This document discusses strategic management in the context of international tourism. It defines strategic management as a process by which top management determines an organization's long-term direction through careful formulation, implementation, and evaluation of strategies. Strategic decisions relate to mission, objectives, and strategies, while administrative decisions focus on implementing existing strategies through resource allocation and changes to infrastructure, structure, systems, skills, technology, and policies. The internet and mobile technologies are transforming tourism services by allowing tourists to plan trips, access information, and stay connected while traveling.

1. Strategic Management of International Tourism
- The concept of strategic management can help in analysis of strategic gaps with
reference to management of international tourism.
- Strategic Management can be understood by looking at the types of managerial
decisions.
- Ansoff has classified the organizational decisions into three(3) broad categories:
o the strategic
o the administrative
o the operating decisions.

2. Strategic decisions
 (covered under strategy formulation) are concerned with the issue of setting the direction in
which the organization will move or the course that the organization would follow in the
future.
 also covers the decisions regarding the organization’s mission, objectives and the strategies.
Ex. The product/ market scope)

3. Administrative decision
 (commonly referred to strategy implementation), on the other and
relate to the task of gearing, up the existing set-up. Ex. Physical,
human and organizational in infrastructure to meet the requirement
of business/operations in the future.
 typically cover such issues as the resource allocation, changes in the
organizational structure, systems, skills technology, organization
culture and key functional policies.
 also covers the entire scope of strategic management function.

4. Strategic Management
 deals with decisions that fall in the strategic and
administrative decision categories.
 defined as a stream of decisions and actions which lead to
the development of effective strategy or strategies to help
achieve corporate objectives.
 may thus be called as a process by which the top
management determines the long term direction and
performance of organization, by ensuring that careful
formulation, proper implementation and continuous
evaluation of strategy takes place.

5. Corporate Strategy
 defined as a statement of organization mission, objectives, strategy, policies and major
plans and programmes of actions, described in a way that conveys what business we
are in and why are we in this business.
 International Tourism is an extremely tempting proposition in terms of potential of
business especially foreign exchange earnings, for opening of tourism sector in the
next round of negotiations.

6. Net-based Tourism Services
 The internet has already become a major tool for planning
and purchasing of tourist travel and consumption.
 The web is also extremely useful for many tourists while on
holidays, as a means for keeping in contact with family and
office, reading newspapers, making reservations, etc.
 Laptop computers and Internet coffee shops help tourists
to be connected to almost everywhere.

7.  Internet usage is expected to continue to grow rapidly as more consumers get
connected, become more experienced , the number of sites expands, and the
various infant diseases (long loading times, frequent disruptions, difficult user
instructions, single-lingual text, etc. due to poor programming or insufficient
investments) are overcome.
 Tourists are also to a large extent making use of mobile phones.

8.  The Stockholm Information Service launched WAP (wireless application
protocol, a browser for mobile Internet based on 2G networks) service for
tourist information and estimates that 30% of its incoming calls originate from
mobile phones.
 3G mobile cellular telecommunications (referred to in Europe as Universal
Mobile Telecommunications Systems, UMTS) network licenses have in 2001
been assigned to operators in 10 European countries (11 including France that
has distributed two out of four licenses). ****