Computer technologies in the tourism industry. Directions of application of information technologies in tourism

Information technology is a term used to refer to the latest improvements in the methods and mechanisms that are used to collect, process, analyze, store, distribute and use information. Information technologies are spoken of as the technologies of the century, which can have a serious impact on production activities, the service sector, employment of the population and the life of mankind as a whole, thanks to advances in the field of microelectronics. It was microelectronics that created the basis for developments in the field of design and production using a computer; flexible production systems; robots; personal computers; automated systems management (ACS); video text; teleconferencing, etc.

The very concept of "information technology" arose in the last decade of the twentieth century in the process of the formation of informatics. Main Feature information technologies is that in them both the subject and the product of labor is information, and the tools of labor are computer equipment and communications. Moreover, today information has come to be regarded as a very real production resource along with other material resources. The production of information and its upper level, knowledge, has a decisive influence on the modification of existing and the creation of new technologies. Another ten years ago Information Technology and tourism seemed to be incompatible partners. And today, these two concepts are so closely interconnected that even a new type of tourism has appeared - “alternative tourism” or “electronic tourism”.

As you know, tourism is a trade in services. Moreover, firstly, it is a complex and diverse service, both from the point of view of the manufacturer and the consumer. Secondly, it is an invisible, changeable and integrated service.

And finally, thirdly, it is an information-rich service. It is these characteristics of tourism that make it an ideal industry for the application of information technology. The structure of the tourism industry is very similar to the structure of any other economic activity.

Producers of tourism services operate within a well-defined managed structure, consisting of government and commercial organizations, trade associations (for example, hotels, air transport, travel agents, etc.). Producers of tourism services are classified into well-defined categories of suppliers (airlines, hotels, car rentals, services in a tourist destination), wholesalers (tour operators) and retailers (travel agents). Consumers (tourists) are the last step of the whole tourism system..

As for the regulation of the activities of enterprises in the industry, advertising, promotion and taxation, here information plays an important role in the process of connecting tourism service providers into a single socio-economic system. It is information that is the link that links various suppliers into a single whole within the framework of a single tourism industry.

Moreover, the most important feature of tourism is that the relationship between producers and suppliers is carried out not by goods, but by information flows.

These information flows are not only specific data flows, but also services and payments. Services such as hotel accommodations, aircraft seats are not physically displayed or inspected when sold at the destination. The only guide to product availability and quality is information. Therefore, it can be concluded that the provision of reliable information and the speed of its dissemination is as important for the survival of the tourism industry as the actual provision of its services to consumers.

Note that the introduction of information technology in the tourism industry included several stages. The first stage is "Data Creation". Its main goal was to improve the efficiency operational activities enterprises through information-driven process automation.

This period began in the 1960s. and it was characterized by the use of minicomputers. Second phase -- " Information Systems management".

It was a stage in the development of such information technologies that contributed to an increase in managerial efficiency through the improvement of requirements for the direct organization of information transfer. They were introduced in the 70s. and used already specific industry methods of enterprise management related to information resources. During this time, information technology was generally applied to the needs of internal marketing and administrative functions.

In the early 80s. the stage of the "Strategic Information System" began, the purpose of which was to improve the competitiveness of the company by changing either the very nature or behavior of the tourism business. Were introduced different kind integrated networks with a view to increasing competitiveness: to improve direct activities, to coordinate activities along functional and business lines, and to establish links with external organizations. And finally, in the early 90s. the fourth stage has come - the “Stage of networks”. At this stage, there was a connection of networks of all levels: enterprises, regional and global.

The main characteristics of this stage are the increase in the capabilities of information technologies, the reduction in the size of equipment, the reduction in the cost of purchasing it with a simultaneous increase in reliability, the interconnection of terminals located in different parts of the world. All this contributed to the fact that information technology has become an important tool in the activities of all tourism organizations. As a result, in the mid-90s, all enterprises, regardless of size, product offered and geography, experienced a serious process of business reorganization.

In general, analyzing the role and importance of information technologies for the current stage of development of society, one can draw well-founded conclusions that this role is strategically important, and the importance of these technologies will increase rapidly in the near future. It is these technologies that today play a decisive role in the field of technological development of the state.

