Infusion of the Internet and Indigenous Tourism: An Australian Framework

Innovations in the fields of Information and Communication Technology, Transport, and Human Resources Management have transformed the structure of the global tourism and travel industry. The Internet has enabled tourism and travel firms to tap into new domestic and international markets while availing regions in developing countries the opportunities to publicize their unique tourism products and services. The premise of this article is that Information Technology (IT) influences the extent of adoption and infusion of innovative tourism practices as tourism and tourism-enabled networks become increasingly intertwined. Whilst the use of IT and the Internet has resulted in the preliminary unification of practice (as Internet adoption amongst developing tourism destination matures), Technological Institutionalism posits that tourism managers can make strategic choices in the scale and scope of adoption of global tourism practices. From this perspective, the economic possibilities of the Internet and IT are proposed to be the development of strategic differentiation in tourism planning which appreciably improves tourism managers’ ability to develop a strategic niche. This means that indigenous tourism operators and indigenous entities engaged in developing tourism in the region can use the Internet to introduce, publicize and promote their unique characteristics. The increased exposure engenders the development of a truly indigenous experience, yet another opportunity for indigenous tourism entities. Accordingly it is proposed that, as far as indigenous tourism is concerned, initially Internet-assisted entry into global tourism is seen as the process of mimicking tourism practices established by developed regions. However, later the adopters’ practices evolve to include indigenous strategies in developing region-specific tourism development initiatives as firms experiment with IT and Internet-enabled business operations.