Importance of Technology in Tourism and Event Entrepreneurship

Importance of Technology in Tourism and Event Entrepreneurship

Introduction

Definition of ICT and Entrepreneurship

The term ICT is an acronym that refers to Information Communication Technologies, which are the technologies that focus on accessing information through telecommunications. The communication technologies include wireless networks, the Internet, cell phones, and other mediums of communications (Tech-terms 2010). Hayes (2019) defines entrepreneurship as the process that involves designing, launching, and running a new business that is initially a small business by an entrepreneur.

Importance of Technology in Tourism and Event Entrepreneurship

Tourism economy has transformed digitally, and it is now embracing information Communication technology where tourism-oriented companies such as travel agencies, hotels, rental agencies, tour operators, and cruisers experience the growth effect (Januszewska, Jaremen, & Nawrocka, 2015). Integrating information communication technologies with Tourism and event sector has been of great importance since both areas contain high value chain where the creations, collection, retrieval, and storage activities are the main activities in the tourism enterprises (Januszewska, Jaremen, & Nawrocka, 2015,  Parker 2019). Most tourism and event sector has transformed the consumer decision-making process into an online one due to the possibilities of making an online booking at this digital era. Through embracing technology, tourism is discovering the emergence of new tourist activities that are seen to transform the traditional experiences leading to finding new tourism experiences (Januszewska, Jaremen, & Nawrocka, 2015, Parker, 2019). Through the tourism and event industry embracing information technology, many tourists are now able to go for vacation frequently since the time used to choose and consume tourist product is less compared to when the sector was operating manually. The technology also enables faster functionality within the tourism sector since the operation procedures hasten and lead to quality functionality with fewer errors compared to when the industry operated without technology (Januszewska, Jaremen, & Nawrocka, 2015, Parker, 2019).

Through improved communication technology, the tourism industry can run the business swiftly, which has now become customer-oriented, and in case there is a query, for example, in booking procedures, the sector can handle and streamline queries on time. The customers can click to the specific event or tourism agency website to access information at the comfort of their rooms or workplace and learn more compared to when the companies used brochures was the order of the day.

Both tourism and event entrepreneurship are now embracing digital marketing through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The platform mainly favors those that are quick and willing to learn the new digital marketing (Parker, 2019). When an entrepreneur young or old assimilates the social platforms to sell their brand, products, or services, there is a possibility that it will get to many online consumers. The use of technology leads to adjusting their sales in a broader scope as well as cutting some advertising costs since social media costs almost free.

Aim of the report

The objective of this report is to show how the integration of ICT  in our wedding website will help in executing our designs, the website launch an in running our new business on a wedding website.

Report structure

Report on the wedding website will include the introduction of the service that the business will be offering, the problem that the wedding website might incur in the process of initializing its stability followed by a comprehensive illustration of the possible solutions and sums up with a detailed conclusion.

Background information

Digital innovation and technology are the reason that makes most business sectors are thriving, and the case is not different in the wedding sector. In the United States, about 2.5 million get married, which is an estimate of sixty billion dollars (Douglas, 2016). The United States wedding industry comprises of wedding businesses up to six hundred thousand that leads to the employment of about one million people.

How digital innovation and technology can transform a whole industry. Almost every industry has been (or will be) impacted by new technology, and the wedding industry is no exception. Each year in the United States, about 2.5 million people get married. The sector is estimated to be $60 Billion in the U.S. and $300 billion globally. Here in the U.S., the wedding industry comprises almost 600K businesses that employ about 1 million people. It’s an industry that is growing slowly (about 2% per year) as more and more young people decide to skip marriage altogether. Some wedding markets have embraced the digital move while others are still derailing in the past methods of doing things.

The technology has helped the wedding industry to come up with wedding websites, electronic invites as well as online planning tools, and this has made the Millenials are now able to provide planning that is tech-friendly. Through technology, startup businesses in the wedding sector are learning from the successful business on how to lift their businesses to a customer-oriented company. The technology is also enabling the wedding sector to advertise their brand on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram (Jordan, 2018).

Due to the technology, weddings have grown in a vast range and scope, and every entrepreneur that ant to invest in the wedding business has to come up with a unique brand that will attract more customers to their enterprise. Weddings have changed in that they have shifted from being a one-day event and are now operating on multiple functions such as rehearsals dinner, welcome parties, after-parties, and the first wedding. The wedding industry has to collaborate with other sectors, such as the tourism sector, as a way of fulfilling their client’s dreams and expectations (Jordan, 2018).

Technology has also impacted the wedding sector with various challenges such as competition where some wedding organizations may cut the cost to the extreme, making those that use expensive wedding equipment’s and services cut costs too, leading to a massive loss. The industry faces some setbacks when some organizations do not offer the type of quality services they post on their website or social media platforms resulting in loss of trust from many clients in the industry.  The wedding industry has faced scammers who do not pay after the work delivery, thus acting as a setback to the industry.

Wedding sector Size globally

For startups, big brands, and entrepreneurs wanting to venture into wedding space have to brand their through technology by monetizing their websites, movement matchmaking, and creating efficiencies. The cloud-based websites platforms have grown their worth to $24 billion in the United States and have a 4.9 percent growth annually (Borque, 2015). The DIY web development leader Wix.com has an increase of sixty-four million users, and it is still on the run, thus showing that the wedding website has an opportunity to rise if they offer quality services to their clients.