The arguments for these conclusions are a number of unique properties of information technologies (efficiency, accessibility) that put them in a priority position in relation to industrial and social technologies. Among the distinctive properties of information technologies that are of strategic importance for the development of society, it seems appropriate to single out the following, the most important ones.

First, information technologies make it possible to activate and effectively use the information resources of society, which today are the most important strategic factor in its development. Experience shows that enhanced dissemination and effective use information resources(scientific knowledge, discoveries, inventions, technologies, best practices) allow you to get significant savings in other types of resources: raw materials, energy, minerals, materials and equipment, human resources, social time.

Secondly, information technologies make it possible to optimize and in many cases automate information processes, which in recent years have taken an increasing place in the life of human society.

It is well known that the development of civilization takes place in the direction of becoming information society in which the objects and results of the labor of the majority of the employed population are no longer material values, but mainly information and scientific knowledge. At present, in most developed countries, most of the employed population in their activities is to some extent connected with the processes of preparing, storing, processing and transmitting information and therefore is forced to master and practically use the information technologies corresponding to these processes.

It should be noted that information technology plays an extremely important role in ensuring information exchange between people, as well as in the systems of preparation and dissemination of mass information. These funds are quickly assimilated by the culture of society, since they not only create great conveniences, but also remove many production, social and domestic problems caused by the processes of globalization and integration of the world community, the expansion of domestic and international economic and cultural ties, population migration and its increasingly dynamic moving around the planet. In addition to the already traditional means of communication (telephone, telegraph, radio and television), electronic telecommunications systems, e-mail, facsimile transmission of information and other types of communication are increasingly being used.

In turn, network information technologies represent an actual and promising direction in the development of information technologies. Their goal is not only to ensure the exchange of information between individual users of information - computing systems, but also creating for them the possibility of cooperative use of the distributed information resources of society, obtaining reference, documentary and other information from various kinds of specialized information funds. Recently, the Internet has become the central theme of publications not only in the computer press, but also in mass publications, attracting the attention of information technology specialists, businessmen, ordinary users and the entire civilized world.

The real boom of the Internet came at the beginning of the 90s, when the first navigation programs such as Mosaic, allowing owners of ordinary computers to surf the net. However, the Internet is not the only computer network, and tens of thousands of local and global national networks connected to each other. Among the Russian computer networks, Relcom, Glasnet, and many others are connected to the Internet. Currently The World Wide Web has over 40 million subscribers in over 100 countries on all seven continents.

The popularity of the Internet is evidenced by the fact that the number of network subscribers doubles every 10 months. The exchange of information through the network is growing almost 10 times every year. Over 4,000 electronic messages are sent over the network every second.

The World Wide Web is developing so rapidly that the number of its subscribers and the volume of information resources almost double every year.

It is obvious that the tourism business does not remain aloof from this boom.

Only in 2000, thousands of independent sections of travel agencies, hotels, airlines, dozens of booking systems appeared on the Internet.

tourist services. According to experts, by 2013 with the help of the Internet

about $200 billion worth of tours and related services will be sold.

Therefore, agencies should hardly ignore the Internet in their work. In the time we are considering, the Internet cannot be considered as a competitor in business, since the World Wide Web provides invaluable information assistance and adds to traditional new channel realization of tourist services - electronic.

Already, half of all revenue that is generated through the Internet comes from the travel and tourism industry. 62% of internet users look for hotel and airline rates and availability. What are the benefits of the global network? First, the widest coverage of the audience. It allows 35,000 customers to visit the most popular travel server TravelWeb, which features more than 17,000 hotels. Secondly, relatively low overhead costs and effort for sellers and buyers. The cost of booking via the Internet is on average $1.7, while through GDS it is $3.5. The traditional fax method draws out the buyer's wallet $ 10. The third convenience is round-the-clock access to the network for private users. These advantages of the Internet, as well as the ability to update information in a matter of time, are also used by travel companies, for which the network opens up significant opportunities for the sale of tourism products on-line and their advertising, as well as sales promotion.

