Mr. Tuan Anh Le, Director of Tourism Information Technology Center, National Administration of Tourism, Viet Nam

Managing and promoting destinations

DMOs should advertise the existence of their e tourism website.

The main beneficiaries of a DMS are potential travelers, the providers of tourism products and services, national travel agents and outbound travel agents, national tourism institutions, IT providers and investors.

eTourism information technology for strategic tourism management. D. Buhalis, 2003.

DMOs begin with the management of information on tourism products and services and their online promotion.

In order to set up a DMS, Governments and DMOs should organize consultative meetings with relevant partners.

Functionalities and services of DMSs

Contributing factors for the successful integration of local tourism enterprises into international tourism markets are adequate e tourism strategies that focus on tourism innovation in terms of tourism products and adoption of e business tools such as destination management systems.

Tourism niches such as ecotourism one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry are increasingly promoted by DMOs in many developing countries, allowing them to diversify their tourism offer.

However, the experience of several DMSs in both developing and developed countries shows that a free subscription for tourism enterprises guarantees their larger participation in the DMS.

In order to ensure the long term sustainability of a DMS, DMOs should develop accurate business models according to local conditions.

Interesting examples at the regional and national levels are the DMSs developed by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The use of ICT tools such as DMSs should assist them in their efforts to market their tourism offer globally and to ensure the strategic management of their destinations to ultimately improve their competitiveness on tourism markets.

The distribution of tourism products on the Internet complements traditional distribution channels (travel agents, national tourism offices, tourism producers, call centers, etc.) because a large number of DMOs do not yet have the capacity to develop an effective e tourism website and cannot rely only on uncertain online revenues.

However, no consensus has yet been reached on critical issues, such as land based and high risk (adventure) tourism, leaving tourism to be regulated to a large extent by the industry itself.

Mr. Roger Carter, Managing Director, Tourism Enterprise and Management (TEAM), London, United Kingdom

Mr. Aley Sobers, Director of Research and Information Management, Caribbean Tourism Organisation

They should create awareness of the potential of e tourism and provide incentives for the development of tourism enterprises' websites (for hotels, for instance) that could be referenced on the DMO e tourism website.

Business models should provide technological, financial and marketing solutions for the providers and users of the DMS, namely tourism providers (accommodation, transport and leisure companies), travel agents, tour operators, and consumers.

Government policies can encourage tourism distribution channels to give preference to sustainable tourism products by providing training to destination management organizations and tourism boards, developing industry driven standards and supply chain management approaches, educating the public on certification schemes and promoting travel fairs that focus on sustainable products.

DMSs are the IT infrastructure used by DMOs for the collection, storage, management and distribution of information and for the transaction of reservations and other commercial activities.

It focuses on the practical modalities of new business models that destination management organizations and tourism enterprises should adopt to improve their competitiveness in tourism markets.

By integrating these SMEs into their DMS, DMOs bring them into the new e business environment of the tourism industry and offer them the technological tools to conduct their operations online.

A review of the status of e tourism initiatives undertaken by national DMOs in LDCs, based on an informal survey of national tourism websites, highlighted the main challenges encountered in the development of an effective DMS. Resilient barriers still hamper DMOs' efforts to fully exploit the potential of the Internet and compete on an equal footing.

With regard to B2B, DMSs provide tourism enterprises with the means to be better integrated into tourism supply chains by promoting personalized and enriched tourism experiences directly to a large number of consumers.

The systems should facilitate interoperability between local tourism enterprises and foreign brokers and tourism portals, including traditional tour operators, online agencies, Internet travel specific search engines or online intermediaries specialized in tourism niches.

Public authorities, DMOs and tourism enterprises should fully understand the opportunities and challenges of e tourism and overcome the barriers that still hamper the use of ICTs.

The management framework is applied to decide if, where and how tourism may be developed at any site, and therefore standards for tourism and impact management measures are developed through the process of applying the management framework.

Destination management and promotion are key strategies to respond to consumers' expectations, ensure sustainable development and improve the relative position of destinations in developing countries on the global tourism market.

One of the major challenges is to foster the support and commitment of local tourism providers, and it is therefore crucial to create awareness among tourism producers of the benefits of a DMS at an early stage.

In terms of reservation services, the majority of DMOs in developing countries support the promotion of tourism in their country mainly by advertising the contact details of tourism providers.

Some DMOs have developed booking engines in partnership with ICT providers and have defined transaction fees applicable to the different participants in the DMS.

It represents a growing distribution channel, complementary to traditional ones, for consumers, tourism enterprises such as hotels, transport companies, leisure companies and distributors, including travel agencies, tour operators and DMOs.

Effective marketing channels include destination management organizations and tourism boards, tour operators, guidebooks, media, certification schemes, travel fairs, such as the so called business to business (B2B) and business to consumers (B2C) fairs, internet retailers and consumers' organizations.

13 World Travel and Tourism Council, 2004.

Public authorities, DMOs and tourism enterprises all have an important role to play in ensuring effective and successful promotion of their destinations by building on a solid partnering industry able to capitalize on the benefits brought about by the Internet.

They facilitate the linkages between local tourism providers and help them manage their tourism resources and contribute to their valorization.

The role of ICTs in developing tourism The innovation process in the tourism industry Managing and promoting destinations online E business challenges Concluding remarks.

The practical management of high risk (adventure) tourism and its potential impact on national programmes and tour operators in terms of search and rescue operations for unsupported adventure tourists is a growing concern.

In order to promote e tourism development, UNCTAD has developed a DMS as part of the E Tourism Initiative, a technical assistance package aimed at promoting the application of ICTs in tourism so as to enable developing countries to exploit their tourism resources.

Defining a tourism strategy based on destination resources, consumer demand and the interest of local communities is the first step in engaging in an e tourism strategy and starting to build the image of the destination, using a DMS as a promotional tool and eventually as an online reservation system.

DMOs and tourism enterprises in developing countries urgently need to adopt ICTs and adapt business processes and management structures to globalization in order to become competitive in this new marketplace.

According to the administering Power, in 2004 the Government continued to take measures to stimulate the tourism sector.

(a) The Asociación de Mujeres y Familias del Ámbito Rural (AMFAR) (Association of Rural Women and Families), which offered four courses on crafts, rural tourism, management of small and middle sized enterprises, and rural tourism and sustainable development