As a part of the Tourist Information Provider (TIP) system, this project focuses on creating a photo gallery service in the TIP system, which allows users to share, browse and categorize their photos. The core of this project is to provide users a location-based photo browsing. The system provides photos which are taken in the current user's location. We considered privacy control on photos that users uploaded. A photo owner is able to sign an access level to each of their photos and permit different users to access them. We also considered reusing resources. The system allows a user to use an URL of a photo in the system in stead of uploading the photo from the local computer. The system also provides a URL of each photo in order to use the photo on other web places, e.g., Blogs. We use tags and photo metadata Eixf to categorize photos.

Magister Artium - MA / This paper seeks to explore a number of issues in relation to tourism, particularly cultural tours, in Cape Town from the apartheid era to the new political dispensation in South Africa. Cultural tourism is not merely about commerial activities. It is an ideological framing of history of people, nature, and culture, a framing that has power to reshape culture and nature for its own needs. In the South African context, this can be seen from the early decades of the twentieth century, but for the purposes of this study it will focus from the 1950s onwards to the present political period. The dominant ideology and political conditions at a given time shape cultural tourism. / South Africa

This diploma work deals with the satisfaction of clients with services of the Tourist Information Centre in Znojmo, Czechia. The objective was to ascertain this satisfaction by means of an inquiry and comparison of information centres and to suggest recommendations and improvements that should finally lead to greater satisfaction of clients. In the theoretical part hereof, I have focused on the explanation of basic terminology related to tourism, tourist information centres, marketing research and satisfaction inquiry. In the practical part hereof, by means of a special questionnaire that I prepared, I have been ascertaining satisfaction of clients in the Tourist Information Centre in Znojmo. I have also been comparing tourist information centres in other towns and cities of similar size as the City of Znojmo. In conclusion, I have put down some recommendations and improvements which should finally lead to greater satisfaction of clients.

Guidebooks are argued to be significant elements of the tourism infrastructure (Koshar, 1998), influencing the perception of destinations and the travel practices of millions of tourists (Gilbert, 1999). Guidebooks have been depicted as mediators, interpreters, and communicators of place and people, yet the examination of these texts as part of tourism has received little attention in the academic literature. There are few studies focusing on what information guidebooks are presenting to tourists (Bhattacharyya, 1997; Lew, 1991; McGregor, 2000). <br /><br /> In pursuit of cultural, environmental, and leisure experiences, tourists are going all over the world and there is increasing concern over the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts of this activity. Information on these impacts can be found in academic literature and government reports, but rarely is it presented to tourists. <br /><br /> The purpose of this study is to analyse and describe how travel guidebooks communicate information on socio-cultural, environmental, and other destination specific issues. The republic of Peru was the case study area for this research. <br /><br /> Destination data was collected through interviews with tourism representatives in Per??, Destination Management Organisation (DMO) website analysis, and participant observation. This data was analysed to provide a coding scheme for the current issues and impacts in Peru relating to tourism. This coding scheme was used to analyse the content of the most commonly used commercial guidebooks for Peru (Lonely Planet, South American Handbook, Rough Guide) to understand if and how guidebooks are addressing current issues in Peru tourism. <br /><br /> Qualitative content analysis of destination data resulted in 29 emergent categories which were evaluated based on theme distributions (socio-cultural, environmental, and other) and source information. Categories were grouped based on importance values to allow for further examination of the main issues and impacts involved in Peru tourism. <br /><br /> Qualitative analysis of guidebook content resulted in 4 additional categories for a total of 33 items. This was followed by quantitative analysis of guidebook content to better understand theme distributions, statement types, marketing communication types, and relationships with original category intentions. Guidebook content was organised into groups based on importance values and compared with the importance groups found in the destination data to determine differences in category relevance. <br /><br /> The implications of this research in presenting information to tourists are discussed in terms of their relevance to socio-cultural and environmental interpretation, marketing and communication theory, and responsible tourism. Similarities and differences found in comparing destination and guidebook data are examined. Findings and discussions based on this research indicate that the role of the guidebook is multi-dimensional. These texts, juxtaposed between host and guest, mediate and interpret ecological, cultural, and social information. Findings of this research suggest that though guidebooks are involved in persuasive messaging which raises issues of power and representation, guidebooks are the only popular tourist information source in Peru attempting to influence tourists to reduce cultural and environmental impacts. This discussion is followed by suggestions for future research in this area.

