E-business and IT applications for Tourism and Hospitality

At the beginning of the 21st century, museums find themselves struggling to maintain audience in competition with an increasing number of leisure and cultural attractions. Their traditional mission is leaving room to a strategic approach in which conservation and marketing harmonize to create new cultural experiences that appeal to leisure consumers and attract sponsors. The electronic management of contents, reference communities, and distribution channels offers valuable insights and solutions to these institutions. This article outlines the competitive responses that can be adopted by online museums, discusses the reengineering of their role in the tourism market, and proposes a prototype of a multimedia portal aimed at creating valuable synergies between cultural and tourist services.

The not so long ago traditional way of organizing a holiday by choosing a destination seen in an album or in various brochures at a travel agency, together with the use of a travel guide and a folding map has been steadily taken over in the last years by the tourists who conduct by themselves online complex researches regarding destinations, hotels and means of transportation in order to find the best combination of solutions and rates. Nowadays, these researches are done using smartphones, tablets and other devices. At the same time, much trust is granted to peer reviews and social media. The question that arises is: Are the Romanian hoteliers spectators to these changes or are they also taking action? The present paper will try to identify the main issues Romanian hotels face currently in what concerns digital media. A special focus regards international trends and how Romanian hotels are responding to them.

This article examines the growth of Community-Based Tourism within the broader discipline of tourism. New topics in the field have emerged such as responsible tourism, pro-poor tourism, sports tourism and moral impacts of tourism. This phenomenon also reflects the multi-disciplinarity of tourism. In this article, using the Title, Abstract and Keywords (TAK) for instances in which the words (Community-based Tourism, Community Tourism and Community-Based Eco-Tourism) to subsume Community-Based Tourism (CBT), a search was made in various databases and found that CBT as a sub-specialty of tourism started to emerge in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The number of articles published specifically on CBT has been growing phenomenally. The major contribution of this article is that we now know the evolution of CBT and we also now know its trajectory of growth which has been upward. While the number of articles on CBT is growing, there is no journal dedicated solely to CBT.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the effects of ICT on firms’ competitiveness, as well as on their level of innovation, productivity and on the market share depending on the
tourism area: Accommodation, Gastronomy and Travel Agencies. On the whole, it has been proved that the use of diverse ICTs has little effect on the level of competition as well as on increasing productivity, while in general, they have a positive effect on increasing the market share of the firms.

are having an increasing impact on societies and in the globalization process that is integrating them. Societies are trying to regulate this impact, and adapt it to their respective cultural infra-structures. Societies and cultures are in reciprocal co-adaptations with Information and Communication Technologies. Synergic relationships might emerge in this co-adaptation process by means of positive and negative feedback loops, as well as feedforward ones. This would make the whole larger than the sum of its parts, generating emergent properties in the parts involved as well as in the whole coming forth. The academic, private, and public sectors are integrating their activities; multi-disciplinary groups and inter-disciplinary teams are being formed, and collaborative research and development projects are being organized in order to facilitate and adequately orient the design and implementation of the feedback and the feedforward loops, so the synergic relationships are socially positive and personally human. One of the main purposes of the 4 th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2010) is to bring together academics, professionals, and managers from the private and the public sectors, so they can share ideas, results of research, and innovative services or products, in a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector forum. Educational technologies, socio-economic organizations, and socio-political processes are essential domains among those involved in the evolving co-adaptation and cotransformation between societies and cultures on the one hand, and between informatics and cybernetics (communication and control) on the other hand. Consequently, the main conferences in the context of the IMSCI 2010 Multi-Conference are the following: • These three conferences are related to each other and, as a whole, are producing or might produce synergic relationships with Information and Communication Technologies. This is why the Organizing Committees of the three of them have the purpose of combining their efforts in a way that would lead to the organization of an adequate joint event, where academics, researchers, consultants, professionals, innovators, and practitioners from the three areas might relate and interact with each other in the same event. These types of interaction might generate possibilities of cross-fertilization and analogical thinking, as well as possibilities of new working hypothesis, ideas, and reflections on the impact, significance, and usefulness of Informatics and Cybernetics in important • What ethical and legal issues will be a part of the social transformation produced by the ICTs? On behalf of the Organizing Committees, I extend our heartfelt thanks to: WMSCI 2010 711 1841 3586 1.95 5.04 242 34.04% IMETI 2010 425 1124 2480 2.21 5.84 134 31.53% IMSCI 2010 321 720 1751 2.43 5.45 131 40.81% CISCI 2010 622 1174 3321 2.83 5.34 224 36.01% TOTAL 2079 4859 11138 2.29 5.36 731 35.16% We also extend our gratitude to the co-editors of these proceedings, for the hard work, energy and eagerness they shown preparing their respective sessions. We express our intense gratitude to Professor William Lesso for his wise and opportune tutoring, for his eternal energy, integrity, and continuous support and advice, as the Program Committee Chair of past conferences, and as Honorary President of WMSCI 2010, as well as for being a very caring old friend and intellectual father to many of us. We also extend our gratitude to Professor Belkis Sanchez, who brilliantly managed the organizing process. We also express our immense gratitude to Professor Freddy Malpica for distinguishing this conference by accepting the position of Honorary Chair of EISTA 2010 and the past conferences of PISTA and SOIC; to Professors Friedrich Welsch for serving as the Program Co-Chair of EISTA

