Global Hospitality and Tourism Management Technologies pdf

With the promotion of virtual reality technology and the development of tourism industries, virtual tourism will effectively meet the needs of tourists Chapter 2 A Study on Tourist Manag

Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos

The University of Oviedo, Spain

Global hospitality and tourism management technologies / Patricia Ordonez de Pablos, Robert Tennyson, and Jingyuan Zhao, editors

p cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

Summary: “This book is a comprehensive source of information for those interested in tourism and hospitality ment, approaches, and trends, and, covers the emerging research topics that will define the future of IT and cultural

manage-development in the 21st century” Provided by publisher

ISBN 978-1-61350-041-5 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-61350-042-2 (ebook) ISBN 978-1-61350-043-9 (print & perpetual access) 1 Tourism Management 2 Hospitality industry I Ordsqez de Pablos, Patricia, 1975- II Tennyson, Robert D III Zhao, Jingyuan, 1968-

G155.A1G4877 2012

910.68 dc23

2011022136

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos, The University of Oviedo, Spain

Jingyuan Zhao, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Robert D Tennyson, University of Minnesota, USA

Aliana M W Leong, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR Ashleigh K Shelton, University of Minnesota, USA

Carmine Sellitto, Centre for Tourism and Services Research, Australia

Chad Lin, Curtin University, Australia

Deepak Chhabra, Arizona State University, USA

Eleonora Pantano, Department of Linguistics, University of Calabria, Italy

Fabiana Lorenzi, Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Brazil

Jiaming Liu, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China John C Crotts, College of Charleston, USA

Jose Emilio Labra Gayo, The University of Oviedo, Spain

Juan Manuel Cueva Lovelle, The University of Oviedo, Spain

Jiaming Liu, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China Miltiadis D Lytras, American College in Greece, Greece

Murat Çetin, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia

Neeta Baporikar, Salalah College of Applied Sciences, Sultanate of Oman

Rocco Servidio, Department of Linguistics, University of Calabria, Italy

Ruth Rios-Morales, University of Glion,Switzerland

Stan Karanasios, University of Leeds, UK

Stanley Loh, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Brazil

Stephen Burgess, Centre for Tourism and Services Research, Australia

Tao Chen, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Tienan Wang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Xi Li, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR

Zhiming Zhu, Hohai University, China

Preface vi Chapter 1

Virtual Tourism: Functions, Profit Modes and Practices in China 1

Jingyuan Zhao, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain

Robert Tenysson, University of Minnesota, USA

Chapter 2

A Study on Tourist Management in China Based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Technology 12

Aliana M W Leong, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR

Xi Li, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao SAR

Chapter 3

Key Issues in the Implementation of Electronic Customer Relationship Management in the

Australian Hospitality and Tourism Sector 27

Chad Lin, Curtin University, Australia

Chapter 4

Advanced Technologies and Tourist Behaviour: The Case of Pervasive Environments 52

Eleonora Pantano, University of Calabria, Italy

Rocco Servidio, University of Calabria, Italy

Chapter 5

Factors of Spatial Distribution of Recreation Areas in Peri-Urban Beijing 72

Jiaming Liu, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China

Chapter 6

Two Tickets for Paradise: Gaming and Tourism 91

Ashleigh K Shelton, University of Minnesota, USA

Chapter 9

Sales Force Technology for the Hospitality Industry 136

Ruth Rios-Morales, University of Glion,Switzerland

John C Crotts, College of Charleston, USA

Chapter 10

Tourism Revitalization of Historic District in Perspective of Tourist Experience:A Case Study

of San-Fang Qi-Xiang in Fuzhou City, China 151

Jiaming Liu, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China

Chapter 11

A Classification of Mobile Tourism Applications 165

Stan Karanasios, University of Leeds, UK

Stephen Burgess, Victoria University, Australia

Carmine Sellitto, Victoria University, Australia

Chapter 12

Personal Tour:A Multi-Agent Recommender System of Travel Packages 178

Fabiana Lorenzi, Invenio Software Inteligente & Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Brazil Stanley Loh, Invenio Software Inteligente & Universidade Luterana do Brasil & Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Brazil

Mara Abel, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Chapter 13

Management of World Heritage Sites:An Integrated Sustainable Marketing Approach 189

Deepak Chhabra, Arizona State University, USA

Chapter 14

Research Review of OWOM:Chinese Cases 207

Tao Chen, Harbin Institute of Technology & Nanjing Normal University & SanJiang University, China

Zhiming Zhu, Hohai University, China

Tienan Wang, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Compilation of References 224 About the Contributors 251 Index 256

Tourism is a dynamic part of our economy The global hospitality and tourism industry, which blends the lodging, food, attractions, cultural and travel industries, is the world’s largest industry with $4.5 trillion in expenditures generating 212 million jobs The World Tourism Organization (WTO) currently projects that by the year 2010, 338 million people will be employed in the industry that will grow to

to the world-wide hospitality and tourism issues as well as the role of IT in these industries It aims to

be the leading source of information for all those interested in Tourism and Hospitality Management, Approaches, and Trends as well as to cover the emerging research topics which are going to define the future of IT and cultural and creativity development in the 21st century

The book’s strategy aims to be the reference edition for all those interested on the strategic role of information technologies towards the achievement of a long term competitive advantage in the hospitality and tourism industry (with main emphasis to be paid on practical aspects) as well as to be the reference edition for all those (policy makers, government officers, academics and practitioners) interested in understanding applications of IT for tourism and hospitality management and for people thirsty to know

on how to address challenges for IT and tourism and hospitality in the 21st century

Global Hospitality and Tourism Management Technologies is organized into 14 chapters which

provide insight on global hospitality and tourism management as a whole

Chapter 1 (Virtual tourism: functions, profit modes and practices in China) focuses on functions and

profit models as well discussions on the application of virtual tourism in China Although the research

on virtual tourism made great progress in China, there is still a gap compared with international research

on virtual tourism With the promotion of virtual reality technology and the development of tourism industries, virtual tourism will effectively meet the needs of tourists

Chapter 2 (A Study on Tourist Management in China Based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology) indicates that with the help of high technology, improving the scenic RFID smart queuing

system will be the main function of queue management module

Following the development of mass tourism, more and more scenic spots began to face the problem

of queue management; Fairness and effectiveness of queue management will directly affect the visitors’ experience in the scenic area

Chapter 3 (Key Issues in the Implementation of Electronic Customer Relationship Management in the Australian Hospitality and Tourism Sector) proposes that the hospitality and tourism sector is one of

fastest growing sectors in Australia and in the world In order to become more efficient and effective in delivering products and services to customers via the use of ICT, hospitality and tourism organizations have to rethink the ways in which they build relationships with their customers by initiating electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) projects Inappropriate eCRM decision-making and imple-mentation can result in multi-million dollar losses, which can translate into a loss of competitiveness

Chapter 4 (Advanced technologies and tourism behaviour: the case of pervasive environments)

pro-vides an overview of the most advanced technologies for tourism sector, with emphasis on pervasive environments, which represent innovative systems based on an efficient integration of virtual reality and affective world The aim is to show how tourism industry might exploit the current advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as virtual reality, web-based technologies, mobile devices, etc., to catch tourists’ attention and gain competitive advantages over competitors In particular, these technologies are capable of promoting touristic destination in a global perspective and affect potential tourist decision-making process, by investigating the main characteristics and possible integrations

Chapter 5 (Factors of Spatial Distribution of Recreation areas in Peri-urban Beijing) aims to identify

the factors which will influence the spatial distribution of peri-urban recreation areas, by analyzing the collected data from questionnaires, online survey, documentation and field investigations In order to achieve sound information, relevant data from different management departments, owners and land-use types involved in the case study area is collected

Chapter 6 (Two Tickets for Paradise: Gaming and Tourism) begins by identifying linkage points

between advergames, tourism and three major mass communication theories/approaches—media pendency theory, uncertainty reduction theory, and uses and gratifications theory These will serve as examples of how advergames and hospitality can be integrated into theories and models attempting to explain the impact of information technologies They will also provide a springboard for considering the nature of advergames with regards to tourism

de-Chapter 7 (The role of architecture on tourism industry; the problem of (mis)use of building ogy and language of heritage) argues that power of tourism industry has reached, under the pressure of

technol-global economics, to a capacity to turn even daily architecture into instruments of touristic show In this context, technology is utilized as an instrument to produce such iconography only as a surface articula-tion Thus, architecture becomes a commodity of touristic consumption in this current socio-economic and cultural context

Chapter 8 (Emerging Trends in Tourism Industry in Oman) touches base on the trends found in the

tourism Industry in Oman It is also the main source of income generation for countries like Mauritius, Spain etc Oman being the second largest country in the Middle East possessing wealth of natural re-sources has everything to offer to the tourists It has a long coastline with pristine beaches, beautiful mountains, and world’s best deserts with rolling sand dunes

Chapter 9 (Sales Force Technology for the Hospitality Industry) highlights where the changes in the

hotel sales business are occuring, why they are occuring, and what they mean to both buyers and sellers The intent of this overview is to inform hotel owners and investors who are considering such an invest-ment as to the benefits that can potentially be derived from SFA Furthermore, our intent is to provide hospitality educators insights as to how SFA is changing the workplace of both meeting planners and

hotel sales professionals so they can provide their students a realistic view of the software aids they may need to master to be successful in their careers.