This project provides an audio notification about nearby tourism place to visit (named sight in this thesis), a chapter based Audio Books related to the current sight and involving Digital Library to provide text for the Audio Books for the Tourist Information Provider on a mobile device (TIP). The current system plays a background sound for the sight only when the system displays the specific information for that sight after user selects it. This has been improved to provide a notification by which to receive audios from the recommendation service, and then keep sending audio data to clients on real time. So users can know the sight nearby before they look at their screen. The limitation of current Audio Books is that it only provides Audio Books when the books start from the current sight. This problem is solved by providing a list of books that has any chapter related to that sight, and users can add them into a now-playing list. The Travel Planning Service has been involved to place the Audio Books chapters into the now-playing list based on the order of the visiting sight in their plan. The TIP/Greenstone Service, which can load particular text from Greenstone Digital Library into TIP, has been involved in this project to provide related chapter-based text for those Audio Books. The implemented prototype has been evaluated on effeteness and performance based on the purpose of this project. The result has been discussed to prove it has effectively solved the problem described above. Finally, the result of the experiment on distinguishing audio, and technology for implementation and audio transfers, has been left for future study.

The modern day tourists do not want to deal with the hassle of using a large number of travel guides and paper maps while travelling. They would prefer to be able to access required information via their mobile phones or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). We realise that the delivered information may be originally available in numerous information formats. To support the administrator of the tourist guides the programme is required to help sorting information from these different sources and to help inserting them into a system. Our goal with this project is to develop a software support for processing information import via a graphical user interface, to support the administrator in identifying and extracting the appropriate sight information from various resources. The interface also helps in transferring and storing the structured and unstructured data into the TIP database.

As an information intensive industry and as one of the most progressive industries in information technology adoption, travel and tourism provides an ideal context in which to investigate how new technologies such as interactive television challenge our understanding of media and media use. This research looks at how interactive television can be used by consumers and how it may be best applied by marketers in international holiday travel. Using the UK international traveller market to Western Australia as case in point, this research had three main research goals: 1) to understand how travellers use information sources with a focus on interactive television; 2) how an individual’s previous interactive media and travel experiences may pre-dispose them to using interactive television; and 3) to better understand why individuals interact and what impact the interaction has on the promotional effort. A travel ad and a travel show segment were used to explore these with impulse (brochure request) and telescopic (destination video) interactive opportunities. The treatments were deployed over a video-on-demand platform in greater London and participants took part in their homes via their televisions and a self administered questionnaire. This research has furthered the use of the multi-dimensional grid in understanding information sources in relationship to one another and updated the landscape with modern information sources such as television, teletext, the Internet and interactive television. Findings from this area of investigation suggest that current interactive television offerings cater better to short-haul destinations and although it currently plays a minor role, interactive television has the potential to significantly contribute to travellers’ long-haul holiday planning process. The finding that individuals understand interactive television through their experience with teletext rather than the Internet and are more likely to use interactive television if they are thorough and experienced planners supports the theory of knowledge transference. However, most importantly, if an individual has a positive experience with interactive television they will interact again in the future. Contributions were also made to a better understanding of the interactive television user and the use of interactive television applications to the travel and tourism industry in particular. Exploration of the differences between the Impulse and Telescopic approaches to interactivity highlighted that while interactivity generally enhances the promotional effort each approach has its own strategic applications.

Guidebooks are argued to be significant elements of the tourism infrastructure (Koshar, 1998), influencing the perception of destinations and the travel practices of millions of tourists (Gilbert, 1999). Guidebooks have been depicted as mediators, interpreters, and communicators of place and people, yet the examination of these texts as part of tourism has received little attention in the academic literature. There are few studies focusing on what information guidebooks are presenting to tourists (Bhattacharyya, 1997; Lew, 1991; McGregor, 2000). <br /><br /> In pursuit of cultural, environmental, and leisure experiences, tourists are going all over the world and there is increasing concern over the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts of this activity. Information on these impacts can be found in academic literature and government reports, but rarely is it presented to tourists. <br /><br /> The purpose of this study is to analyse and describe how travel guidebooks communicate information on socio-cultural, environmental, and other destination specific issues. The republic of Peru was the case study area for this research. <br /><br /> Destination data was collected through interviews with tourism representatives in Perú, Destination Management Organisation (DMO) website analysis, and participant observation. This data was analysed to provide a coding scheme for the current issues and impacts in Peru relating to tourism. This coding scheme was used to analyse the content of the most commonly used commercial guidebooks for Peru (Lonely Planet, South American Handbook, Rough Guide) to understand if and how guidebooks are addressing current issues in Peru tourism. <br /><br /> Qualitative content analysis of destination data resulted in 29 emergent categories which were evaluated based on theme distributions (socio-cultural, environmental, and other) and source information. Categories were grouped based on importance values to allow for further examination of the main issues and impacts involved in Peru tourism. <br /><br /> Qualitative analysis of guidebook content resulted in 4 additional categories for a total of 33 items. This was followed by quantitative analysis of guidebook content to better understand theme distributions, statement types, marketing communication types, and relationships with original category intentions. Guidebook content was organised into groups based on importance values and compared with the importance groups found in the destination data to determine differences in category relevance. <br /><br /> The implications of this research in presenting information to tourists are discussed in terms of their relevance to socio-cultural and environmental interpretation, marketing and communication theory, and responsible tourism. Similarities and differences found in comparing destination and guidebook data are examined. Findings and discussions based on this research indicate that the role of the guidebook is multi-dimensional. These texts, juxtaposed between host and guest, mediate and interpret ecological, cultural, and social information. Findings of this research suggest that though guidebooks are involved in persuasive messaging which raises issues of power and representation, guidebooks are the only popular tourist information source in Peru attempting to influence tourists to reduce cultural and environmental impacts. This discussion is followed by suggestions for future research in this area.

