flight. Next, an overview of past and current space and hypersonic technologies is required to attempt any projection of future advances. Finally, this paper sets out to predict the next ten to fifty years of the private space travel, and ultimately show how such a space travel industry should be regulated. It is the goal of the author to not advocate for this burgeoning private industry, but to encourage continued growth for all of mankind

Unlocking the hype : an analysis on how blockchain technology could affect hospitality culture

The aim of my thesis is to find the right “key” to unlock the hype surrounding blockchain technology and to find effective applications in the hospitality industry that could change its cultural framework. To do so, hospitality culture and how technology shapes it will be discussed. Blockchain technology is just one of the various innovations that is determining the “liquid” society we live in. For this reason, a general panoramic of the technological and managerial framework will be further discussed. Furthermore, the specificities of the blockchain will be described, considering both its positive and negative aspects. Through the analysis of qualitative and quantitative secondary source data and a comparison with interviews of experts of these sectors, evidence and opinions will be presented in order to discuss this innovative technology from a culture studies perspective

Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—The state of eTourism research

This paper reviews the published articles on eTourism in the past 20 years. Using a wide variety of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, this paper comprehensively reviews and analyzes prior studies in the context of Internet applications to Tourism. The paper also projects future developments in eTourism and demonstrates critical changes that will influence the tourism industry structure. A major contribution of this paper is its overview of the research and development efforts that have been endeavoured in the field, and the challenges that tourism researchers are, and will be, facing

Conceptualizing a Multi-Sided Platform for Cloud Computing Resource Trading

Cost-effective and responsible use of cloud computing resources (CCR) is on the business agenda of companies of all sizes. Despite this strategic goal, a typical data center produces an estimated 30% overcapacity annually. This overcapacity has severe economic and environmental consequences. Our work addresses this overcapacity by proposing a multi-sided platform for CCR trading. We initiate our research by conducting a literature review to explore the existing body of knowledge which indicates a lack of recent and evaluated platform design knowledge for CCR trading. We address this research gap by deriving and evaluating design requirements and design principles. We instantiate and evaluate the design knowledge in a respective platform framework. Thus, we contribute to research and practice by deriving and evaluating design knowledge and proposing an evaluated platform framework

The impact of blockchain technology on tourism intermediation

Contemporary tourism has undergone many changes in the last decade, mainly due to expansion of the new techno-logy. The use of new technology has had more positive than negative impacts on tourism intermediation, but none of them triggered a radical change. Blockchain technology has been one of the most discussed topics especially after 2016 due to its all opportunities, but also threats. Even though it is still somewhat unfamiliar, it is a form of technology which has a great potential to cause a revolution in traditional business activities, as it is predicted by futurists. For now, this phenomenon has only been recognized by bigger tourism intermediaries, technology-oriented companies. Such fast changes require even faster adaptations of all tourism intermediaries and this is challenging because most of stakeholders are not familiar with the use and the impact of blockchain. Therefore, in this paper the authors will try to provide answers by presenting a SWOT analysis of blockchain technology implications on activities undertaken by all participants in tourism intermediation. It implies to conclusion that everyone will face various challenges in its implementation which have to be considered seriously. The use and the general understanding of blockchain technology is still in an initial stage, so it is crucial that tourism research takes a proactive role in the exploration of this field of study. Furthermore, as trends are dynamic and evolve rapidly, the topic becomes particularly challenging for scientists in bridging practice into theory. Therefore, this theory-based paper on an overall assumption contributes to a better understanding of this phenomenon and raises the awareness for further research