Chapter 10 (Tourism revitalization of historic district in perspective of tourist experience: A case study of San-Fang Qi-Xiang in Fuzhou City, China) discusses the new thought of tourism revitaliza-

tion in historic district in perspective of tourist experience Firstly, based on the deep analysis of tourist experience’s essential elements in historic districts, 6E experience mode is established to summarize the tourist experience, which includes Estheticism and nostalgia, Education and culture, Entertainment and leisure, Exchange and communication and Emotion sublimation Meanwhile, how to build up and enhance every single experience of 6E model in tourism revitalization of historic district is also explained Secondly, the application of 6E model is demonstrated elaborately in the case of Conceptual Planning of Tourism Development in San-Fang Qi-Xiang Historic District in Fuzhou City Considering the hierarchy and comprehensibility of tourist experience and combined with site environment analysis, San-Fang Qi-Xiang historic district is divided into four function divisions: Nanhou old street mall, Warmth and leisure lane, Antai water-front zone and Residential blocks for minority customization

Chapter 11 (A classification of mobile tourism applications) introduces mobile technology and

discusses its emergence in the tourism industry As has been the case with other Information nication Technologies (ICTs), tourism has manifested as one of the most well suited sectors to mobile technology and mobile applications In contrast to other ICTs in the tourism domain however, mobile applications are capable of enhancing the tourist experience at the destination, creating a paradigm shift

Commu-in how Commu-information is accessed and digested, and transactions performed Nonetheless, little is known concerning how mobile technologies are changing the landscape of tourism and tourist behaviour and the content offered by tourism applications

Chapter 12 (Personal Tour: a multi-agent recommender system of travel packages) describes the

Personal Tour, a multi-agent recommender system designed to help users to find best travel packages according to their preferences Personal Tour is based on the collaboration of multiple agents exchanging information stored in their local knowledge bases Based on the paradigm of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence, a user recommendation request is divided into partial recommendations handled by different agents, each one maintaining incomplete information that may be useful to compose a recommendation

Chapter 13 (Management of World Heritage Sites: An Integrated Sustainable Marketing Approach)

seeks to use an integrated sustainable marketing paradigm to determine if a predetermined set of portant indicators from the model are visibly implemented by the world heritage sites (WHS) More specifically, the aim is to suggest add-ons to the heritage conservation principles so that a holistic and integrated sustainable paradigm of heritage tourism can be devised In the recent decades, the global/world form of heritage has received unprecedented attention in heritage tourism, more so because it brings with it a celebrity UNESCO status to the heritage site

im-Chapter 14 (Research Review of OWOM: Chinese Cases) defines OWOM (Online Word-of-Mouth)

and discusses the connotation, communication process and communication effect, and practical cation, and put forward some managerial suggestions As online shopping is regarded as a fashion in china, online word-of-mouth has significant influences on shopping and therefore becomes an important internet communication tool

appli-Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos, Robert Tennyson, and Jingyuan Zhao

As the rapid development of information and

In-ternet technology, the industries of tourism, hotel

and entertainment are constantly introducing the

content of experience economy (Cooper, 2003),

and the virtual tourism focusing on the attractions

comes into being The content of travel channel

of Travelocity, Expedia, Yahoo Online and other websites becomes much richer A vast virtual travel market based on e-commerce and online travel purchase is promoting the industries of tourism and hospitality in the US with an increase of economic scale from 180 billion US dollars in 2002 to 64 billion US dollars in 2007 (Law, Cheung, 2005) Currently, more and more websites of travel have been established to develop virtual tourism rapidly (Frew, 2000; Lu, 2009)

Chapter 1

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-041-5.ch001

Jingyuan Zhao

Harbin Institute of Technology, China

Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos

Universidad de Oviedo, Spain

of virtual tourism in China.

China Internet Network Information Center

(CNNIC) pointed out in the 23rd China Internet

De-velopment Report, that in the end of 2008, China’s

netizens had reached 298 million, and the coverage

had reached 22.6% beyond the global average;

the growth of Internet users was 88 million more

than that in 2007 with an annual growth rate of

41.9% The network permeates into the life, work

and leisure of people through a variety of ways

69.3% of Internet users think Internet saves the

time that people spend on visit in person, 59.1%

of Internet users would be monotonous without

the Internet, 82.5% of Internet users believe that

Internet strengthens the ties with friends, 27.6%

of Internet users believe that online transactions

are safe In this context, the virtual technology,

which is a good media between tourism activities

and tourist, quickly joins the tourism field, and

has a huge impact on tourism industries

Yang, Chen (2010) claimed that virtual

tour-ism of China is divided into two phases: the

initial period from 1999 to2004, and the period

of rapid development from 2005 to present From

1999 to 2004, the virtual reality technology was

combined with the tourism industries, and virtual

tourism emerged Considering imperfect virtual

reality technology in China, the development of

virtual tourism is not in-depth studied, scholars

mainly focus on basic theories, construction of

virtual travel system, tourism planning From

2005 to now is the rapid development period of

virtual tourism in China With the promotion of

Virtual Reality (VR) technology, more and more

tourism enterprises, government departments and

universities begin to play the advantages of virtual

technology to promote the development of tourism

Although the research on virtual tourism made

great progress in China, there is still a gap

com-pared with the international research on virtual

tourism as well as the research on other tourism

products (Za, 2005) Moreover, virtual tourism

is a new subject relatively, the study of domestic

scholars focuses on the application and

imple-mentation of virtual tourism from a rather narrow

perspective and scope, while international scholars have paid a wide attention on virtual tourism from 1990s on (Xue, 2005) In addition, the study on virtual tourism has the same problems as the other study on tourism, such as uniform definition of concept, lack of systematic theoretical system, less innovation, few case studies combined with practice, and so on With the promotion of virtual reality technology and the development of tour-ism industries, related research is necessary to explore theory and practice so that virtual tourism effectively meets the needs of tourists

This study focuses on the function and profit models of virtual tourism, and also discusses on the application of virtual tourism in China

RESEARCH REVIEW Review of International Studies

The current international research on virtual ism mainly focuses on three areas: definition and extension of virtual tourism levels, key factors

tour-of virtual tourism and relationship between ables, and interaction between impact variables

perspective of network reservation and functional

service, Oppenheim, Shelby (1999), Lewis,

Ka-luber (2002) and Maeda et al (2004) proposed

that virtual tourism and web design should try to

improve the format of image display instead of text

so as to increase the service quality of online travel

Third, from the spiritual experience perspective

of virtual tourism, Siegal (1997), Senecal, Nantal

(2004), Hennig-Thurau et al (2004), Blackshaw,

Nazzaro (2005) claimed that images and visual

design should be integrated to provide complete

experience for virtual tourism through creative

design so that visitors have access to convenient

site navigation, familiar environment, high-quality

information content, and product value

Key Factors of Virtual Tourism and

Relationship between Variables

Lu (2009) summarized the features of virtual

tourism, namely usability, playfulness, and

com-plexity Law, Bai (2006) made use of involvement

theory, and considered impact factors of virtual

tourism and key variables of evaluation under

circumstances of two cases - involvement and

non- involvement Many scholars summarize the

critical factors that ensure the success of virtual

tourism, and claim that the most important factors

are convenience of websites, safety and perceived

risk, price level, and friendly user interface

Interaction between Impact

Variables of Virtual Tourism

Han, Mills (2007) claimed that virtual tourism

was impacted by the factors of push and pull,

the former includes the price of virtual tourism,

distribution channels, websites performance,

promotions, direct mail and advertising; the

lat-ter includes the differentiation of virtual tourism,

perceived value, and perceived quality In addition,

Schegg, Steiner, Gherissi-Labben, Murphy(2006)

researched on the role elements of virtual tourism,

and emphasized on the promotion roles of elements

including website content, service environment, function of network transaction, and technology

of virtual tourism

Review of Domestic Studies

Yang, Chen (2010) made a systematic summary on virtual tourism of China, and claimed that the study

of virtual tourism mainly focused on three areas: technology systems of virtual tourism, sceneries

of virtual tourism, and teaching of virtual tourism

Technology Systems of Virtual Tourism

From the beginning of virtual tourism study to present, scholars still pay attention to the relevant technology systems of virtual tourism because the virtual tourism results from the rapid development

of information technology, the combination of tourism and information technology results in

a new form of tourism, and virtual tourism will not exist with no information technology Some scholars discuss on how to build a reality system

of virtual tourism from the perspective of key technologies and specific content (Xu, Wei, Yang, 2001; Feng, Su, 2001; Lu, Wang, Gou, Du, 2005; Wang, Wei, 2005; Zhang, Liu, Mu, 2008) Regard-ing the construction of virtual sceneries and the choice of roaming mode, scholars put forward different views from different perspectives Liu and Jia (2008) discuss on the direction of virtual tourism, and claim that the development of grid computing provides an ideal solution for large-scale virtual tour environment, the lightweight modeling tools are also a key research direction based on virtual landscape of images, and the in-teractive mode between virtual guide and virtual tourist groups is more intelligent, which will be next research topic

