Issues in the Tourism Industry –

Technological
Riches S. Dizon
Instructor
Technology and Tourism
• Technology is defined as an application of scientific
knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.
Technology has covered leaps and bounds in the last century.
The impact of technology can be felt in every aspect of one’s
life. Be it the advancement in computer technology or
techniques and processes and technological advancement
has benefitted as well as caused damages to society.
Technology has an impact on every industry in the market.
Tourism is not an exception to it.
Data Security
• Digital technology means that vast amounts of data can be
collected and stored. This can be private information
concerning individuals or organizations. It can be very
difficult to keep this data safe. Just a single breach can mean
vast amounts of private information going into the hands of
criminals, terrorists, business rivals, foreign adversaries, or
other malign entities.
Privacy Concerns
• It's become much harder to have personal privacy in the
digital world and that's on top of the dangers of your
personal data being stolen or sold. For instance, everybody
has the ability to take photos and video footage on their
mobile phone, then post it online. Digital cameras watch and
record our movements in public places.
Challenges of Maintenance and Follow
Up
• According to Jungsun and Hardin (2010), virtual world
presents challenges of maintenance and follow up (p. 735). It
requires a lot of investment in the internet use in terms of
updating the links and responding to many blogs that are
sent. People or potential visitors may change their minds or
plan to travel to a particular destination if their queries are
not answered on time (Jungsun & Hardin 2010, p. 735).
Increased Risk of Cyber Crime and
Hacking
• Some people may gain entrance to a system hosted on the
internet to gain access to any information that may be
confidential. Such individual may falsify the information
hence leading to misrepresentation and loss of customers.
Unemployment
• Many people who worked in the tourist industry such as tour
guides, lost their jobs to cut the cost and by utilizing the
internet. Creation of jobs in these industries has also
reduced because most of marketing and advertising is done
through the internet.
Artificial Intelligence
• Despite the fact that “Artificial Intelligence” is providing
monetary benefits by replacing employees & non-monetary
benefits by providing a unique experience to the customers,
it still cannot surpass human intelligence, as it is still an
emerging area.
Proliferation
• Many tourist websites are available on the internet. This is a
challenge especially to small and medium tourist enterprises
that possess inadequate skills and knowledge in website
efficiency.
• This proliferation is a sign that there is lack of organization in
the market that is already saturated. Many of these websites
are not familiar to the clients. This becomes difficult for
potential customers to locate them and even to have
confidence in them to the extent of using them.
Proliferation
• Intermediaries that are used to link the customers to various
businesses provide another challenge on the internet. They
are paid for their services hence leading to low profits,
revenue, and homogeneity of the websites