What is Freely Assembled Destination

The push towards networked information and communication technologies (ICT), combined with increased customer expectations, has put extraordinary pressure on the information-centric and service-based tourism industry to include the Internet as a major new marketing channel. To date, most research into the implications of the Internet, especially for small tourism firms, has revealed many individual business barriers in relation to ICT adoption. There is widespread consensus that industry preparedness in terms of ICT and e-business skills and training falls well short of the requirements to operate within a now ICT-driven sector (Braun, 2004; Hollick, 2003). As Evans et al. (2001) have noted, small tourism firms may well remain lost in the electronic marketplace unless they are assisted in the usage of ICT tools and acquire the skills needed to participate in the digital economy. With technological change underpinning a global economy, small tourism firms can take advantage of their geographic concentration to form a virtual tourism network or cluster to develop competitive advantage for tourism their destination. In the context of emerging technologies and related e-business models, this article discusses the role of virtual tourism networks, clustering and value chains for small tourism operators in freely assembled destinations. In discussing destination benefits and barriers surrounding SME clustering and networking, business acumen and business performance are highlighted. It is proposed in this article that successful destination clusters can be created by boosting tourism operator performance, and matching skills and infrastructure with visitor expectations.