Group items tagged

This article discusses how the German Town of Herrenberg created a virtual version of itself that will allow to down develop virtual tourism. The reason I view this as a story about Green computer technology is virtual tourism is a very Green environmentally friendly version of tourism. It allows tourist to explore a place with much less environmental footprint. A virtual tourist can explore a town without flying or driving which reduces air pollution. I don't think virtual tourism would replace actual tourism but can allow for the creation of new tourism without the same environmental impact of actual tourism.

This article caught my eye because I think we can relate to the hotel projections for Miami this year. It basically states that everyone wants to be in Miami, and I can see why. I also agree with the topic the article touched up on: Miami is a melting pot. It is, as it states, a "...commercial hub linking the United States to Latin America..." I think that the rising tourism in Miami can help increase revenue and can eventually continue to market Miami is such a positive light. Yes, every city has its flaws but I think Miami will continue to bring in tourists and hopeful residents. 

This article shows the major impact that chinese Social Media giant (qq.com, compared to Twitter) has had on Australian tourism. Chinese visitors are now the second most valuable tourists of Australia, behind New Zealander's. Experts of say that by the year 2020, tourism is expected to increase to one million Chinese tourists annually. Back in 2012 Chinese tourists brought in an estimated $4.2 billion into Australia. An estimated 8 million people shared pictures of Australia's Hamilton Island last year through the relatively new Instagram photo sharing application

Marketing and E-business for tourism industry A good marketing plan is important to the success of businesses. There are several guidelines and ways to use electronic medium to stay competitive. A business has to always take care of the existing customers and their needs without forgetting to attract new customers. Tourists are using internet to shop for new destinations so an online presence is very important for consumers so they will be able to find out information about the business. There are several guidelines to consider: * Promptness people expect to get a response within a reasonable time. * Quality means that your website should be able to compete with other websites on the internet and this means that it should have good quality photographs and professional tone to the websites. * Consistency means a good consumer service and a professional image. There are many ways to promote services online: email newsletters and promotion, building traffic by working with other websites, offer deals, get involved in discussion sites about the industry you are in. During an off season bookings, simplicity of booking should be a priority. Tourism operators should join travel and tourism "mall" to offer their products and host their site and use these low cost services. Companies can also promote their products online by offering auction style sales that helps consumers have some kind of control over the prices of the different services in tourism. One of the perks of online shopping for travel services is the price transparency and the fact that costumers have choices of different prices in front of them. Company should Increase a web marketing pull by offering different services and also advertising with other companies. Promote and minimize the costs of the services by adding "do-it-yourself" features. A list such as: A FAQ, maps of location of other area attractions and local guides for rental outlets. To improve the way you market your products and

On January 2012, President Obama announced an executive order that would allow travelers from Brazil and China to receive travel VISA faster than before. A study from Huffington Post.com showed that on 2010 Brazilians spent $5,400 per visit, more than any other tourist. This executive order will help increase tourism travel across the nation that will help the economy. The order will help the travel industry, retail and housing. The property that I work at Walt Disney World hosts the majority of Brazilians that visit Walt Disney World. You can spend eight hours in our lobby in the afternoon, and you can experience the amount of money Brazilian guests spend on shopping inside and outside Walt Disney World. Stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart are the most popular; online shopping has also become very favorable for guests. During the summer season, the hotel processed over 6,000 packages received from Amazon.com and other online stores that were purchased prior to arrival. It is amazing to see the items received and how much luggage guests take with them. With this economic boost, more job creations will occur. The most popular US cities visited by Brazilians are New York City, Las Vegas and Orlando (http://www.traveltobrazil.org/post/20-most-visited-places-by-brazilians-in-brazil-and-abroad.html).

Touristlink is new online network that has been created as a means to connect tourists with other tourists as well as experts in the travel and tourism field. This type of network allows users to access the entire website by connecting them with travel agents, hoteliers, tour guides and many other people from all over the world. I personally believe that the Touristlink network facilitates planning a vacation because it centralizes all of the travelers questions and concerns to one particular location. It also puts the traveler in contact with the right people for planning a vacation.

