Incorporating IT Tools in the Tourism Industry Proposal

Main Area

With the rise of the globalization process and the enhancement of multicultural relationships, tourism has become an important part of many people’s lives, serving not only as a way of spending free time but also as a means of expanding one’s knowledge of other cultures and acquiring essential skills for cross-cultural communication. Furthermore, tourism has been affecting the economic growth levels of a range of states to a considerable degree, spurring the development of the entertainment industry development and the increase in entrepreneurship levels (Firoiu & Croitoru, ‎2013).

Therefore, tourism must be considered an essential part of the modern world. However, tourism is not a self-sustaining industry; quite on the contrary, it needs significant support and requires that interprofessional communication should be enhanced. The introduction of recent technological innovations into the context of the contemporary tourism industry should be viewed as an absolute necessity since it will create the foundation for the further development thereof.

Increasing the levels of customer safety, contributing to an improved communication process between companies and its clients, and enhancing the infrastructure of the tourism industry, IT tools must be incorporated into it so that new routes could be designed, tourist safety could be improved (e.g., with the design of safe opening systems based on the use of Bluetooth technologies, etc.).

Sub-Areas

To explore the problem described above, one will have to consider several sub-areas that will have to be studied thoroughly. By studying the factors that determine the development of the tourism industry and the efficacy of its infrastructure, one will be able to define the effects of introducing IT tools into the realm of the tourism industry so that the quality of the relevant services could be improved exponentially. The following sub-areas will need to be studied to carry out a detailed overview of the problem and find the available solutions:

• Tourist routes, the problems associated with them, and the ways in which the application of IT devices will help improve them;
• Customer safety and the current measures are taken to improve it when providing clients with transportation- and accommodation-related services;
• Security of the clients’ personal data and the means of enhancing it by adopting more efficient tools for obtaining, processing, and storing it;
• Problems associated with comfort and accessibility of services.

By scrutinizing the specified issues, one will be able to develop a better understanding of the challenges that the tourism industry has to confront at present. Consequently, reasonable suggestions concerning the improvement of the situation will be provided.

Research Questions

In the course of the study, several questions will have to be answered. It will be crucial to define the environment in which the changes mentioned above will be implemented. Therefore, the following questions will be addressed during the research:

1. By what problems is the current infrastructure of the tourism industry defined?
2. What improvements can be made to enhance the efficacy of the tourism infrastructure and lead to a rapid increase in customer satisfaction rates?
3. What IT tools and innovations can be used to make improvements in question and contribute to a gradual increase in the tourism infrastructure efficacy?
4. What effects will the identified IT tools have on the safety and security of the customers, their satisfaction levels, and the performance of the organizations operating in the specified realm?

The answers to the research questions mentioned above will shed a lot of light on the problem of tourism infrastructure and the role of IT tools in its enhancement. For instance, the possible strategies for handling some of the issues associated with customers’ personal data and time management are expected to be resolved. Thus, a significant improvement will take place in the environment of the tourism industry.

Formulating Objectives

To complete the research and provide suggestions concerning possible improvements to the present-day infrastructure used in the tourism industry, one will have to consider reaching several crucial objectives. Being important steps of the research process, the specified objectives will help answer the essential research questions. The major objectives are listed below:

1. Determining the crucial characteristics of the contemporary tourism industry from the perspective of its infrastructure;
2. Identifying the problems and opportunities associated with the infrastructure of the tourism industry;
3. Defining the ways in which IT innovations will help improve the current infrastructure of the tourism industry;
4. Assessing the efficacy of the specified IT innovations;
5. Designing strategies for the implementation of the necessary changes.

By focusing on the opportunities that recent IT innovations have opened in front of businesses, one will be able to explore their potential in the context of the tourism industry. Particularly, the chances of managing the infrastructure thereof will be created. As a result, the strategies for enhancing the operations in the tourism industry and attracting more people to it will be built. The specified effects are bound to lead to a massive rise in tourism companies’ performance.

Assessing Objectives

The objectives listed above can be deemed as attainable and important in carrying out the research. Being focused on the evaluation of the tourism industry infrastructure, they serve as the basis for building improved approaches toward improving the services associated with transportation processes, the delivery of the necessary products and materials, the movement of tourists, etc. Consequently, a massive improvement in the tourism industry may be expected if the strategies based on the integration of IT tools into the process of managing infrastructure are incorporated.

The objectives can be viewed as attainable and, therefore, worth pursuing. The aims listed above support the research questions and create the foundation for proving the research hypothesis. Therefore, they need to be included in the study.

Hypothesis

There is a direct correlation between the use of IT tools as the means to enhance the information management process, address the issues that impede the development of infrastructure, prevent delays and instances of misunderstandings, etc., and the opportunities for improving the efficacy of the tourism industry infrastructure to a considerable degree and raising the levels of customer satisfaction significantly.

Variables: Measurement

The efficacy of the infrastructure used in the modern tourism industry will be the primary dependent variable of the study. The identified variable will be measured by calculating the number of inefficient transportation processes and comparing them to the number of successful ones. Thus, the whole picture regarding the infrastructure in the tourism industry will become visible.

The independent variables will include the incorporation and promotion of various IT tools as the means of redesigning the current infrastructure of the transportation industry and improving the essential processes associated with the management of information, promotion of customer safety, etc. It is expected that the study will serve as the foundation for the design of the framework allowing for an unceasing improvement of the tourism industry infrastructure. Thus, all quality requirements and needs of the target audiences will be met respectively.

Reference

Firoiu, D., & Croitoru, G. A. (2013). Tourism and tourism infrastructure from the perspective of technological changes. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 8(2), 93-103.