Use of Technological Applications in the Tourism Industry - Essay Example

? The Report Of Created App There are several quintessential questions faced by the tourism industry based on the growing technological need of the customers. The role of technology cannot be ignored in the tourism and travel industry. It is much easier for tourists to book their tickets online or on phone and through other cost effective means. Such use of technology has empowered customers to choose the best possible alternative and at the same time it is helping corporations to save their manpower. Statistics shows that the use of technology among travelers is very high and therefore the tourism industry is making efforts to stay in touch with its clients through technology (Tourism in a World of Technology, 2011). The tourism industry can be defined as an attraction sector as it runs on the manmade and the natural creation that are the center of attraction. People from all over the world pay their visits to such modern or ancient destinations. One of the major jobs of the tourism industry is to market such manmade or natural places so that they attract the attention of people around the globe. Attractive and unique places succeed in capturing the interest of large number of tourists (Tarlow, 2011). Time is an important constraint for tourists as usually they have limited time in which lots of things need to be done. They need to work on questions like what is to be done and how it is needed to be done. Another problem faced by them is to find places. This indeed is another time consuming activity and it acquires a lot of time of the trip. The tourism packages being offered are for a limited period and therefore wasting time in finding places can be a problem for the tourists (5 key issues facing travel and tourism, 2012). The people enjoying their holidays constantly want to share their picture and videos with their family and friends. The fascination of people of taking picture and recording videos has often been the topic of criticism. Tourists consider pictures as a record that they can share with their family and friends way back home. These photos and videos recorded by the tourists remind them of their visit. It is not always easy for tourists to share and record these significant moments of their life. This is where technology comes into action. The problems faced by the tourists can be solved by the tourism industry through the help of technology. The discussed problems cannot be considered as a negative side of tourism. Travelling places and finding way to go to new places is in itself enjoyment. It is the job of the organizer to make the tour a life time experience for its customers. Their tasks involve picking up mundane activities and turning them into something interesting and fun. For example train journey can be a great source of joy for travel writers, and similarly travelling in buses and undergrounds have their own pleasure. The best part of city visits is walking in streets as it is one of the easiest ways to access the life of the people of that place (Some of the Major Current Issues Confronting Tourism, 2006). Still there is a need to solve all these problems faced by the tourists in order to make the tourism industry much more efficient. The tourism industry cannot find an optimal solution for such problems simply by taking the help of technology. Technology can be used by our tourism business to save the precious time of the customers. It must also be noted that things like finding a cafe in another country are a source of enjoyment in itself (Fesenmaier, 2012). In order to solve this problem of finding places one can simply provide their customers with electronic guidebooks. This is an advanced from of traditional guidebook that has the A-Z list of all the places present in a particular country. In the traditional guidebooks the tourists have to look through the pages in order to get direction and find a place. This cannot be considered as an easy task. Usually it can be seen that tourists travel in a group and therefore in order to find a place they work as a group. One of them finds the correct page of the map and narrates the directions, while others lead them to the correct street or station as narrated by the first tourist. This division of labor is effective but it can be frustrating and time consuming for the group of tourists who wants to enjoy their vacations (Electronic Guidebook research Project, 2013). Electronic guidebooks can be a solution to this problem. This technology of electronic guidebooks is readily available on technologically advanced mobile phones. These electronic guide books present in phone are based on the format of paper guidebooks. However it is a more advance form of guidebook as the tourists do not have to look through the pages to find a particular building, street or station. They just have to enter the name and the device gives them the directions along with mentioning the shortest route to the destination. However, the affordability of electronic guidebook does impose some limitations for the tourists (Cornell, 2000). Electronic guidebooks help people in finding attractions and providing them with the easiest and shortest route to reach there. It also allows the users to compare information on places, allowing them to move quickly between different pieces of information. Mobile phones with small display screen seldom offer this electronic guidebook feature (Hughes, 2000). Such options are limited in ordinary mobile phone as one can see that internet explorer present in phones only allows people to open one webpage at a time. Another feature offered by advance mobile phones are maps. These maps not only provide directions of different places but also inform tourists about their present location (Lopez, 2013). The advanced mobile phones not only provide information and directions on different locations but its other features such as cameras and camcorder can be used to capture some of the