The first book to cover the issue of Information Communication Technologies, business strategy and tourism from a strategic perspective has been written by Dr Dimitios Buhalis, course director for the MSc in eTourism and Director, Centre of eTourism Research (CeTR) at the school of Management, University of Surrey.

The book establishes a basic level of understanding of the new technologies driving change, the main strategic management choices and the generic impacts of ICTs on strategic management. Then is explores the relationships between tourism and ICTs from a strategic management perspective for each sector of the tourism and hospitality industry. The book is written mainly for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students in business, tourism and hospitality programmes who need to explore how they can use ICTs in a strategic context.

Speaking about his book, Dr Buhalis said "this work provides a comprehensive analysis of how tourism, travel and hospitality organisations can use ICTs strategically for achieving competitive advantage. It incorporates years of research on this area as well as a synthesis of the most up to date theories and practice. The book emphasises the strategic dimension and focus on the long term strategies and benefits for both individual tourism organisations and destinations. Therefore the book will be valuable for both University students and lecturers as well as industry professionals".

The book is published by Pearson (Financial Times / Prentice Hall).
ISBN no. 0582357403
It is available from: http://www.pearsoneduc.com/book.asp?prodID=100000000003766&d=LT
and the University of Surrey Bookshop.
 

The e-Tourism Europe Conference and Exhibition, on 7th and 8th October 2002 in Amsterdam, was attended by Dr Dimitrios Buhalis of the School of Management. Dr Buhalis, course leader of the MSc in eTourism, was a keynote speaker in the debate , 'Partnerships within a destination - DMOs, tourism providers and intermediaries - how can they work together online?'. More eTourism topics will be debated at the School of Management in the 2nd eTourism Futures Forum on 31st March / 1st April 2003.
 

Exploring the Information Communication Technologies Revolution and Visioning the Future for the Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Industries
Monday 31st March and Tuesday 1st April 2003

The Forum aims to bring together leading professionals and academics with researchers and eTourism students in order to visualise the future of tourism, travel and hospitality organisations and to explore factors for innovation and success. This Forum also aims to bring together leading professionals and academics with researchers and eTourism students in order to visualise the future of tourism, travel and hospitality organisations and to explore factors for innovation and success. Keynote speakers will be from leading eTourism companies such as Tiscover, Lastminute.com, Welcome Holidays, Equinis, TTI, English Tourism Council, Anite Travel Systems, British Airways and Sabre.
 

Taking advantage of mobile technologies for Tourism Management
School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Wednesday 7th May 2003

This seminar will explore the requirements for the successful mTourism Organisations and Destinations of the future. The emergence of mobile technologies will enable tourism organisations to promote their products through mobile devices and to provide location-based services. Mobile technologies gradually enable Internet access across mobile platforms and solutions, including SMS, MMS, GPRS, UMTS and GPS. The provides a whole range of new opportunities and challenges for tourism organisations and destinations to develop mobile (m)Commerce. Keynote speakers will include some of the leaders from eTourism companies including executives from Orange, Hutchison3g, m-ToGuide, Tiscover, Lastminute.com, Desticorp and World.net.
 

The School will be represented at the Surrey Tourism Group Forum held at the H.G. Wells Conference Centre in Woking on 16 November. This meeting is concentrating on the missing link and examines transportation and technology as a linkage between consumers and tourism suppliers. Amongst the topics included in the forum will be, "Stars of the silver screen" - The future of destination promotion, and "Overseas and far away" - Connecting you with your overseas visitors. Within this framework, MSc in eTourism Course Leader Dr Dimitrios Buhalis will look at the development of ICT in destination management and promotion and explore future trends for small operations and organisations.
 

The School was represented at the www.eyefortravel.com eTourism 2001 conference in Amsterdam, 15-16 October 2001. The conference attracted 120 European delegates and some of the leaders of the eTourism companies in Europe including executives from eBookers, Expedia, Travelocity, Worldnet.com, Tiscorer, Integra, holland.com and BTA.

Dr Dimitrios Buhalis provided an industry analysis to the attendees and discussed major trends and challenges. He also had the opportunity to promote the MSc in eTourism as well as the School's eTourism Research. Thanks to a generous scholarship provided by eyefortravel.com, ten of the MSc eTourism students were also invited and attended the event, networking with industry leaders.