Incorporating IT Into Tourism

The importance of Information Technology in tourism, especially of the World Wide Web, has increased tremendously over the past years and this trend will certainly continue. Today, tourism organisations can no longer afford to simply put their brochures on the web. Vyas Sivanand tries to explore a few states that have realised the importance of IT in tourism promotion

Since the evolution of technology, which has significantly changed the very perspective in which life goes on today, it has become imperative for every other business to adapt this system elaborately. Since the past few years, the tourism industry has realised the significance of technology and the role it can play in promoting businesses. Though technology itself is now available to almost everyone, its use alone does not necessarily bring the desired competitive advantage. The integration of IT into the organisational fabric is the key to success.

Going The Web Way

While the entire country is going by the recent web site campaign of 'Incredible India', individual states have also joined the bandwagon aggressively. Among the South Indian states, Kerala has been using the medium in full stream. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have also joined the league and now have a web site of their own. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, has streamlined its implementation and is providing superior solution integrated into its organisational needs and set up. Maharashtra in the west and West Bengal in the east have also started to garner benefits using the Internet. However, even after these efforts, increase in the number of tourists and the revenue has not yet been accounted for. Industry sources feel that in the long term, this would be the only aspect that will reflect the contribution of tourism to a state's economy.

Kerala

B. Suman

Kerala, which is leading the list among tourism promotion and final realisation, has been using the medium quite fervently. D. Suman, director of Kerala Tourism, says, "We have extensively used technology for our tourism promotion activities with the most exhaustive site. We even won the PATA Gold Award for the best e-newsletter. After the tsunami, we even sent about two million e-mails to our customers, clients, and travel agents, etc." Kerala Tourism plans to further increase their space on the Internet by tying-up with other travel sites. "We also ask all our trade partners to offer packages through the Internet during the off-season," Suman adds.

Karnataka

Though Bangalore boasts of being the IT capital of the country, the Karnataka tourism department has only recently tried to use technology for promotion. The department also appointed Triton as their agency for promoting the destination and has been aggressively participating in various trade and road shows all over the world with slick promotional video's and movies. T. Ratnakar, executive (Corporate Communication) at the Department of Tourism, Karnataka, says, "Technology is a vital tool today and the advantage of being in Bangalore will definitely work in our favour. We have already started to use the medium to its optimum."

Tamil Nadu

While other states have started integrating IT into the organisational fabric, Tamil Nadu takes a prominent lead. Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) has been the forerunner in adopting technology to attract tourists. Says Shaktikanta Das, an IAS (Commissioner of Tourism) with the Government of Tamil Nadu and MD at TTDC, "We are the first state tourism corporation to launch online booking. So the tourist can enjoy the luxury of booking TTDC hotels and paying online through a credit card. The use of technology and Internet to woo tourists had in fact won TTDC the prestigious Galileo Express Travel & Tourism award in 2004." Going a step further, the department is in the process of connecting all TTDC hotels and tourist information centers in Tamil Nadu with the rest of India. TTDC has entrusted Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) with the task of networking its 20 offices and 27 information centers across the country through a dedicated WAN (Wide Area Network) connectivity.

Das says, "Online booking has not only generated more revenue from the domestic tourist but also from places like Norway, Finland, UK, USA, etc. It has enhanced our revenues by Rs. 20 lakh and is expected to grow in the coming months." He feels that more tourists are opting for packages and that their inflow has increased after they incorporated technology into tourism promotion. On an average, the year 2004 saw 12 per cent growth in domestic tourist inflow and 18 per cent growth in foreign tourist inflow.

Maharashtra

Bhushan Gagrani

Maharashtra also joined the league when it launched its portal three years ago. Today, it has taken this initiation ahead. Bhushan Gagrani, MD at Maharashtra Tourism, says, "We have developed an exhaustive website, which is maintained by TCS. We now plan to launch the facility of booking resorts online within a month. For this, we have tied-up with ICICI Bank for payment a gateway and the process is currently in the testing stage. Once we are through with the process of setting the payment gateway, we will be able to gauge our growth in financial terms."

West Bengal

The West Bengal tourism department is also planning to take up computerisation and will network their offices located in different districts. The department has reported that it is getting bookings from different parts of the country especially from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and from countries in western Europe and the US. According to S N Bhattacharjee, managing director, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC), Kolkata, "Our department has recently put its services on the net. Online booking is now possible for most of the tourist lodges under WBTDC. One can also book package tours, city guided tours and even river cruises. The project, which costs Rs. 58.51 lakh, has been developed by a subsidiary of WEBEL, the state government's IT company." With every state gearing up for tommorrow using technological advancements to sell their offering to discerning tourists, integration of IT into the organisational setup seems like the only way to go now.

(With inputs from Joy Roy Choudhury, Kolkata & S Nithya Kamakshi, Chennai)