valuable moments experienced by the tourists and it also allows them to share with their family as well. 3D functions of camera phones also allow the users to have the 3D view of streets and places. Mapping system present in advance mobile phones is present for supporting the wandering behavior of the travelers as it tells them whether or not they are moving in the correct direction. The indicators present in phones also give information on attractions such as cafes, libraries, etc. present in the areas of interest of the tourists. Such functions of mobile phones also allow the tourists in finding the way between two shopping destinations, highlighting the cafes that come in the way etc. The navigation option present in mobile phone points at the exact route that is easy and convenient from one destination to the other (Cheverst, 2000). This electronic guide system not only provides information on the current location but also suggests places where the tourists may want to go. The most frequently used electronic guide books system are Lancaster guide system and the other one is an EU funded guide. These maps and electronic guides are often used by tourists before visiting a place (Harper, 2001). This activity not only helps them to plan their trip but it also helps them to utilize their time while waiting for bus, or for their order in cafes etc. Research shows that the tour of the tourists is not structured at all. As tourists become familiar about a place and gain information about it they decide the destination that they actually want to visit. Therefore the system must provide information in a way that would attract the attention of the tourist as the environment itself has much attractive information to be offered (Cheverst, 2000). The pre-visit activity can be an effective way of presenting information on different places. Another technological feature that can be used by businesses to give more information to the tourists on places is to use web blogs. This web blog will allow people to share their travelling experience with others, giving them the insight of the adventure they faced while travelling to such places (Frohlich, 2002). The discussed technology if implemented can help the business in gaining competitive edge. For a successful tourism business it is very important to first define the “tourist problem” and then come up with a feasible and innovative solution based on technological factors. The identified problem in this case was the use of time consuming guide books, tourist not having sufficient information on places and the limitation in sharing the pictures and videos with their family and friends. All the identified problems can simply be solved by the help of technology. The new technology being used in mobile phones is an important solution to such problems. We can provide our customers with advance mobile phones on making booking for their journey through our firm. The mobile phones provided to the customers must have all the advance features such as digital travel guide, mapping system etc. The tourist must be given lesson on how to use the digital travel guide provided to them. These mobile phones provided to the tourists must enhance the reality for them by providing them necessary information on different historical buildings, important places etc. The main purpose behind providing such innovative products to the tourist is to make their tour more effective and memorable. Although designing new technology can be a challenge for the tourism industry as a whole but it will definitely help in the acquisition of more market share than before. Another thing that the firm in tourism industry must remember is that leisure activities such as tourism are a way through which people spend time with their families and friends. Technologies that are backed up by sociality are preferred by people over the ones that are not. However the idea of tourism activity is not an important as the idea of spending time with others. It is important to understand the fact that a journey is a source of providing lifetime experience to a person and therefore it is the duty of a firm to make it convenient and memorable for its customers by the help of technology in order to gain their loyalty (Woodruff, 2001). In many cases the tourists sometime get separated from their group. It can be difficult for them to coordinate their tourism activities with those of others. For this purpose there is a special feature present in advanced mobile phones that allow tourist to tie their location to all the other members present in the group, so that all of them are aware of the location of other tourist present in the group. This technology is also quite beneficial as it allows tourists to make recommendation to others and show them the routes that they followed while reaching a destination (Brown, 2002). The web blog again can serve as an effective idea for any business. People easily relate to the experience presented by others. Research shows that 80 percent of the tourists plan their tour on internet and therefore businesses offering some extra features can easily gain advantage over the others. Providing guiding features such as online blog can help people to design their tour and choose according to their choice (Mobile phones and their impact on the travel industry, 2013) . There are many firms that are a part of tourism industry. It is a highly competitive industry. Firms operating in this sector work hard to perform better than their competitors. However the firms who succeed are the ones who offer more than just a travelling experience to its customers (Aramberri, 2001). The customers of the tourist industry are not only people belonging to the domestic sector but government employees are also a source of providing revenue to the tourism industry. The government plays a major role in supporting this industry as it is a source of generating revenue for the government as well. 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