Steven
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
As
days goes by the level of competition in every business continues to grow; this
simply means that the hospitality and tourism industry will put in all their
available resources in order to achieve the organizational objectives, survive
and develop their competitiveness (Brown, 2007).
The survival and growth of any business
is seen in their ability to effectively utilize updated information in order to
assist the management of an organization decision making and marketing
processes (Pine, 2006). Hence, Information Technology (IT) assists organization
to manage information dynamically and influences business competitiveness
through assisting decision makers to make appropriate investments and
decisions.
According
to (Connolly & Lee, 2006; Singh & Kasavana, 2005) stated that
information communication technology (ICT) helps to meet the demands for timely
and accurate information by customers and the IT diffusion in the tourism and
hospitality industries has recently increased at an unprecedented rate.
This
is evident by the ubiquitous presence of IT systems that work cooperatively to
assist managers to deliver quality service to their customers and to enhance
operational efficiency and control costs. Researchers have stated that IT, by
acting as a protector and enhancer, directly influences the experiences and
behavior of tourists (Kim & Ham, 2007; Singh, Kim, & Huh, 2006; Winata
& Mia, 2005).
More
strategically ICT is gradually reshaping the fundamental structure of industry
and society (Buhalis, 1998, 2003). IT can generate the knowledge at the center
of a business’s competitiveness (Chathoth, 2007; Ham, Kim & Jeong, 2005).
According
to (Law and Jogaratnam, 2005) further stated that ICT can transform the nature
of tourism and hospitality products, processes, businesses, and competition,
and that tourism and hospitality organizations that have failed to master the
right ICT systems would find difficult to direct and manage their
information-intensive business damaging their competitiveness. Tourism and
hospitality are social phenomena, and the industries associated with them are
largely application oriented. Researchers in this field have conducted, and
will continue to conduct, research that generates innovative knowledge that
will benefit these industries and ultimately society.
As
investment in and the adoption of ICT are now an indispensable components of
tourism and hospitality business, ICT serves as a tool for both enabling and
inducing change. As such, IT has recently drawn the attention of tourism and
hospitality researchers worldwide, who have disseminated their findings in
research journals. Niininen, Buhalis and March (2007) demonstrated that ICT
support consumer centricity, with consumers being able to use technology to
select and customize their products as well as to personalize their experience.
It is advantageous for tourism and hospitality managers in general and
marketing managers in particular to be aware of the recent changes in ICT and
their relationship with customer service.
As
IT development becomes more sophisticated, industrial practitioners, educators,
and policy makers may find increasing difficulty in selecting, analyzing,
implementing, and operating new IT systems. Research journals, as a vigorous
channel of knowledge dissemination, can offer peer-reviewed and unbiased
information on IT analysis, evaluation, and industrial best practice. However,
despite the enormous amount of effort spent by tourism and hospitality
researchers on investigating IT, there are only a few reviews of the articles
published on IT or the progress of IT in the tourism industry since its rapid
growth in the early 1980s (Frew 2000; Kirk & Pine 1998; Kluge 1996; Leung
& Law, 2005, 2007; O’Connor & Murphy 2004, Buhalis and Law, 2008).
Moreover, the review articles that do exist are limited, either because they
examine only a few selected journals or because they cover work that is already
somewhat outdated given the fast changing nature of IT and tourism. The study
in this regard wishes to examine the impact of ICT applications on the
hospitality and tourism industry using Tinapa Resort Center, Calabar as the
case study.
1.2
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TENAPA RESORT CENTER
Situated by the Calabar River, Tinapa is a business
and leisure resort conceptualised to be an integrated business resort. It is a
four phased development promoted by the Government of Cross River State, under
a Private Public Partnership (PPP), and very close to Calabar Free Trade Zone.
It is the realisation of an exciting dream – the
first integrated business and leisure in resort in Nigeria. Tinapa Free Zone
has world class facilities that enable visitors to engage in retail and
wholesale activities as well as leisure and entertainment.
Tinapa has let-table space for retail and wholesale,
several line shops, warehouses etc. It also has an open exhibition area for
trade exhibitions and other events, a movie production studio commonly referred
to as “Studio Tinapa” or “Nollywood”, an
entertainment strip that comprise a casino, an Eight-Screen Cinema, a
children’s arcade, restaurants and a mini amphitheatre, a night club and pubs.
1.3 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
The
hospitality and tourism industry in Nigeria has experienced a lot of decline in
the areas of communicating their products to the general public as a result of
poor information communication technology (ICT) implementation in the
organization. Secondly the hospitality and tourism industry failed over the
years to improve on their facilities such the availability of POS, ATM and
other ICT equipments; the inability of the hospitality and tourism industry to
make available the following has affected the rate of patronage in the
hospitality and tourism industry. Lastly other researcher have focus their
researches on the use of ICT in the hospitality and tourism industry but not
even a single research have examine the impact of ICT application on the
hospitality and tourism industry using Tinapa resort center, Calabar as the
case study hence a gap in related literature.
1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The
main aim of the research work is to examine the impact of ICT application on
the hospitality and tourism industry. Other specific objectives of the study
include:
1. To
examine the role of ICT application in the growth and development of the
hospitality and tourism industry
2. To
determine the effect of the introduction of ICT on the rate of patronage and
organizational performance in the hospitality and tourism industry
3. To
investigate on the factors affecting the efficiency of Tinapa calabar as a
hospitality and tourism industry in Nigeria
4. To
determine the impact ICT application on the security level and safety in
Tinappa calabar
5. To
proffer solution to the above stated problem
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
The
research question for the study will help answer the above the above objectives
of the study. The research questions are stated below as follows:
1. What
are the roles of ICT application in the growth and development of the
hospitality and tourism industry?
2. What
is the effect of the introduction of ICT on the rate of patronage and
organizational performance in the hospitality and tourism industry?
3. What
are the factors affecting the efficiency of Tinapa calabar as a hospitality and
tourism industry in Nigeria?
4. What
is the impact ICT application on the security level and safety in Tinappa
calabar?
1.6 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS
H0:
ICT application does not influence growth and development of the hospitality
and tourism industry in Nigeria
H1:
ICT application influences growth and development of the hospitality and
tourism industry in Nigeria
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The
study on the impact of ICT application on the hospitality and tourism industry
will be of immense benefit the country in the following ways:
COMMUNITY: the
application of ICT in Tinappa Calabar will be of immense benefit to the people
of Calabar because it will provide job opportunities for the people.
CULTURE:
the application of ICT in the hospitality and tourism industry will help in the
promotion of various cultural practices in calabar.
THE GOVERNMENT:
the study will serve as a platform for revenue generation for both the federal
and the stated government of Nigeria
LITERATURE:
the study will add to the body of the existing literature on the impact of ICT
applications on the hospitality and tourism industry.
1.8
SCOPE OF STUDY
The study on the impact of ICT applications on the
hospitality and tourism industry is limited to the Tenapa resort center Cross
River State.
1.9 LIMITATION OF STUDY
1.
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
2.
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously
engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down
on the time devoted for the research work.
1.10 DEFINITION OF TERMS
ICT:Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) is an extended term
for information technology (IT) which stresses the role
of unified communicationsand the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines
and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise
software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable
users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information
TOURISM:Tourism means
people traveling for fun. It includes such activities as sightseeing and
camping.
TOURIST: People who travel for fun are called “tourists.
RESORT: Places
where many tourists stay
are called “resorts.
TOURIST DESTINATION: Places that people go to for tourism are called tourist destinations
HOSPITALITY: the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of
guests, visitors, or strangers
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