Tourists or Terrorists? Tourism's Takeover of the Internet

Paul Weeks, Centre for Tourism, Southern Cross University, P. O. Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia. Phone: +61 66 203930 Fax: +61 66 222208 Email: pweeks@scu.edu.au Centre for Tourism Home Page

Abstract

This paper gives a general background on the state of play concerning the involvement of tourism industries on the Internet. The paper will examine various aspects of interaction between tourism industries (one of the largest users of the 'Net) and the Internet. Whilst there is evidence to suggest that sites relating to tourism industries are increasing at an alarming rate, the quality and 'usability' of these sites are often questionable. Once virtual reality appeared to be the province of the next generation tourist. Now, it seems, virtual reality has taken a back seat to the tourist, or 'terroritst' (a euphemistic title given to tourists by those working in thetourism and hospitality industries!) meandering the Superhighway in search of interesting, informative and useful sites, making bookings for airline flights, hotel stays and making decisions about where to travel and what to see; all this from industries that were reticent to use computer technology.

Keywords

Tourism, Hotels, Marketing, Virtual Brochures

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AusWeb96 Second Australian World Wide Web Conference, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia. Email: "ausweb96@scu.edu.au"