The winners of the All-Russian competition "Innovative solutions in the field of information technologies for the tourism sector" were announced, which was held by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) and the Skolkovo Foundation. The heads of the Ministry of Culture and the profile committee of the State Duma addressed the finalists.

At the solemn ceremony, which took place on September 7 in the Skolkovo Technopark, eight IT projects were named, which received the support of experts and were recognized as the best.

State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Culture of Russia Alla Manilova, addressing the participants and organizers of the Skolkovo Foundation and ATOR contest "Innovative IT Solutions in Tourism", in particular, emphasized:

“The Ministry of Culture welcomes the initiative to hold the competition “Innovative Information Technology Solutions for Tourism”. This is an innovative project that is designed to help spread high-tech developments in all areas of tourism, including museums, hotels, and promoting domestic tourism projects. Participation in such an event demonstrates the desire of the tour operator community to consolidate forces and opportunities with high-tech companies capable of developing and implementing innovative solutions. The highly professional implementation of this project by the Skolkovo Foundation and ATOR will allow tourism to take a big step towards the digitalization of the tourism industry.”

Sergei Khodakov, head of the Skolkovo Foundation's IT cluster, before the awards ceremony, noted separately that most of the selected projects have a high potential for commercialization.

• The best IT solution for the hotel business in 2018 recognized startup Chatme.ai, proposed project « Trusted corporate virtual assistant. Nomination curator: Ilya Umansky (National tour operator ALEAN).

Briefly about the project: tool application artificial intelligence for effective communication with customers and employees of the hotel business. For example, an artificial intelligence-based travel chatbot that can recognize Russian can easily order a transfer or car rental, check in for a flight, report the weather, or even chat with a client about football. Website - www.chatme.ai

• In the nomination "The best IT solution in museum business and social and cultural projects" won the project « Next SpaceVvirtualMuseums". The developer is 3DreamTeam (Vizerra group of companies). Nomination curator: Tatyana Nikolaeva (Tretyakov Gallery).

Briefly about the project: creation of a platform for the application of VR, MR and AR technologies in the field of culture with feedback through a neural interface, which allows museum workers without specialized technical education to solve the main functions (demonstration, preservation and archiving). In fact, we are talking about the use of virtual and augmented reality to create a virtual museum. 3D galleries, exhibits and even historical characters are made available to anyone with an Internet connection.

• The best IT solution for tourism and social services and communications recognized project QReppublic, offering smart non-electronic identifiers and cloud-based medical solutions. The developer is a Biomed resident of the Skolkovo cluster, the Respublika company. Nomination curator: Maya Lomidze ().

Briefly about the project: a personal cloud-based medical record with a connected non-electronic identifier for tourists - in the form factor of a bracelet. Thereby important information(for example, about what drugs a person takes for certain diseases and allergies) is always available to doctors in emergency situations with a tourist. Data is accepted in 24 languages, notifications with location are available and much more. Website: www.qrepublic.ru

• In the nomination "Best IT solution for travel agency business" project was the winner 7seconds(developer - Seven Processing company). Nomination curator: Taras Kobishchanov (tour operator "Russian Express").

Briefly about the project: instant online lending in the tourism market based on a new generation scoring model. The platform collects interval observations of borrowers' consumer behavior (receipts, geolocation at retail outlets, purchase history, searches, etc.), builds an individual borrower's financial model, assesses the likelihood of fraud and the client's credit risk.

• The best IT solution for solo travel segment in 2018 the jury recognized the project Insurion and a team of the same name offering digital assistant services for insurance companies. Nomination curator: Leonid Marmer (Amadeus in Russia).

Briefly about the project: automatic insurance - for example, against a flight delay or from missing a connecting flight. The insurer transmits the customer data to Insurion. If the flight is delayed, the insured receive an SMS with a link, go through the validation process, form an electronic application for insurance compensation and receive it for every hour of delay while still at the airport. Project website: www.insurion.org.

The curator of the nomination - Amadeus - also expressed a desire to separately encourage and offer opportunities for promotion to another semi-finalist - the team startupYochting, who proposed a project for a digital platform-aggregator of yachting marine tourism.

