Tourism technology

Tourism technology

Tourism Technology is a term coined by the Korea Tourism Organization, which refers to the recent trend of incorporating technology with the tourism industry.

Definition of Tourism Technology

The convergence of industries has forced people to create terminology such as information technology, biotechnology, ubiquitous technology and even cultural technology to explain frequently talked about topics. Tourism Technology is a term that encompasses all social, cultural, managerial, and value-adding activities of the tourism industry. Tourism Technology also incorporates and encourages technological advancements and economic development in the tourism industry.

The Origin of Tourism Technology

"Tourism Technology", initially based on the concept of cultural technology, is a more comprehensive term covering knowledge used to add to the value of tourism products on a micro level and the management of the travel and tourism industry on a macro level. New tourism products are also the end result of tourism technology combining with other industries. These include medical tourism, educational tourism, agricultural tourism, marine tourism, and the application of information technology to the travel and tourism industry.

Application of Tourism Technology

The term "technology" can easily call to mind scientific achievements, computer graphic skills, special effects and other engineering-related images. However, "Tourism Technology" encompasses the integrated fields mentioned in the previous paragraph, statistics, managerial and socio-cultural know-how, and skills that the tourism industry can adopt to design, produce, and market various tourism products. In addition to coordinating various aspects of human resources in the travel and tourism industry, “Tourism Technology” describes a comprehensive field containing but not limited to such widely referred to subjects as entertainment technology, contents technology and creative technology. Examples of how tourism technology can be applied are as follows.

*Development of tourism products that tell a story

*Convergence with other industries such as medical and film industries

*Application of advanced information technology to provide tourist information via navigation systems or PDAs.

Software for Tourists

One of the latest applications is software that permits tourists to customize their visits according to their preferences. Luis Castillo Vidal, computer engineer of the University of Granada and one of the authors of the study, points out that, in order to design the customized visit plans, they have used Artificial Intelligence techniques, “a science that provides computers with abilities to solve problems which, in principle, can only be solved by humans”.

Users must have access to the internet, either through a computer, a mobile phone or a PDA, in order to be able to access a web where they can define their preferences and needs, such as their artistic, cultural and gastronomic preferences, their lifestyle and favourite hours, whether they are disabled or not and the spending capacity.

The new “adaptive user-focused system to plan tourist visits”, as their authors describe it, means “step forward” in the current trend of tourist activities automation, such as the online payment of transport tickets and accommodation, or the use of audio-guides in the monuments tours .

Artificial Intelligence, says Castillo, can play an important role in future, as it combines computer’s capacities of memory and fast execution with faculties as human as common sense, intuition and imagination.

Popular software applications for tourists can be grouped in the following categories:
* Translation software
* Navigation software
* Weather software
* Size and measure conversion software
* Currency rates and stock exchange rates sofware
* Transport information software (i.e. flight status, delays e.t.c.)
* Tour guides software

External links

* [http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=289722 KTO's Tourism Technology Strategy]
* [http://prensa.ugr.es/prensa/research/verNota/prensa.php?nota=530 Software that permits tourists to customize their visits according to their preferences]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tourism — Tourist redirects here. For other uses, see Tourist (disambiguation). Summer Visitors by Maurice Prendergast (1897) Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defi …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in the United States — is a large industry that serves millions of international and domestic tourists yearly. Tourists visit the US to see natural wonders, cities, historic landmarks and gambling venues. Americans seek similar attractions, as well as recreation and… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism New Zealand — is the national institution tasked with promoting New Zealand as a tourism destination internationally. It is the trading name of the New Zealand Tourism Board,[1] a Crown entity established under the New Zealand Tourism Board Act 1991. It is the …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in the Caribbean — significantly impacts the economies, cultures, and ecosystems of the area. History The first official hotel to open in the Caribbean was the Bath Hotel, on the island of Nevis. [http://www.nevis nhcs.org/bathproject/page2.html] The nearby hot… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in Brazil — is a growing sector and key to the economy of several regions of the country. The country had 5.026 million visitors in 2007, placing Brazil as the fourth largest tourist destination in the Americas, the main destination in South America, and… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in Thailand — Tourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand s GDP in 2007 [http://www.bangkokpost.com/tourismreview2007/10.html] . Overview The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in Mexico — is a very large industry. Mexico is the number one destination for foreign tourists within the Latin America region, ranking worldwide in the eighth place in terms of the international tourist arrivals, with 21.4 million visitors in 2006.In terms …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in China — An example of cultural site: the Terracotta Army in Xian. Tourism in China has greatly expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening. The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in Kerala — Kerala, a state situated on the tropical Malabar Coast of southwestern India, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Named as one of the ten paradises of the world by the National Geographic Traveler, Kerala is famous… …   Wikipedia

  • Tourism in Cuba — The beach in the resort town of Varadero Tourism in Cuba attracts over 2 million people a year, and is one of the main sources of revenue for the island.[1] With its favorable climate, beaches, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”