How ICT assist Tourism & Hotel industry

ICT has beyond doubts made huge contribution to the development of hospitality and tourism services. Due to the advancement in technology, the fierce competition and also due to the complexity of the hospitality and tourism markets, organizations from all over the world now depend almost on the use of ICT to plan, manage and market their services. There was a time when organizations would depend on using effective BPOs also known as call-centres to reach out to the consumers, but now the use of the internet has changed the whole scenario. Organizations have now integrated their system with ICT tools such as GDS, CRS, PMS, DMS etc to facilitate in the overall management and marketing of services especially in the hospitality and tourism industry.

For a country like Singapore, where hospitality and tourism is one of the major industries, the use of ICT tools to support and facilitate the industry can be explained and justified with many examples. One of the many examples is,

IDA's programmes in Singapore

 In the area of Tourism, Hospitality and Retail (THR), these programmes will focus on improving the experience of visitors to Singapore, and enhancing the competitiveness of the companies in the sector through the use of infocomm. The aim is for visitors to enjoy personalised and seamless experience; and on the supply side, for the companies in the sector to be closely linked by technology, sharing data and information seamlessly. While infocomm will not replace the need for human interaction in the sector, it can help companies become more efficient and productive, allowing them to focus on providing the best value and service to their customers. One of the key programmes is, the Digital Concierge programme which aims to better address visitors' needs through a personalised information service that allows a visitor to access tourism-related content and services on his mobile device and through other channels, such as the Internet or interactive television. Every visitor will have his own "personal concierge", with access to information anywhere, anytime.

With such enhancements not only help the relation of the hotels with its consumers but also improve the efficiency and accessibility of the hotel services and reservations with a touch of a finger! Helping both the economy and hotels to generate more revenue and stay competitive!