Sceneries of Virtual Tourism

Regarding the study of virtual sceneries, scholars focus on the changes brought by the application

of virtual reality technology in the marketing and

planning of sceneries Zhang, Li, Wang (2000)

claimed that virtual tourism of existing

attrac-tions not only plays a role of pre-promotion, and

expand its influence and attraction to tourists, but

also to a certain extent meet the needs of tourism

and aesthetic appreciation for people who have

never been to the sceneries or cannot visit in

per-son Yuan (2008) integrated sceneries into game

context by means of virtual reality technology, as

a scene of network game, the impact of sceneries

is increased through the spread of network game,

thereby achieve the marketing of sceneries Feng,

Su (2001) claimed that in tourism planning, virtual

reality technology had more obvious advantages

than traditional planning method, for example, it

shows dynamical tourism planning and design to

the life to give people a sense of immersion, so

that tourism planning and design can be

modi-fied easily to stimulate creative inspiration and

ideas, and make planning more innovative Wang

(2003) summarized the application of Cyberspace

technology in the virtual tourism planning from

four aspects, that is, provide virtual technology

platform for tour planning, design new virtual

at-tractions and tourism products, formulate

market-ing plannmarket-ing of virtual tour product, make policy

of virtual tourism planning, and build the security

system of Cyberspace Wu, Wang (2004) proposed

the concept of GIServices based on the thinking

of Geo-information services to deal with the

net-work data storage and sharing, establish virtual

tourism planning program through independent

platform GeoEye3D, and achieve the roaming in

the virtual landscape through Java

Teaching of Virtual Tourism

Yan (2008) claimed that experiment systems of

virtual reality improved teaching modes, enriched

teaching methods, broke the constraints of risk,

cost and time, and achieved the integration of

teaching and test Chen (2007; 2008) summarized

the application of virtual reality technology in the experiment teaching of tourism from three aspects: virtual systems of learning established by virtual reality technology, virtual experiment teaching systems, and teaching systems of virtual training Wei (2007) discussed on the support role of virtual reality technology in the teaching of tourism from the perspective of practical teaching of tourism, and compared the effects in the teaching between virtual reality technology and multimedia Zhang (2008) pointed out that conventional teaching methods that most teachers used had problems between teachers and students, which could be solved through virtual reality technology by means of its acceptability, interaction, immersion and sensibility that could meet the requirements

of teaching experiment, such as situated ing interface, and human-computer interaction, therefore virtual reality technology in practical education systems of tourism would play a series

learn-of roles to improve the experimental environment, optimize the teaching process, enhance experi-mental results, and cultivate innovative talents

FUNCTIONS OF VIRTUAL TOURISM Comparison between Travel

Experience and Mirror Image Experience

Travel experience is a versatile leisure activity including entertainment and learning (Li, 2008) Tourists gain travel experience through paths of realization, such as sightseeing, contact, imita-tion and game (Xie, 2005) Travel experience

is finished in the real travel while mirror image experience is conducted in the virtual reality (Zheng, Ma, Li, 2010) Figure 1 shows the cor-responding relationship between travel experience and mirror image experience The dotted line in the middle of Figure 1 likes a mirror that separates the real world and virtual world of tourism, and

also achieves the corresponding relationship of

experience paths Real tourism and virtual reality

have similar audio-visual senses, the formation of

expression, by which tourists feel the contexts of

tourism, is same, both real tour and virtual

attrac-tions can have psychological effects on tourists

Virtual tourism is present in a specific

space-time framework In the world of virtual reality,

visitors can have access to the similar experience

as real travel does through audio-visual way In

addition, the social nature of human results in

tourists’ exchange with local residents and

man-agement personnel of attractions In the virtual

world, the boundaries of social roles are

elimi-nated since the identities of people are virtual, so

that tourists have equal exchange and

communi-cation with other online tourists Zheng, Ma, Li

(2010) claimed that travel experience and mirror

image experience had the similarity in terms of

realization paths and perception effects

Accord-ing to survey, most of consumers are satisfied to

virtual tour experience

Features of Virtual Tourism

Virtual tourism has the following characteristics:

• Transcend Time and Space Virtual

tour-ism can present the world beyond time and space for visitors whenever necessary

• Interactivity In virtual tourism, the

in-teraction means communication between people and computers Virtual tourism uses a variety of sensors to interact with the multi-dimensional information space

• High-Technology Virtual tourism is based

on virtual reality technology and information technology, which core is Internet With no high-technology, virtual tourism cannot be generated

• Economy Virtual tourism is out of

objec-tive constraints, it reduces costs, avoids the constraints of a variety of force majeure, and makes travel cheaper

Figure 1 Comparison of travel experience and mirror image experience

• Multi-sensation Virtual tour environment

can give visitors multi-sensation of image,

sound, touch, experience and other

percep-tion

Zhang, Ma, Zhang (2009) claimed that travel

demands of most people are difficult to meet fully

because of objective factors, such as time, space,

economy, and so on Virtual tourism

character-ized by multi-dimensional interactive

visualiza-tion based on computer network is flexible and

convenient for people

Functional Structure of

Virtual Tourism

Virtual tour website is an intelligent system that

integrates virtual travel experience, exchange

of visitors, tour information and online booking

service, and mainly includes following functional

modules:

• Virtual Tour of Scenic Spots Virtual tour

system represents scenarios in Network,

which is a core component of virtual

tour-ism With navigation module and electronic

guide system, visitors can follow a preset

route system to roam, also can select line,

not only can watch scenic spots through the

display, but also can participate in game

plot, have dinner, and go shopping through

gestures and password so as to understand

the cultural and historical attractions and

gain experience

• Travel Information and Planning The

development of virtual tourism has definite

relationship with real tourism, and virtual

tourism often plays a role of pre- experience

Therefore, virtual tourism becomes a

chan-nel for potential tourists to obtain various

tourism-related information, and provides

a service platform of network applications

to plan the itinerary

• Travel e-Commerce Virtual landscapes and

virtual community is an important platform

of travel e-commerce for tourists to stand, purchase and book travel-related goods and services

under-• Virtual Travel Community Virtual travel

community is a living space around the topic

of tour life through the Internet Community members widely communicate with each other via text, voice and video, on the one hand, they can share travel experiences with other members, on the other hand, they can have access to a variety of tourism knowledge

to prepare for real travel

PROFIT MODES OF VIRTUAL TOURISM

Zhang, Ma, Zhang (2009) claimed that the virtual world is an emerging field of Internet, how to achieve profits in the virtual tourism is still an important issue to explore Based on the basic structure of virtual tourism system, at present profit models of virtual tourism are following sections

• Marketing of Tourism Destination Virtual

tour system plays a role of tangible show for people before they have real travel of destinations In the mode of marketing, websites of virtual tourism can receive a lot

of advertising This is the main income of virtual tourism websites

• Product Placement When a website of

vir-tual travel with high popularity and a certain scale of members, it can get advertising rev-enue through commercial advertising, such

as customer brand hotels, restaurants, tea houses, shopping malls as well as corporate

logo, mascot and product advertising board

in a virtual landscape of virtual system

• Virtual Currencies and Items for Sale

Virtual tourism can be combined with online

games to gain profits through sales of virtual

currencies and goods, and other ways in

the game Tourists can induct transactions

of virtual travel equipments through the

exchange of virtual currencies, and create

own villa and hotel in the travel destination

of functions of information services and

route planning, websites of virtual travel

not only can help visitors with design and

implementation of tourism projects, but also

can recommend customers to scenic spots,

hotels, travel agencies, airlines, car rental

companies and other tourism enterprises, and

share tourism revenues with these tourism

enterprises

• Online Shopping and Booking Virtual

tourism is closely related to real tourism In

the e-commerce of tourism, when visitors in

virtual tourism have interest in

correspond-ing landscapes and articles, online shoppcorrespond-ing

and online reservation will generate profits

• Collection of Subscriptions In the virtual

travel community, people form different

groups according to different interests of

travel, obtain highly social identity through

interpersonal interaction, find the sense of

attribution psychologically and emotionally,

and design self-image and space

environ-ment Websites of virtual travel can charge

membership fees, and develop advanced

services for members

The corresponding relationship between

functional structure and profit modes of virtual

tourism is shown in Figure 2, which shows the

sources of profits

PRACTICES OF VIRTUAL TOURISM

IN CHINA Tourism Websites of China

China’s websites of tourism emerged in 1991,

in addition, portal sites also have information about travel These sites can provide more com-prehensive online counseling service including tourism-related food, shelter, transportation, travel, entertainment, shopping and other aspects (Li, Yao, Di, Li, 2009)

