Online Trip Planners for the Tourism Industry

Abstract

Tourism is one of the first industries to capitalize on internet technology.  In fact, more than 70% of the search engine traffic is used for travel-related activities.  Travelers usually access tourism systems on the internet to book their hotel, rent a car, buy an air ticket or plan their trip.  This article reviews the existing online trip planners, which are a tool on the internet that helps travelers plan their trips by providing information about “Where to go?”, “What to do?”, “When to go?” and “How to get there?”.  A common framework for these online trip planners has been analyzed and summarized.  The existing online trip planners have been categorized into well-defined classes by their distinctive operations.  The article also discusses the possibility of creating an effective online trip planner which combines the advantages of the existing online trip planners.