Computers—tourism applications

Reports Computers-tourismapplications A .sun/ey of State Tourism Offices (STOs) in the USA and Canada reveals that 84% are currently using in-house computers, with microcomputers the most popular. Pauline Sheldon, Assistant Professor in the School of Travel industry Management, University of Hawaii, describes how new software is most needed for information retrieval for visitors. Research activities such as forecasting, market analysis, and visitor expenditure analysis lend themselves easily to computerization. Information specialists who can adapt generic software to the needs of STOs are found to be most useful. Service bureaux are used mostly for economic and social impact studies and visitor motivation studies. As international tourism continues to grow, more countries are interested in developing tourism as a significant export industry for their economy. To accomplish this, most have established national tourism organization YNTO) which is usually part of a government ministry or agency. The main functions of an NT0 are to develop policy and plans for tourism, to promote the country’s touristic to perform market reresources, search, and sometimes to control or coordinate the private sector involved in offering tourist products. In the USA, the United States Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA) serves that function and in Canada it is Tourism Canada. Many countries, especially the larger ones such as the USA. Canada and Australia, find that planning, promotion, research and control are also needed at the regional or state level. Therefore State Tourism Offices (STOs) have been established to provide these functions. STOs currently exist in all 50 US states, in all seven Canadian provinces and in four US territories. Tourism is one of the top three sources of revenue for 46 of the 50 states, and it is the leading source of revenue in four out of five US territories.’ In the USA, most of these state tourism offices (38) are part of the state government department for commerce and economic development. The remaining ones are either combined with the state parks and

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recreation department (5) or are independent bureaux or agencies (7). Staff sizes vary from five to 151.’ Information processing represents a major part of an STO’s functions. In the research area, many different types of data on visitors and their behaviour patterns must be collected and analysed so that the state or province may understand the significance of tourism to the economy. Examples of these data are visitor counts, visitor expenditure, visitor characteristics, and visitor motivation. Much of this data usually forms the basis of the state’s marketing plan and may also be used by the private sector for marketing purposes. STOs also often assist visitors or potential visitors with information on the destination’s facilities. Without adequate upto-date information the ST0 is unable to perform this function. Another major role of an ST0 is to make plans and projections for the industry. This requires access to historical data as well as appropriate forecasting methodologies. In addition to these diverse functions, the ST0 must perform all of the usual office information processing functions such as payroll, wordprocessing and accounting. There is no question today that computers are improving the efficien-, cy of many of the functions described above. No studies, however, have been performed to date which investigate the degree to which computers are being used to facilitate informa-

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tion processing in STOs in North America. A similar study was performed in Austria which found that only 31% of the tourist offices were using computers.3 This report fills the void by identifying the applications of computers in STOs and the extent of that usage, and gives the results of a survey of STOs in the USA, US Territories and Canada. In addition to determining the current applications of computer technology, the survey also sought to identify the applications that STOs would like to automate but for which they have been unable to find appropriately priced hardware or software. It is hoped that the results will be useful to all regional offices dealing with tourism flows, as well as to computer hardware and software vendors who may wish to develop products for this market.

Methodology In November 19S5, 65 questionnaires were mailed to the directors of the state tourism offices in the USA, US territories and Canada, of which 51 surveys were sent to the USA - one per state and one to Washington DC; seven to the Canadian provinces and the remaining four were sent to the US territories of American Samoa. Guam, Saipan and St. Thomas. From the first mailing we received 42 responses. A second mailing to nonrespondents in January 1986 produced an additional 1-l responses for a total of 56 responses. Even though it was hoped that all STOs would respond. providing a census rather than a sample. the overall response rate of 90% provided a reliable database for analysis. Sample profile The questionnaire requested certain descriptive information about the STOs so that the nature of the offices could be more clearly understood. Information such as the type of organization, the level of funding, and the size of the tourism industry in that state were requested. The results show

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September

1987

Reporrs that 50 of are their

in the

STOs

coming funding

with

from

government.