According to the statistics of Google’s Page Rank (PR), PR value of 60 tourist websites is greater than or equal to 6, in which PR value of

3 websites is 8, namely official website of jing Tourism Administration, official website of National Tourism Administration, and eLong PR value of 7 websites is 7, PR value of 50 websites

Bei-is 6 Among 60 websites, the number of local travel websites is 31 while the rest of websites is involved in nationwide business

Yu, Zheng (2009) divided domestic travel websites into four categories: government-based websites, store-based websites, network-based websites and comprehensive websites Govern-ment-based websites of travel are official websites

of tourism bureaus focusing local tourism Among them, the National Tourism Administration is the most authoritative website of travel Store-based websites of travel primarily rely on store to operate product marketing of tourism Although they have own e-commerce, but they don’t pay attention

to online sales Wang (2008) claimed that China Travel Service and CYTS line are representatives

of this type Network-based websites of travel mainly rely on sales of tourism products through websites, including ticket booking, hotel booking service, such as Ctrip, eLong Comprehensive travel websites cover the advantages of above two travel websites, namely tourism marketing both

in stores and online, Shanghai Spring Travel is a typical representative

Application of Virtual Tourism

on Websites of Travel

Yu (2008) summarizes five presentation ways of

virtual tour system: text, 2-D images, 2.5-D virtual

scene, 3-D virtual scene and Multi-D virtual scene,

which are the development path of virtual tourism,

also the application paths of virtual technology in

the field of tourism

Different types of travel websites have

dif-ferent demands and applications in terms of

virtual tourism This study selects samples of

travel websites to introduce their applications of

virtual tourism First, the official website of the

National Tourism Administration is selected as a

government-based website of tourism Second,

the type of e-commerce websites, created by tour

enterprises for marketing, will be represented by

Ctrip Third, the travel websites specializing in the

introduction of attractions, are professional

net-work of virtual tourism, such as China Panorama

network Finally, a very representative website

of virtual travel is Virtual Forbidden City, and is

described as a separate type

As shown in Table 1, the government website

is still in the lower level in terms of the application

of virtual tour technology, the government website

focuses on the introduction of government policies

on tourism and the status of development, and text description with graphic display about travel agencies, hotels, transportation, entertainment

to give tourists an platform of intuitive, graphic information display

Ctrip and other business websites focus on ticketing, hotel reservations, and have no break-through in terms of the application of virtual technology

China Panorama and Virtual Forbidden City are at the highest level of the application of virtual technology China Panorama provides virtual tourism of attractions around the country with 360 degree 3-D realistic display of high definition The Palace Museum developed virtual Forbidden City,

it officially started in October 10, 2008 This is the first virtual world in China to show important historical and cultural attractions on the Internet But China Panorama and Virtual Forbidden City still don’t focus on the role of direct business, but the role of potential tourists

CONCLUSION

The main conclusions of this study are as follows

Figure 2 Functional structure and profit modes of virtual tourism

• Virtual tourism characterized by

multi-di-mensional interactive visualization based

on computer network is flexible and

con-venient for people Virtual tourism has the

following characteristics: transcend time

and space, interactivity, high-technology,

economy and multi-sensation

• The functions of virtual tourism websites

mainly include virtual tour of scenic spots,

travel information and planning, travel

e-commerce, and virtual travel community

• At present virtual tourism profits mainly

through marketing of tourism destinations,

product placement, virtual currencies and

items for sale, revenue sharing of tourism,

online shopping and booking, and

collec-tion of subscripcollec-tions

• In China, according to PR value, there are

60 tour websites with greater than or equal

6 PR value, and different travel websites

have different demands and applications in

terms of virtual tourism

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Chapter 2

Aliana M W Leong

Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR

Xi Li

Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR

A Study on Tourist Management

in China Based on Radio

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-041-5.ch002

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a non-contact, automatic identification technology Through its radio frequency signal, RFID offers automatic target recognition and access to relevant and without human intervention identification of work is made RFID can work in various environments It can iden- tify fast moving objects and is capable of identifying multiple tags, in a rapid and convenient operation Since the 1990s, RFID technology has been widely used in commercial, logistics, property management and other fields, but interest towards potential application to the needs of the tourism industry only began in recent years.

THE CONNOTATION OF TOURIST

MANAGEMENT

A tourist attraction mainly targets travelers who

are its consumers From the consumers’ point of

view, the behavior and needs of tourists should

be highly valued by tourist attraction managers

However, there is a feature that renders inseparable

the process of tourist production and consumption

Travelers play not only the role of consumers but

also the key point of tourist attraction service

Thus, managers of tourist attractions should

pay attention on the role of travelers along with

bringing travelers’ supervision into scenic spots

management

In countries where a tourism economy is

highly developed, traveler management is widely

accepted ‘Traveler management’ mainly refers to

trying to meet the needs of travelers on the premise

of maintaining the sustainable environment and

resource development, which use the manner of

technology, education, economy, administration,

and law to manage travelers (Zhang Wen and Li

Na, 2007)

According to existing research, theories and

practices are mainly focused on the following

six aspects of traveler management: demand and

preference, behavior, capacity, safety, experience

Prefer-Scholars from other countries had conducted in-depth studies of this topic Um S.(1992)studied the decision process of tourism destination and believes there is a process of change passive to active on tourists perceived needs Stephen W.Li Win(2001)suggests that there are significant dif-ferences in preferences between the first time travelers and returning costumers concerning the demand for tourism products Noam Shoval (2004) analyzed the attraction preference towards travelers from different cities and found out that there is a distinct impact between ‘the length of stay, the times of travel and consumer behavior Meanwhile, Alison J.McIntosh(2004) categorized tourism product preferences into five types: seek novelty, to understand the local lifestyle, cultural authenticity, communication with locals and ex-change pleasure of learning opportunities with locals All these research results are expected

to assist managers understand the law of tourist

attractions and behavior patterns of consumption

in order to further provide better services and

products, thereby enhancing the quality of travel

experience

The Management of

Traveler Behavior

In tourist behavior management, current major

overseas research focuses on describing tourists

visiting the scenic spots in order to tap the law of

tourists visiting The common used research

tech-nology and method includes: GIS (A geographic

information system) H Randy Gimblett (1998)

combined location map and GIS data to use the

techniques and methods to track visitor behavior

monitoring and modeling to analyze tourist

activi-ties with the environment as well as the interactions

between scenic spots and visitors In addition,

Martin Opperman (1997) conducted a study on the

behaviour difference between first-time travelers

and returning customers which showed that the

stay period and travel scale is more focused for

returning travelers

The Management of

Traveler Capacity

The contradiction between the capacity and

limi-tation of tourist attraction resource and the large

amount needed from travelers sparked people’s

concern on the management capacity of

tour-ism attractions In order to better coordinate the

relationship between travelers and scenic spots

capacity, scholars conducted researches mainly

focused on traveler flow forecast and capacity

forecast J Alan Wagar et al(1964) and proposed

the improved Recreation Carrying Capacity

Theory (RCC) This theory proposes that the

limitation of traveler capacity exists universally,

which includes ecological, social, philosophy

and management Meanwhile, the United States

National Forest proposed Recreation Opportunity

Spectrum (ROS) Theory towards the application

model of tourist resource The theory of tourism resources conservation in accordance with the demand for travel is divided into the following six major types: the original area, no motor ve-hicle traffic in half the original area, with motor vehicle traffic in half the original area, with roads

in natural areas, rural and urban areas Different types of regions have their own characteristics of determining tourist capacity

The Management of Traveler Safety

Visitor safety management major deals with the safety of tourists in tourist areas regarding various elements of response analysis and research, such as natural disasters and accidents and tourism crimes

