DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE TOURISM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

1.1 Introduction

Tourism can be defined as a short-term movement of people to places some distance away from their normal place of residence to indulge in pleasurable activities (Swarbrook and Horner, 2007). According to the third edition of the Oxford English dictionary, tourism is defined as the commercial organization and operation of holidays and visits to place of interest. Tourism is the vehicle through which the culture, nature and history of a given society or location is appreciated by people of diverse nations. Tourism is traveling for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes or the provision of services to support this leisure travel (Wikipedia, 2021). Tourism is vital for many countries, due to the income generated by the consumption of goods and services by tourists, the taxes levied on businesses in the tourism industry, and the opportunity for employment in the service industries associated with tourism.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Tourism is the travel for recreation, leisure, religious, family business purposes, usually of a limited duration. Tourism is considered an activity essential to Nations because of its direct effects on social, cultural, educational and economic sectors of National societies and their International relations.

Tourism is the collective name use in deserving the body that is responsible for providing welfare, hospitality, recreation etc. to visitors who have come to their area of jurisdiction for vocational holiday, business pilgrimage etc. The body that is charged with this responsibility is the Nigeria Tourism Board (NTB) at the Federal level with some state having their own state tourism boards of which Enugu State is one.

When a person leaves his home town for another location in the same country, he is termed a Domestic tourist. But if he crosses the frontiers of his country, he then becomes an International tourist. The people who visit Minna in December to attend the Akpazuma festival are domestic tourists while those who come from other countries to visit the Gurara waterfalls, are International tourists. However, tourism is fast becoming one of the most functional industries in the world. It makes great impact in Nations by helping to create employment opportunities, by developing infrastructures, and a very rich source of income and revenue.

It plays an important role by offering employment to a good number of a Nation’s population that could be doctors, dancers, engineers, labourers, entertainers etc. For instance, in places like Britain over three million people are engaged in tourism, also in Spain and Italy, the figures are higher than seventy percent respectively. This explains why both countries are world leaders in the tourism industry. Nigeria has a huge number of parks, holiday resorts, and hotels. It is estimated that the Nigerian tourism industry can employ a hundred thousand people. By doing this, the large number of unemployed people would be removed from idleness and joblessness.

Tourism helps improve a nation’s infrastructural development. It provides amenities such as good transport and communication network, cheap and comfortable accommodations, essential infrastructures and super structures. As a result of this, tourism has been integrated into the national plans of many countries to raise the economic standard of physical of their environments and improve the people’s social interaction. Tourism also creates a considerable impact on the improvement of the general features of the environment, the establishment of hotels and allied industries. It also provides benefits that come in the form of provision of necessary infrastructure, provision of electricity, the construction of roads, and portable water supply and sewage disposal system.

As a rich source of income and revenue; tourism has become one of the most integral source of foreign exchange and balance of payments to many tourism inclined countries. This can be exemplified by Britain whose greatest exports includes tourism which is one of the fastest growing items of International trade.

Besides being a source of foreign exchange earnings, tourism could also assist in promoting national unity and mutual understanding through domestic and international travels. If tourism is properly groomed in Nigeria, it will breed peace and unity and many Nigerians will have the opportunity to visit different other states and tribes. This will eliminate conflicts, and reduce tribalism and religious tensions.

Thus, promotes the spirit of oneness and love among citizens of various nations, creates and build a good relationship and united society. Very importantly, it draws our minds back to our origin from the rapid western civilization and helps preserve the culture and heritage of people.

The preservation and enhancement of the tradition, and native handcraft helps to create distinct local tourism products and this in turn gives way for promotion and awareness of the Nation’s heritage. Nigeria has great tourism potentials. The awareness and understanding of tourism in the private sector shows that with a well-organized tourism private sector participation, and government realizations of tourism, tourism activities could generate employment, upliftment of social life in rural areas and the government will see reasons to provide the much needed tourist infrastructures for the growth of tourism in our country.

Nigeria is truly endowed with beautiful natural resources relative to other Nations in Africa and even on a global level. These natural resources include; peculiar geomorphologic features, water bodies, wild life and game reserves.

The application and use of computers in various facets of human activities cannot be over emphasized. Since the introduction of the microcomputers in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the world of office automation has continued to evolve with modernization made to the present ones.

Some may wonder why there is a need for a computerized tourism information system. This is because; the world has become a global street. Day by day people engage in more activities on the internet, it is only fair to use the internet facility to make tourism activities more accessible and informative; if properly designed and implemented, an online tourism system would be more organized, and efficient than a manual filing system, and it can also be used to complement the manual system; it can serve as a backup for all information in the files, thereby keeping them safer in the cloud.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

This research work is embarked on to solve the following problems:

1. Delay in handling enquiries and making bookings, poor customer service and feedback.
2. Unauthorized access to vital documents and files of the corporation, and displacements of records.
3. Certain tourist locations and accommodations may be unavailable at certain times and the existing system may fail to communicate these to a customer as a result of unorganized information which may put customers in cases of unplanned expenses or an uncomfortable tour.

The major problems experienced are the poor information flow, delay in handling enquiries, making bookings, and poor customer service and feedback.

These problems make it difficult for customers to book their tour because the current system is inefficient. Hence, an efficient system is required to eliminate such problems after a structural analysis of the existing system.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The main aim of this study is to develop an interactive website that helps potential visitors get enough information about the various destinations in Niger state that may ease their tour. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to design and develop an application software that will:

1. Explore the problems encountered in the management of the existing manual tourism system.
2. Make information more detailed, effective, and accurate, and ease the delay hitherto encountered with the existing manual system.
3. Help people appreciate the state’s natural endowment and also serve as a complementary tool for tourism management.

1.5 Significance of Study

This study would to a large extent, provide very useful output for a more effective operation of the tourism destinations in Niger state as a whole, it will also complement the efforts of the managers of these tourist centres by, helping them make more accurate judgments and also by providing detailed information accurately to the public for strategic and profitable achievements of the centres.

This research provides an awareness of the problem and prospects of tourism in Niger state to the general public, which will broaden their knowledge, understanding and help them understand the importance of tourism.

The government also has its benefits as the study appraises various governmental guidelines and offers some suggestions for more efficient operations of these resorts.

In summary, this project work will provide a solution to the subject of tourism management, an alternative to the existing manual system and will be readily available to anyone with a device that has a functional browser and access to the internet.

1.6 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Design and Implementation of an Online Tourism Management System.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

1.8 Definition of Terms

Tourism: The business of providing places for people to visit and activities for them to do.

Tour: Touring process means to visit different environments,

Tourist: A person who travels or visits different places for pleasure or other reasons.

Domestic tourist: A person who leaves his home for another town in the same country

International tourist: A person who leaves his country to visit another country

Systems: A set of things working together as a whole to achieve the same sole objective.

Design: A plan made to show the function of a particular project before it is made. It can be referred to as a prototype of a product or system.

Program: A set of instructions that directs a computer on how to perform particular tasks.

Database: A set of data or information stored in a computer system that is accessible in many ways.