receive

and

56

organizations

funding

provincial

six

the

public

the

sample all

of

state

or

The remaining from

both

public

private

sources. The annual budgets of the STOs range from less than $1 million to over $9 million with the modal range being between $1 million and $3 million (see Table 1). The size of the tourism industry in

each arrivals

state

as

measured

and annual

visitor

by

annual

expenditure

varies

considerably as Tables 2 and 3 The distributions of both visitor and visitor expenditure appear bimodal, with ‘1-6 million’ and 21 million’ being the two modes annual visitor counts, and ‘$0.5X 10” (US billion)’ and ‘over X lo9 being the two modes in the visitor expenditure categories. The STOs therefore seem to cluster into two categories - those dealing with large numbers of visitors, and those with much smaller numbers. The two distributions are almost identical showing a high correlation between the number of visitor arrivals and visitor expenditure, with the implication that average expenditure per visitor varies little from state to state. Kendall’s correlation coefficient for the two variables number of visitors’ and ‘visitor expenditure’ is 0.67 which is significant at the 1% probability level. Surprisingly, the correlation between the number of visitors to a state and the STO’s budget is low (Kendall‘s coefficient = 0.7_9), as is that between visitor expenditure in the state and the STO’s budget (Kendall’s coefficient = 0.23).

show. counts to be ‘over in the $1.5 $4-$5

Results The questionnaire requested information on whether computers were being used, and if so, on the type of hardware and software being used, It was found that 84% (48 STOs) of the sampled STOs have some kind of in-house computer equipment. The responses to the questions on hardware and software are summarized below. Hardware Not surprisingly,

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the majority

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(75%)

Table 1. Annual budget for STOS.~ Budget (0 x 106) <1 l-3 3-S 5-7 7-9 >9

frequency 7 15 11 0 2 9

Total

52

% 13.5 28.8 21.2 15.4

3.8

17.3 100.0

Note: ‘Ail figures are in US dollars.

of sampled STOs are using microcomputers (PCs). This reflects a general trend in business-computer applications away from the mainframe and minicomputers. Of the offices which own microcomputers, 35% own solely IBM microcomputers, 21% have a combination of IBM and other manufacturers’ equipment, and the remaining 44% own microcomputers solely from other manufacturers. (Wang appears to be the predominant ‘other manufacturer’.) Half of the offices have either one or two microcomputers, with one office using as many as 42 - the average, however, is five microcomputers per STO. Most of the microcomputers have been bought within the last year, with the average time since installation being 1.9 years. This is an indication that most STOs are still at the beginning of the learning curve of applying computer technology to their operations. Minicomputers are less popular than microcomputers, and are currently being used by 12 of the sampled STOs, representing 21% of the total sample. Half of all the minicomputers are IBM and 50% are from other manufacturers. As with microcomputers the purchases have been relatively recent. On the average, they have been installed for 1.9 years, with the oldest installation being three years ago. With the increase in capabilities (speed and storage), and decrease in Table 2. Number province.

of visitors

Frequency 9 13 2 5 7 10

Total

48

1987

Hardware espenditure How much are STOs currently spending on hardware and how much do they plan to spend in the future? The results of the survey revealed a similar bimodal distribution (discussed earlier for both past and future hardware espenditure) to the ones representing the size of the industry. The modal range of computer hardware expenditure for the last five years is ‘$10 OOO$25 000’. The distribution of planned hardware expenditure for 1986 has a modal range of ‘less than SSOOO’ (14 STOs). This range is closely followed by STOs who say they plan to spend

Table 3. Visitor province.”

expenditure

in the

state/

to the state/

Number (x 106) <1 l-6 6-11 11-16 1621 z 21

September

price of microcomputers, it is predicted by many that minicomputers will soon be eclipsed by microcomputers. A total of 15 mainframe computers exist in the sampled STOs representing 27%. This rather large number is somewhat unexpected but can be explained by the fact that some STOs are part of a larger state government agency and therefore utilize the state’s mainframe for their data processing needs. IBM equipment dominates even more with mainframes than with minicomputers or microcomputers, with two thirds of these mainframes manufactured by IBM. As being mainframes represent an older technology it is not surprising to find that the installations were much earlier than for minicomputers and microcomputers. The average age of the mainframes is 3.6 years as opposed to 1.9 years for minicomputers and microcomputers. The purchase of a mainframe computer for an ST0 only makes sense today if it is being used by many other state agencies for highvolume data processing.