In this thesis, I have made use of Consumer Strategic Procedure of E-K-B model to study Leisure Farm Tourists ¡V their tour motivation as well as factors that influence their choice of place ¡V to enable the owners of these leisure farms to make suitable changes in order to attract more tourists. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to discuss and analyze the effect of ¡§tour motivation¡¨ and ¡§choice evaluation¡¨ on ¡§tour motivation¡¨, ¡§information search behavior¡¨, and ¡§choice evaluation norm¡¨ respectively ¡V their characters and differences. The questionnaire design for this study is targeted toward grown up individual. A total of 301 valid questionnaires have been collected. Using statistical analysis methods such as Factor analysis, Discriminant analysis, Cluster analysis, One-way ANOVA and Chi-square method, I have examined the data collected and have reached the following conclusions: &#x00D8; The frequency of tourists visiting leisure farms during the past 2 years was very low, plus the duration of stay in these places almost never exceeded 2 days. &#x00D8; From the result of Factor Analysis on Tourist¡¦s tour motivation we have generated the following 5 compositions ¡V ¡§Human Relationship and Ability Development¡¨, ¡§Physical and Psychological Relaxation and Recuperation¡¨, ¡§Continuous Learning and Development¡¨, ¡§Individual and Spiritual Quest¡¨ and ¡§Relationship Building¡¨. From Information Search Behavior we generated another 3 composition ¡V ¡§Fanatic Information Gatherer¡¨, ¡¨Experience Guided¡¨ and ¡§Last minute gatherer¡¨. From Source of Information we have ¡V ¡§Mass Media¡¨, ¡§Consultants¡¨, and ¡§Professional tour guide¡¨. From Choice Evaluation Norm we generated another 5 compositions ¡V those who care about the environment, those families who enjoy nature and outings, those who like to stay away from the crowd, those who loves danger and excitement, and finally those who love to experience new lifestyle. &#x00D8; Depending on tour motivation of the tourist we have dissected the leisure farm tourist into 3 group, and according to their nature we have named them as thus: &#x00B2; High tour motivation type: this type of tourists has displayed high degree of motivation in all type of compositions and their degree of motivation is significantly higher than those of the other two types. &#x00B2; Moderate tour motivation type: this type of tourists didn¡¦t display any type of strong dislike or like to any of the above-mentioned compositions. &#x00B2; Low tour motivation type: this type when compared with other two types of tourists has shown low degree of tour motivation. &#x00D8; According to tourists¡¦ degree of loyalty towards the choice of destination, we have divided them into four groups: &#x00B2; Unconcerned Type: this type of tourist doesn¡¦t show much interest to the attractive features of destination. &#x00B2; Environmental Type: this type of tourists pays attention to environmental factors, facilities available, family entertainment and natural beauty. &#x00B2; Scrutinizing Type: this type of tourists is very particular about each and every aspect of the attractive features of the destination. &#x00B2; Daring and adventurous Type: needless to say this type of tourists are all out for a different lifestyle and seek danger and adventure. &#x00D8; Even in searching for information, source of information and selection criteria, the three groups under the Tour motivation category exhibit substantial difference - the High tour motivation type pays a lot more attention to the quantity of information collected, reliability of source of information and attractive features of choice of destination than the other two types. But in case of demographic distribution and tour behavior there aren¡¦t any notable differences between the three groups. The four group under the selection norm category shows differences when analyzed statistically in factors such as tour motivations, information search behavior, sources of information, age, family life cycle, individual income, etc. ¡V those tourists under the Daring and adventurous Type are younger, single or married but doesn¡¦t have any children and not so high income earner. As for those tourists under the Environmental Type, they are more matured, married and have children 6 years or older and monthly income is more than 50,000 NTD. There isn¡¦t any notable difference in

This diploma thesis evaluates the potential of the tourist information centre USE-IT Prague and its possibilities in the tourist destination Prague. The aim is to determine, whether the services the information centre currently offers are attractive enough for the visitors and whether it is possible for the information centre to make a profit in order to cover its operating costs. The introductory chapters are devoted to definition of basic terms relating to tourism and its participants, tourist information centre, non-profit organization and tools used to evaluate potential of certain business - lean canvas and SWOT analyses. The second theoretical part pays attention to the USE-IT organization on the European level as well as Czech level. The Prague branch is described into more detail. The practical part evaluates the possibilities the information centre have. The evaluation is based on two surveys among visitors if the USE-IT information centre and other European USE-IT information centres. The evaluation contents lean canvas and SWOT analyses. The last chapter propose the particular services, which USE-IT information centre could offer its visitors in order to increase the attractiveness of the whole place.