Tourism Information Technology - Softcover

This book examines the impact of information technologies on all sectors of tourism. Its aim is to analyze the interplay between these two large and rapidly growing phenomena and to describe in detail the applications of computer systems, telecommunications, and other aspects of IT to the transportation, travel intermediary, hospitality and entertainment sectors of tourism. Impacts of the technologies on firms, on the structure of the tourism industry and on the tourists themselves are investigated. Changes in the travel distribution system brought about by information technology and the Internet are part of this investigation. Many chapters conclude with a case example showing how IT can be innovatively used in the industry and the challenges encountered by firms as they utilize information technology. The book will be appropriate reading for students of tourism in colleges and universities, and for students taking courses covering IT applications to service management in business schools. Travel industry managers and information professionals will also find the book of value as a reference and a guide for their own implementation of information systems.

Pauline J. Sheldon PhD is Professor Emerita at the University of Hawai'i's School of Travel Industry Management where she also served as Dean. Currently her research specializes in social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility in tourism, sustainable tourism, knowledge management in tourism, and wellness tourism. Most recently she has published a second edition of her book Tourism Information Technology (CABI publishers) with co-authors Benckendorff and Fesenmaier. In 2008 she won the UNWTO Ulysses prize for contributions to knowledge in sustainable tourism. In 2009 she was recognized with the International Travel and Tourism Research Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2013 received the Hannes Werthner Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Federation for Tourism and Information Technology (IFITT) for her work in tourism information systems. She has been a Visiting Professor at Vienna University of Economics, Institute of Tourism and Leisure Studies, the University of Balearic Islands in Mallorca, Spain, Hue University in Vietnam, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Bond University in Australia where she won the Dean's Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Sheldon has served as President of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism. She co-founded the Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) with Dr. Daniel Fesenmaier; and chaired the BEST Education Network. She has worked with UNWTO, APEC International Center for Sustainable Tourism, and the World Bank. She is also a teacher with the Art of Living Foundation.