On the aspect of safety factors in the tion, Mieczkowski (1995) divided safety-effect factors into two types: natural threats and human threats Tsaur, et al (1997) targeted traffic, public order and law, health care, housing, weather, at-tractions and medical facilities, and analyzed the eight scenic spots of tourists’ safety Furthermore,

identifica-in the face of worsenidentifica-ing global terrorist attacks identifica-in recent years, many scholars conducted studies on terrorism and security issues of tourists Further, crime has also an important impact on the safety

of tourists Although scholars have conducted researches on this issue, details on this will not

be dealt with because these studies focus more

on specific areas of crime in tourism

The Management of Traveler Experience

Visitors’ experience is a subjective feeling volved in the tourism process Tourism products and services based on tourists’ perception are related to situational factors: personal character-istics, personality characteristics, surrounding environment, tourism (Graefe AR, 1987) There-fore, the existing studies on visitor management experience involving some of the concerns of tourists are mainly towards psychological, so-

in-ciological or anthropological point of view of

the tourist experience to enhance the quality of

visitor experience as references M S Jackson

(1996) studied the impact of visitors through the

experience of the factor structure M Goossen

et al (2000) divided the quality of recreational

experience into functional quality (Utilisation

Quality) and the perceived quality (Perception

Quality) These studies provide useful references

to understanding the visitor experience for further

enhancing the degree of tourists’ satisfaction

The Management of Traveler Impact

Tourism behaviour is one of the central issues on

tourism management studies Current researches

focus on the scenic tourist behavior and the

eco-logical impacts of economic and social impact

analysis and assessments Impact of the ecological

environment for tourists, usually starts from the

behavioral characteristics of tourists and evaluates

the negative impact Meiczkowski (1995) listed

the negative impact of tourism in the following

areas: overcrowding, over-exploitation, no rules,

recreation activities, waste pollution, car activities,

and effects on soil and vegetation

However, the socio-economic impact, needs

anthropology and sociology with socio-economic

theory as the basis for analysis Nicholas

Haralam-boulos, et al (1996) indicated that negative impacts

from visitors on economic and social aspect are

mainly: rising prices, drug abuse, damaged public

facilities: noisier environment, sexual harassment

and all kinds of crimes In addition, scholars

ana-lyzed cultural integration and religion from the

perspective of the tourists on the negative social

impact of tourism destinations

It is obvious that the Western visitor

manage-ment research has largely formed and established

frameworks and systems and provides a good

platform for visitor management practice and

innovation

CURRENT SITUATION AND CHALLENGES OF CHINA’S TOURIST MANAGEMENT

From the content and target point of view, China’s tourist attractions management can be divided into two types: one is tourist attractions of resource and environmental management-oriented form, also commonly known as tourism object manage-ment; the other is tourist attractions to tourists

as the main focus of the form, therefore, also known as the main tourism management (Xia& Chengzhao, 2006) China has long been focusing attention on the management of resources and the environmental tourism attractions, whereas visitor management is relatively insufficient

The Focal Point of China’s Tourist Management

According to several researches conducted

by Chinese scholars, China domestic tourism management content is similar to those in other countries, however, the target in each specific case is slightly different Liu Yanfeng, et al (2006) and Guo Hongyan (2008) divided the focal point

of China’s Domestic Tourism Management into seven aspects: quantity management, diversion measures, queue management, team management, complaint management, interpretation system construction and behavior management

Quantity management aims to control and run the number of tourists Flow diversion measure

is under temporal and spatial rules of conduct for tourists’ sightseeing behavior to reduce traffic within local scenic spots in the temporal and spatial concentration, as well as reduce the crowding of local attractions to tourists

Queue management establishes queuing ficiency to reduce or avoid boring monotonous environment, further improving the ultimate service experience of tourist attractions

ef-Team management is about scenic spots in the light of team interaction, the size of the team, and

travel arrangements for the purpose of enhancing

the tourists’ experience

Complaint management is for the

establish-ment of effective channels to solve complaints

efficiently The main purpose of interpretation

system is formed through various media to provide

information services at the same time, to divert

visitors, safety tips, and behavior management tips

A shift from direct management into indirect

man-agement undeniably reflects the characteristics

of visitor management services Tourist behavior

management is a process that constrains visitors’

code of conduct and management

The above description of domestic tourism

management has some parallels to the

aforemen-tioned Western visitors’ needs and preferences

on management, behavior management, capacity

management, security management, experience

management, and visitor impact management, but

also features Chinese management characteristics

The above-mentioned seven areas compose the

main content of the current China domestic

tour-ism management

The Characteristic of China’s

Tourist Management

China has successfully transformed tourism

re-sources and environmental management as the

equally important models of visitor and

ment, however, on the aspect of visitor

manage-ment, the improvement China’s domestic tourism

management embodies the following five features:

1 Protective tourism is the main

implementa-tion of visitor management

The implementation of China’s domestic

tour-ism management resources and environmental

protection in view of the natural and cultural

heritage tourist attractions and tourist resources

is relatively fragile (Fangyong, 2007)

Highly popular and attractive international

tourist attractions that particularly need better

management, such as Huangshan, the Forbidden City, the Dunhuang Grottoes and many others have gradually established a visitor management system

2 Resource management, environmental tection as the main purpose of tourists.Tourists inevitably cause negative impact

pro-on the envirpro-onment For this reaspro-on, China’s visitor management of tourist attractions mainly focuses on the protection of the environment and resources, while trying to control the behavior

of visitors and manage to achieve its resource protection objectives Due to the considerable attention given to environmental protection, fac-ing the visitor management, visitor experience and environmental protection, most the tourist attractions choose to neglect the tourists’ scenic environment experience

3 Tourists behavior management is the main aspect

Presently, the main form of China domestic tourism management is behavior management, such as coaching tourists on their environmental responsibility and the behavior of tourists on the appropriate constraints

Wu Bihu (2001) classified China’s tourist scenic spot management into two types: direct management and indirect management Directly management deals with the will and behavior

of tourists, such as restrictions on utilization and limiting certain types of activities Indirect management is affected by changes in the factors that tourists will and act to change the behavior

of their visitors, such as strengthening tourist promotion Ma Yong, Li Xi (2006) divided the current visitor management of scenic spots in China’s into excitement-based management and constraint management The excitement-based management is a flexible management, mainly through communication and exchange, the full

capacity to stimulate self-restraint of tourists,

including education, demonstration and guidance;

whereas constraint management is also known

as mandatory management conducted through

the development of relevant rules of behavior

and using coercive power to protect the rule to

be observed

Therefore, active and passive visitor behavior

management is the conventional method of the

current tourism attraction management

4 Tourists Management Practice has strong

time characteristics

Because of the unique vacations and travel

consumption patterns in China, the number of

tourist attractions shows obvious fluctuation

char-acteristics For example, in 2009, China’s annual

May 1, October 1, the Spring Festival and other

holiday period, the major number of tourists to

scenic spots dramatically increased For example,

numerous tourist attractions are too overcrowded,

such as receiving 100% accommodation or even

reached over 300% tourists per day during the

May 1 golden week of 2006 Another report said

that the Beijing Forbidden City accommodation

was more than twice its maximum capacity on

May 2, 2006 Wutai Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain,

Pingyao ancient town, Tongli ancient town, Mo

Kao Grotto at Dunhuang, the Potala Palace and

other famous scenic spots showed “full” situations

from May 2 to May 5 (Xinjing Newspaper, May

8, 2006) The over-crowding has led to a negative

impact to travelers because of large numbers of

tourists in one place The quality of experience

and interests declined because of serious

over-crowding Consequently, tourist attractions faced

a serious challenge in service quality, security and

sustainable usage of resources during high seasons

Therefore, China’s tourist attractions

manage-ment reflects a relatively concentrated feature:

the visitor management emphasis is different at

different times, with some temporary and response

characteristics

5 The method of tourist management is singular

Tourists’ management of China scenic spots

in specific manner is relatively singular He Fangyong (2007) summarized ‘China tourist at-tractions’ management approach’ as two methods:

“soft” and “hard” The hard way includes tions of visitors to certain parts of activities, such

restric-as closing or restricting the number of tourists’ attractions or taking economic measures such as charging high priced tickets The soft method includes marketing strategies, explanations, and guidance of the planning and coordination of measures

In example of the rigid management method

is the every day reception at the Potala Palace where there is a 2300-person maximum limit; but

a rapid growth in the number of visitors was seen since the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway The Tibet Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Bureau adopted winter and summer tickets float-ing system for unique winter visitors, and summer overcrowding conditions were imposed at the Potala Palace (Cheng, 2010)

In the soft management method, the China National Tourism Administration and the mass media established strategic partnership on forecast of traveler numbers during the Golden Week holidays The visitor forecast system in the accommodation informed the mass media of the numbers approaching the cordon Through the media, the public received tourists’ recep-tion conditions, and tourists also made decisions based on existing conditions, thus improving the efficiency and quality of the reception area of the scenic attraction

The management of Chinese tourists is tively singular and lacks technical content In the future, tourists’ management of China should make use of modern technology to increase the effectiveness of visitor management

rela-The Challenges of China’s

Tourist Management

Although the managers of scenic areas have

considered visitor management as an important

part of business management, the development of

visitor management has been in a relatively short

period and now is faced with a series challenges

in three aspects:

1 Less awareness, neglects tourist

manage-ment, only paying attention to economic

benefits

As mentioned above, visitor management

philosophy has yet to be known to all managers’

attractions and accreditation In majority of

sce-nic spots, there are conflicts and contradictions

between strict management and the short-term

in-terests of scenic spots Implementation of modern

management strategies may reduce the number

of tourists and increase the input of scenic spots

To this end, the economic interests of the scenic

spots are prioritized at the expense of the number

of visitors In particular, the growth focuses on

sustainable contemporary development, this ‘kill

the goose that lays the golden eggs’ style can be

considered detrimental to profits For this

rea-son, strengthening the training of managers and

enhancing management awareness and capability

is urgent

2 The number of visitors for the emergency

control of multi-mode, lack of prior forecasts

and ex-post control

The tourist quantity control is the core element

of tourist managers as well as those of scenic

area directors However, from the standpoint

of overseas tourists, this should be taken as a

whole Not only should there be a correct vision

on tourism management, but it also it should start

right at the planning stage of construction of the

scenic areas For example, behavior characteristic

needs to be considered fully from the servicing facility design Not only that the Chinese scenic area tourist management often lacks the unifica-tion on the plan and the management, but also majority of temporary emergency processing pattern are absent The only started the related mechanism on the tourist quantity during the gold week celebrations Thus, it can be seen that one

of the challenges of the tour is how to promote the strategic management stratification plan, carry out efficient management, as well as the entire process in reverse afterwards

