You are currently browsing the Tourist & Tourism Technology weblog archives for September, 2006.
- AFTER the visit (20)
- BEFORE the visit (58)
- Blog Mission (1)
- Blogs/Podcast/eInfo (11)
- BPL/WiFi (2)
- DURING the visit (51)
- Gadget/Idea/Webtool (42)
- GPS (11)
- Maps (25)
- mobile phone (8)
- Multimedia (10)
- Pink Foot Awards (3)
- Report/Book (6)
- RFID (1)
- Uncategorized (3)
- Webcam (4)
- Website/Event (24)
- Thursday 12 October 2006: Canadian coffee map for the thirsty tourist.
- Wednesday 11 October 2006: Running map for the fit tourist
- Tuesday 10 October 2006: geoNames is one great global map index mashup webtool
- Monday 9 October 2006: Click gChart for global links to local travel, time and more
- Sunday 8 October 2006: Many avenues for online tourism content
- Saturday 7 October 2006: Train eTickets to be sold at ATMs and Post Offices
- Friday 6 October 2006: Tech 2.0 advice for tourism industry
- Friday 6 October 2006: Biometric check-in at Scandinavia Airlines
- Thursday 5 October 2006: Website for Women Travelling Solo
- Wednesday 4 October 2006: Media-rich touchscreen tables boost pub experience
Archive for September 2006
The tourist experience relaunched in USA Today
Wednesday 20 September 2006 by Edward.
Apparently realizing the major changes taking place in tourism and in the tourist experience, national newpaper USA Today has relaunched its travel website. Readers will get travel news, planning and booking tools, expert advice — the total tourist experience, before, during and after the trip.
The USA Today website is content rich. It offers, for example:
Information on destinations
A Flight Centre (flight tracker, flight delay map, WiFi airports, and more)
Travel News
Travel and destination deals
Travel Columns
Posted in Website/Event, AFTER the visit, DURING the visit, BEFORE the visit | No Comments »
Internet tourism partnerships 2.0
Tuesday 19 September 2006 by Edward.
Selected recent internet partnering in tourism: Tourism Partnerships 2.0
Maryland, USA, Office of Tourism contracts Travelocity to handle bookings.
Spainexperience accesses Worldspan’s global distribution and e-pricing system.
Expedia’s platform and network supports eLong’s Chinese outbound travel bookings
Alitalia airline joins Worldspan to speed e-ticket connections.
Jet Airways signs interline e-ticketing agreement with KLM via GDS
Rule 2 “The Rule of Partnerships” in the book ‘The 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism’ by Roger A. Brooks and Maury Forman states that ‘Relationships require more than one person.’ The most important rule in creating a successful tourism strategy is to establish partnerships writes Brooks. One the internet, these partnerships can leverage resources for all concerned.
Posted in Report/Book, AFTER the visit, DURING the visit, BEFORE the visit | 2 Comments »
Free WiFi access spreads rapidly
Monday 18 September 2006 by Edward.
Free WiFi (wireless) internet access is spreading like, well wildfire. Highway restrooms in the USA are installing free WiFi to aid the weary or lost traveller. Bustops are connecting the commuting traveller to the web. And now towns are beginning to offer free, broad area WiFi internet access.
Here is a selection of free, city-wide or distributed WiFi installations I encountered on the web over the past few days:
Forest Grove, Oregon, USA
Springfield, Illinois, USA
Portsmouth, Virginia, USA (waterfront area)
39 Iowa highway rest stops
Toronto, Canada, downtown core
Posted in BPL/WiFi, DURING the visit | 1 Comment »
TurnHere for Tourism on Google Earth
Sunday 17 September 2006 by Edward.
Google and TurnHere.com have partnered to place tourist video links on GoogleEarth.
I was impressed with TurnHere videos when I featured Davis Square, in Somerville, Massachusetts, a few weeks ago. Today I clicked on Google Earth’s TurnHere film icons for St. Henri, Montréal and was equally impressed with the earthy feel of the presentation. Well others also seem impressed. InterContinental Hotels has turned to TurnHere to create short films about each of the hotel’s 140 worldwide locations.
Rule 15 “The Rule of Supporting Businesses”, in the book ‘The 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism’ by Roger A. Brooks and Maury Forman, shows how ‘Movie credits tell the real story.’ Brooks writes “In successful tourism, there is never only one business holding up the entire industry.” What can one say about multiple movies about multiple cities at one location? One great stop for the armchair tourist!
Posted in Multimedia, Maps, BEFORE the visit | No Comments »
Tech predictions for the hospitality industry
Saturday 16 September 2006 by Edward.