Visit Florida has announced they are coming out with a new, free certificate and training for hospitality employees. Due to the increase in Florida tourism, they will launch this new program to hopefully keep more tourists coming back because of the remarkable hospitality they received. Tourism is up from 2012 and they feel 2014 will surpass 2013, which the state welcomed 93.7 million visitors. That being said, this is a great opportunity for our industry. This will open so many doors for event planners and other hotel positions to help with the increasing tourism and being able to cater to their needs.

In today's society, going green is become more and more important. Especially in the hospitality industry, companies are looking for ways to save a dollar and be more energy efficient. Same thing goes for cruise lines. With so many tourists traveling by ship every year, it is important for these cruise corporations to follow regulations and set their own standards for upholding the law. So far the leader of the pack, Royal Caribbean, has qualified for certifications. They have their staff trained in the company's Environmental Management System. Holland America, Celebrity, Norwegian, and Costa are also following suit by implementing their own green initiatives. 

Face of consumerism through e-commerce has radically changed in the last few years. Buying or selling through Internet and online shops depending on websites, has become an ordinary part of consumer life today. Higher expectations, less tolerance, more demanding and choosy customers are becoming more common. 

With the development of society, economy as well as technology, customers are becoming more powerful, they have higher expectations, less tolerance, more demanding. In this situation, high quality and professional E-Commerce is needed in more fields. E-commerce solutions are varied, which provide the buyers, sellers, providers more opportunities to run business activities efficient. Revolutionary changes have occurred in tourism and hospitality industry by E-Commerce. In recently years, more agents and organization make the applying of E-Commerce as one important choice to be outstanding. It owns many valuable advantages. It facilitates agent access to market and minimizes the financial information leakage. It provides any agents chances to connect market all over the world. When travelers arrival the destinations, they need huge information, service, facilities, market cash and so on, which all can be obtained by internet. And also, for Hospitality industry, it develops economies, improves trade competitiveness, expands scope and arena, and facilitates people to have direct access to the marketing destinations. What is more, it monitors, evaluates, creates faster transactions by the flexible web services. Thus all the process can be created, facilitated, and monitored by E-Commerce. Absolutely, there are also many disadvantages in E-Commerce. Some information in it may be incorrect or unnecessary. People give important information via internet, so the security problems can't be avoided at any time. If over population come to the destinations, customers may not satisfy the service or the local nature may be damaged. Hospitality industry has to be thoroughly aware of its problems.

This article tackles what E-commerce is in relation to businesses all of the world in the modern day but especially what is occurring in the hospitality industry. How now a days many people are looking to book travels online and the specificity's they are looking for can be featured through the internet. Through these websites provided by companies bookings could be made directly without a third party making the plans or making payments from customers. What's most interesting about this article is about is how it is self realizing and it also highlights the negatives e-commerce can have with the consumer (i.e. too much information given about a destination). But, it does tie in the end how it is a very positive step forward for all business alike and can create more revenue than before e-commerce existence.

This article talks about "green tourism" and its impact in today's hospitality and tourism industry. Professors from Stanford University, Northwestern, and Hsiuping University of Science and technology in Taiwan speak about the growing demand for modern and sustainable practices from consumers in the 21st century. This is due largely to the harsh impacts felt by global warming, which have began to cause long term damages to tourist areas around the world. These areas include the great barrier reef, the amazon rainforest, and more. In this article green tourism is explained as the new driving force in the hospitality and tourism sector. This new direction is led by the eager demands made by consumers for greener practices and advocacy for environmental awareness. Green tourism includes concepts in every aspect of the industry from hotel sustainability practices, to the efforts of tourists and tourist managers alike, as well as those of tour operators which must all make an equalized effort in conserving local environments and advocate for sustainable measures and solutions.