• Winner of the competition in the nomination "Best IT Solution: Tour and Travel Services Booking Systems" became a startup offering an international service for booking fishing tours - Fish.Travel. Nomination curator: Dmitry Shevchenko (ICS Travel Group).

Briefly about the project: Assistance in booking fishing trips through the global booking platform. You can book a fishing tour, including transport, guide, accommodation in just one click. Benefits for both guides and fishing bases: they get a stable flow of customers and a guarantee of payment for late cancellation of the order. Website - www.fish.travel.

• The best IT solution for traveling in Russia Skolkovo and ATOR experts named the project PASSCITY (city service packages). The developer is the Voxxter team. Nomination curator: Sergey Korneev (Rostourism).

• Finally, the winner of the competition in the nomination "The best IT solution for promoting tourism services and destinations" recognized company « Neutrotrend", proposed a project on the use of neuromarketing technologies in tourism. Nomination curator: Vladimir Dolgov (Academservice).

Briefly about the project: application of neuromarketing methodology for modeling product offers and communications in the tourism sector. Neuromodeling, built on the synchronous fixation of the psychophysiological reactions of the client, will help to choose the best vacation offer for the tourist. Website: www.neurotrend.ru

WHAT THE WINNERS GET

Congratulating the participants of the award ceremony, the head of the State Duma Committee on physical culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs, Mikhail Degtyarev thanked the finalists and nominees, assuring them that the committee he leads will always provide all possible assistance in promoting high technologies in tourism.

“ATOR is the strongest, most respected and recognized by all organization with a good management base. I would like to note the award in the field of IT technologies, because the future is behind this industry. It should be given more attention, because, as we see, tourism and the digital economy are inseparable,” he said.

Welcoming the finalists, ATOR Executive Director Maya Lomidze reminded that the Directorate of the Association of Tour Operators will provide a semi-annual PR package to the winners in all nominations and an annual package in the supervised nomination. The curators of the nominations will also offer special prizes to the winners in the nominated nomination. In addition to prizes from the curators of the nominations, the Skolkovo Foundation will provide projects with the opportunity to obtain the status of a member of the Foundation, bypassing the standard procedure.

The winners can take advantage of mentoring support from the jury members for further development of the project concept, assistance in finding tools for further financing (commercialization) of projects, as well as submit projects for consideration by partners and receive advice from jury members on the further development of the project.

Even more interesting materials from ATOR - in our channel on Yandex.Zen .

You can also receive news from the ATOR Bulletin by subscribing to our channel in Telegram or for updates

Save yourself, save time, save money

• Automation systems for travel agencies: which one to choose

  The success of the agency directly depends on the number of its tourists. However, the more there are, the more difficult it is for employees to communicate with them, since a person is simply not able to remember a large number of different people and the subtleties of their relationship with the company. Fortunately, in our progressive age, many of these routine tasks can be entrusted to a computer, thereby speeding up and facilitating the work of the entire travel agency.

  Test drive 2014: strength test

  We have such a wonderful tradition - every two years we test the strength (as well as popularity, speed, etc.) of tour search engines. Now the last stage of the harsh test drive of this year has come to an end. Its results are likely to raise many questions, and first of all from the systems themselves, but the fact that the material will be 100% useful to travel agents is for sure.

  Web soiree with Sergey Chumachenko

  Our regular contributor Sergey Chumachenko this time chose a new format for his material: if in his previous articles he, figuratively speaking, pushed lengthy monologues from the pulpit, now instead of a resounding lecture hall there is a cozy buffet hall and a casual social conversation, during which Sergey answers questions from visitors to the itouristik.ru portal. Let's listen.

  Evening of revelations with Sergey Chumachenko

  Due to the fact that the material was being prepared for the final issue of the paper "Subtleties", the author of the article had a reason to talk with his readers confidentially and frankly. Sergey, the author of the article, suggested that readers imagine a simple situation: the dialogue takes place behind closed doors and it will not go anywhere beyond this room.

