E Commerce and Information Technology in Hospitality and Tourism or Transforming the Appalachian Countryside

E-Commerce and Information Technology in Hospitality and Tourism

Author: Zongqing Zhou

The travel professional who wants to stay on the cutting edge will find this to be a great resource. Employing the concepts, ideas and technologies discussed in this book will dramatically improve customer service and marketing in this age of technology. Through the practical use of examples and case studies, the author provides an extensive review of the Internet as an agent of change in hospitality and tourism information technology and commerce. "E-Commerce and Information Technology in Hospitality and Tourism" contains essential information about business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce models, and about marketing schemes and strategies used by various sectors of the industry. A discussion of e-commerce answers questions about reliability, privacy and security as they relate to Internet transactions. Travel professionals will benefit from a detailed review of the Internet?s impact on various sectors of the industry including travel agencies, airlines, hotels, cruise lines, bed and breakfasts, online travel stores and more. The author rounds out the book with a glossary of terms, chapter highlights and leads to valuable resources available on related Web sites, as well as a discussion of the future use of technology in the industry.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
1	Overview	1
2	Internet Fundamentals	16
3	Connecting to the World	34
4	E-Commerce Fundamentals	55
5	A New Medium of Communication	76
6	E-Marketing and Information Distribution	93
7	The Impact of the Internet on the Hospitality and Tourism Industry	127
8	A Special Case Study: The Past, Present, and Future of Travel Agents	149
9	A New Paradigm for Internet Research	173
10	The Future of Hospitality and Tourism E-Commerce and Information Technology	190
	Glossary	209
	Index	223

Interesting textbook: The Third Reich at War or Zodiac

Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920

Author: Ronald L Lewis

In 1880, ancient-growth forest still covered two-thirds of West Virginia, but by the 1920s lumbermen had denuded the entire region. Ronald Lewis explores the transformation in these mountain counties precipitated by deforestation. As the only state that lies entirely within the Appalachian region, West Virginia provides an ideal site for studying the broader social impact of deforestation in Appalachia, the South, and the eastern United States. Eventually, even ardent supporters of industrialization had reason to contemplate the consequences of unregulated exploitation. Once the timber was gone, the mills closed and the railroads pulled up their tracks leaving behind an environmental disaster and a new class of marginalized rural poor to confront the worst depression in American history.