A digital humanism view on e-tourism

Abstract

Informatics, its artefacts and methods, change our society and world, from the individual personal level up to the current geo-political powerplay. Today, Information Technology (IT) serves as the operating system of our society. From an ontological point of view Informatics influences also how we perceive the world and how we think about it. This change has happened during the short span of last half century. At the same time, despite of this enormous success, this development has serious shortcomings. I discuss some of them, and describe a positive “answer”: Digital Humanism. I will use this human centered approach to IT to critically review developments in e-tourism; and, one of the main lessons is: do not get lost in small things, have a look at the big picture, also aim for a better future and society. Two disclaimers: (a) This contribution is an opinion piece, not a scientific paper in the strict sense. I hope it provokes a lively, and probably also controversial discussion; and, (b) Some arguments regarding Digital Humanism are already partly expressed in other publications such as (Werthner, Electron Mark 32:145–151, 2022a) and (Werthner et al. Hoepken (eds) Handbook of e-tourism, Springer, Berlin, 2022b).

ChatGPT for e-Tourism: a technological perspective

“…Initiatives, like those promoted by the digital humanism community, have started to interrogate themselves about such technology and its impacts in a multidisciplinary and comprehensive way (Werthner 2022). The staggering differences in quality and complexity of tools as ChatGPT confirm that this is the only way to address present and future problems.…”

Development of E-Tourism to Achieve Excellence and Sustainable Development in Tourism: Ha’il Region Case Study

“…Human Resources Skills HRS Human resource skills and competencies required to develop e-tourism [39] Awareness AW Degree of awareness, ease, and confidence in the adoption of etourism [4,30] Owners' Knowledge Management OKM Owners' knowledge and information about e-tourism and its benefits and uses [20] Socio-Cultural SC Degree of perception of culture, language, perceived benefits, thinking on e-tourism [11] Market Forces Factors…”

“…Many researchers believe that staff skills are manifested by their abilities to manage e-tourism services. Werthner [39] believes that the efficiency of the e-tourism services offered by tourism companies requires a relevant and precise speed of execution for the service to be efficient. This reflects real HRS.…”