Contemporary Management Approaches to the Global Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Technology as a Panacea for Sector Growth

Introduction

The era of brick and mortar, hitherto called the analogue years has given way to the era of digits where everything functions with the touch of a button. From agriculture to banking, health to education, information search to manufacturing; and the hospitality and tourism sector is not left out. Information and communication technologies (ICT) has changed the way businesses are done in contemporary ways. The business environment and their managers have been challenged to think of how to integrate the challenges posed by technology into their business models for competitive advantages. The technology age has led to the movement of virtually all business models to adopt the information economy which is a characteristic of digitalization. Suffice to state that ICT is a combination of different terminologies which consists of both simple and complex features. For example, cell phone applications (phone calls), internet (wireless and cable network), geographical positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), digital radio, and convergence (media, voice and data). These modern technologies have and are constantly disrupting the market space, creating a huge competition among traditional tourism experts as well investors. These disruptions have however created an avenue for new market entrants to competitively tap into the tourism sphere for opportunities exploration than ever before. Both traditional and market disrupters have agreed that ICT has aided the growth this sector by creating a global audience, available market information, conducting electronic businesses which has increased the economic efficiency, (Kayode-Adedeji and Agwu, 2015). The present business environment is classified as the fast and efficient age between tourism consumers, tourism developers and tourisms agents of distribution. The dependency on information has made the industry a pivotal and indispensable part of the economy, thereby placing at the fore in search of ICT models that will aid its effectiveness (Mason & Milne, 2002). The adoption of business to business (B2B) and business to consumers (B2C) has made the industry adoption of ICT an indispensable part of the business models, and this has shifted the traditional way in which tourism is being practised (O’Connor & Frew, 2002). For tourism suppliers, the challenge is centred on how to develop e-commerce features and products for consumers and finding ways to integrate the advantages to the tourism sector. The pivotal role of ICT is seen in different dimensions in the tourism sectors. Tourism is intangible and ICT offers the opportunities for a descriptive and better representation to consumers before they finally visit the destinations. The roles of ICT in tourism are discussed below: