Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Science and Technology University,

Gopalgonj-8100.

" Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in

the tourism Industry in bangladesh: A quantitative analysis. ''
Course title: Business Research Methodology.
Course code: THM-451

Submitted To:
Chhanda Biswas
Adjunct lecturer,
Dept. of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology
University, Gopalgonj-8100.

Submitted By:

Name ID.
Kazi Faras Uddin 18THM039
Md Shohanur Talukder 18THM017
Md Al Amin Islam 18THM013
Rashel Hossen 18THM022
Naznin Parvin 18THM062
 " Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in
the tourism Industry in bangladesh: A quantitative analysis. ''

1. Introduction.
Tourism is one of the prime industries of Bangladesh like other countries of the world. The
contribution of tourism to the economy is vast. Now people are very much interested in
visiting different attractive places in their leisure time. To meet this demand the tourism
authority is introducing new forms of tourism destinations for the different market segments.
Nowadays tourism is contributing more and more to the economy of Bangladesh. According
to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in 2014, the total contribution of Travel &
Tourism to the national GDP of Bangladesh was BDT 627.9bn (4.1% of total GDP) and was
forecasted to rise by 6.5% pa to BDT 1,252.8bn (4.4% of total GDP) in 2025.

Moreover, in case of a contribution to the employment, in 2014, the Travel and Tourism
industry contributed 3.4% of the total employment in Bangladesh (1,984,000 jobs), and this is
expected to rise by 2.1% pa to 2,492,000 jobs in 2025 (3.6% of total employment) (WTTC,
2015a). On the other hand, according to the WTTC (2015b) in 2015 the totalcontribution of
tourism to the GDP in the world was 7864 billion Dollar and expected that it would reach to
11382 billion Dollar in the year of 2025. In Bangladesh, domestic tourism is up to the mark,
but in the case of international tourism, Bangladesh is far lagging behind. In 2015, France
accommodated 83.7 million international tourists, butBangladesh attracted only .125 million
tourists.

Introduction to Information and Communication Technology . It is helping the industry to

spread rapidly. While the number of Internet users worldwide is constantly growing and
reaches 1.7 billion (Internet world stats, 2015), the diffusion of information technologies has
improved the offer of tourist services regarding efficiency, quality and flexibility. In a global
travel market estimated at roughly $850 billion, $216 billion, or 25%, is booked online in the
U.S., Western Europe and the Asia Pacific, so more than half a trillion dollars in global travel
sales is still waiting to be booked online (Juman, 2010). According to the Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) (2015) in Bangladesh in the year of
2014, a total number of Internet Subscribers has reached 44.625 million where mobile
internet subscriber were 43.167 million, WiMax was .208 million, and ISP + PSTN were
1.250. In Bangladesh, Computer ownership per 100 inhabitants is .8, on the other hand,
Telephone Lines per 100 inhabitants are 23.24, and Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants are
.015 (estimated), Internet cafes/tele centres per 10,000 is .19 (Ashis, 2015).

The main objective of the study is to identify the various roles played by the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) for developing the tourism and hospitality industry.
Tourism and hospitality industry comprises some A like Accommodations including hotel,
resort, and motel, Attractions, Activities, Amenities and Accessibilities among others. This
industry has many stakeholders, so ICT has many roles to be played. The use of information
technology, in particular, has grown from the viewpoint of the customers (tourists).
Nowadays tourists have become more independent and enthusiastic about a wide range of
tools for planning a journey. So it is high time to work with ICT.

Statement of the Problem: The main focus of the research is to identify and analyse the
roles of Information and Communication Technology. Moreover, the study also aims how
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) create loyalty among the users of
technology.
A quantitative approach has been considered in this study by using a questionnaire
distribution. In fact, the aim of the survey is to find answers for the following questions-

● Q1 – What is the role of ICT in the tourism industry in Bangladesh?

● Q2 – How can the ICT systems improve the communication and the relation between
tourist and host communities?
● Q3 – How can ICT increase the number of visitors in tourist places?
● Q4 – Is the use of ICT beneficial for tourism business?

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is changing the nature of the tourism
industry on a large scale in every aspect of the business. Almost all the things such as hotels
and transportation are now completed by using computers and the internet. Bangladesh is not
so much lagging behind in this aspect. The tourism industry is trying to adopt this growing
demand. Due to the increasing impact on efficiency and effectiveness of tourism
organisations, ICTs may be perceived as an integral part of the contemporary tourism
business.
2. Literature Review.
Today, the generation is known as Information and Communication generation. In this
globalised competitive world, no businesses including tourism businesses are not able to
survive without the use of Information and Communication Technology (Karimidizboni,
2013). The travel and tourism sector is facing the wave in case of adoption of information
and communication technology in the area of ultimate service providers to information
providers in the last two decades although the travel and tourism sector was one of the first
sectors to be aided by the evolution of Information Technology (Sahadev & Islam, 2004).
Information Technology is widely used by the airlines, buses, railways, car rentals, ships
companies along with hotels, motels, resorts and tourism destination sector for different
purposes (Jadhav & Mundhe, 2011). To adjust with the world phenomenon and to get more
benefits than competitors there is no alternative to Information and Communication
Technology. Airlines companies, Tour operators and Travel agencies invest heavily in
electronic ticketing. Accommodation sectors such as Hotels, Motels and Resorts are using
Information and Communication Technology to create and maintain relationships with their
guests and distribution channels and making booking process simple and easy. Destination
Management Organization (DMO) using the Information and Communication Technology for
Digital Marketing and building the brand (Jucana & Baiera, 2012).

To adapt with the global trends, the accommodation sector is largely relying on the uses of
Information and Communication Technology. Information and Communication Technology
ensures the more benefits compare to their competitors where they provide different ICT
related amenities such as calling facility along with sending documents over the internet, the
scope of browsing and sending messages through email, payment via cards and reservation
(Salim et al., 2013).

Information and Communication Technology brings revolution in the tourism distribution

system by developing direct linkage opportunities in the form of an online channel with
customers that change the configuration of the system and business process and ultimately
impact on the performance and activities of the travel agents and tour operators. As a result,
tourists can buy more customised products according to their own choice directly from the
package creators and distributors (Berné, Gómez-campillo & Orive, 2015). Information
Technology influences the firm by increasing their productivity, creating unique packages for
customers, reducing expenses for running the business and helping to give feedback to their
customers within very short time, distribution of products directly and rapidly to customers
and making the reservation system much easier. On the other hand, customers can find out
the various types of packages within a very short time by using the internet and give
instructions for modification of the package (Ashari, Heidari & Parvaresh, 2014).

According to the experts emerging, markets continue to grow rapidly, and web presence can
be a clear competitive advantage in their development. ICT-based services can improve the
efficiency of processes and systems, can help to make CSR information more readily
available to stakeholders and create new technical possibilities of linking information on
individual company impacts with other sources (Jucan & Baier, 2012). Corporate Social
Responsibility is becoming an integral part of modern tourism business and managing the
whole process is one of the complex tasks for a firm. However, the improvement of
Information and Communication Technology makes it easier for the firm to manage the
whole process in a simple way and different parties of tourism business can get information
more easily (Jucana & Baiera, 2012).

Information and Communication Technology has various roles in the tourism and hospitality
industry such as it has an impact on competition among several firms and their output level
along with the growing number of market share. Information and Communication
Technology also helps the hotel, restaurant, travel agency and tour operator firms to be
globalised, create better chances to protect themselves in tough times, strengthen themselves,
and give opportunities for modification of the products and process (Elena & Andrea, 2013).
Development of Information and Communication Technology helps the firms to be more
advanced and up to date than before around the world that is driven by the innovation of
Computer Reservation System, Global Distribution System and Internet. The ultimate
advantages the firms are getting as a result of ICT are the advancement of the relationship
between tourism firms, incensement of expert knowledge, extensive advertisement and
protection of destination through the concept of sustainable development (Saini, 2013).

