ognizant Communication Corporation

Information Technology & Tourism, Vol. 4, pp. 77-90
1098-3058/01 $20.00 + .00
Copyright © 2001 Cognizant Comm. Corp.
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
 

¹CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Department of Geographical Sciences & Planning, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
²School of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia

Tourism is seen as an industry that has the potential to provide sustainable economic foundations for indigenous communities in Australia. This article identifies online technology as contributing to the capacity for indigenous communities to access the benefits of tourism. Indigenous communities engaged in tourism can utilize the Internet to supply the tourism product as well as deliver much needed cultural support messages around the product in both domestic and international markets. However, limited skills, costs, and physical access barriers have made it difficult for indigenous communities to effectively use online technologies to benefit from the opportunities. This article examines the context of indigenous tourism in Australia as a prelude to a discussion of the issues relating to Australian indigenous tourism going online; it also provides an overview of how the Tourism dotcom initiative has approached the task of developing capacity among indigenous cultural tourism suppliers.

Key words: Indigenous tourism; Online tourism; Cultural tourism; Indigenous Australians; Business processes; Technology transfer; Technology policy; Tourism policy

Address correspondence to Dr Pramod Sharma, Director, IT Program, CRC for Sustainable Tourism, Department of Geographical Sciences & Planning, University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia. Tel: +61 7 3365 6513; Fax: +61 7 3365 6084; E-mail: P.Sharma@uq.edu.au

Department of Management, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstr. 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria

The use of information and communication technologies within the framework of destination marketing causes a change in the production and consumption of cultural services. The cultural resources of Alpine destinations demonstrate an advantage for both tourists and inhabitants through destination management systems. The case of the Tyrolean destination and its destination management system, TIScover, shows what kinds of cultural promotions are prominent among Internet users and the type of influence the Internet has on the selection of these offers. The Internet already plays an important role in marketing. In the context of destination management systems, special offers are enhanced, which are not effective in traditional destination marketing channels due to resource shortages.

Key words: Culture and tourism; Destination management; Destination management system; Information technology; Information process

Address correspondence to Dr. Harald Pechlaner, Department of Management, University of Innsbruck, Universitätsstr. 15, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. E-mail: Harald.pechlaner@uibk.ac.at

International Tourism Research Institute, University of Luton, UK

This article offers a European Union-supported case study of research testing the use of IT to promote and expand a novel kind of cultural tourism destination, the book town, targeted at book lovers. Book towns have been proven in several countries, particularly in Europe, to have significant benefits as sustainable regeneration in areas of rural decline, as well as increasing the diversity of a country's cultural tourism resources. BookTownNet (BTN) is a five-nation, 75-strong SME consortium of second-hand and antiquarian book dealers located in rural areas of Europe who combined to form an IT network to improve and disseminate IT skills through the SME network, to test the utility of Internet and intranet networks to improve their business functioning and the attraction of visitors to book towns. This article presents the frameworks that were used: to analyze the IT-related needs of the SMEs; to manage the overall project and evaluate the functionality and usability of the BTN Web site and to assess the overall success of the project in its impact on SME book dealers in book towns. The results indicate that overall the SMEs regard the project as a success, a judgment supported by two external outcomes: the formation of an International Book Town Association to maintain BookTownNet as a system with an expanded number of European book towns as members; the taking over of the running of the site by JustBooks, a large European book-finding site. Within this overall perspective it is clear from the dealers' perceptions that the intranet phase of the project has been a relative failure, but that the Internet system is seen as a vital tool for both selling books and attracting visitors to the book towns. An iterative developmental process proved to be a key requisite in this project.

Key words: Book towns; BookTownNet; Cultural tourism networks

Address correspondence to A. V. Seaton, Whitbread Professor of Tourism, The Management Centre, Putteridge Bury, Hitchin Road, Beds, LU2 8LE, UK. Tel: +44 1582 489097; Fax: +44 1582 482689; E-mail: tony.seaton@luton.ac.uk
 

Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University, 2261 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2261

There are over 3100 museums in the United States. Of these, around 320 are in Texas. These museums represent a cross section of American cultural values and contribute a great deal to attract visitors internationally and domestically. They are also used as a tool of educating the public through various activities. Since 1994 an increasing number of Texas museums have been connected to the Internet and are becoming members of the global marketplace. However, there are many museums that lack the tools and expertise to participate in the digital revolution. The objective of this exploratory research is to investigate the speed of acceptance of new technology, specifically the Internet, by Texas museums. The theoretical framework is related to the application of a learning curve. As in many industrial and service organizations, learning facilitates the acceptance of new techniques. According to the proponents of a learning curve, learning rapidly increases in the first period but the later periods typically show a leveling of the speed of acceptance. In order to achieve the objective of this research a random stratified sample of Texas museums was taken and a questionnaire was sent to test several hypotheses related to the acceptance of new technology, including barriers to enter the global market. The results indicate that acceptance of new technology by Texas museums is in line with a typical learning curve. However, many obstacles, including resource availability and lack of a niche in the marketplace, hinder further development. There are also two important factors that affect the acceptance. One of them is the unparalleled population growth in or around the large metropolitan areas like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. The second is related to the dramatic change in the cultural fabric of Texas due to immigration, mainly from Mexico. Future research on technological acceptance should take into account these structural changes and wider use of the Spanish language in Texas.

Key words: Texas museums; Learning curve; Internet; Acceptance of technology; Cultural tourism; Immigration; Social change

Address correspondence to Turgut Var, Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University, 2261 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-2261. Fax: (979) 845-0446; E-mail: tvar@rpts.tamu.edu

¹CISET (International Center of Studies on the Tourist Economy), Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Italy
²Department of Economics, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
³TEDIS (Center for Studies on Technologies in Distributed Intelligence Systems), Venice International University, Venice, Italy

At the beginning of the 21st century, museums find themselves struggling to maintain audience in competition with an increasing number of leisure and cultural attractions. Their traditional mission is leaving room to a strategic approach in which conservation and marketing harmonize to create new cultural experiences that appeal to leisure consumers and attract sponsors. The electronic management of contents, reference communities, and distribution channels offers valuable insights and solutions to these institutions. This article outlines the competitive responses that can be adopted by online museums, discusses the reengineering of their role in the tourism market, and proposes a prototype of a multimedia portal aimed at creating valuable synergies between cultural and tourist services.

Key words: Museum; Tourism value chain; Positioning; Cultural marketing; Multimedia information systems; Cultural portal

Address correspondence to Valeria Minghetti, CISET (International Center of Studies on the Tourist Economy), Ca' Foscari University, Venice, Villa Mocenigo, Riviera S. Pietro, 83-30030 Oriago di Mira, Venice, Italy. Tel: +39-041-2346531; Fax: +39-041-5630620; E-mail: ming@unive.it