GENEVA -- It's clear that the popularity of adventure travel -- and
the opportunities agents have to sell it -- would be greatly
enhanced if developing countries had the infrastructure to support
more tourism.
The U.N. Expert Meeting on Electronic Commerce and Tourism,
which met here last month, targeted the tourism and technology
issues facing developing nations. WizCom president Flo Lugli
addressed the delegates.
Lugli, who heads the Parsippany, N.J.-based provider of
electronic reservations processing systems, told the attendees that
travel technology firms can help travel companies in developing
countries implement and maintain technology and distribution
infrastructures.
For example, WizCom connected a South African hotel company to
the Galileo CRS, she said. That connection gave the hotel access to
42,000 agents in more than 170 countries.
The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development issued a report on
e-commerce and tourism in July that concluded developing countries
could improve their relative position in the international tourism
market if they embrace e-commerce.
"A developing country tourism producer may find it advantageous
to establish and broaden its on-line offerings by including booking
for other local producers in an effort to offer consumers a
comprehensive tourist product," the report found.
Lugli's comments paralleled those findings. She told the meeting
that integrating technologies in local travel industries can be a
catalyst in helping the developing world achieve sustainable growth
and bridging the "digital divide."
Developing countries should focus on developing technology
infrastructures in leading sectors of their economies, including
tourism, Lugli said, and "have those initiatives pull the rest of
the economy along."
Arguing that the travel industry is the largest creator of
direct and indirect employment worldwide, Lugli recommended
developing countries focus their preliminary travel efforts on
on-line initiatives.
Developing countries can "get the latest technologies and
infrastructure right from the start, without having to weigh that
return against investments made in earlier, less-efficient
technologies, as so many developing countries have to do," she
said.
Other guests and speakers at the U.N. meet included James Vaile,
director of Expedia.com U.K.; Dietmar Boenke of Telewest-Imminus,
and Francois Bedard of the World Tourism Organization.