Extranet-Based Maintenance and Customization of Tourism Information in TIScover

The proper design and realization of a Web-based tourism information system is one of the most challenging issues in the tourism area. Among others, two aspects are crucial for the success of such a system: First, the system should be as integrated as possible, i.e., representing a “one-stop” shopping experience by providing a high-quality content in terms of comprehensiveness, accurateness and actuality. Second, the system should be as open as possible, i.e., easily customizable by the tourism information provider to fulfill his requirements without any programming effort. A Web-based tourism information system which has faced these requirements is TIScover. TIScover is currently employed in three different European and Asian countries, covering solely in Austria more than 100.000 Webpages, presenting tourism information and products gathered from more than 3.000 tourism information providers. This paper is dedicated to the concepts and mechanisms used for the maintenance of such a huge tourism information base taking special emphasize on the customization of tourism products.