The development community has long upheld that a thriving private sector is essential for economic development. SMEs play an instrumental, but often under-recognized, role in private sector growth. SMEs are a fundamental part of the economic fabric in developing countries, and they play a crucial role in furthering growth, innovation and prosperity. Unfortunately, they are strongly restricted in accessing the capital that they require to grow and expand, with nearly half of SMEs in developing countries rating access to finance as a major constraint. The SME sector is the backbone of the economy in high-income countries, but is less developed in low-income countries. SMEs include a wide range of businesses, which differ in their dynamism, technical advancement and risk attitude. Many are relatively stable in their technology, market and scale, while others are more technically advanced, filling crucial product or service niches. Increased SME growth has a direct effect on GDP growth due to increased output, value add and profits. The GDP contribution per SME is the difference between the return on capital and the cost of capital. In an era of globalizing economies many markets become increasingly international and competitive, although the story is different for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) than it is for multinational corporations (MNCs). The situation in the local market place for travel agencies in Copenhagen, Denmark, is no different, even though services are not the same as tangible products. In the context of globalization, the tourism industry, like many other industries, tends to consolidate and the question of how SMEs manage the competition is intriguing. Besides larger competitors with visible, physical premises, other processes related to globalization are presenting SMEs with both opportunities and threats. In any case, the long term viability of SMEs in the local tourism industry is at stake and this study covers, among others, what strategies are deployed by SMEs to remain profitable and competitive. There has been a growing focus on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in tourism industry. Innovation has been playing an increasing role in hospitality industry, and is especially important for the SMEs as well as travel agencies. However, innovation research has been applied to SMEs in hospitality industry on a limited extent. This article discusses various definitions of innovation and innovation approaches in the context of SMEs in tourism industry. The objective of the article is to reveals innovation activities of the travel agencies as one of the SMEs in tourism industry. In addition, the article aims to reveal the relationship between innovation and the operating age of travel agency, and total personnel number of travel agency. However, the internet also presents travel agencies with new opportunities that can be utilized to develop new strategies. Information technology (IT) in general has influenced the rules of the game in the tourism industry, like it does in many other industries. Doubtless, a major strength for many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is their close customer contact and their ability to maintain close customer relationships. Nevertheless, in the light of today's business environment all SMEs have to take a closer look at their situation, even if they want to go on with their local strategy and if business outside their traditional region has no strategic logic. The role SMEs play in today's global economies is a highly interesting matter. Initially, it was assumed SMEs would play a minor role in the rapid globalizing world economy. Multinational corporations (MNCs) would be the drivers of globalization and together with consumers they would reap the benefits. At least, this was the story as depicted in the popular press and by scholars. Surely, MNCs have the capacity and funds to invest abroad, enter new markets, and are able to better hedge themselves against the (financial) risks. Consumers, on the other hand, have benefited from lower prices of consumer goods, increased transparency, and the possibility to travel more cheaply and easily to faraway destinations. The impact of globalization differs from industry to industry. The aim of this article is to research the impact of globalization on SMEs in the tourism industry. Globalization and global tourism can be seen as two interconnected elements. This research covers the global tourism industry and takes a particular interest in local travel agencies. It is interesting as many industries in tourism are related to services and, traditionally, the services sector is the least globalized industry, because of strong local forces. That has everything to do with personal services, which is a dominating aspect in the local tourism industry. The framework will work as a Business to Business (B2B) connector between enterprises, in particular SMEs. It will cover all branches of the tourism industry (hotels, travel agencies, restaurants, etc.) and will be calculable, modular and developed as open source. It will enable undertakings to exchange data and share processes with each other through a set of specifications that allow interaction between the different systems. Traditional travel agencies will be able to gain access by adapting their systems, via private web interface (for example via an external website), or using Centralized Reservation System (CRS), while online agencies will be able to access automatically using standard communication formats (XML-based) by integrating with the system. Hotels and other tourism service providers will be able to connect through their Property Management System (PMS) using standard communication formats (XML-based) or the application provided .
Tourism is one of the pillar industries in India; they have accumulated a set of more perfect and mature management system in travel agency and operation mechanism. The current development of India's travel industry still has a lot of room for improvement. Referencing and learning travel agency industry management experience of India will promote our tourism industry management process. The study focuses on the difference of the India's tourism management system and their respective advantages of management. Then it puts forward corresponding suggestions according to the present situation of the development of travel industry of the India, and provides reference for the travel industry management and the organization system innovation. Regarded as an economic and social activity, tourism represents, through its content and role, a distinct field of activity, a highly important component of the economic and social life in a growing number of countries, and implicitly in our own country. Tourism is a specific phenomenon in modern civilization and it is deeply rooted in the life of the society and, as such, it has influenced its evolution. Thus, being responsive to the dynamic changes in contemporary civilization, tourism evolves under their impact, joining the general process of development. Tourism also acts as a stimulating factor for the progress and evolution given the vast human and material potential engaged in its development and given the beneficial effects on the area of interference. The tourism and hospitality industry is currently one of the most important industries worldwide. India takes full advantage of highly favorable and more than adequate conditions for the development of different forms of tourism. This context encompasses the efforts of specialists to rigorously and scientifically define the categorize system integrated to tourism, its inter-dependencies with other parts of the economy and to quantify its effects. In many developing countries, tourism is widely accepted as a way to contribute to economic development, job opportunities and foreign revenues. Due to these factors tourism worldwide has developed rapidly in the last decades. The advantages of tourism and the live examples from different parts of the world encourage countries with adequate resources to find out the ways of conducting efforts aiming sustainability in this area because sustainability can be easily connected to almost all kinds and scales of tourism activities and environments. On the other hand, tourism in developing countries is also considered as a growing environmental concern because of its affect on seasonality, lack of suitable infrastructures and planning. The travel agencies are defined as a firm qualified to arrange for travel-related retail services on behalf of various tourism industry principals. With the evolution of the internet, the use of on-line search facilities for travel information has provided additional sources of information and opportunities to purchase travel direct from suppliers such as airlines and accommodation providers without recourse to travel agents and in some instances at discounts to prices available through travel agencies by eliminating commissions for such agents . Furthermore, the capacity of the internet to promote and provide information conveniently and quickly has offered alternatives to physical visits by consumers to travel agencies in order to access such information. Friends and relatives were regarded as an important source of information in the selection of travel agencies. Travelers suggested that they interact regularly and continuously with friends and relatives, who might have significant influence on their attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, pressures for conformity might exist that affect the actual travel agency choices. As such, travel agencies should be aware of this social factor and acknowledge the fact that it could determine how consumers were to select their travel agencies.
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