…
eTourism is the future…
NEW: Postgraduate
Diploma/MSc in eTourism
University of Surrey
School of Management
The internet and developments in Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs) have revolutionised the entire tourism industry,
generating new business models, changing the structure of the tourism distribution
channels and re-engineering all processes. Tourism suppliers, destinations and
stakeholders have all been influenced. ‘e’ stands for Electronic and
represents the electronic marketplace, where eBusinesses deal with eConsumers,
eGovernment, ePartners and other eBusinesses on an ePlatform facilitated by the radically
evolving ICTs.
The MSc in eTourism (http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/catalogue/details.asp?id=27)
deals with the planning, development, and marketing of both tourism enterprises and
destinations in the emerging electronic markets. It adopts a global perspective and
enables students to explore how they can transform traditional tourism enterprises,
develop and manage new electronic and dot com businesses and take advantage of the
emerging technological tools. The MSc in eTourism will look into all types of
innovative technologies and their application in tourism, hospitality, transportation
enterprises and destinations. It will cover issues related with the internet,
extranets, intranets and will explore electronic commerce for these sectors through the
internet mobile devices, digital television and other appliances.
There is great evidence of demand for specific
knowledge and expertise in international business:
- Future managers of traditional tourism and hospitality
organisations need to include ICTs into their strategic and operational tools. - Managers are required to lead, develop and manage the
on-line brand provision of traditional companies (e.g. marriott.com, thomascook.com), as
well as the great number of new dot.com companies that emerged as a result of the Internet
(e.g. expedia.com, lastminute.com etc). - Entrepreneurs/innovators are needed to identify new
opportunities within the value chain and use ICTs strategically to create strategic
competitive advantages for the tourism and hospitality provision.
ONLY innovative and well-trained tourism
professionals will be able to exploit the dynamic developments and benefits in the new
world of eTourism and enable their tourism organisation and destination to capitalise on
ICTs.
Why study for an MSc in eTourism?
Our programme is designed to give you the skills that you
will need to succeed in eTourism. The modules are specially focused on the ways that
tourism and hospitality organisations can utilise the latest information communication
technologies to achieve competitive advantages in the exciting new world of eTourism. The
course will cover ePlanning, eManagement, eMarketing, eCommerce and eProcurement and will
elaborate on the implications of the ICT developments for all tourism, hospitality,
transportation and leisure sectors. In general the course illustrates how tourism and
hospitality organisations can take advantage of the new tools in order to face the
challenges, capture the opportunities and avoid the threats emerging as a result of the
information communication technologies revolution. The MSc in eTourism will explain the
new tools as they become available as well as their implications for the strategic
positioning and the competitiveness of organisations. The concepts of info-structure and
tourism business info-space will mark the boundaries of your learning experience.
Graduates of the programme will be able to strengthen the
competitiveness of tourism organisations by providing solutions and answers to the
following critical questions.
- How can I take my business on line?
- How can I strengthen the competitiveness of my organisation
through the new IT tools? - How can I generate new niche markets and products?
- How can I strengthen the profitability of my organisation?
- How can I avoid the many threats to my business?
- How can I deal with online and offline competition?
- How can I establish and develop my brand on line?
- How can I create new processes and markets?
- How can I integrate destinations through technology to
optimise the tourism impacts?
Academic staff
The academics on this course are leading academics in their
field. The course is led by Dr Dimitrios Buhalis and is supported by Dr Panos Louvieris
and Jan Powell-Perry. They have produced many books and other publications and are active
researchers on the issues of eTourism. They are also heavily involved with International
Associations such as the International Federation of Information Technology and Tourism
and other leading organisations on this field.
The University of Surrey is the foremost tourism centre in
the UK and one of the world’s leading universities for the study of tourism, and is
designated by the World Tourism Organization as a Centre of Excellence for education.
International in focus, the course draws on examples from around the world and is taught
by a highly talented, international team, many of whom are world experts in their fields
of specialism. The nationalities of the academics in the School of Management Studies
include Canadian, Chinese, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Indian, Ghanian, Sri Lankan, Turkish
as well as British. This combination provides the basis for a highly stimulating course
delivered by some of the world’s leading tourism educators and researchers. In addition to
their teaching interests, academic staff are actively engaged in research and consultancy,
which contributes directly to the postgraduate programmes. This ensures that students are
exposed to the very latest thinking in the field. In addition to permanent staff at the
School, the MSc in eTourism is supported by a great number of industry leaders and
academics. They form the eTourism Expert Panel and are closely associated with the
programme by contributing case studies as well as lectures in specialised topics.
Collaboration with the industry will enable students to specialise further to aspects of
ICTs for tourism, travel, and hospitality.
For further information
please contact:
Mrs Margaret Williamson,
School of Management Studies for the Service Sector,
University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH
Tel: +44 (0)1483 876345 Fax: +44 (0)1483 876301
e-mail manstud@surrey.ac.uk
Or visit: http://www.som.surrey.ac.uk/catalogue/details.asp?id=27
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