Community-based tourism (CBT) offers both opportunities and challenges in the quest
for holistic community development. The evolution and development of CBT projects
can follow different trajectories. This conceptual paper’s main contribution is the
formulation of a comprehensive model of the development of CBT. The model
suggests that CBT projects can be initiated from within and outside the community by
the private, public and non-governmental sectors or a combination of these using a topdown
or bottom-up approach. It also posits that CBT projects can take a formal or
informal character depending on the conditions leading to their initiation. The paper
highlights the benefits and constraints to the scaling up or down of operations linked to
informality. It supports further research in analyzing the various aspects associated
with the shift from formality to the informality of CBT projects and vice versa

To cite this article: Oliver Mtapuri & Andrea Giampiccoli (2013) Interrogating the role of the state and nonstate actors in community-based tourism ventures: toward a model for spreading the benefits to the wider community, South African Geographical Journal, 95:1, 1-15,

RESUMEN Los adversos efectos socioeconómicos, psicológicos y ambientales del turismo convencional, o de masas, provocaron la aparición de nuevas formas de turismo como el turismo comunitario. Esta forma de turismo presenta características prometedoras y alternativas como el empoderamiento de la comunidad y la sensibilidad medioambiental que podrían aplicarse a los sistemas de clasificación (rating/grading) turísticos. Este artículo presenta un nuevo e innovador sistema de clasificación turística inspirado por estos principios del turismo comunitario. El artículo se basa en trabajos previos de los autores y en ideas provenientes de la literatura especializada y su contribución principal es una propuesta de modelo de clasificación turística que, inspirada en el turismo comunitario, incorpora aspectos como la equidad, la educación, el empoderamiento, el carácter endógeno y la sensibilidad ambiental como pilares y criterios para la clasificación turística. La aplicación de este sistema de clasificación requeriría de incentivos oficiales ya que la mayor parte de estos sistemas son de carácter voluntario.

ABSTRACT The adverse socioeconomic , psychological and environmental impacts of conventional/mass tourism prompted the emergence of new forms of tourism such as community-based tourism. This form of tourism manifests promising and progressive characteristics such as community empowerment and care for the environment with potential of these characteristics to be harnessed for rating/grading of facilities. This article presents a novel and innovative rating/grading system which leverages these CBT principles. The article is based on previous work and insights on grading systems from the extant literature. The major contribution of this article is the E-based model of facility classification system. The proposed classification system incorporates aspects such as Equity; Education; Empowerment; Endogenous; and the Environment as pillars/criteria for grading facilities. The operationalisation of this grading system has policy implications in that it requires incentives from the government given that most grading systems are voluntary. PALABRAS CLAVE sistemas de clasificación turística | turismo comunitario KEYWORDS classification | grading | rating system | community-based tourism

La Candelaria neighborhood, located in the center of Bogotá (Colombia), is the epicenter of the culture and history of the city, thus generating a large flow of tourists, and its main accommodation offer consists of a series of hostels, which sell their product using different channels. The scope of this research is to propose strategies to strengthen the direct distribution channels of these hostels to generate more income, based on digital marketing strategies and interpretation of hotel indicators.

Marketing is important for the survival of any business. Based on a review of the literature, this article observes that marketing is both a challenge and an opportunity for the development of Community-based Tourism (CBT) ventures. Marketing is crucially important for promoting and advertising such ventures as well as a way to gain competitive advantage. The adoption of Information Technologies opens possibilities for CBT ventures in isolated localities to connect in real time with the rest of the world via internet connectivity and to embrace e-commerce, e-marketing and e-CBT. Linkages across space are important. The article proposes a model which argues that marketing should pursue three main routes/pathways, firstly, an independent pathway, in which direct marketing to the source market is either done by a CBT umbrella organization or by CBT ventures themselves; secondly, the dependent partnership route in which marketing is done in partnership with the a CBT umbrella organization and/or CBT ventures including external entities (private sector, and government entities; industry groups/associations; and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)) individually or with a number of them; and thirdly, the fully dependent route in which marketing is directly done by private sector and government entities; industry groups/associations and NGOs (alone or with a number of them). The strengths and weaknesses of each strand/pathway are assessed. A strong CBT sector is good for community empowerment, community development and overall self-determination.