% 19.6 28.3 4.3 10.9 15.2 21.7 100.0

Amount (S x 10’) < 0.5 0.5-l .5 1Z-2.5 2.53.5 3.5-4.5 > 4.5

Frequency 9 15 1 6 7 10

Total

48

% 18.8 31.3 2.1 12.5 14.6 20.8 100.0

Note: aAll figures are in US dollars.

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Repom over $20 000 next year (13 STOs). Tables 4 and 5 show this hardware expenditure data. This result seems to imply that STOs are divided into two categories - those spending the equivalent of one or two PCs worth of funds on computer technology, and those making a much more substantive commitment to computer hardware. No significant correlation was found between hardware expenditure and the number of visitors to the state or between hardware expenditure and visitor expenditure. However, the Kendall’s correlation coefficients between ST0 budget and hardware espenditure and ST0 budget and software expenditure for 1986 were found to be 0.32 and 0.37 respectively - both of which are significant at the 1% probability level. Networking Forty two percent of all STOs report that they are involved in some sense with networking their computers to other locations. In many cases the communication network is to mainframes in other state offices. Other applications of networking that the survey revealed are timesharing with a market research agency, sending text to a typesetter, and communicating with regional representatives off site. There is likely to be more growth in networking in the future, as the needs of STOs demand it, and as the technology develops to be more amenable. This is likely to include local area networks within the ST0 as each department acquires its own microcomputer. Software As microcomputers are the most common type of technology in use by STOs today, it is not surprising to see that PC software packages (word-

Table 5. Planned 1666.

hardware

expenditure

Range (S)

Frequency

c5000 5oOc-10000 10000-15000 15 000-20 000 > 20 000

14 7 4 5 13

Total

43

processing, spreadsheets, database managers, etc) are commonly being used. In fact, the wealth of off-theshelf packages for PC technology in many cases makes microcomputers the only cost-effective choice. Table 6 shows a distribution of the use of each of these types of software by State Tourism Offices. The most common application, wordprocessing, is used by 75% of the STOs. Spreadsheets are the second most common application with 50% of STOs using them. Lotus l-2-3 and Multiplan are the most commonly used spreadsheets. Half were using a database management system, making it the third most popular, with D-Base being the most popular package. Statistical packages are used by 20% of the STOs with SPSS and SAS being the most popular. Accounting, forecasting and payroll packages are the least popular type of software application. A possible reason for this is that in many cases these applications are handled by the state’s mainframes or are contracted out to a service bureau. The use of statistical packages and graphics which lend themselves well to the ST0 functions are, surprisingly, not well represented. Table 6 shows that all of the software packages have been purchased within the last two

Table 6. Software applications

Range (t)

in the last five

Frequency

< 10000 10000-25000 25 000-50 000 50000-100000 >lWOOO

1 13 4 a 10

Total

46

260

Wordprocessing Spreadsheet Database Graphics Statistical package Accounting Forecasting Payroll

years, and users are moderately satisfied with them. The past and future expenditure on software again shows the same bimodal distribution as hardware expenditure. Eleven STOs are planning to spend less than 5500 in 1986 and 14 are planning to spend over S5000. Table 7 shows details of past and future software expenditure. As with hardware expenditure, software expenditure does not have a significant correlation with the size of the visitor industry as measured by visitor arrivals and visitor expenditure. Judging by the number of in-house programmers, little software development is carried out in-house. Table 8 shows that 58% of the STOs have no programmers and 29% had just one programmer on their staff. The userfriendliness of much of the packaged software no longer requires a trained programmer. What is increasingly needed by STOs is a person who has the skills to adapt generic software packages and make them fit the specific STO’s requirements. Research activities The most common roles of a state tourism office are to perform research on visitors (characteristics, expenditure, satisfaction, behaviour motivation) to produce forecasts of visitor arrivals, to assist the planning process, to perform economic and social impact studies, and to market the destination. Some STOs also provide information for visitors and potential visitors on the destination’s facilities, and a minority also make reservations at the destination’s facilities. Since many of the above activities lend themselves well to computeriza-

(n = 46).

