Chapter 8
CONCLUSION
Tourism is a worldwide phenomenon and it is generally believed
that the global tourism industry might become the single largest industry in
terms of revenues. At the same time tourism is confronted with changes in
traditional distribution, marketing and working systems as well as the behavior
and requirements of the tourist. There are growing numbers of destinations and
products for consumer to choose from. Consumers need information more quickly
and they need to be able to book easily.
Tourism environment is in the process of a profound
reconfiguration, revolutionizing the context in which business is conducted.
The most significant factor contributing to this reconfiguration is the
technological developments that led to the emergence of innovative Web-based
technologies. The World Wide Web is profoundly changing the production,
distribution and consumption of tourism products, between firms and consumers,
between firms and among consumers as well. The net impact of the information
technologies is to enable a radical reconfiguration of the tourism industry
itself. Information technology provides the common platform to reach the market
more effectively, by
facilitating organizational responsiveness and learning as well
as customer relationship management. DMSs are exactly this common platform that
offer solutions to destinations. Destinations could take advantage of this
technological development to help them battle in the highly competitive tourism
industry. DMSs offer a needed solution to address the fragmentation and
information intensity that characterize the tourism industry. Nevertheless DMOs
in charge of promoting the destinations still have major problem in closing the
loop.
The objective of this executive project was indeed to develop a
cooperation model, namely a DMS for Morocco tourism destination. The proposed
DMS platform answers the need for developing knowledge-based tourism
information and booking system that is commercially viable and constitutes the
basis to build an effective advantage for Morocco's tourism destination in
today's highly competitive environment. The DMS cooperativecompetitive model
will permit the state owned MNTO to enforce its marketing efforts, and be able
to move in a quickly changing industry, finding the balance between cooperation
and competition among Morocco's tourism industry suppliers, by permanently
adopting and using technological tools.
The proposed framework is feasible because it emphasizes the
importance of partnership between the public and private sector and creates
opportunities to getting closer to the world's tourist. Most importantly it
will trigger the paradigm shift that will modernize the state owned MNTO, which
is crucial for the future of the organization. However, MNTO's organization has
to
understand that successful online marketing strategy is not just
about technology. It is about deconstructing traditional business models and
reinventing the organization. The integration of innovating technologies will
allow the MNTO to break away from obsolete and ineffective approaches to
differentiate Morocco tourism destination in a highly competitive, global, and
networked tourism industry and economy. What really matters is change.
To activate this «creative destruction», the
following perquisites may be required for the project to succeed. Communication
and organizational barriers have to be overcome in order for MNTO to create a
partnership. Regardless of how the project of a DMS joint venture stacks up
financially, key points of
project development feasibility have to be addressed by finding a
local champion to be the voice of the DMS project at all levels of the media,
public and private sectors. MNTO's leadership must act as a broker and lobbyist
to bridge the gap between the private and public sector cultures. Fortunately
the leadership is able to communicate easily with both sectors and have been
involved in negotiation, communication and politics at local and state level.
Furthermore the state owned organization has the power to build consensus
between all tourism industry's stakeholders and ensure that mutual
comprehension will prevail between public and private sectors.
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