Effects of ICT in Albanian Tourism Business

Abstract

The digitalisation in the manufacturing and industrial sectors has been fast ‘exported’ in tourism industry as well. The technological revolution has highly affected both the supplier and the consumer of tourism products and services. There is recently an increasing attention from the industry and academia in order to highlight the challenges of ICT use in tourism and the drivers of “smart tourism” in world level. Our study joins these efforts with the goal to observe the use of information and communication technologies in Albanian tourism and detect the elements of smart tourism in it. The survey and interviews with a sample of experienced medium size tourism companies were used to assess the expansion of ICT in their overall activity. The data collected and processed did enable to point out the penetration of digital technologies in Albanian tourism. Further on, some features of smart tourism are highlighted and some drivers of digitalization in Albanian tourism are brought to the attention of stakeholder groups.

Media Education and Digital Literacy

“…In contrast, current training deficiencies are reflected in the occasional use of film by non-university teachers [30]. The high predisposition for the use of cinema is in line with the teachers' positive perception of media education to improve teaching tasks and meet educational objectives, even though it is recognized that the application of media is not without obstacles [58][59][60][61][62].…”

“…In this context, the research carried out by Cabero-Almenara et al [16] points to the need to promote specific training plans for university faculty in digital competences to achieve effective pedagogical technological adoption. The effectiveness of teacher trainers should also be promoted given their positive influence on the acquisition of digital skills [60].…”

“…People's perceptions of the media skills needed and the risks of not having them, as well as the impact of media literacy on the development of digital citizenship, have also been measured [56,57]. Other studies have dealt with teachers' valuation of the application of media literacy and its obstacles [58][59][60][61], and the way in which trainee teachers perceive the aims and methods of media literacy [62]. Additionally, experiences and training scenarios for future teachers have been discussed, analyzing strengths and weaknesses [63,64], and audiovisual educational techniques and tools for technology-enhanced learning have been examined [65].…”

Tourism and ICT. Bibliometric Study on Digital Literacy in Higher Education

“…In the era of digital information, the tourism sector has been one of the sectors that have given the greatest impulse for the introduction of ICT [54], undergoing a profound transformation, as a result of its integration [55,56], with important repercussions for destination management and marketing [57][58][59]. The technological revolution has affected all agents in the sector, from professionals to consumers, and ICTs have become a key element in the competitiveness of tourism companies [60,61]. The challenge for this sector does not lie in accepting the advantages of ICT and integrating them, those that do not do so are doomed to failure, but in doing so in such a way that it is exploited its full potential [62].…”

“…In this sense, research related to education, study programs, etc., of the tourism area is gaining prominence in the academic and professional fields [69,76,80,81] while those focused on challenges posed by the integration of ICT in this same industry [60]. Thus, the benefit of delving into those that combine both aspects and focus on the consideration of ICT as a fundamental part of the academic training of tourism students [40,69] and, consequently, on their DL is evident.…”