DESTINATION INFORMATION-SYSTEMS

This paper discusses the role played by national and regional tourism offices in the provision and distribution of destination information. Issues in the structure and design of destination information systems using computer technology are discussed and contrasted with commercial computer reservation systems. Issues addressed include organizational and economic structure of the systems, typologies of information and data sources, quality control of the data, technologies used, and interfaces with other tourism industry electronic marketplaces. Five European destination information systems in Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and England are utilized to illustrate some of the important issues in the systems development.