Evaluation, Synthesis and Formulation of Proposals for the Use of ...

«Evaluation, Synthesis and Formulation of Proposals for the Use of ICTin the Tourism Sector»growing of a technological culture and a tourist ethos. In the tourist education and vocational training,Greece lacks behind other countries which offer specialized courses in tourism with emphasis to ICTfor many years. Indicatively, in a recent interview to Xenia News, Professor of Tourism DevelopmentP. Tsartas at the University of the Aegean expresses the opinion that the Greek tourist studies coursesare of a “traditional character» 1 .The establishment of a new specialized university department (Department of Tourism Strategy andDevelopment at the University of Piraeus), the operation of the tourist education and training forum atthe Ministry of Tourism Development and the modernization of courses offered by the Organizationfor Tourism Education and Training (OTEK) schools, show that the State is aware of these problems.Nevertheless, Greece lacks in the technological education and vocational training, and this widens thedigital divide between Greek tourist enterprises. There is also a vicious circle evident in the tourismsector: Enterprise owners have not yet been persuaded for the benefits of an investment for theadoption of ICT methods and show much reservation towards the technological developments. As aconsequence, there are few stimuli to the technological education in tourism and the Greek ITindustry.The relevant proposals are focused to the modernization of the syllabus in tourism schools anduniversity schools and departments that offer such courses, and to ways for the transfer of know-howto tourist SMEs through the funding of their ICT training. Modern e-learning methods and theirpotential applications are also mentioned.Finally, there are issues regarding synergies and co operations, both at the level of sectors relatedto tourism and at the level of co operations and coalitions of SMEs (tourist clusters) – a fundamentalcomponent of the national strategy. With respect to the inter-sector issues, the findings mainlyconcern the lack of IT infrastructures in other sectors (e.g. culture), which prohibits the provision ofintegrated destination management and the use of it to extend the length of stay of visitors in Greece.The relative shortage of e-methods in the culture sector has already been noted. Regarding thecooperation of SMEs, several obstacles are found in the way, due to the reservations of the businessowners towards the benefits from the adoption of ICT methods and also due to the criteria forinclusion in tourist clusters. Another subject discussed is the inadequate connection between academicresearch and tourist practice.1 http://www.xenianews.gr/179/article_971.aspxVersion 1Month: December Year: 20077