%

Mean Age (years)

Satisfactiona

No

Usage

36 26 24 11 10 7 4 3

75.0 54.2 50.0 23.0 20.6 14.6 6.3 6.3

1.8 1.7 1.7 1.3 1.7 1.6 0.0 2.0

3.7 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.7 4.0 4.0 4.5

Type Table 4. Hardware expenditure years.

for

Note: ‘Mean rating on a l-5 scale where 1 is dissatisfied and 5 is very satisfied.

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Reports Table 7. Software expenditure Panga (S)

Pest five years

in STOs. Planned 1966

<500 500-l Ocil lOOS2500 25OG5000 >5000

7 5 6 5 12

11 6 4 3 14

Total

33

39

Tabfe 8. Number of programmers.’ Programmers

(No)

frequency

0 1 2 3

%

22 11 2 1 1 1

:

57.9 28.9 5.3 2.6 2.6 2.6

Note: aMean = 0.7; n = 38.

tion, the questionnaire asked the respondent to indicate the degree to which computers are being used for each of 12 activities which cover the above roles (see Table 9). The first two columns in Table 9 show the number and percentage of STOs who are involved in performing each of the 12 activities whether manually or with computers. It can be seen that the analysis of visitor characteristics, visitor expenditure and visitor counts are the three most commonly performed research activities. with 93%, 88% and 86% of the sampled STOs performing the three functions respectively. Market analysis is also performed by 86% of STOs in the sample showing the importance of the marketing function. The activities that are least commonly performed are making reservations for visitors at the destination’s facilities (26%) and social impact studies (25%). Even though social impact studies are performed by the smallest minority, it is encouraging to see that even one quarter of the states are giving consideration to this important area of tourism. It may one day gain the prominence of economic impact studies which are currently performed by 75% of the sampled STOs.

The next two columns of Table 9 show those STOs that perform the research activity manually (without the aid of computers) and have no plan to computerize. It can be seen that reservations and visitor satisfaction studies are the functions that have been least computerized (53% and 40% respectively) whereas visitor expenditure and characteristics are performed manually by only 22% and 23% respectively. The next two columns of Table 9 show the number and percentage of STOs that currently do not have computers but do plan to automate in the future. Of this group, the activities most slated for automation are forecasting and visitor counts (44% and 35% respectively). A possible explanation is that forecasting may have been done up until now using a ‘seat-of-the-pants’ approach and now STOs are recognizing the need to make the forecasting procedures more objective and scientific. There are fewest plans to computerize reservations and market analysis. This is not surprising since to automate the reservations function fully would require telecommunications links to the destination’s facilities (hotels, attractions,

transport) and a large amount of coordination. This may be more appropriately done by the private sector as was done in Vancouver for the handling of accommodation reservations for Expo-86. Facilities continue to make direct reservations by visitors easier through 800 numbers and by using computer reservations systems, thereby rendering the intervention of the ST0 unnecessary. Columns seven and eight of Table 9 show the number and percentage of STOs that are performing each particular activity in house uith their own computer. Information retrieval on facilities for visitors is the activity that is automated by most STOs (45%). Market analysis is the next most commonly automated activity (29%). Forecasting and social impact studies are the activities which have the fewest in-house computer applications (8% and 7% respectively). The final columns of Table 9 show the degree to which STOs contract work out to service bureaux. The survey reveals that service bureaux are used most for economic and social impact studies (37% and 36% respectively), visitor motivation studies (40%) and visitor characteristics studies (38%). This is not surprising since at least three of these four functions require some special expertise that may not exist in house. No information retrieval is contracted out and only 7% of the reservation activities are contracted out to servjce bureaux. Computer

‘wish list’

The final part of the questionnaire asked the respondent for a ‘wish list’

Table 9. Degree of computer usage for research activities (n=57).

Visitor characteristics Visitor expenditure Visitor counts Market analysis Economic impact studies Visitor satisfaction/opinion Information retrieval on facilities for visitors Visitor bahaviour Visitor motivation Forecasting Reservations Social impact studies

