3. Using information technology for

3. Using information technology for tourism businesses’ strategic advantage
Tourism businesses need to enhance their competitiveness by employing the
emerging tools and re-engineering all processes. Tourism businesses need to become
more flexible, more efficient and quicker in responding to consumer requests. The
ICT revolution offers a variety of tools and mechanisms that allow innovative and
dynamic players to take advantage and strengthen their competitiveness. The use of
ICTs in tourism businesses digitises all processes and value chains in the tourism,
travel, hospitality and catering industries. All business functions - sales and
marketing, finance and accounting, human resource management, procurement,
research and development, and production, as well as strategy and planning for all
sec-tors of the tourism industry, including tourism, travel, transport, leisure,
hospitality, principals, intermediaries and public sector organisations - are
influenced by the emerging capabilities of ICTs. Technological solutions are
normally incorporated to increase efficiency and reduce the cost and time required
for undertaking particular activities and processes.
A wide range of information technologies applications is used in tourism and hospitality industries, as illustrated in Table no.1. Although each of these
systems may be standing alone, it is their integration to a comprehensive informa-tion management system that can maximise their opera ional effectiveness and
enable them to contribute to the organisational strategic competitiveness.