The design of digital tourist technologies is traditionally situated in an understanding of tourism as an information consumption practice. In contrast, this article takes a ‘performative’ view of tourism as its starting point. The research presented is part of a larger goal, which is to propose a shift in the socio-technical environment in which the design of engaging technologies for tourists takes place. By drawing on recent approaches for understanding the lived social and material conditions of tourist places, we first show how contemporary tourism can be usefully understood as a form of networking. The article then draws on early research about the roles of locals and tourists in the making of place during the course of their networking activities, and suggests how an understanding of the social environment of tourists might be used as a grounded resource for design. Our analysis of a staged encounter between a single tourist and four locals generates insights used to shape a design space, a first step in the development of appropriate, engaging design interventions in the domain of tourism.

Diese Fallstudie beschreibt eine elektronische Archivierungslösung für Rechnungen. Der Schweizer Kabelnetzbetreiber cablecom GmbH nutzt hierzu die Dienste des Business Process Outsourcing-Dienstleisters Swiss Post Solutions AG. Besonderheiten der Archivierungslösung sind der Archivzugriff durch cablecom-Kunden und -Mitarbeiter über eine Weblösung sowie die rechtskonforme Archivierung mittels elektronischer Signatur. Vorteile für cablecom lagen in der schnellen und kostengünstigen Realisierbarkeit der Archivierungslösung bei gleichzeitig hohem Qualitätsniveau, etwa in Bezug auf Sicherheit und Verfügbarkeit.

"Ecotourism is environmentally responsible travel and visitation of natural areas and accompanying cultural features. It is highly growing niche market in tourism industry and protected areas are major areas where ecotourism take place. MzNP is one of protected areas of Ethiopia and located in Gamo gofa zone, SNNPR. This study was done with the objective of describing ecotourism potential of MzNP, examining relevance of future ecotourism development in MzNP and, identifying prospected challenges of ecotourism development in MzNP. The researcher employed mixed research approach and used descriptive research design. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire, structured key informant interview, field observation and secondary sources. The result of this research showed that MzNP has high ecotourism potential in terms of its natural features. But it has moderate potential regarding cultural features, site infrastructure and human resource features. Regarding relevance of future ecotourism development in MzNP, respondents are highly agreed to environmental, economic and socio-cultural relevance of ecotourism development. The result also revealed that main prospected challenges of ecotourism resources of MzNP are livestock grazing, fire disaster, poaching, fire wood collection, land use conflict, inadequate provision of physical infrastructure and tourist facility, and effects of climate change such as desertification, drought, temperature increment and insufficient rainfall.

Key words: Protected area, Maze National Park, Ecotourism, Potential, Relevance, Challenge
"

Community-based tourism: An exploration of the concepts from a political perspective

Tourism is always seen as a viable alternative means of boosting development in developing countries. Similarly, community based tourism (CBT) is generally associated with development in poor, especially rural communities. This article first presents CBT as a possible community development tool, exploring its conceptual and historical evolution, and then offers solutions for enhancing the opportunities and capacity of CBT in facilitating rural community development. To that end, a definition of community and notions of development are proposed, and a community development strategy, based on the issues of empowerment, self-reliance and sustainability is explored. Special attention is given to local context issues in relation to community development. In addition, the origins and evolution of CBT concept, and the linkages between the concept and alternative development paradigms from the 1970s are explored, including the notions of empowerment and self-reliance. This article makes two contributions. Firstly, it proposes that the current meaning of CBT does not coincide with the original concept of CBT because the contemporary policy milieu has changed. Secondly, it presents different CBT typologies in line with contemporary CBT concepts and issues of community development.

Tourism is always seen as a viable alternative means of boosting development in developing countries. Similarly, community based tourism (CBT) is generally associated with development in poor, especially rural communities. This article first presents CBT as a possible community development tool, exploring its conceptual and historical evolution, and then offers solutions for enhancing the opportunities and capacity of CBT in facilitating rural community development. To that end, a definition of community and notions of development are proposed, and a community development strategy, based on the issues of empowerment, self-reliance and sustainability is explored. Special attention is given to local context issues in relation to community development. In addition, the origins and evolution of CBT concept, and the linkages between the concept and alternative development paradigms from the 1970s are explored, including the notions of empowerment and self-reliance. This article makes two contributions. Firstly, it proposes that the current meaning of CBT does not coincide with the original concept of CBT because the contemporary policy milieu has changed. Secondly, it presents different CBT typologies in line with contemporary CBT concepts and issues of community development.

The conjecture underpinning this paper is that by drawing upon experiential components of tourist behaviour we might be able to better inspire a process of designing digital tourist technologies for in-situ tourist experiences. The pa- per works to sensitize researchers and designers of digital and mobile tourism technologies to place-making practices and inspire novel ways of conceptualizing and doing re- search in the tourist domain.