Beyond ICT: e-tourism and e-travel in the age of Social Media and Big Data
Dr. Nithin Kalorth
Assistant Professor, Bennett University, Greater Noida
The travel technology or “e-travel”, e-tourism refers to a phenomenon and research area in which the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) by tourists and businesses transforms the processes and the value chains in the tourism industry. This is high time for rethink the business and communication model of tourism in terms of ICT. In the age of data-driven social media, the way human-computer interactions happen is very dynamic. It required a deep understanding of data and its implications.
The current paper tries to study the digital and social media life of selected users of the b2b travel website Goibibo through digital ethnography to uncover the rationale behind the desire to travel. The paper tries to build a theoretical understanding of the usage and application of big data in the travel industry and how communication strategy could better place. The paper also analyses contents on the website and social media handles of Goibibo in order to understand the e-tourism ecosphere in India. The ethical questions of usage and privacy of user data are also studied.
Keywords: e-travel, Tourism, Social Media, Big Data.
The above paper is presented at National Media Management Conference on Communicating Tourism: Media, Soft Power, and Management powered by In-Depth Communication.
16 November 2019 | St. Xavier’s College, Kothavara, Vaikom, Kerala
All abstracts have been published in conference souvenir with ISBN 978-1-647337-82-7