Information supply in tourism management by marketing decision support systems

The importance of information and efficient information management is steadily increasing due to the evolution of new technologies and high-capacity storage media but also because growing market dynamics raise information needs. A marketing decision support system (MDSS) can be of particular importance as it supports organizations in collecting, storing, processing, and disseminating information, and in the decision-making process by providing forecasts and decision models (Little, 1979). The following article provides insights into a successful implementation of a MDSS in tourism. Based on findings on the analysis of the system's protocol files, it discusses the information needs in tourism management. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.