Information and communication technologies for sustainable tourism (Routledge Advances in Tourism)

www.routledge.com

an informa business

Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew

ROUTLEDGE ADVANCES IN TOURISM

Information and Communication

Technologies for Sustainable

Tourism

Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew

Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Tourism

ISBN 978-0-415-67317-4

,!7IA4B5-ghdbhe!

Information and Communication

Technologies for Sustainable Tourism

Sustainable development is a highly topical issue and is of critical importance to

tourism as the environment is of utmost significance for the continued develop￾ment and prosperity of the industry. There have been numerous texts written on

sustainable tourism and the measures which can be used to mitigate and manage

this, but none have acknowledged Information and Communication Technologies

(ICT) as a mechanism of doing so, despite it being an emerging area of research.

ICT in this context refers to innovative tools which form an integrated system

of software and networked equipment that facilitates data processing, informa￾tion sharing, communication and the ability to search and select from an existing

range of products and services for an organisation’s benefits. Despite the symbi￾otic relationship that exists between ICT and sustainable tourism, there has been

little research into how the use of such technology can be used to make sustainable

tourism development a more workable reality.

This opportune book is the first to provide a focus on the interrelationship of

these two important topics, demonstrating their synergies and providing insight

into a new and innovative approach to managing sustainable tourism development.

It considers the use of technology to reduce the negative impacts of tourism from

both the demand and supply perspectives. The book also provides a critical review

of a range of cutting-edge technologies used by tourists and businesses to assess

their usefulness in managing sustainable tourism development from the macro

to the micro level. It further integrates examples and practical applications to

show how ICT can be an invaluable mechanism in the management of sustainable

tourism development.

This cutting-edge volume provides a wealth of information on an important yet

neglected subject. The book will be invaluable reading for students, researchers,

academics and members of the tourism industry looking for new and innovative

ways of fostering a more sustainable tourism industry.

Alisha Ali is a Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Business Management at Sheffield

Hallam University, UK.

Andrew J. Frew holds the Chair of IT and Tourism and is a Research Profes￾sor in the School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management at Queen Margaret

University, UK.

