The Importance of the Tourism Industry for Malaysia

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the overview of the research that will be conducted. The background, research problems, research objectives, research questions, limitation of the research and significance of the research are briefly stated. Therefore, this chapter aims to answer why there is a need to conduct the research in the following topic and the importance of the findings of the research to parties involved in the research.

Background of the Study

Tourism is an information intense processing industry where the supply chain activities are dependent to the information technology to promote tour and travel packages, to process air ticket reservations, hotel reservations, to communicate between suppliers and intermediaries as well as to gather information about the customers (Poon, 2011; Sheldon, 2010; Inkpen, 2010; Schertler, 2009;). Information technologies, especially the Internet, have substantially changed the playing field for tourism stakeholders, providing new challenges and opportunities. Furthermore, consumers are getting IT sophisticated and rely deeply on information technology such as the Internet to search for travelling packages and interesting places to visit around the world (Buhalis, 2008). The information technology advancement has been proved to offer more advantages to tourism enterprise in order to provide flexible, specialised, accessible and interactive products to the customers (Hojeghan & Esfarangeh, 2011). Furthermore, Grant & Royle (2011) indicated that apart from increasing the ability of tourism enterprises to respond to challenges in timely manner, IT also facilitates competitive advantages by adding value to the tourism services. As such, not only the quality and quantity of...

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...hich represents the total currency value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period (Indexmundi.com, 2013).

4. Global Distribution System (GDS) – a network operated by a company that enables automated transactions between vendors and booking agents to provide services such as ticketing, hoteling and travelling information to end consumers (Buhalis, 2008).

5. Computerized Reservation System (CRS) – an electronic system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to travelling needs usually in travel agencies (Buhalis, 2008).

6. Strategic Planning – a management tool that assist an organization focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working towards the same goals and to adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment (National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, 2013).