This article goes into detail on how information technology has grown to a critical level for the success of business operations. Tourism has grown in India to become the largest service industry for the country, providing 6.23% to the national GDP, and providing 8.78% of the total employment. It is estimate that over 5 million annual foreign tourists arrive alongside 562 million domestic tourists. The implementation of this information technology provides a multitude of benefits including reducing costs, enhancing operation efficiency, and improving service quality and customer experience. To list some of these components; The railway, car rental, and bus/coach systems are all computerized and information regarding tourist/passenger transit data is now readily available. Airlines have fully implemented CRS (Computer Reservation System) to help generate higher rates of occupancy and boarding the scope of the market. Though these systems have helped improve the India's economic growth, the current structure of the tourism industry has shown that businesses in the accommodation sector lacked direct access to travelers and consumers. It's thanks to e-business that suppliers have found technological solutions (GDS's) to direct traffic properly. The Ministry of Tourism's Plan channels over half of their budget to the development of destinations, circuits, mega projects as well as rural tourism infrastructure projects. The travel and tourism industry has revolutionized the travel plans and strategies for India, and it's thanks to the embracing of newly developed and effective information technology that has turned operations to running on a new level of efficiency.

Chapter 4 of Global Hospitality and Tourism Management Technologies outlines the diversity that Italy experiences in each of their 20 regions. Advanced technology and tourism behavior trends show how Italy is a perfect example of an evasive environment. In this chapter they illustrate the complexities of southern Italy in Calabria. A tourist would likely visit places like Rome, Milan, Pisa, and Venice, Calabria is not an option when you speak of other places Italy is well known for. Virtual Reality is introduced to be an attractive way to have tourists understand the culture and acquire more information. The chapter concludes by saying the advancement of technology in southern regions (Calabria) can also create tourist loyalty at more lesser known destinations.

The article discussed MGM Grand new security procedures they are taking with their hotel. They will have their elevators modified to only allow guest access to the floors they are in and not other floors. MGM Grand explained no incident has occurred within the hotel as reasoning behind this but it is expected the hotel is implementing this because of past incidents in Vegas. In Vegas there has been a mass shooting in the last years and tourist have been stabbed to death by a suspect who sneaked in to their room. Due to all of these horrible incidents hotels have begun to enhance their security to ensure guest safety. I think having guest access only the floors they are in is a a good way to keep guest safe. This allows strangers from going to the floors or in to guest rooms and creates more limitation to guest floors.

Industry events have been emphasizing the importance of conducting advanced training programs to produce qualified personnel and provide unique services that meet the requirements of travelers and tourists. Greater focus is recommended towards promoting creativity and innovation across the travel and tourism market which is in need of 'travel consultants' rather than just 'ticket clerks,' for example. IT development is playing a vital role across the industry as an effective means to obtain services in a quicker, easier and more reliable manner. Online booking, for one, has received highly positive response from customers and has driven tourism companies and travel agencies to invest in the latest systems and talents to achieve greater customer satisfaction. Bin Mahfouz added that it is vital to adopt advanced IT systems that can support effective and convenient online services. Such systems, he said, promote competitiveness and help meet and exceed customer expectations."Rapid changes and fast-paced digital developments have influenced the Elaf Group of Companies to undertake major investments across the Saudi travel, tourism and hospitality sectors and beyond to keep pace with international developments and resolve competitiveness-driven challenges to reach a wider segment of customers. Some of the areas we are focusing on are the installation of better IT systems, the expansion of our hotel portfolio, and advanced training to enable our personnel to meet the many needs of our customers," said Bin Mahfouz. 

Hotel Citi International is among the top hotels in New Delhi. It provides traditional hospitality with state of the art facilities, conveniently located near business and tourist places in New Delhi.

This article shows the importance of tourism networking. Through networking, people can conveniently share tourism resources and this will also help tourism industry attract more tourists.

POS systems have become a key in the hospitality industry. With these invention the hospitality industry, is able to provide the best and efficient service to their guests. Also, POS systems allows to have the correct information on profit, inventory, etc. In the market, we have hundreds of companies that are competing in providing the best prices and services....

