ICTO 2018 TRACK 2:ICT for a competitive Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Short Description
Since the beginning of the digital era, the hospitality and tourism industry has been constantly evolving. Information systemsand internet based tools have induced new business models that revolutionized hospitality business and tourism.
In some sectors of the industry,a full shift toward digital and electronic models ( e-ticketing, hotel booking, etc..) has been accomplished. In some other areas, new concepts have been set up and interactive pricing were used as efficient revenue optimization tools.
From a market perspective, competition has been fostered by prices transparency and ubiquityin terms of e-business. Moreover, internet based technology has allowed new entrants to develop new business models. Many of the big and small tour operators did not survive because of failure to adapt quickly to new situations.
From a consumer perspective, power has shifted greatly from suppliers to clients. Website aggregators and the use of connected mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and many other factors have pushed toward this irreversible shift.
On the other hand, big hotels chains, independent hotels, touristic destinations and many other food and beverage service providers, have taken advantage of the digital shift to better target their offers, manage their reputation, andattract and retain customers via new touch points, such as social media and other e-marketing tools.
For all these reasons, Information Technology is more than ever existential for the Hospitality and Tourism industry in terms of competitiveness.
In this context, this track aims at attracting original contributions pertaining to ICT and Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Papers will tackle, but not limited to, the following themes:
- ICTand competitiveness of the hospitality and tourism industry
- ICT and new business models in the hospitality and tourism industry
- ICT and CRM, client attraction and retention
- ICT and revenue optimization tools (revenue management, interactive pricing of hotels and touristic supply)
- ICT and new integrated marketing strategies, touch points, social media tools, e-reputation, image management
- ICT and quality service and guest experience
- ICT and E-tourism, E-Government and Tourism, Touristic Information Systems
Track Co-Chairs
Name – Surname(primary contact) / Mario Saba
Title / Assistant Professor
E-mail /
Affiliation / Cesar Ritz University Centre, Switzerland
Washington State University, Carson College of Business, hospitality management school
URL /
Name – Surname
(primary contact) / ApostolosAmpountolas
Title / Assistant Professor
E-mail /
Affiliation / Boston University
URL /
Please Provide Short bios of track Co-Chaairs
Dr. Mario Saba is an assistant professor in Management Information Systems. He joined the Swiss Education Group in July 2016 and he is now a full time lecturer at Cesar Ritz university Centre in Brig, Switzerland.
He is also a faculty lecturer in management at the Washington State University, Carson College of Business (AACSB), and a faculty lecturer of Marketing at the University of Derby (UK).
Dr.Saba has an international academic experience at several institutionsaround the world (Switzerland, United States, UK, France, Middle East). He has been teaching Management information systems, management of innovation and e-Marketing for both undergraduate and executive graduate students, and enrolling his students with entrepreneurship competitions.
Dr.Saba’sresearch interest tackles the areas of Management information systems and Competitive Intelligence applied to various fields. In this frame, he holds several publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. ApostolosAmpountolas is an Assistant Professor of hospitality finance and revenue management in the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University. He taught at the Cesar Ritz Colleges and the Washington State University (Global campus) in Switzerland before coming to Boston in 2017. Apostolos received his BA in International Hospitality and Tourism Management from the University of Bournemouth, his LLM from Northumbria University, and completed his PhD in Management at the University of Exeter, UK.
Before becoming a professor, Apostolos enjoyed a 20 years successful international career in travel, tourism and hospitality as well as providing consulting services to the industry sector. During the course of his professional career he employed by the world’s leading global travel organizations including Thomas Cook and KUONI AG as Head of Hotel & Destination Services Contracting Europe. Apostolos evidenced a verifiable track record of establishing strategic partnerships, and managing geographically distributed hotel sourcing and product organizations throughout Europe and Asia.
Prof. Ampountolas enjoying both teaching and pursuing leading edge research in travel, tourism and hospitality. He has taught courses in financial accounting, hotel asset management and revenue management to undergraduate and graduate students. His research interests are categorized into three broad, yet overlapping domains: revenue management (pricing, distribution channels), financial aspects of hotel development, and managerial accounting (cost behavior) in hotel distribution networks (Airbnb, OTA’s, hotel chains).
Apostolos has published and reviewed several journal papers. He is currently an active reviewer for a number of renowned journals including the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, International Journal of Revenue Management, Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and Tourism Geographies Journal. He regularly attends academic conferences and symposia to present his work to different target audiences.
Dr.Saba was also an information systems project manager at a reputable French Institution. He created and implemented a competitive intelligence tool for a network of more than 1000 wine production and selling units.