3 Independent of each other, the need for systematic and urgent integration

As mentioned above, both the international and domestic meaning of tourist management is recognized These contents can be divided into several modules The existence of these modules

is to coordinate the protection of scenic resources and the environment in the improvement of the quality of tourist experience, as well as the relation-ship between the correlations However, China’s tourist attractions in tourist management appear

to be relatively independent, more with a lack of integrity and relevance, such as the number of tourists attractions in building control systems, guided systems, behavior and security manage-ment system, the management tools and technical methods of relevance, lack of effective integra-tion As a scenic area manager, only through the integration of certain visitor management in the various modules with the technical means can we really expect to play out its effectiveness

Interdisciplinary Research to Deepen Visitor Management, the Program Still Lacks a Workable Scheme

In recent years, with the continuous development

of visitor management, more and more scholars in other disciplines began to get involved in tourism attractions’ management fields, such as cross-

disciplinary approach with the tourists on the

scenic area management issues research, and had

achieved certain results and progress Qiu yanqing,

et al (2010) analysed passenger traffic within the

scenic tourist season spatial and temporal

varia-tions; built sites for load balancing mathematical

programming model; and from dynamic

forecast-ing schedulforecast-ing provides the analysis of tourists

streaming ideas in the Jiuzhaigou scenic spot in

Sichuan province Zhang Jianhua, et al (2007)

analyzed the environmental impact of tourists

based on the environmental impact of building a

tourist function, and explored the function based

on the environmental impact of tourist attractions

visitors control measures Researchers on Chinese

tourism will undoubtedly enrich the management

theory and methodology, but the research is still

in its theoretical stages and lacks maneuverability

Evidently, some scholars had put forward a

view on the technical part of the visitor

manage-ment system Ma Bin, et al (2009) proposed the

design and implementation of programs based on

radio frequency identification (RFID) and ARM

Intelligent Visitor Management System (IVMS)

The program mainly targeted tourists’ behavior

and safety management, with the update of visitor

information, automatic division, and left behind

alarm functions An Wenkui, et al (2005) directed

against tourists in the visitor team management, a

form-based RF transceiver solutions for wireless

communication systems, equipped with suitable

identification, automatic division, start to remind,

left behind and other tips of alarm functions

The design of these systems has a certain role in

promoting China’s tourist attractions innovation

management However, these studies are only for

certain specific groups of tourists whereas taking

the tourists in the management module as a whole

research and technical analysis has not yet been

successfully conducted

POTENTIAL ANALYSIS OF RFID TECHNOLOGY AND ITS USAGE IN SCENIC SPOTS MANAGEMENT RFID Technology

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification

technol-ogy) is the use of an object (typically referred

to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product or document for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves It

is through the radio frequency signal that RFID automatically recognizes a target and accesses relevant data Through the use of RFID technol-ogy, the identification of the work without hu-man intervention can be conducted in a variety

of harsh environments The first application of this technology can be traced back to identifying the enemy during World War II, but because the application of the technology was expensive, it was not immediately applied to other areas (China Ministry of Science, 2006)

Since RFID has a non-contact feature and can simultaneously identify multiple objects in the operation, it can provide a variety of management service functions, such as identity recognition, traceability and other functions Specifically, based on RFID technology, the following main functions can be achieved:

Identity recognition function Acceptance

of service for each object or item to set a unique identification code, therefore, in the radio fre-quency identification systems, object-related goods and services can be automatically identified

so as to provide personalized service The uses

of electronic tickets at hotels and scenic spots

as well as in biological research field of animal identification are typical examples

Track back trajectory function The radio

frequency identification technology has the unique identification of properties Thus, reading the device with a range of information can describe relevant goods and services to clients in the pro-cess of receiving the flow path and travel status

Such feature is more for the food safety control

and management as well as document tracking

management

Space positioning function When RFID

technology and geographic information system

GIS technologies are combined, a more precise

spatial orientation function can be achieved

This means while waiting for a clear

identifica-tion of each individual’s specific spatial locaidentifica-tion

information, a better organization of services and

resources is possible

Hardware-Based RFID Technology

The RFID technology system structure is divided

into hardware and software Software is the use

of RFID technology related management

applica-tions, such as logistics management information

system and hotel access control system The

hard-ware is composed of two parts, namely, read-write

unit and the electronic transceiver In practical

applications, the read-write unit electromagnetic

pulse is sent through the antenna while the

elec-tronic transceiver receives the electromagnetic

pulse is stored in the transceiver unit of information

sent to the reader response, shown in Figure 1

Reading and writing in the electronic transceiver module interaction, the relevant information was recorded, and passed through the information net-work to the main control unit In fact, the process

is on the non-contact data memory read, write, or delete processing operation

From specific technical terms, RFID ogy is mainly used for electronic transceiver main body identification Its two parts: one is for the RFID radio frequency, and the second is for an ultra-thin RFID chip antenna loop RF parts as the only identification code, and the antenna is used in the electronic transceiver and the transmis-sion of information between the reader units.Based on RFID technology, using transceiver frequency and power supply electronics, RFID technology can be divided into low frequency, high frequency and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) and other types The different types have differ-ent performance characteristics, such as in ultra high frequency RFID technology the distance of its read-write characteristics can be 10 meters,

technol-as well technol-as the exchange of data For electronic transceiver, can be divided into passive and active type according to its power supply

Figure 1 Module structure of RFID technology hardware

Compared with bar code technology, magnetic

stripe and other ID technology, the advantages of

transceiver technology and the transceiver to read

between the wireless links are: read-write unit and

transceiver do not require contacts between the

visual It can be completely integrated into the

interior of the product The electronic transceivers

on the net and mechanical impact of environmental

factors are not sensitive to a very high reading

reliability with fast data acquisition capability

In comparison with the global positioning system

GPS, RFID technology has the added advantage

of being relatively low-cost

Potential Analysis on RFID

Technology on the Scenic

Spots Management

RFID application has been gradually understood

and valued in the tourism industry In accordance

with technology usage, it can be generally applied

and shaped to the scope of conventional

applica-tion The conventional transceiver is an electronic

application form for card-shaped objects,

usu-ally a credit card The profiled application is an

electronic transceiver can be integrated in other

forms of goods Conventional applications such as

access control system in a hotel, has been used on

RFID technology, like RFID access control cards

and the electronic transceiver modules together

In addition to the conventional card-type RFID

technology, many countries in the tourism

indus-try have also introduced a special form of radio

frequency identification technology The Great

Wolf Resorts Inc is the largest indoor

family-oriented entertainment company that provides

holiday events services The RFID wrist band

system was been used in Pennsylvania Pocono

Mountains resort area in 2006 Customers wearing

RFID wrist bands do not need to carry cash and

keys to open the door of their lodging cottages

or rooms They can purchase food and souvenirs

and can pay for game activities The wrist strap is

also for customer identification (Yunhui, 2008)

On the usage of RFID technology in tourist attractions’ management in China, with continuous deepening of digital services and items, the most commonly used electronic access control system

or intelligent ticket management system is the construction of scenic areas In addition, visitors

in guided tours and team management using the RFID application have been developed Ma Bin, et

al (2009) tested a group of tourists in the ment process The team introduced visitors with RFID technology identification and provided each guide a handheld PDA reader, which uses radio frequency identification technology The visitors were held on the non-contact characteristics in the implementation of specific services and manage-ment Based on RFID technology, An Wenkui, et

manage-al (2005) designed an intelligent guide system for tour guides and team interaction between visitors provided identification It included left behind alarm, reminder and auto-start functions by name

It may be inferred that in the current RFID applications in China tourist attractions manage-ment: electronic ticket is the manner most com-monly used There are more theoretical studies

on density control in personnel and it can be traced back to food safety, whereas management

of tourist attractions is rarely involved (Yunhui, 2008) With the management concept of tourist attractions and visitor management, the attention

of modern information technology and radio frequency identification technologies, radio fre-quency identification technology will provide a wider range of applications

