THE INTERNET IS A REAL FACTOR IN INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS AND PROMOTION OF TOURIST PRODUCTS

ИНТЕРНЕТ  - РЕАЛЬНЫЙ ФАКТОР ПОВЫШЕНИЯ КОНКУРЕНТОСПОСОБНОСТИ И ПРОДВИЖЕНИЯ ТУРПРОДУКТА

Нурмухамбетова Жангуль,

Студент Казахская академия спорта и туризма,

Казахстан, Алматы

Кулахметова Гульбарам

доктор PhD, Казахская академия спорта и туризма,

Казахстан, Алматы

ABSTRACT

Tourism has an important advantage over other e-Commerce sectors - its consumer receives the purchased product directly at the place of production, i.e. in the tourist center. Thus, the tourism sector is spared the need to deliver the product to different parts of the world, i.e. it does not have to solve the problem that is the most difficult and is the main cause of consumer dissatisfaction. The combination of the above factors has led to the fact that the tourism and travel sector occupies an increasing share in e-Commerce on a global scale. The Internet serves as a tool for developing communication and interaction with suppliers and intermediaries in the market, as well as with potential consumers.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Туризм имеет важное преимущество перед другими секторами электронной торговли - его потребитель получает приобретенный продукт непосредственно в месте его производства, т.е. в туристском центре. Таким образом, туристский сектор избавлен от необходимости доставлять продукт в разные точки мира, т.е. не должен решать задачу, которая представляет наибольшую трудность и является основной причиной недовольства потребителей. Совокупность вышеназванных факторов привела к тому, что сектор туризма и путешествий занимает все большую долю в электронной торговле в глобальном масштабе.

Keywords: tourism, UNWTO, international practice, e-Commerce sectors, Internet.

Ключевые слова: туризм, ЮНВТО, международный опыт, секторы e-коммерции, Интернет.

Introduction. In modern conditions, in the development of international tourism, great importance is given to the introduction of Internet technologies as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of national tourist products. Tourism and the Internet are ideal partners. The Internet is a global computer network through which users can receive and send information (for example, communicate with each other, make purchases, make offers, study demand, and conduct research on consumer requests).

For tourist centers and businesses, the Internet makes it possible to provide information and booking services to a larger number of consumers at a relatively low cost; it allows them to significantly save money on the production and distribution of printed products and other traditional advertising activities (for example, information centers) [1].

Thus, the Internet is revolutionizing the distribution of tourist information and the sales system. It not only provides tourist centers and businesses with direct access to the end user, but also becomes the main means of business communication. The Internet is an ideal environment for tourism marketing by tourist centers and businesses. In other words, they correspond to the characteristics of the target market of some, and perhaps all, tourist destinations. However, as the number of Internet users increases, especially due to the increase in the number of new access channels (especially interactive TV and mobile systems), their quality will change, expand and stop focusing only on the expensive market. It is already typical for the United States that a large proportion of people traveling abroad are or will soon become Internet users. Today, the same process is already being observed in other major markets [2].

The research purpose is to analyze the increasing factor of Internet to the competitiveness and promotion of tourist products.

Methods and organization of the research. For research were used an analysis of scientific and methodological literature, also were applied the quantitative, statistical analyzes.

The research results and their discussion. As the number of people going online increases, the commercial potential of the Internet becomes more apparent. The growth of money spending via the Internet is obvious. There is a high probability that the main outbound tourism markets, such as Europe and Japan, will catch up with the US in the coming years. The rapid growth in the number of Internet users outside the United States reflects the same process of Internet adoption that the United States has experienced in recent years. Analysts believe that Europe has begun a rapid process of Internet adoption by consumers. At the same time, consumers ' spending on the Internet in Europe will increase, since the concept of an electronic trading system will become more familiar to them simultaneously with going online. Consumers are beginning to prefer Online travel to other activities [3].

A number of new technological developments provide access to the Internet and access to online mode. Their goal is to provide mass online access for a reasonable fee. In the future, you will not need to buy an expensive PC to do this. For companies in the tourism industry, this means an increase in the number of potential tourists who will access information about tourist centers online.

Using modern Internet capabilities. The user can:

- buy products online;

- select the required information online;

- order videos online;

-order music online;

- communicate online.

The Internet provides ideal opportunities for this purpose, since the cost of its services in the global and local markets is the same. This is one of the most important properties of the Internet. While the budgets of OMTN’s marketing operations increase in direct proportion to geographical coverage (by increasing the cost of printing and distribution), geographical factors do not matter for the Internet. The cost of its services does not depend on how many people visited your websites-5 million people worldwide or 500 people from your own country.

It should be added that the multimedia environment of the world Wide Web provides ideal opportunities for promoting tourism and travel. It combines the appeal of a color brochure with the fixed cost of “printing” and manufacturing. The cost of printing publications intended for marketing depends on the circulation. Within certain limits, the cost of a web site will be the same, regardless of how many people visited it, 10 thousand or 100 thousand [4].

For many consumers, booking a travel product online has already become the norm, and this practice will expand in the future. The potential of the Internet for direct sales not only allows product suppliers to go global, but also reduces administrative costs. Operating in an electronic environment, computers can replace people by performing administrative functions automatically. Entrepreneurs want to enter the interactive market because they see what success can be achieved. Those who are already online invest to gain a foothold in this market and stay ahead of their competitors.

It is easy to understand why travel product suppliers want to use this technology. The growing trend of online consumer demand suggests that this practice will soon become the norm, and in order to survive, everyone involved in the tourism industry will need to master direct sales online [5].

Currently, the most developed and profitable sector of the online tourist market is air transportation. However, it is expected that in the future, the volume of sales of packages of tourist services will significantly increase. It is expected that the development of interactive TV in the next five years will give an impetus to increasing sales of tourist services. This study found that the cost of booking services in real time can be ten times cheaper than through an Agency, and this is an additional incentive for the growth of the number of potential consumers.

The four largest suppliers of tourist flows are the United States, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. These four countries accounted for 41% of tourism expenditure. This circumstance is particularly important, since these countries are at the forefront of our world's entry into a new era - the Information age. The global communication system provides for the exchange of information, including tourist information, and those countries with the highest tourism expenditure also have the largest number of Internet users.

As more and more consumers around the world choose online distribution channels to purchase a travel product, the entire tourism industry will change. A new type of global tourism product seller is entering the market. New channels for electronic distribution of the product offer advantages to new arrivals. They no longer have to invest in the physical infrastructure required by a traditional retail agent and, in theory, can operate from a separate office, garage, or spare room. All they need is access to the client. Internet search directories and software manufacturers can join the game. New players can also offer original ways to sell a tourist product. Auction sites where the consumer sets the price themselves are becoming more popular among those who are looking for the best value for money when buying a tourist product [6].

Historical information gives us an opportunity to understand what is happening today and what the future holds for the tourism and travel industry in the online system. It explains how Global distribution Systems (GDS) emerged, why they dominate the market for booking and selling tourist products, and why they will dominate in the future.

It should be recognized that the goal of many large travel companies is to directly sell the product to the consumer, bypassing the intermediary, in order to avoid paying a Commission. Before the advent of the Internet, this task was difficult to accomplish. Now, many companies use the Internet as a key element of their sales strategy, aware of the huge savings it promises. The evolution of the GDS has radically changed the ways of buying and selling tourist products in the world. GRS arose from the need for regular airlines to provide a simple method by which travel agents could sell their product. A travel agent with a GDS terminal can instantly check availability and make a reservation for the client [7].

Sabre and Amadeus are the largest GRC organizations, and their activities include many booking functions within partner and owner airlines. The sale of Galileo services is similar to the Amadeus system in that the management of services and marketing is placed in the hands of national distribution companies (NDCs). Today, there is a situation in which GRS are becoming larger and more public companies than before. They went beyond their previous markets and reached global reach, which in turn led to the consolidation of their individual owners. To ensure deeper and more effective market penetration, GRS create stronger organizations by merging, merging, and finding ways to enter into contracts for the sale of their services. All this leads to increased efficiency and reduced costs as a result of sales savings, since larger organizations can afford to invest capital in new technologies.

Many States, in an effort to support national airlines, once imposed strict economic and administrative restrictions on international air transport. Despite this, the demand for transportation far exceeded the capabilities of national airlines, and other airlines were able to carry out transportation in the regions of mass tourism. As a result, in this low-budget tourist market, many airlines have grown as an auxiliary segment of the main tour operator groups. These include Britannia Airways (the airline of tour operator Thomson Holidays), Corsair Group (France) and Hapag Lloyd Group (Germany). Today, the market for these airlines remains promising, and millions of tourists are transported at prices significantly lower than the rates of regular airlines for similar services.

Today we use international standard tickets as a document confirming our right to travel. Since travel has become extremely difficult, we are no longer satisfied with a ticket that gives you the right to travel only in one mode of transport, and ideally the ticket should be multi-purpose, allowing the traveler to use a single ticket, for example, for travel by train, plane and bus. Even in the United States, most hotel and car reservations are made outside of the GDS. But even today, you can see structural changes in the field of placement. In modern conditions, there is a rapid growth of hotel chains. Their popularity is growing due to the great opportunities they have. They have advantages in sales due to savings due to large volumes of operations. As technology has become more sophisticated, the use of direct marketing channels (such as the Internet) has increased. Hotel chains have the skills and capabilities to use multiple sales channels. In the end, effective sales methods are crucial in the business strategy of the tourism industry.

With the introduction of new distribution channels (such as the Internet) and technological improvements in the GDS, the traditional distribution structure of hotel chains and accommodations has been replaced by online booking and online sales. Moreover, today tour operators can effectively use IT technologies to add other elements to their transportation services and hotel products, creating a complete package of tourist services. Application of modern Internet technologies in travel organization and marketing of tourist destinations

Every day, at least five new sites appear on the Internet dedicated to a particular type of tourism, travel or interests. Currently, there are about 11 thousand sites dedicated to travel. Almost every Internet user is either actively traveling or planning to travel. According to experts, the sites are well-disguised attempts to get people to buy tourist services [8].

The importance of the Internet and other new interactive, multimedia platforms in promoting tourism can hardly be overestimated. Today, 1.5 billion people, or a quarter of the world's population, already use the Internet. As we enter the Information age, destination marketing organizations and other major travel service providers must become aware of the need to use the Internet and learn how to profit from these new channels.

Participation in the Network is absolutely necessary, but this participation should not become a heavy burden for you. Organizations that market tourist destinations (OMTN) can enter the Information age by investing millions of dollars, but this is not necessary. A reasonable Online presence can be achieved for a surprisingly reasonable price.

Spreading information on a continent located in another part of the world will cost no more than spreading information in a neighboring region. If one of the DMOS is able to better represent tourist destinations on the Internet than the other, it can win over tourists who have not yet decided where they would like to go. In order to compete, a successful OMTN must provide a more attractive information package than its competitors [9].

One of the key tasks of the OMTN should be to create a database of multimedia information on tourist destinations for online promotion. Internet presence cannot be performed without basic information that is posted on the website. Comparing and managing information is the main task of the OMTN. The information should be detailed, contained in electronic format, and regularly checked and updated.

A special place in the use of electronic systems is occupied by technologies for the implementation of a comprehensive tourist product with transport services, and Charter air transportation. Currently, there is a growing demand in Europe only for air tickets (as opposed to a package of services), which accounts for about 20% of sales on Charter flights. It is expected that this trend will continue, as the demand for more independent tourist trips increases, namely, trips without purchasing a package of tourist services. This eliminates the clear distinction between scheduled and Charter flights, and today some flights carry both scheduled and Charter passengers at the same time.

Today, 21% of all hotel places in the world are reserved by travel agents, only half of them are carried out through the GDS. This ratio is expected to change in favor of GR C, as has already happened in the United States, where agents thus increase their profits by calculating the benefit of commissions received from airlines. Some large hotel companies carry out up to 80% of sales through the Agency network for GRS.

Potentially, destination marketing organizations (DMOS) working with organizations such as Pegasus can help local suppliers expand their sales in a previously inaccessible and/or inefficient way, namely by establishing a “seamless” link between the supplier and their own destination Management System (DMS).

A crucial factor for success in the new Millennium will also be the level of development of computer technologies that provide more complex interactive online travel services for direct transactions and transactions between business partners. This will inevitably lead large tourism companies to consider the possibility of excluding the intermediary, i.e. the ability of new and updated traditional intermediaries to make a profit by reducing the cost of sales operations and at the same time providing additional services.

In the Information age, access to information on tourism and travel will also be very easy. Potential travelers will be able to explore tourist destinations online. They will not travel until they have received full information about their destination. Those tourist centers that can satisfy this information hunger and convince the tourist online that the proposed destination and product are worth buying and visiting will win.

Thus, only in the past 5 years, the Internet has become the main source of tourist information in the developed markets of Network users, which are also the main markets for outbound tourism. There is every reason to assume that transactions via the Internet in the next 4-5 years will make up 40-50% of the total volume of tourist sales in the main markets.

Main trends in the development of the tourist market:

- Rapid growth in Internet usage;

- Growing number of Internet users making online purchases;

- Increasing the share of tourism products in the e-Commerce market;

- Increasing the share of ground handling products in the tourist e-Commerce market;

- Matching the Internet user's profile to the target market of many tourist organizations;

- The defining role of the Internet in comparison with other channels as a source of information when choosing and planning vacation trips and other types of travel, as well as its growing importance as a booking channel.

In these conditions, for tourist centers and enterprises, e-business is reduced to the implementation of opportunities to improve external communication channels through the Internet and internal - through the intranet.

With the development of Internet technologies, the concepts of e-marketing, e-Commerce and e-supply are emerging in the tourist market:

- e-marketing uses the Internet and other forms of electronic communication for the most cost-effective contacts with target markets and to ensure collaboration with partner organizations that share common interests;

- e-Commerce provides sales through electronic distribution channels;

- e-procurement rationalizes the purchasing process by allowing the organization to link its accounting and supply system to the supplier's delivery and billing system and Vice versa.

Rational use of these three aspects of external relations not only reduces costs due to automation, but also allows you to find suppliers who offer the best prices

In turn, the most important aspects of e-business and e-marketing are customer Relationship Management (CRM) and/or consumer marketing, hereinafter referred to as CRM. This is a very effective and cost-effective method, sometimes called a philosophy, the essence of which is that the study of consumers and relationships with them are the main condition for maximum sales growth, especially through repeat buyers. This method deserves special attention, since it serves as the basis for reorientation and restructuring of the organization as a whole. These principles apply to all types of consumers, both final and intermediate [10].

Conclusion. Most analysts predict huge changes affecting every element of the tourism distribution infrastructure from the very first to the very last link at all stages of customer service and management.

Success largely depends on whether small tourism companies can focus their efforts, choose an effective strategy, and invest in the most effective technology. Even taking into account the uncertainty of the situation at the global level, various steps are being taken at the lower levels to stimulate the rapid development of small companies. Entrepreneurs with innovative thinking, restructuring their work and effectively using the opportunities presented, gain advantages, increase profits and ensure their viability in the global market.

Information technology offers broad prospects, and it is assumed that tourism companies and consumers will benefit from the transformation of the overall picture, i.e., from improving the overall customer experience and management of tourism companies, especially if the public sector and the local community are involved in the planning process.

References:

1. Travel to Grow Faster than the Global Economy Despite the Odds. –2016. https://blog.euromonitor.com. 17.07.2019
2. UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2017 Edition - UNWTO Elibrary. https://www.e-unwto.org. 18.09.2019.
3. Kulakhmetova G.A. The priority objects of the Great Silk Road in Kazakhstan regions on sustainable tourism development: doctor PhD dissertation 6D090200 - «Tourism»/Kazakh Academy of Sport and Tourism. – Almaty, 2019. – 174 p.
4. Close to one billion international tourists in the first nine months of 2016. http://media.unwto.org. 20.08.2018.
5. Kulakhmetova G.A., Makogonov A., Imangulova T., Sardarov O. Characteristics of the Different Modes of Walking and Hiking Conditions to Optimize the Movement of Tourists in the Desert // International Journal of Environmental and Science Education. – Turkey, 2016. - Vol.11, №15. – Р.8360-8370
6. Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. – 2010. http://ethics.unwto.org. 07.10.2019.
7. Kulakhmetova G.A., Hnatkovych, O.D., Rusnak, A.V., Shcherbakova, N.A. The Way to the Leading Positions in World Tourism: Case Study of Kazakhstan // Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism. - 2018. - Volume 9, №6(30). – Р. 1289 –1295.
8. 8 Nikitinsky E.S., Kulakhmetova G.A. Sustainable development of tourism and the Great Silk Road // Bulletin of KazNPU named after Abay, a series of "Historical and socio-political sciences." - 2018. - No. 2 (57). - C. 371-379.
9. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017/2018. Report of the World Economic Forum. http://reports.weforum.org. 7.09.2018.
10. Nikitinsky E.S., Kulakhmetova G.A. Theory and practice of sustainable tourism development: a training manual. - Astana, 2018.-- 169 p.