  Travel agency automation systems: yesterday, today, tomorrow

  The most elementary, one might say caveman, automation of the work of a travel agency usually begins with the use of Excel tables for maintaining a list of orders and Word for printing forms. More than half of the agencies remain at this stage of "automation", but the remaining half go further.

  Teletrain: a simple solution to a difficult problem

  Who has not encountered such a question as the purchase of transportation for your tourist? It would seem - what pitfalls can be here? I went to the airline's website, clicked the mouse - and the ticket was in my pocket. But this is ideal. In practice, it may turn out that on the website of another airline there was a more convenient flight or the cost was lower. And how to arrange this transaction in accounting? What if the client has not yet decided and asks only to book a transportation, but the site does not provide such an opportunity?

The basis of the tourism industry is made up of firms tour operators and travel agents involved in tourist trips, selling them in the form of vouchers and tours; providing services for the accommodation and meals of tourists (hotels, campsites, etc.), their movement around the country, as well as government, information, advertising for tourism research and training for it, enterprises for the production and sale of goods for tourism demand. Other industries also work for tourism, for which serving tourists is not the main activity (enterprises of culture, trade, etc.).

Tourism is an information-rich activity. There are few other industries in which the collection, processing, application and transmission of information is as important to daily functioning as in the tourism industry. A service in tourism cannot be displayed and considered at the point of sale as consumer or industrial goods. It is usually bought in advance and away from the place of consumption. Thus, tourism in the market is almost entirely dependent on images, descriptions, means of communication and information transfer.

Travel agent - an individual or legal entity acting as an intermediary in the sale of tours formed by the tour operator.

Tour operator - a tourist organization that organizes tours.

However, one feature stands out - the connecting center that holds various manufacturers within the tourism industry is information. It is information flows, not goods, that provide links between tourism service providers; they come not only in the form of data flows, but also in the form of services and payments.

Services (e.g./overnight stays, car rentals/packaged tours and air seats) are not forwarded to travel agents/who/in turn/do not store them until they are sold to consumers. Information about the availability, cost and quality of these services is transmitted and used.
Similarly, real payments are not transferred from travel agents to travel suppliers / and commissions are not transferred from travel suppliers to travel agents. In fact, information about payments and receipts is translated (Scheme 2).

There are three characteristic features of tourism.

First, it is a diverse and integrated trade in services.

Finally/ it is an information-rich service. Therefore, tourism - both international and domestic - is an area of ​​growing use of information technology.

The information technology system used in tourism consists of a computer reservation system, a teleconferencing system, video systems, computers, management information systems, electronic airline information systems / electronic money transfer, telephone networks, mobile means of communication, etc.

At the same time, it should be noted that this system of technologies is deployed not by travel agents, hotels or airlines individually, but by all of them.

Moreover, the use of each segment of the tourism system of information technology is important for all other parts.

For example, hotel internal management systems may be linked to computer global networks, which in turn provide a basis for communication with hotel reservation systems, which, already in the opposite direction, can be accessed by travel agents through their computers.
Therefore, we are dealing with an integrated information technology system that is spreading in tourism.

The tourism industry is so many-sided and multifaceted that it requires the use of a wide variety of information technologies, ranging from development of specialized software tools, providing automation of the work of a separate travel company or hotel, up to use of global computer networks.

At present, the formation of a tourism product provides for use of global distribution systems GDS (Global Distribution System), providing fast and convenient booking transport tickets, hotel reservations, car rental, currency exchange, booking tickets for entertainment and sports programs, etc.

In the tourism industry is also widespread videotext, combining the capabilities of computer backup systems, Email, telex, electronic newspapers.

In the UK, about 90% of travel agencies use the Prestel visual data system, which is maintained by British Telecom. This system contains information about tourism and travel, as well as offers from tour operators, railway lines, ferries, hotels and airlines, easily accessible to consumers. The system is also regularly entered last news and changes in all these areas. The main components of the Prestel system are a TV that acts as a display, a keyboard for data entry, and an adapter that allows the travel agency to communicate with central computer bypassing telephone lines. Videotext technology is also gaining ground in France, where the Minitel system is being used. At the same time, the use of video text is limited in the US.