Effect of Technology

Over the past years, technology has revolutionized the way we plan and attend events. It has opened new opportunities for better planning, attendee engagement, and sharing. Meanwhile, the wedding world has seen two extremes. In some ways, the industry has managed to stay “old-school” in terms of planning processes and traditions. On the other hand, wedding planners have been pioneers of social media and always looked to embrace current trends. Fast forward to 2015, and the wedding industry is witnessing an exciting fusion of old and new.

Level of Technology Implementation

The wedding industry has been transformed, especially in the planning process, since its easier, accessible, and fun. There are tools for both online and mobile users that are designed for professional wedding planners and for the couple that wants to venture into planning their wedding. The wedding plans execution can be through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, where the planners can merge with the couple client. The group can help both parties to come up with a concrete result that pleases them (Nikolaeva, 2018).

Type of ownership

Written Content & Photography

The website enables one to have ownership rights to the web contents that are in written and the photography taken upon payment (Abalos, 2017).

Website Design

The website is usually owned by the person that creates it though it is a contract based website where one can revise the terms of the agreement (Abalos, 2017).

Website Code

The website contains an in-built code language though the owner can decide to transfer ownership. Before acquiring such coded site, one should consult if the in-built features can make the ownership transfer since the most website that has the proprietary software cannot transfer ownership (Abalos, 2017)

Technology on Business Process

A wedding website will help in identifying the verification of complex business processes as a way of avoiding mistakes that can significantly cost the organization. Through technology, the business will manage to review its brand regularly by studying what their client’s attitude is on various works provided. The wedding business will also have some automation messages that will receive at once, which will save the cost and energy used in trying to reach the clients one by one.

The technology startup idea

The technology startup idea is the development of a website to be used in the event management sector to facilitate the ease of communication, planning, coordination, and invitation of guests in an event. The focus of this report is to outline the benefits of using technology in weddings and weddings plantings. The startup wedding technology website will comprise of two techniques. It will major on the projection mapping wall and projection table to be used at weddings to replace traditional weddings and improve on the environment. Secondly, there will be a focus on E-invitation, whereby there will be the creation of a website link about invitation cards for the couples, which they will be able to send the link to family, friends, and other relations. Also, the E-invitation content will have pictures, videos, and presentations about the couple’s story and wedding menus that will be offered to guests by the couple (Raskar, 2004).

The technology of Projection mapping is an invention used to transform physical places or objects regardless of size or shape, into a display surface for projection. It is done to an object to be projected upon virtually anything. It will comprise landscapes such as building that will expect into smaller indoor stage or object. It can be either in the form of 2D or 3D mapping, depending on individual preferences (Bimber, 2006). Projection mapping has evolved from 1969 through 2006. From the invention period of this technology, the projected images or landscape were a bit larger, but as time passed, more advancement was done to create smaller images and projections (Raskar, 2004).

Bimber (2006) believes that technology is transforming landscapes into works of art. It turns sculptures, skyscrapers, or ordinary objects into outstanding, mobile projection mapping have dramatically changed the field of events in a way that it brings a sense of wonder and beauty. When one attends or holds a beautiful and eye-catching wedding, it brings happiness when you see your quests amazed and happy on occasion. It seems like a way of entertainment in an exciting event. When using this technology, there will be reduced use of paper and plastics used in decoration, which environmental unfriendly (Bimber, 2006).

E-invitation is another technology that the event industry and management use. The technology is standard, especially in the 21st century. Designs in online invitation cards are created an individual invitation using a wide selection of templates used for various events like birthday parties. These invitations, when created, use a web link to send the messages of an occasion (Scheinerman, 2012). Let’s say, for example, a wedding invitation online will enable the couple to prepare and layout their budgets to use because quests respond whether they will attend the wedding or not. In other words, online invitation cards make the process a lot easier, economical, and efficient. Initially, there was the printing of cards of invitations, which, however, is being used. Still, the few who are using an online message can attest to many benefits that come with the use of E-invitation technology. Furthermore, this technology will be life-changing because other than being comfortable and economical, and it is environmentally friendly because there would be no need for plastic and paper to make invitation cards the pollute the environment.

According to Scheinerman (2012), technology has evolved in a way that it offers a faster response. It is more organized, and there is not tiresome because it does not involve a delivery where many invitations end up not being delivered in time. It is more convenient because today’s everyone is online. Even though you find having older friends and relatives that are not online, the chances are there is someone who can be of assistance to them. To help them in drafting a simple online invitation response. It also has more features in an online invitation card as compared to hardcopy. (Scheinerman, 2012).

Conclusion

Conclusively, the field of ICT has made the current world to be an exciting place to live in because everything nowadays is done online from shopping, businesswise, event planning, and booking flights, among others. Indeed technology is changing the world of work, communication, and many other fields using the invention of modern telecommunication means including the use of the Internet in doing business, making transactions, and communicating. Event management is the application of project management to the formation and development of large and small scale events like ceremonies, conferences, concerts, formal parties, and weddings. The industry has grown a lot in that it incorporates all size events ranging from games like Olympics going down to small business breakfast meeting. The comprehensive startup technology starts up includes the use of Projection mapping and E-invitation, which is the technology that is widely used in the event industry and management. This helps a lot in making it easy to organize a wedding and make it go through smoothly and efficiently. These technologies will help, and it is already contributing to different events other than the wedding organization.