POS systems have revolutionized the Hospitality industry. The deployment of these systems have decreased service times and increased efficiency of the orders.As a result, the hospitality industry is able to provide better and efficient services to their guests. Further, these systems help the hosts differentiate themselves from their competition; thereby increasing their market share and improving their revenues. Moreover, these systems help the industry in managing compliance & regulations into their business practices. Hospitality is the act or practice of reception and entertainment of guests with kind and generous liberality. It is a relationship between a guest and a host. The hospitality industry includes hotels, restaurants ,casinos,catering, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events,and other service for travelers and tourists.

POS systems have revolutionized the Hospitality industry. The deployment of these systems have decreased service times and increased efficiency of the orders.As a result, the hospitality industry is able to provide better and efficient services to their guests. Further, these systems help the hosts differentiate themselves from their competition; thereby increasing their market share and improving their revenues. Moreover, these systems help the industry in managing compliance & regulations into their business practices. Hospitality is the act or practice of reception and entertainment of guests with kind and generous liberality. It is a relationship between a guest and a host. The hospitality industry includes hotels, restaurants ,casinos,catering, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events,and other service for travelers and tourists.

Long term financing in hospitality is often done for a period of more than one year. Such financing will have good impacts on hospitality industry like renewing its equipments and meeting operating costs with smooth cash flow. Therefore it is a cost-effective way to help hotels during their tough times in accounting and cash problems. Like we learned in accounting and financing classes, ratio analysis is the best  method to analyze finance in a hotel, which compares the current ratio with the past in order to make feasible investments in the future. What's more, long term financing in hotel industry gives lots of investment potentials. For example, by investing new sectors in F&B as well as accommodation, the job opportunity has also been increased. Besides the investments in hotels, hospitality investment also includes in airlines, cruise lines and tourism bureaus which can also bring profits. So long term financing help hospitality industry make a successful goal with experience and cost effective strategic plan in order to attract more and more tourists as well as guests.

I didn't agree with the pricing method of examining the past and the prices. What for? Prices, consumers wants and needs along with products constantly change. It's an unpredictable market at times. So examining the history would be a waste of time, the only thing you could possibly get from this would be to see how much your costs have gone up in recent years and plain your profit margins accordingly. But you can do this with out having to manage your previous records and histroy. You could just look at any expense report and go from there

South Florida can relax and breathe easy because this summer's outlook is encouraging, because our fellow Floridians are likely to 'come on down' for their vacations this year. The favorable indicators are a combination of an improved economy and low(er) gas prices. The good news doesn't stop there either as international tourism has been noted on the increase as well! One 162-room hotel in Delray Beach anticipates up to 60% Floridians this summer, as well as South Americans enjoying the benefits of their growing economies. "Advance bookings … are up by 50 %" for US tourists and an additional 20% for foreign visitors at a Ft Lauderdale resort, which reports over 90% occupancy booked for July. The owner comments that advance bookings over 15% is considered good, so the 2012 outlook is definitely a boon for the South Florida tourism industry. He plans to increase rates as well, for an added extra shot in the arm to the local economy. With local family members working hospitality jobs, I been hearing for years how they might as well take off of work during the summer due to the low number of tourists, and that those who do visit are very stingy on their purchases and gratuities; all a reflection of the US and worldwide economies' downhill spiral since 9-11. Florida has been taking ongoing hits to its tourism dollars since then exacerbated by the 2009 recession and the BP oil spill in 2010. Only last year did the annual summer slump tentatively raise its sleepy head and squint towards a light at the end of the tunnel. South Florida hotels had an increased in occupancy from 50 - 63%, and were able to charge up to 6% increase in rates, according to Smith Travel Research. With this winters long awaited tourism bonanza this year, the 'Snowbird' season is happily back again in full force, so that industry professionals can go back to business as usual now that summer is also expected to be lucrative. Happy Summer!

Enjoy: Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmRMLILaW3o&feature=colike