Humanity has crossed the threshold of the centuries with the highest diversification ever known in history. The notion variety accompanies almost every realm that human being takes part in. Economy offers the multiform of goods and methods of economic regulations; politics put stress on democracy that implies polyphony in decision making, etc. Thus, every interested organization has to seduce its potential client with better terms of collaboration, more attractive proposals and prices.
Moreover, it should keep to the basis of economic theory, and take into account the oldest rule of correlation of demand and supply with increasing competition. In accord with it, author can’t but mention that technologies has always determined the competitiveness of any organization or individual despite all other factors of real life to which all humanity is subjected to. The issue author is going to develop deals directly with the abovementioned, viz. , that wireless technologies and applications will enable tourism organizations to improve their performance further.
He will dwell on the hotel business being the sector of the hospitality industry. The notion electronic tourism is to be introduced, and its definition can be given as follows: Electronic tourism is the tourism as an industry involving electronic data processing. Internet as “a system architecture that has revolutionized communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect” (Britannica 1997) is the basis for international informational systems, enabling such processing of data.
The World Wireless Association CTIA conferences concluded last years at the point that mobile phone is the best of all IT gadgets for personal use to communicate, buy/sell, educate oneself instantly, etc. Today’s smart phone can substitute your wire-network-fixed computer to ramble the Internet even on the wider basis, thanks to the most encrypted methods of getting and sending personal information, bank accounts etc.
The Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) gives the client the opportunity to use computer networks by means of mobile phone or other portable devices. At the same time this service costs much more cheaper than the minute of talk, and these sites contain more compact data than customary ones. Richard Jesty in his analysis of commercial usage of mobile phones underlines the Wireless Application Environment’s (WAE) crucial role in the world economy of the new millennium first decade (Jesty 2000:56).
In a year 2001, researches of Ericsson Inc. were carried out proving the 5 million WAP-users year growth in a world. Since this time wireless technologies has become the leading technology in a world of business and entertainment. Trying to demonstrate the verity of the hypothesis set before the reader is taken to dwell upon several examples of the tourism sector. The ATC Germany is a company-provider of the tourism services that co-operates both with clients and network of hotels throughout Europe.
Company’s goal is to ensure the FIT (Fully Independent Traveler) status of their customers for the maximum of flexibility and service to its tour operator clients by means of electronic systems involving 3 components: client’s cell phone, company server with 24/7 support service and wireless Internet channels (the third-part being Internet-provider is linked to their interaction). Thus, we have the respective variety of on-line services the Group supplies: • Hotel Web-based reservation system Immediate proceeding of the request on to the hotel and sending a confirmation or an alternative suggestion in return. • Net wholesaler prices that are 26-31% below rack rate which gives other mediators the possibility of selling on to their agencies with competitive prices
• Close contacts with all German diplomatic missions, especially in the countries of the C. I. S. and the P. R. China, to ensure a smooth visa obtaining process for companies clients (the only service needed the prepaid basis of collaboration) The in-house electronic multi-lingual capabilities provide an essential resource in planning the fine details of a tour and ensuring accuracy of itineraries regardless of the origin of the group • Monthly researches on hotels in Europe and announcing about prices and terms to the permitted subscribers via mobile telephony. Almost every tourist company-giant provides the statistics in accord with which expenses tied with phone-calls, TV and press/magazine advertisement, vehicle fleet wear and tear cut down owing to the commercial activity with a stress on electronic constituents.
Besides, today mobile Internet and e-mail for dispatch is supported in the following mobile standards: – GSM-900\1800\1900 – CDMA IS-95 – TDMA IS-136 – 3G – IMT-2000, UMTS, W-CDMA, Wideband IS-95 – DECT Further to the next example: according to Traveldailynews. com this year “The Golden Tulip obtained Bronze Merit Award for Excellence in Web-marketing awarded by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). Tribute was paid to Golden Tulip for its winning entry in the competition at the 15th HSMAI Adrian Awards Show in New York City on the 24th January 2005. (Traveldailynews. com) And it is the second year in a row in which Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts has received this award for its web marketing efforts on their website. Hans Kennedie, the president and CEO of Golden Tulip, admitted that having invested a lot of resources to ensure that their websites are up-to-date, attractive and in the local languages of the customers, Golden Tulip introduced the Best Internet Rate Guarantee, more trust from their clients due to the transparent and full-time accessibility to all company services.
Moreover, the corporation managers indicate the growing customers’ retreat from fixed-line-computers with Internet to mobile services. Ukrainian tourism providing leader TURNE defines that electronic tourist has the following advantages over classic one: • Ability to access the information in the network and its usage without limits in transportation • Admission to the network without wire, computer, modem -> thus, relative independence from electric current • System openness for every user, higher individualization level while WAP-technologies usage
And again back to statistics. TravelCLICK`s eMonitor results for the last quarter of 2003 show that worldwide hotel room nights booked electronically through the Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) and key Internet sites increased 10. 5% versus the same period last year. Travel Agent bookings made through the GDS bookings were flat, while room nights booked through Internet travel sites were up 51. 6% over last year. Total electronic room night revenue for the last quarter of 2003 was up 10. 3%, and average rate was slightly lower by 0. 1%. Bruce W. Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing for TravelCLICK admitted that “these results indicate a solid recovery for the hospitality industry” (Traveldailynews. com). Besides, large hotels can afford using OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) systems of carrying out clients’ orders, as well as filling up the guest or complaints book. Embedded automobile Internet systems help the room renter to acquire all necessary information about parking in outskirts (free places, prices etc. ) And as a rule such technologies keep up Web-pages with compressed text, statistics and analytics only.
SMS substituted Pager, thus any dispatch that client permitted/ordered to send him will not overload him with additional information stress. At last, The ARC Group has finished the analytical survey, indicated the following Regional Mobile Content Revenues ($m), 2004 – 2009 (ibctelecoms. com): To sum it up author can confirm that hypothesis about of high range influence of wireless technologies to the tourism organizations can be considered as evidently proved, taking into account all abovementioned risks to omit and advantages to obtain by means of them.
1. ATC Group, Berlin, Deutschland 2004 http://www. alpha-travel. de 2. Electronic Tourism, 2005 http://www. electronic-tourism. com/ 3. GoldenTulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts, 2005 http://www. goldentulip. com 4. Jesty, Richard, From Concept to Revenues – Worldwide Market Analysis and Strategic Outlook 2000-2005. Mobile Financial Services 5. Kolomiec, Valerij, International Information Technologies. Kyiv: Kyiv University, 2003 6. Traveldailynews team http://www. traveldailynews. com 7. TURNE Group, Ukraine, 2005 http://www. turne. com. ua