Routledge Advances in Tourism

Edited by Stephen Page

School for Tourism, Bournemouth University

1. The Sociology of Tourism

Theoretical and empirical

investigations

Edited by Yiorgos Apostolopoulos,

Stella Leivadi and

Andrew Yiannakis

2. Creating Island Resorts

Brian King

3. Destinations

Cultural landscapes of tourism

Edited by Greg Ringer

4. Mediterranean Tourism

Facets of socioeconomic

development and cultural change

Edited by Yiorgos Apostolopoulos,

Lila Leontidou,

Philippos Loukissas

5. Outdoor Recreation

Management

John Pigram and John Jenkins

6. Tourism Development

Edited by Douglas G. Pearce and

Richard W. Butler

7. Tourism and Sustainable

Community Development

Edited by Greg Richards and

Derek Hall

8. Tourism and Political

Boundaries

Dallen J. Timothy

9. Leisure and Tourism

Landscapes

Social and cultural

geographies

Cara Aitchison,

Nicola E. MacLeod and

Stephen J. Shaw

10. Tourism in the Age of

Globalisation

Edited by Salah Wahab and

Chris Cooper

11. Tourism and Gastronomy

Edited by Anne-Mette Hjalager

and Greg Richards

12. New Perspectives in

Caribbean Tourism

Edited by Marcella Daye,

Donna Chambers and

Sherma Roberts

13. The Advanced Econometrics of

Tourism Demand

Haiyan Song, Stephen F. Witt and

Gang Li

14. Tourism in China

Destination, cultures and

communities

Edited by Chris Ryan and

Gu Huimin

15. Sustainable Tourism Futures

Perspectives on systems,

restructuring and innovations

Edited by Stefan Gössling,

C. Michael Hall and

David B. Weaver

16. Advances in Tourism

Destination Marketing

Managing networks

Edited by Metin Kozak,

Juergen Gnoth and

Luisa Andreu

17. Drive Tourism

Trends and emerging

markets

Edited by Bruce Prideaux and

Dean Carson

18. Tourist Customer Service

Satisfaction

An encounter approach

Francis P. Noe, Muzzafer Uysal

and Vincent P. Magnini

19. Mining Heritage Tourism

A global synthesis

Edited by Michael Conlin and

Lee Jolliffe

20. Tourist Experience

Contemporary perspectives

Edited by Richard Sharpley and

Phillip Stone

21. Sustainable Tourism in Rural

Europe

Edited by Donald Macleod and

Steven Gillespie

22. The Critical Turn in Tourism

Studies

Creating an academy of hope

Edited by Nigel Morgan, Irena

Atelkevic and Annette Pritchard

23. Tourism Supply Chain

Management

Haiyan Song

24. Tourism and Retail

Edited by Charles McIntyre

25. International Sports Events

Impacts, experience and identities

Edited by Richard Shipway and

Alan Fyall

26. Cultural Moment in Tourism

Edited by Laurajane Smith,

Emma Waterton and Steve Watson

27. Contemporary Tourist

Experience

Richard Sharpley and Philip

Stone

28. Future Tourism

Political, social and economic

challenges

James Leigh, Craig Webster for

Stanislav Ivanov

29. Information and

Communication Technologies

for Sustainable Tourism

Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew

Forthcoming:

Responsible Tourist Behaviour

Clare Weeden

Human Rights and Global Events

Rebecca Finkel

Tourist Experience and Fulfilment

Insights from positive psychology

Sebastian Filep and Philip Pearce

Information and Communication

Technologies for Sustainable

Tourism

Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew

First published 2013

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

c 2013 Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew

The right of Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew to be identified as

authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance

with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced

or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,

now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,

or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation

without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Ali, Alisha, 1970-Information and communication technologies for sustainable tourism/

Alisha Ali and Andrew J. Frew.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Sustainable tourism. 2. Tourism–Computer network resources.

3. Tourism–Environmental aspects.

I. Frew, Andrew J. II. Title.

G156.5.S87A43 2012

910.285–dc23 2012027616

ISBN: 978-0-415-67317-4 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-07259-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Sunrise Setting Ltd