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MANAGEMENT

STOs Performing Not activity computerized Total % Frequency

%

53 50 49 49 43 40 38 38 32 25 15 14

23 22 31 26 30 40 29 26 22 36 53 29

September

93 88 86 86 75 70 67 67 56 44 26 25

1987

12 11 15 13 13 16 11 10 7 9 8 4

Not computerized but plan to be Frequency % 9 11 17 8 9 7 10 7 7 11 2 4

17 22 35 16 21 18 26 18 22 44 13 29

Computerized in house Frequency

%

12 13 11 14 5 9 17 10 5 2 4 1

23 26 22 29 12 23 45 26 16 8 27 7

Service bureau Frequency 20 15 6 14 16 8 0 11 13 3 1 5

% 38 30 12 29 37 20 0 29 40 12 7 36

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Reporr

of computer applications. The first question identifies applications that directors of STOs would like to automate but cunnot afford. The responses can be summarized as follows:

l l l

l l l l

visitor information centre network; on-line customized travel information: telecommunication links between state travel office and local travel promotion agencies; information and reservation system; information processing at highway visitor centres; analysis of travel indicators; and economic impact studies.

Most of the items on this ‘wish list’ relate to providing the visitors with information more easily. It is therefore in their information-providing role rather than their informationprocessing role that there is inadequate hardware or software. In addition. a few offices stated they would like to acquire better word-processing graphics and statistical packages, and one office said the lack of manpower was the main drawback. Functions that ST0 directors would like to automate but are unable to find appropriate hardware or software for can be summarized as follows:

l l

travel counselling - to determine the best route from A to B; voice recognition equipment to

l l l l l

take orders: responses to inquiries/requests to take orders; inventory control for brochure distribution; forecasting; conversion studies - for advertising promotion; and market analysis.

Once again, it is in their role of providing information to the traveller that STOs see a potential area for computer application. Some of the apphcattons listed above (econometric modelling. forecasting and inventory control) also represent the research functions and should be available generically. The fact that they appear on this list. however, would suggest that, for whatever reason, either ST0 directors are unaware of the software packages that are available, or that what is available is inappropriate for their needs. Therefore better communication on the part of the software vendors is recommended.

The results of this study show that computers are being used by g-I% of the STOs in Canada, the USA. and US territories. and that microcomputers are the most common type of computer. Computers have a wide range of applications from the analysis of research data on visitors, to information retrieval and reservations

The dramatic growth of the tourism industry in PR China has not been accompanied by an adequate response from the education system. The numbers and standard of qualified tourism staff remain far below the required levels. Zhang Guangrui of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences describes how the tourism education system could be expanded and made more relevant to the Chinese tourism industry.

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Pauline J. Sheldon Assistant Professor School of Travel Industry Management University of Hawaii 2560 Campus Road Honolulu, HI 96822

Conclusion

Tourism education in PR China

PR China’s tourism industry has grown considerably since 1978. The overseas tourist arrivals increased from 1 809 221 in 1978 to 22 819 000 in 1986, including an increase in

for visitors or potential visitors. More sophisticated analysis such as economic and social impact studies and visitor motivation studies tend to be contracted out to service bureaux. The .wish list’ analysis revealed that STOs would like to have more automation that will assist them in serving visitors. Specific examples that were mentioned are on-line travel counselling, customized travel information and more efficient ways of handling inquiries. It is in this area that there is likely to be the most growth in the application of computer technology in the future. Research applications are quite well developed, but the ability of STOs to provide on-line travel data to tourists is still in its infancy.

foreign tourist arrivals from 229 646 to 1 482 000. The foreign exchange earnings derived from the tourism industry rose to US $1 450 x lo6 in 1986 from US $260 x lo6 in 1978. At the same

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Notes: ‘Somerset

FL Waters,

Trave! lndustfy

The Big Picture, Child and Waters, New York, USA, 1983. ‘US Travel Data Center, Survey of State Travel Offices: 198.546. US Travel Data Center, Washington DC, USA, 1985, p 2. 3Michael Steiner, ‘Computerization in travel and tourism; lessons from a small country’, Revue de Tour&me, No 2, 1985, pp 15-21. World

Yearbook:

time, domestic tourism developed even faster. According to one estimate trips made by Chinese residents within the country reached 270 x lo6 with a total expenditure of over RMBYl0.6 x lo9 (US billion) but a decade ago organized domestic tours in PR China hardly existed.’ Thanks to the open policy implemented in recent years, tourism has become one of the major foreign exchange earners in PR China. These figures alone cannot give the whole picture of the development of tourism. In the last 10 years, governments, both central and local, have allocated a large sum of money to the construction of hotels, improvement

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