SCENIC SPOTS MANAGEMENT MODULE CONSTRUCTION BASED ON RFID TECHNOLOGY

The main purpose of ‘resources environment’ and ‘scenic tourist management experience’ is to coordinate the specific content of foreign tourists’ management In general, it can be summarized in the following areas: control and management of

environmental capacity, visitor behavior

manage-ment, line up and demand managemanage-ment, and visitor

safety management As the visitor management

characteristics of the object is an independent

individual tourist, RFID technology is used in the

management of scenic spots Visitors can fill the

existing management system for their own matrix,

relatively independent of defects This research

will have as a basis the RFID technology which

is the proposed tourist management system model

for the management of technological innovation

It is expected to provide reference and inspiration

to a scenic area

Tourists’ management with reference to the

content management system can be classified

into the following main modules: electronic ticket

function module, the scenic area of capacity

moni-toring and adjustment module, tourist spending

behavior characterization module, and intelligent

queue management module

Electronic Ticket Function Module

‘Electronic ticket function module’ is the basic

component for the function of RFID technology,

which assists visitors to access entrance

informa-tion Whether visitors choose to purchase tickets

on the network or the ticket office, they can collect

the basic information that can be identified with

the RFID system This enables visitors the exact

corresponding information of travelers and their

behavior In addition, the module should be able

to connect to the scenic spots within the external

marketing system, and settlement systems to

exchange data effectively Usually, on building

blocks of electronic ticket system, the transceiver

will be integrated in the scenic area of electronic

tickets, and the main entrance in the scenic area

setting up the appropriate read and write devices

unit, to monitor visitors in and out within a state

scenic area Please refer to Figure 2

The Capacity Monitoring And Adjustment Module Of A Scenic Area

The main function of monitoring spot capability aims to coordinate ‘the number of visitors’ and the

‘scenic space capacity.’ As visitors tour the scenic area, the position in space is constantly changing which gives challenges on ‘volume control’ and

‘management of tourist attractions.’ Spatial tion information is usually collected for the global positioning system approach (GPS), however, the corresponding technical equipment is expensive and difficult to spread universally in the scenic area To this end, using geographic information system (GIS) and radio frequency identification technology (RFID) can give the number of space tourists information processing (Rong, et al, 2007) (see Figure 3)

loca-Its main principles are: first, to build a scenic area of geographic information system, make digital major attractions based on scenic spots of the different districts Next, in the different re-gional and major scenic spots, set the UHF radio frequency identification reader unit so the entrance statistics of tourists’ numbers can be summarized

In the end, the capacity threshold of the scenic environment of prior studies and a real-time evaluation of the number of tourists from differ-ent regions, is more objectively accounted for with the relationship between space capacity With some management tools, the behavior of tourists and sightseeing activities are dynamically ad-justed

Tourist Consumer Behavior Characterization Module

As the RFID system can invisibly record action work completed, along with the information back function, the system can assist in understanding consumer preferences and behavior of tourists

In turn, this will optimize product features and improve management as well as enhance the tour-ism experience Specifically, the overall number

of scenic spots by construction, the shopping and

leisure outlets, the tourist attractions and other

places to set the RFID reader modules, the

differ-ent tourist attractions in the scenic area within the

parameters of lodging, consumption and other data

in real-time acquisition, combined with tourism

would give information on a relatively complete

database of behavior characteristics of tourist

spending With the establishment of the database,

the system will provide a more accurate and

comprehensive record of all visitors in the scenic

area and can help managers understand the tourist

attractions and a variety of products and services

needed than the traditional survey (Xilin, 2009)

Intelligent Queue

Management Module

Following the development of mass tourism, more

and more scenic spots began to face the problem of

queue management Fairness and effectiveness of queue management will directly affect the visitors’ experience in the scenic area Hence, with the help

of high technology, improving the scenic RFID smart queuing system will be the main function

of queue management module

With RFID technology, the uniqueness of visitor identity offers the possibility of a practi-cal and smart queue management Visitors only need to have their personal information in the electronic ticket That information can be passed

to the database of its visitors queuing system, which can be fed back out of the waiting time for tourists that offers visitors more time flexibility and avoid waiting time

Therefore, in the scenic area of visitor agement, RFID technology can fully integrate tourists’ information and tourist attractions for the delivery of visitor management solutions more

man-Figure 2 Electronic ticket function module

effectively However, achieving the scenic area

management system depends on the number of

building support, while hardware and software

will also demand higher requirements For that

reason, tourist attractions, first need to properly

recognize and manage the content and objectives,

then the basis of long-term planning, system

layout-related hardware, and ultimately achieve a

systematic information management experience

This will finally result to the achievement of the

purpose of tourist attractions

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Chapter 3

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-041-5.ch003

Chad Lin

Curtin University, Australia

Key Issues in the Implementation of Electronic

Customer Relationship Management in the Australian Hospitality and Tourism Sector

ABSTRACT

The hospitality and tourism sector is one of fastest growing sectors in Australia and in the world In order to become more efficient and effective in delivering products and services to customers via the use of ICT, hospitality and tourism organizations have to rethink the ways in which they build relation- ships with their customers by initiating electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) projects Inappropriate eCRM decision-making and implementation can result in multi-million dollar losses, which can translate into a loss of competitiveness Therefore, the case study approach was conducted to: (1) identify potential ICT costs and risk factors involved in eCRM initiatives in general; and (2) identify and examine key issues in the implementation of eCRM in the Australian hospitality and tourism sector The contribution of this book chapter is two-fold First, it offers hospitality and tourism executives with

a more realistic insight about the impact of their eCRM investments on their business Second, potential key issues, costs and risk factors associated with eCRM implementation are presented to assist these organizations in dealing with these challenges.

The hospitality and tourism sector is one of

fast-est growing sectors in Australia and in the world

However, global information and communication

technology (ICT) spending as a percentage of total

organizational expenses by hospitality and

tour-ism organizations has been predicted by Gartner

Research to increase only marginally from 3.9%

in 2009 to 4.4% in 2010 (Potter et al., 2010) In

order to become more efficient and effective in

delivering products and services to customers

via the use of ICT, many hospitality and tourism

organizations have started to rethink the ways in

which they build relationships with their

custom-ers by initiating electronic customer relationship

management (eCRM) projects (Jang et al., 2006;

Singala, 2008) According to Karakostas et al

(2005), a 5% increase in customer retention can

result in an 18% reduction in operating costs

Although there have been widespread

agree-ment that CRM/eCRM has a direct and indirect

impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, sales and

profit, key issues in the implementation of eCRM

have not been well researched (Feinberg et al.,

2002) It has been reported that stalled or failed

CRM projects are often the result of organizations

lacking a thorough understanding of what CRM

initiatives and implementation entail (Chen and

Popovich, 2003; Hendricks et al., 2007;

Krigs-man, 2009) Moreover, many studies reported that

CRM implementations do not return the expected

ROI (Foley, 2002) For example, CRM failure

rates conducted by various research institutions

(e.g Gartner, Bulter, AMR, Forrester Research)

between 2001 and 2009 varied widely, ranging

from 18% to 70% (Krigsman, 2009) CRM ranked

in the bottom three categories among 25 popular

tools evaluated for customer satisfaction in a Bain

& Company survey of 451 senior executives in

2001 (Mello, 2002)

The high eCRM/CRM failure rate might be

due to the fact that senior management tends

to be myopic when considering their ICT

deci-sions (Ernst and Young, 1999) Needless to say, providing good pre-decision information to senior managers becomes critical as inaccurate evaluation processes may reward and encourage suboptimal ICT investment projects (Rose et al., 2004) Thus, there is a need to identify potential risk factors and key issues for the implementation

of eCRM so as to offer management with a more realistic insight about the impact of their invest-ment on their business Therefore, case study was conducted to: (1) identify potential ICT costs and risk factors involved in eCRM initiatives in general; and (2) identify and examine key issues

in the implementation of eCRM in the Australian hospitality and tourism sector

This chapter first reviews relevant literature with respect to history and characteristics of CRM/eCRM The literature review section also presents some important factors to consider before implementing eCRM as well as difficulties and challenges in identifying relevant eCRM costs and risk factors Key findings and issues from the case studies are then presented The chapter examines these findings and issues in light of these hospital-ity and tourism organizations’ eCRM implementa-tion and management practices, and concludes by

a section of discussion and conclusions

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a comprehensive business and marketing strategy that integrates technology, process and business activities around the customer (Anton & Hoeck, 2002) The objectives of a CRM process are to shape customers’ perceptions of the organization and its products through identifying customers, creating customer knowledge and building com-mitted customer relationships (Ragins & Greco, 2003) A well-designed and well-resourced CRM could be used to flag up potential problems and assist in resolving them (Easton & Araujo, 2003)

It is a broad term that has evolved from systems

such as Marketing Information Systems, Database

Marketing, Decision Support Systems, Call Centre

Management, and Transaction Support Systems

and can cover a wide array of technologies and

business processes (Woodcock & Starky, 2001)

CRM is also a term for methodologies, processes,

systems and software that help an organization to

manage customer relationships in an organized

and effective manner (Bernett & Kuhn, 2002)

The aim is to create loyal customers so that the

relationship can flourish over a long period of

time (Kohli et al., 2001)