Information and Communication Technology plays several roles to ensure socio-economic

sustainability such as reduce the workforce cost, upsurge the production level which directly
helps to economies of scale, increase environmental and social consciousness, decrease
expenditure, drive innovation and create better collaboration (Jucana & Baiera, 2012). The
destination is the core product of the Tourism and Hospitality industry. Information and
Communication Technology has a contribution in the field of destination management. It
helps the Destination Management Organization (DMO) in the area of destination promotion
and vending more easily to the customers (Gruescu, Nanu & Tanasie, 2009).

It has been proved that without developing structure and substructure for using Information
and Communication Technology the firms of a tourism sector has no hope to be successful in
the global area even in the regional and local arena (Karimidizboni, 2013).

3. Research Methodology
Research Design: At the initial level, exploratory research has been conducted, along with
an extensive brainstorming session supported by the earlier studies. Researchers have
selected an exploratory approach that is directly related to quantitative research strategy and
in previous sections researchers have argued behind its selection. Researchers have also
selected this strategy keeping in mind the research questions and objectives.
The sample size for the research was 250. Convenience sampling was used. The sample is
selected on the ground that they are found in the location conveniently and timely.
Respondents were tour operators, Airline’s service providers and hoteliers from different
parts of the country. They were asked to give a response to the roles of ICT in the
tourismindustry. The sample size was 250 and respondents including both male and female.
The survey was conducted over a time frame of 60 days and researchers went personally to
targeted respondents. 320 sets of survey questionnaires were distributed among respondents
and finally received 250 sets of the questionnaire in complete form and data is collected in 5
points Likert Scale. Respondents were mainly from Dhaka city and Cox’s Bazar. The target
population for the research were mainly hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents and airline’s
service providers who use different types of Information and Communication tools in their
organisation. Researchers found that those who use ICT tools, from them maximum tour
operators, travel agents and airlines companies conduct their business from the Dhaka city.
The survey questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section included
socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and items included age, gender, occupation,
computer literacy, and education. The second section was developed to assess the role of ICT
where 20 items relating to the role of ICT were selected, and respondents were asked to rate
each of the attributes on five points Likert scale.
Data Collection: A research instrument is tools that are used to measure a given
phenomenon. Interview, survey, paper and pencil tests are the examples of the research
instrument. Researchers use survey research tools to identify the different roles of ICT in
developing the tourism industry. A self-administered questionnaire in English was developed
to gather information from respondents.

Data Analysis: Background and the respondents’ profiles were analysed by using descriptive
statistics. The common statistical tools such as mean, frequency, cumulative percentage and
percentage are used to evaluate the data collected through the questionnaires survey.
Descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic features of the data in a study. They
provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. Factor analysis is also
conducted for data reduction. These statistical analyses were conducted using the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

Ethical considerations: It involves obtaining informed consent from participants,

safeguarding participants privacy, and conducting the study with integrity and transparency.
We address potential biases, disclose any conflicts of interest, and ensure that the benefits of
the research outweigh any potential risks to participants and the broader community.
References
● Ashari, A., Heidari, M. and Parvaresh, S. (2014). Improving SMTEs’ Business Performance
through Strategic Use of Information Communication Technology: ICT and Tourism
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Finance and Management Sciences, 4(3), 1-20.
● Ashis, K. (2015). Country Paper on Information Society Statistics: Core ICT Indicators.
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● Beech, J., and Chadwich, S. (2006). The Business of Tourism Management, Prentice Hall,
imprint of Pearson Education.
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● Bethapudi, A. (2015). Role of ICT in Promoting a Rural Tourism Product. J Tourism
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● Birgit, P. (2004). The measurement of destination image: the case of Austria. The University
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● Gruescu, R., Nanu, R. and Tanasie, A. (2009). Human Resources Development and ICT
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