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Travel and TourismTravel and Tourism
Daniel R. Fesenmaier,University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Ulrike Gretzel,University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Yeong-Hyeon Hwang,University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Youcheng Wang,University of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignIntroduction 459
The Travel and Tourism Industry 460
Structure of the Industry and the Role of
Information Technologies 460
Emerging Marketing and Management
Strategies 463
Travelers and the Internet 464
Preconsumption 465
During Consumption 467
Postconsumption 467
Impacts of Internet Technology on Travel
Behavior 468
Travel and Tourism Futures 469
Trend #1. The Continuing Speed and
Sophistication of Information Technology 469Trend #2. Continuing Growth in the Use and
Uses of Information Technology in Tourism 469
Trend #3. Changing Forms of Information
Technology as a Medium for
Communication 470
Trend #4. Emergence of a New Tourism
Consumer 471
Trend #5. Emergence of Experience as the
Foundation for Defining Tourism
Products 471
Future Behavior in Travel 472
Glossary 472
Cross References 473
References 473INTRODUCTION
The travel industry is the world’s largest industry, ex-
ceeding $4.5 trillion in gross output (World Travel and
Tourism Council [WTTC], 2002). Recent reports from the
World Travel and Tourism Council indicate that tourism
employs over 198 million people worldwide, or approx-
imately 7.8% of the global workforce. The emergence of
travel as a significant economic activity began after World
War II as travel became widely accessible to the general
population. As shown in Table 1, very few people traveled
internationally in 1950 as measured by today’s standards.
Yet, from 1950 to 1970, international travel exploded, in-
creasing by more than 550%! This growth in international
travel continued through the 1980s and 1990s to reach
over 450 million visitor arrivals in 2001, representing over
$260 billion (U.S. dollars) in expenditures. Since 1990
international travel has increased over 50%, and for a
number of countries it has grown to be their largest com-
modity in international trade. Indeed, the travel industry
now serves as one of the top three industries for almost
every country worldwide (Goeldner & Ritchie, 2002).
Information technology has played a central role in
the growth and development of the tourism industry. In
the early years of mass global tourism (from the 1950s
to the 1970s), the technology used was largely limited to
computer systems that supported the internal functions of
large operators in the transportation, hotel, and food ser-
vice sectors. Also, a number of central reservation systems
(CRSs) and global distribution systems (GDSs)—Sabre,
Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan—were developed to
enable travel agencies (and other similar intermediaries)
to directly access schedule and pricing information and
to request reservations for clients. These intermediaries
became the primary users of travel information systems,thus providing important links between travelers and
industry players (World Tourism Organization Business
Council [WTOBC], 1999).
During the late 1980s and early 1990s these systems
and the information they contained emerged as impor-
tant strategic tools, enabling system operators such as
American Airlines and Hilton Hotels to grow and success-
fully position themselves within the overall travel mar-
ket. The work of Mayros and Werner (1982) and Wiseman
(1985) describes this significant development in the travel
and tourism industry. An important characteristic of the
growth of these systems was the inclusion of detailed
behavioral information about each customer, including
demographic characteristics, travel history, travel pref-
erences, and responses to marketing/promotional pro-
grams. Armed with this information, existing systems
were significantly enhanced and a variety of new systems
were developed, which provided the basis for the emer-
gence of a number of new approaches for managing
tourism enterprises (Poon, 1993). As a consequence, the
relationships of firms and organizations within the travel
industry changed dramatically, placing emphasis on ob-
taining and distributing customer-related information as
well as expanding strategic relationships in order to more
fully exploit various business opportunities within the
travel value chain.
The success of central reservation systems and global
distribution systems paved the way for the Internet,
enabling the travel and tourism industry to quickly ex-
ploit its many strengths. Indeed, in many ways the In-
ternet is ideal for the travel and tourism industry. As a
communication tool, it is simultaneously business- and
consumer-oriented. The Internet is business-oriented be-
cause it enables businesses to communicate with poten-
tial visitors more easily and efficiently and allows them459