Preeti Kannan examines tech trends in the hospitality industry, reports ExpressHospitality. The three main areas of IT opportunity are: customer relations, marketing and property management.
Tech predictions include:
KIOSKS: Computer reception desks to receive guests.
INTERACTIVE TELEVISION: inbuilt food/drink menu and special services
COMPLAINT/REQUEST MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: IT alerts
LOYALTY PROGRAMS: niche programs and cross-selling of programs
TRAVEL PORTALS: see travelguru.com
COMMENT/FEEDBACK KIOSKS: data stream to improve customer service
ONE-STOP HOTLINE: single point of contact for all guest inquiries
MOBILE ALERTS: mobile technology to connect all staff
REAL-TIME IT ACCESS: anywhere-record-access for key statistics
Posted in Report/Book | 1 Comment »
Hotel World Maps brings 60,000 hotels to Google Map
Saturday 16 September 2006 by Edward.
WorldMap displays 60,000+ blue hotel pins on a global, interactive Google Map. Let’s say your interested in travelling to the Charlevoix area in Quebec, a hidden jewel. You locate the area of interest via a search tool, then click the blue pin of interest to you. The Charlevoix shows three hotels: Econolodge La Malbaie, La Pinsonniere and Fairmont de Manoir Richelieu. A click of a pin and you see the name of the hotel, a photo of the hotel and links to more photos, and a link to the hotel’s website. This is a very visual way of locating hotels.
Similar maps exist (see: Barcelona Available Apartments Map) but the advantage with the WorldMap website is the number of hotels mapped. The site needs to be integrated with other data to show surrounding events and destinations of interest (see: Indiana Travel Guide Map) to be even more useful to the tourist.
Posted in Maps, BEFORE the visit | 1 Comment »
Tourists never need be late again for a UK train
Friday 15 September 2006 by Edward.
You’re in a small English pub quaffing down a pint or two, but do you REALLY need to hurry to make the next train in time or can you relax and enjoy the brew? With the UK Live Trains Map you’ll know what to do.
The map shows all trains (red pins) approaching railway stations (yellow pins) in near real-time. Data is extracted from the UK train timetables website. The Live Trains Map is not an official UK rail site, but a really clever “scraping” exercise by Matthew Somerville.
Posted in Gadget/Idea/Webtool, Maps, BEFORE the visit | 1 Comment »
NZlive.com connects New Zealand to the world
Thursday 14 September 2006 by Edward.
The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage launched NZlive.com, according to New Zealand’s Scoop News. This rich site promotes many New Zealand cultural and current events.
Travellers to New Zealand can browse 1,036 events: live events (428), exhibitions and screenings (338), festivals (176), sport (76), recreation (78), heritage (110), conference (18), maori culture (66), pacific cultures (16), and asian cultures (14). 114 links connect the visitor to sites such as the Otago Festival of the Arts, the Dunedin Fringe Festival, and the Wheel Blacks (wheelchair rugby championships).
The site also presents NZ culture facts (eg “Maori became an official language of New Zealand on 01 August 1987), live news and the visitors’ most popular event tags.
Rule 15 “The Rule of Supporting Businesses”, in the book ‘The 25 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism’ by Roger A. Brooks and Maury Forman, shows how ‘Movie credits tell the real story.’ Brooks writes “In successful tourism, there is never only one business holding up the entire industry.” The New Zealand government has produced and directed one “great movie”. The true success of the site is realized by the large supporting cast of New Zealand’s cultural groups.
Posted in Website/Event, BEFORE the visit | 1 Comment »
Wirelessly charge your cell phone, digital camera and MP3 player with SplashPower
Wednesday 13 September 2006 by Edward.
You arrive at your hotel but have forgotten to bring the cables to power your cell phone, digital camera and MP3 player. No problem. Your hotel has a Spash Power pad in your room. Simply place all your electronic mobile devices on the pad and they begin to recharge — with no cables involved.
Posted in Gadget/Idea/Webtool | 1 Comment »
Go! Worldspan desktop tools for travel agents
Wednesday 13 September 2006 by Edward.
Travel agents can work with Worldspan to save time, increase productivity, decrease phone call inquiries to hotel suppliers, and improve service to travellers. Worldspan has designed two desktop tools for travel agents that interface with their global reservation system: Go! Car Booking tool and Go! Hotel Booking tool.
These tools speed the booking process by presenting a one-stop booking portal. They are among many software tools available to the travel agent.
Posted in Gadget/Idea/Webtool, BEFORE the visit | 2 Comments »