CRM software vendors seem to use the word

indiscriminately to refer to any system that

fa-cilitates ‘better’ relationships with its customers

This can be at a number of levels, ranging from

facilitated transactions, higher retention rates,

bet-ter marketing, and lower transaction and service

costs It is emerging as an important technology

tool that is used by many businesses as a way to

maximize existing business models, create new

revenue streams, and increase new growth in

existing markets (EPS, 2001) Traditionally, a set

of CRM software and systems is generally

imple-mented to support organizational functions by: (a)

analyzing customer data gathered throughout the

business; (b) automating and streamlining sales

and customer support functions; (c) managing the

flow of information in and out of the centers that

handle customer transactions; and (d) planning

and managing marketing and sales strategies and

campaigns (CIO, 2000)

Several researchers have attempted to define

CRM For example, Nargundkar and Srivastava

(2002) have defined CRM as a process which

can span end-to-end operations thus integrating

all relationships from suppliers to the consumers

and each business entity in this value chain can

be viewed as the preceding business’s customer,

transforming the value chain into a chain of

customers Similarly, Goodhue et al (2002) have

defined CRM as an “application or initiative

designed to help an organization optimize

interac-tions with customers, suppliers, or prospects via one or more touch points – such as a call center, sales person, distributor, store, branch office, Web,

or e-mail – for the purpose of acquiring, retaining,

or cross-selling customers” while Kim et al (2003) have described it as a managerial tool or effort to

“manage business interactions with customers by combining business processes and technologies that seek to understand a company’s customers.” Chen and Ching (2004) have pointed out that a CRM is an ICT process or methodology that helps

an organization to retain customers in order to “to enhance the effectiveness of relationship market-ing practices “On the other hand, du Plessis and Boon (2004) have defined CRM as “the building and managing of customer relationships on an organizational level through understanding, an-ticipating and managing of customer needs, based

on knowledge gained of the customer, to increase organizational effectiveness and efficiency and thereby increasing profitability.”

Furthermore, Zablah et al (2004) have stated that CRM is a continuous process that “involves the development and leveraging of market intel-ligence for the purpose of building and maintain-ing a profit-maximizing portfolio of customer relationships.” Effective CRM implementation

is assumed to lead to bottom line benefits for the organization (Tschohl, 2001; Wilson et al., 2007)

It has been found that eCRM implementation forts by organizations correlate with the perceived degree of eCRM received from the organiza-tion and this can often translate into customer’s loyalty (Lee-Kelley et al., 2003) The goal of CRM is to optimize revenue, profitability, and customer satisfaction by organizing the business’s processes toward providing high quality service

ef-to the cusef-tomer (Bernett & Kuhn, 2002) A good understanding of the business’s CRM strategy is important as a guiding framework in all stages

of the development and implementation of a ganizational customer-centric business strategy that encompasses all activities of the organization (Nargundkar & Srivastava, 2002; Tan et al., 2002)

or-History of eCRM

The development of CRM applications began in

the early 1990s (Bernett & Kuhn, 2002) The first

generation of applications was single-functions

solutions designed to support a specific set of

em-ployees such as a helpdesk, the sales, and

market-ing departments The second generation of CRM

applications began to increase the functionality

of the software to include a suite of interoperable

modules that included marketing, sales, analytics,

customer service, and call centre support functions

The goal was to enable corporate employees to

provide a full range services to customers by using

a common set of CRM-integrated databases and

third-party applications (Bernett & Kuhn, 2002)

In recent years, CRM has shifted more into the

forefront of ICT spending as the percentage of IT

budgets spent on specific business and technology

initiatives increases (Sechrest, 2003) Advances in

IT have provided businesses with an opportunity

to deliver CRM functions more effectively The

use of such technologies to deliver CRM has lead

to the emergence of electronic customer

relation-ship management (eCRM) and specialist software

vendors in the marketplace This new generation

of customer relationship management products

is called eCRM because it supports the multiple

electronic channels that are now available to

customers (Bernett & Kuhn, 2002) The “e” is

usually dropped when speaking about eCRM when

it refers to CRM that has technology-facilitated

interfaces with customers in a broad electronic

commerce context which goes beyond the web

(Chen & Chen, 2004) It is commonly referred to

as one element of CRM that specifically focuses

on “new digital channels of communication (web

and wireless) and uses the web to create a holistic

approach to internal and external

communica-tion” (EPS, 2001) or as a collection of methods

and techniques which are adopted to “capture,

retain, analyze, and productively utilize

informa-tion about customers (or potential customers) for

the purposes of pre-sales support, making sales

and arranging delivery, and providing post-sales support” (Steinmueller, 2002)

In addition, eCRM is capable of extending the traditional CRM methods and techniques by “in-tegrating technologies of new electronic channels, such as Web, wireless, and voice technologies, and combines them with e-business applications into the overall enterprise CRM strategy” (Pan and Lee, 2003) and the source of customer data is normally “collected from the customer interactions with the Web and Internet-based systems” (Kara-kostas et al., 2005) Moreover, it usually involves

a “combination of hardware, software, processes, applications, and management commitment” (Fjermestad & Romano, 2003) Hence, eCRM

is generally considered to be a subset of CRM, meaning that eCRM is one more channel through which an organization can deploy its customer relationship management strategy (Dyche, 2001) eCRM differs from CRM is three important ways

as it: (1) includes email, wireless channels, and web; (2) supports marketing, sales and service, and is often integrated with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems; and (3) is enterprise-ready rather than focused on departments or call centers and extends to cover partner channels such as extranets (Dyche, 2001; EPS, 2001; Pan

& Lee, 2003)

Characteristics of eCRM

eCRM is essentially database technologies, offers opportunities for interaction with the customer and for records to be kept of this interaction, and has the potential for mass customization for customers (McKay & Marshall, 2004) It also allows organizations to learn more about their customers through acquisition and analysis of customer data as well as to customize their prod-ucts and services in order to satisfy the needs of their customers (Moon, 2000) In general, eCRM falls into three main types: operational, analytical and collaborative (Fjermestad & Romano, 2003; Hewson Consulting, 2000)

Operational eCRM is concerned with the

cus-tomer touch points such as automating sales force

while the analytical eCRM requires technology

to process large amounts of customer data and to

analyze customer data (Fjermestad & Romano,

2003; Sigala, 2004) Collaborative eCRM is a

business model based upon an enterprise

architec-ture designed to meet organizations’ complex and

dynamic environment and it focuses on creating

a real-time eCRM infrastructure for enterprise

sales, service, marketing, and product

develop-ment to better support customer requiredevelop-ments

(eBest, 2003) In the long run, analytical eCRM,

operational eCRM, and collaborative eCRM will

move closer together to overcome the complexities

and breadth of components required in order to

collect better customer data to improve the

qual-ity of customer service, and, as a result, increase

customer satisfaction and loyalty Disconnects

between analytics and operations may result in

negative customer experience and the loss of

op-portunities for the organizations Nelson (2001)

described that 75% of customers who defect to

a competitor claim that they were satisfied with

the organization from which they have defected

eCRM can also be classified into four types

(Karimi et al., 2001): (1) customer focused eCRM

businesses – these systems enable organizations

to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of

customer service, marketing online sales by

automation; (2) operations focused eCRM

busi-nesses – these systems benefit organizations in

supply chain management, order management

and service field by using database information

to forecast demand, reduce overall production

costs and improve lead time/quality at a lower

cost; (3) both operational and customer focused

eCRM businesses; and (4) businesses that do not

focus their eCRM development at either front

Additionally, a well-designed eCRM system

address all the following three important eCRM

components to certain extent: (1) applications;

(2) infrastructure; and (3) transformation

(Good-hue et al., 2002) and shares the following four

distinct characteristics (Zeng et al., 2003): (1) Relationship management – the features include items such as instant service response based on customer input and customer service centers that help customer solve their questions; (2) Salesforce automation – the functions include automation of sales promotion analysis, automatically tracking

a customer’s account history for repeated sales; (3) Use of technology – it includes enabling new technology and skills to deliver value and to merge the information with eCRM solutions, and

to provide key performance indicators; and (4) Opportunity management – the features include the flexibility to manage unpredictable growth and a good forecasting framework to integrate sales history with sales projections

The most popular eCRM applications include database marketing, telephone call centers, and web marketing (Goodhue et al., 2002) Executive approval for these applications are often easier to obtain and the costs and risks are relatively low (Goodhue et al., 2002) Most organizations first implement these applications at the local level

as they are often not ready to integrate all their systems together (Deloitte Consulting, 2003; Ward 2001) According to Ab Hamid (2005), the most popular e-CRM tools used by organizations

to facilitate the provision of customer service are emails and websites containing product reviews

On the other hand, the infrastructure that supports eCRM applications play an important role in suc-cessful implementation of eCRM Needless to say, an organization’s eCRM strategy will only be successful if its infrastructure supports it (Book, 1999) IT infrastructure in electronic commerce initiatives such as eCRM has been shown to be critical to successful implementation (Kumar, 2004; Lewis & Byrd, 2003) The infrastructure has two components: (1) a technical IT infrastructure which is a set of tangible, shared, and physical

IT resources and capabilities; and (2) human IT infrastructure which includes the necessary indi-vidual skills and knowledge required to develop, maintain, and support organizations in their abili-