It is necessary to consider the resources of Information Systems and Information Technologies used by tourist companies or travel agencies from the possibilities they offer to improve business management processes and relations with other agents in the sector, in terms of exchange of information. Therefore, the analysis of the information systems and information technology most used by tourism companies requires differentiating between those resources used in internal management and those that have been commonly used to manage external communication activities. In this sense, the tourism business have been considered as one of the activities where the Information Systems that provide support for the internal management of the activity of the tourism company and those that facilitate communication with other agents and companies within the sector based on information technologies have acquired greater importance. (Science Direct, 2011) At an organizational level, the first applications of Information Systems based on networks were developed with the purpose of monitoring and provide support to hotel and air transport companies, constituting the previous antecedent of the current automated reservation systems used in the tourism industry. Basically, information systems are conceived as systems based on the use of telecommunications that are shared by different competitors in the sector and by companies that maintain relationships with their customers, buyers or suppliers in the business value chain (Science Direct, 2011). The development and use of information systems in tourist companies has followed a process of evolution marked by the information needs of companies linked to these systems. Thus, at first, the Central Reservation Systems emerge that begin to link the different touristic agents (suppliers and tourist intermediaries) in the transportation reservation and hotel accommodation processes until reaching a broader concept of the flow of information, and Global Reservation Systems that integrate all the products associated with a customer's trip. The basic activity of these monitoring systems is to provide the reservation system to travel service providers so they can distribute their products through travel agencies. In this way, airlines, railways, maritime transport, hotels, car rental companies and other tourism service providers provide Global Reservation Systems and Central Reservation Systems with access to their data inventories in order to manage their distribution through from them. The automated reservation systems (Global Reservation Systems and Central Reservation Systems) together with the Internet constitute alternative channels for the distribution of the tourist service compared to traditional sales channels, by allowing companies to capture demand at the point where transactions are carried out, favouring the process of disintermediation of the industry. It is considered that they could become the channels of excellence for tourism distribution, since they facilitate more individualised and personalised conceptions of the tourist trip, and give companies greater flexibility in planning the trip of the client. In addition, the use of the described Information Technologies reinforce the image of the company that adopts them by incorporating aspects of technical innovation to the product offered. Economist (2012). Finally, regarding internal communications, Information Technology incorporated by a large number of travel agencies to streamline its management have been based on the use of microcomputers, communication interfaces and networking environments. Precisely, it is now observed that a high number of companies in the sector are integrating into their Information Systems some of the aforementioned Information Technologies in order to improve the management and quality of the service offered. Science Direct (2011). References:
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By Silvia PerezContent Writer at The Travel Hive Blog and undergraduate Marketing Practice student at the National College of Ireland. . ArchivesCategories |