Contents

List of figures x

List of tables xi

Preface xii

Acknowledgements xiii

Acronyms and abbreviations xiv

1 Introduction to technology and sustainable tourism 1

Background 1

The approach of this book 6

2 Sustainable technologies 10

Introduction 10

Overview of the technologies for sustainable tourism 16

Conclusion 37

3 Destinations and sustainable tourism 39

Introduction 39

Background to sustainable development 39

Sustainable tourism 42

Managing sustainable tourism 46

Destinations 56

Destination management organisations and technology use 59

Technology-enabled sustainable destinations 60

Technologies which can be engaged with by destinations 65

Conclusion 65

4 A business perspective on sustainable tourism 72

Introduction 72

Visitor attractions 73

Transport 77

viii Contents

Accommodation and food and beverage suppliers 81

Conclusion 84

5 Technology-supported supply chain management for

sustainable tourism 85

Introduction 85

Sustainable supply chain management 88

Technologies for tourism supply chain management 92

Conclusion 100

6 Tourist use of technology for sustainable tourism 102

Introduction 102

Motivation 104

Education 104

Certification, labelling and branding 106

Tools, applications and journeys 109

Conclusion 119

7 The value of social media to sustainable tourism 121

Introduction 121

Social media and Web 2.0 122

Web 2.0 characteristics, functions and applications 125

Conclusion 137

8 Influencing factors for technology uptake for sustainable

tourism 139

Introduction 139

Influencing factors 139

Conditions required for implementation 146

Conclusion 152

9 The way forward 153

Introduction 153

The technological environment 155

Sustainable sewers and radiation counters 157

Extra lanes on the superhighway? 158

Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web 159

Access devices and interfaces 161

Artificial intelligence 162

Brain–computer interfaces 162

Biometric and cybernetic interfaces 163

Gesture interfaces 164

Multi-touch interfaces 164

Skin-based interfaces 164

Contents ix

Telepresence 165

Voice control 165

Wearable computing – augmented reality 165

Reflections 166

Conclusion 168

Epilogue 172

Glossary 181

References 197

Index 217

Figures

5.1 Tourism supply chain 87

5.2 The hotelier inspired the design of a travel template which creates

a badge of the carbon footprint of an event to which many people

travel 99

6.1 Florida Green Lodging Program logo 108

6.2 QR code 115

7.1 A meme view of Web 2.0 123

7.2 Web 2.0 conversation prism 124

7.3 Sample word cloud for Chapter 7 133

8.1 Butler’s life cycle of a tourist destination 144

Tables

2.1 Information sources and tools within phases 12

2.2 Some uses of environment management information systems for

sustainable tourism 21

2.3 Capabilities of a geographical information system 23

2.4 Geographical information system applications to sustainable

tourism 24

3.1 A model of sustainable development: principles and objectives 42

3.2 Concepts for managing sustainable tourism development 48

3.3 Collection of ICT-based tools/applications for sustainable tourism

development 66

5.1 Stages in sustainable supply chain management in tourism 90

5.2 Supply chain tools’ uses and benefits 93

5.3 The uses of RFID in the sustainable supply chain 98

7.1 Web 2.0 sites and users 126

8.1 Indicative technologies for aiding sustainable tourism

development 143

9.1 UK broadband statistics 160

Preface

The impetus to produce this text stemmed from our observation that despite the

considerable body of research in the tourism literature focusing on sustainable

tourism development, very little offered pragmatic solutions to how sustainable

tourism can indeed become a workable reality. We contemplated that this might

be accomplished through the use of technology and, indeed, the doctoral research

completed by Alisha Ali was founded on this premise.

The research established that there was little published work on the uses,

applications, values and benefits of using technology for sustainable tourism

development. Despite an acute understanding of the relationship between tourism

and the environment and tourism and technology, there was limited consideration

of how technology can be used to alleviate the challenges faced in sustainable

tourism development. This led to our decision to write this volume, which offers

a starting point in exploring this emerging topic not only for researchers and

students, but also for industry practitioners and policy makers.

The core intention of this text is to provide a heightened understanding of how

technology can be used for sustainable tourism development. Given the organic

nature of the tourism industry, its numerous stakeholders and the rapid develop￾ments in technology, we have attempted to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach.

We tried to paint a representative landscape of technology use in tourism by first

developing an understanding of sustainable tourism, and then drilling down into

the differing applications of technology. Research in this area thus far has been

disparate, and we have drawn on this and other sources of literature to offer a

cohesive picture of how we can implement such technology for sustainable devel￾opment in the tourism industry. Alongside this backdrop, we have used illustrative

examples and case studies where appropriate, provided a glossary for the techni￾cal terms and have raised questions related to each chapter to help the reader in

his/her understanding.

Sustainability and technology are by no means new topics, but in a world where

resources are finite and tourism faces new trials on a daily basis, a new ethos needs

to be adopted for us to think about creative ways to propel the industry forward

ahead of these challenges. The topic of technology use for sustainable tourism

can undoubtedly be idealised; however, research and understanding is integral for

its successful implementation. We hope this text has provided useful insights for

those who would like to engage with this subject.

Acknowledgements

We are deeply indebted to many people who have helped us throughout the process

of producing this text. Alisha would like to thank her family and friends for their

unwavering support and encouragement, and her colleagues at Sheffield Hallam

University. Andy would also like to thank his family for their patience and support;

Nicole Chmura and Mareba Scott, PhD candidates, for their challenging and per￾tinent questions; and last but not least his co-author for her calm encouragement!

Finally, both authors would like to express their deepest thanks to Carol Barber

from Routledge for her unwavering support throughout the course of getting this

manuscript to production.

Acronyms and abbreviations

1G First-generation mobile phone network

2G Second-generation mobile phone network

3G Third-generation mobile phone network

4G Fourth-generation mobile phone network

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber link

API Application programming interface

AR Augmented reality

B2C Business-to-consumer

BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, China

C2C Consumer-to-consumer

CC Carbon calculator

CEA Cumulative effects assessment

CI Community informatics

CIS Community-based information system

COC Code of conduct

CS Computer simulation

DMO Destination management organisation

DMS Destination management systems

DSS Decision support system

EIAS Economic impact analysis software

EIA Environmental impact assessment

EMIS Environment management information system

EMS Environment management system

eWOM Electronic word of mouth

G2C Government-to-consumer

GDP Gross domestic product

GIS Geographical information systems

GPS Global positioning systems

GSM Global system for mobile communications

GSTC Global Sustainable Tourism Council

GTBS Green Travel Business Scheme

GUI Graphical user interface