Thesis Abstract

Thesis Overview

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