Современные информационные технологии/1.Компьютерная инженерия.

Student Pitsyk T. A.

Assistant Oleshitskaya O.V.

Krivoy Rog Technical University, Ukraine

Use of information technologies (IT) in tourism

At present one of the most and a vitally important problem for managers of any level is use of information technologies in decision development management. Modern level of business progress presents principal new requirements to information services, including provision of sent information rate, its urgency, validity and timeliness of its granting to final user. In sharp competitive fight those organizations survive and achieve success, in which managers have skills to take efficient decisions, using more possibilities, which modern information technologies grant.

Demand for information and information services provide development, spreading and more efficient use of IT. Radically changed take place in control technologies under influence of new information technologies. For instance, processes of motivation and decision making, their execution are automated, qualification and professionalism of specialists, involved into management activity, increase. Penetration of IT into all spheres has not left aside tourism, as economic field, spheres of activity and employment.

Modern technologies of information processes organization are connected, first of all, with use of computer technologies we understand the process, using set of methods and realization facilities of collecting, registration, transmission, accumulation and information processing by means of computer and computer networks for solving management tasks of economic object. Notion “information technologies” refers to the whole transformation of information, including paper information processing on the basis of computer use.

Tourism is global computerized business nowadays. It joins the largest air companies, hotel chains and tourist corporations of the whole world. Modern tourist product becomes more flexible and individual, more attractive and available for user.

Personal computer and the Internet, their accessibility and reliability promote penetration of new information technologies into all spheres of modern society. These technologies are possibly the first in mankind history, providing productivity growth in sphere of services.

Tourism and information are indivisible:

· trip decision is taken on basis of information;

· tour itself at the moment of buying is only information too;

· all participants of tourist market exchange information hundred times a day.

This means, you should know how to work with information, collect it, process and take on its basis the only sound decision. Local Tourist Systems help us solving these tasks. Therefore development of IT in tourism must be one of priority tasks for our country.

In spite of the fact that many travel agencies are still skeptical to the Internet, pluses of using this computer network become more and more obvious. Ukrainian travel agencies, connected to the Internet, have already estimated its information possibilities. The Internet offers large number of information necessary for tourist agency work (from hotels addresses and flights schedules to visa and customs rules and special offers of Russian and foreign tour operators). Volume of information impresses as well (from price-lists to the whole catalogues).

So, according to opinion of the director of London travel agency “Comet Travel”, information e-mailing to 2000 agencies addresses saves now about $5000. Moreover, information in the Internet is available to users (agencies or clients) 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Cheap phone calls and e-mail is another important advantage of the Internet. According to many experts, exactly this factor will become determinant for clients and other travel agencies attraction to the Internet in the nearest future. It is not a secret that even average travel agencies spend monthly several thousands of dollars on long-distance and international calls. Available Internet programs, for example Cool Talk, allow talking to any place of the world under the price of only several cents a minute that is 5-10 times cheaper than traditional calls. Also many agencies working in the Internet prefer fax mailing to traditional paper mailing because it is cheaper, quicker and more convenient.

Tourism in Ukraine is one of the most perspective and quickly developing industries. Constraint for its qualitative growth is low information literacy and weak communications. However, there are ready decisions on business processes automation and Internet connection for successful use in Ukrainian tourism.

Management, personnel and automation are factors which will give to the company a chance to overcome competitiveness and make progress. Using advantages of computer technologies, modern tourist company works successfully today, laying foundation for future prosperity.

Information technologies system, used in tourism, consists of looking computer system, system of conferences conducting, management information systems, electronic information systems of airlines, electronic money transferring, telephone networks, etc. Consequently, we deal with integrated system of information technologies, which is being spread in tourism. It is possible to mark out the following stages of automation:

· office organizational technologies (telephone, fax, xerox);

· computer with standard software (for instance, Microsoft Office);

· specialized software named BackOffice, its connection with global reservation systems;

· own Internet-shops.

One of the leading systems of reservation is system Galileo. It was the first system provided agencies with Windows – version of reservation system. Program Premier allows agencies full work automation on client servicing. For example, control database, create own screen forms and menu, save the most frequently repeated requests, etc.

Tours became recently the most popular tourist service, which can be booked on-line. Some tourist firms permit their clients to form tour according to clients’ desires on-line: to choose time, hotel, and kind of trip, board and extra services. Practically use of IT in tourist business is being effectively improved and accelerated. There is classical scheme of tourist circulation (systems of economic and legal relations, which appear between tourist and tourist industry and show direction of tourist flows, tourist product, investments into tourism development and inpayments to the budget from tourist activity incomes).

Scheme of tourist circulation

According to the scheme of tourist circulation, tourist services include several steps from their direct producers to consumer. They are: tourist services producer → tourist operator → tourist agent → tourist. When releasing tourist services on-line, you don’t need any middlemen, because one tourist operator has corresponding contracts with tourist services producers. By means of the Internet tourist operator has possibility to give full information about its tourist products to the consumer and sell him services without any middlemen. In this case tourist operator is simultaneously tourist agent and chain of tourist services realization looks like: tourist services producers → tourist operator (he is tourist agent at the same time) → tourist. This allows decreasing expenses on tourist agents’ services.

Thus, use of modern IT can make tourist business more dynamic; increase tourist amount arriving in Ukraine, raise incomes of Ukrainian economy from entry tourism.

Literature:

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2. Папирян Г. А. «Международные экономические отношения: маркетинг в туризме.» – М.: Финансы и статистика, 2001.

3. Плотникова Н.И. «Комплексная автоматизация туристского бизнеса. Информационные технологии в турфирме.» – М.: Советский спорт, 2000.

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