Types of Internet Commerce

Hosting- services for placing information on the Internet. Hosting includes the provision of disk space for hosting websites on a web server, providing access to them via a communication channel with a specific throughput and site administration.

Information and advertising activities Many firms place on their websites important information for the consumer: a description of goods and services, their cost, company address, telephone and e-mail, where you can place an order. There are specialized servers that provide systematic information about a particular group of goods.

Electronic commerce There are a large number of stores on the Internet where you can buy everything: computers, programs, books, food, etc. The buyer of an online store has the opportunity to get acquainted with the product, its technical characteristics, appearance, price, and so on. After selecting a product, the buyer can order the product directly from the Internet. Form of payment - credit cards, cash (after delivery) and electronic money.

Virtual flea market(bulletin board) - these are websites where sellers and buyers exchange information about the product being offered.

Internet auctions A variety of goods are put up for such auctions: works of art, computer technology, cars, etc.

22. GDS and ADS global systems for whom and why?

Internet Reservation Systems (IDS), also known as Alternative Systems Reservations (ADS) appeared in the early 90s of the XX century and acted as an alternative to the already existing GDS system. Unlike the GDS, which is accessible only to travel agents, ADS makes it possible to use booking services not only for travel agents, but also for individuals. By entering any of the portals of the ADS system, each client can independently choose the hotel he needs and the type of room for clearly defined dates, book his request in real time and instantly receive confirmation to his email address. To date, there are a large number of such sites in the world, among which are HRS.com, Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Priceline.com, Orbitz.com.

GDS (Global Booking Systems). Today there are 4 global booking systems: Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan, Saber. They are used by more than 800 thousand travel agencies around the world to book travel services, including hotel accommodation. The first GDS was created in the early 60s of the XX century and was widely used in the aviation industry. She tracked information about flight schedules, the number of free seats on the flight and prices. In the 1970s, travel agencies, which spent a lot of time making manual bookings, realized the convenience of GDS systems and began to install in-house flight booking systems (the current Saber company was among the first developers). Using GDS, agencies have significantly reduced time costs, increased productivity, and logically decided to apply this scheme work in other segments of the tourism market. Today GDS is widely used for booking not only air tickets, but also cruises, cars, hotels. Hundreds of thousands of travel agencies connected to the terminals of the global distribution systems Amadeus, Galileo, Worldspan, Saber are able to provide their customers with a full range of real-time booking services. Thus, using a certain set of commands, the agent can find the hotel the client needs, see prices, availability, and make a reservation.

basic information technologies in tourism

The specificity of the technology for the development and implementation of a tourist product requires such systems that would provide information on the availability of vehicles and the possibilities of accommodating tourists as soon as possible, ensure quick reservation and reservation of places, as well as automate the solution of auxiliary tasks in the provision of tourist services (parallel execution of such documents, like tickets, bills and guides, providing settlement and background information and etc.).

This is achievable provided that modern computer technologies for processing and transmitting information are widely used in tourism.

Any management information processes include procedures for registration, collection, transfer, storage, processing, issuance of information and management decision-making.

Information technologies are the means and methods by which these procedures are implemented in various information systems.

The tourism industry allows you to use the whole variety of computer technologies, ranging from specialized software products management of a separate travel company to the use of global computer networks.

To date, tourism uses quite a lot of the latest computer technologies, for example, global computer systems redundancy, integrated communication networks, multimedia systems, Smart Cards, management information systems, etc.

The greatest influence of modern Computer techologies provide for the promotion of the tourist product (distribution and sales). First of all, this concerns the possibility of forming new marketing channels for the promotion and sale of a tourist product.

Modern information technologies in the activities of a tourist enterprise can be divided into the following groups:

1) management information systems;

2) global booking systems;

3) the Internet;

4) multimedia systems.

Management Information Systems

They provide input, editing and storage of information about tours, hotels, clients, the status of applications, provide for the output of information in the form of various documents (questionnaires, lists of tourists, tour descriptions), allow you to calculate the cost of tours taking into account exchange rates and control payment for tours, generate financial reporting.