Promotion And Development Of Rail Tourism India Tourism Essay

Promotion And Development Of Rail touristry India Tourism EssayIn India, Rail trends play a vital role in the socio-economic life of the land. Today, the number of domesticated as well as world(prenominal) travelers is increasing with an increase in the disposable income of Indians. To birth the increasing traffic of travelers even Indian Railways spare back come out with few visualises over last 10-15 years. They ar trying to build their holiday croprry wing as well but still travelers atomic number 18 non aw atomic number 18 of the various initiatives distinguishn by Indian Railways. Indian Railways have a totally forward-looking wing to handle this i.e. Indian Railways cater and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).The first objective of the project is to bring aw atomic number 18ness by designing the selling protrude for them. This impart be used all over the country to promote rail holidaymakerry.The former(a) objective of the project is to find the feasibility of sensitive route which they faecal matter venture into. This would require two(prenominal) financial and operational schema.The final deliverable for the MRR would be a combi state of both the st saygies menti wizd above for Indian Railways to showcase the marketing plan and advantages and risk for invest in the stark naked routes.Objectives of the flying fieldThe objective of this study is as followsTo study Indian Railways especially touristry hand of it.To study changing touristry dominion in India.To study current IRCTC tourism plan.To understand the demographics of touring carTo recommend a marketing st regulategy for already present plansFinding new route which IRCTC could venture.To unfold financial and operational plan for this new route.To recommend a plan for the implementation of above st ordaingy.Hypothesis of the MRRIn India, numbers of tourer be increasing every year due to increase in the disposable income. Railway has a tourism wing which tries to satis fy the need of these tourist but still general humanity is not such(prenominal) aw atomic number 18 various initiatives taken. Tourist are still competing with the general traveler to get a bathroom in rail instead of opting for various an new(prenominal)(prenominal)(a) special convolutions provided by rail tourism. We have an hazard to start new route and promote both old as well as new routes by formulating a marketing plan for this.Scope and LimitationScopeThis study would help in promoting rail tourism in India. Also this would help them to generate extra revenue by venturing into new routes. It would help to satisfy the current increasing learn for dose by tourist.LimitationMRR would choose trusted region based on selected parameters to search for new routes and to start with the marketing plan for the same. This selection does not mean that IRCTC would be willing to take all the data for the project.MRR would only deal in bring out and describing important benefits associated with start of new routes. It would not cover financial and operational flesh outs of it.The financial plan would require valuations of new strategy. Limitations in data might lead to valuations based on assumptions and model.However both time and resource did not permit venturing into a study of other Railway systems in detail except finished what was available on profit and locally available article on the subject.Chapter 2 Brief overview of global Tourism IndustryIntroductionTourism is travel for various purposes homogeneous recreational, person-to-person credit line, void or pleasure. World Tourism Organization headquartered at Madrid defines tourists as people traveling to and staying in places out office their usual environment for not to a greater extent than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. In recent times tourism has been recognized as an important social and economic phenomenon. At the World Conference on Tourism held in Manil a in 1980, the importance of tourism and its widespread effects were recognized in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism, which stated, Tourism is considered an activity intrinsic to the life of nations because of its hold effects on the social, cultural, educational and economic domains of national societies and on their international relations. on that point are triplet forms of Tourism as per linked Nations as follows municipal Tourism When a occupant is travelling in its own country.Inbound Tourism When Non-residents are travelling in the given country. outgoing Tourism When residents travels to another country.HistoryIn earlier times, rich uses to travel to distant parts of the world, to natter great buildings, works of art,learn new languages, and experience new cultures and to taste differentcuisines. The wordtouristwas used by 1772andtourismby 1811.In 1936, theLeague of Nations definedforeign touristas someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours. un ify Nations in 1945 have amend this definition by including a maximum stay of hexader months.United Kingdom was the first country to promote leisure travel which was associated with Industrial Revolution due to increase in Industrial population. This lay out of new middle class at that time. This model was past replicated in France, Continental Europe, and south pacific Asia and slowly in other parts of world.Mass tourism was developed with the phylogeny of technology and infrastructure, allowing tourist to move around in the world with ease. It was developed only due to new study in carry-over system around the world.Tourist Destination statisticsThe global tourism market is very punishing at the top end 45% of the worlds international arrivals in 2010 are historyed for by the top ten countries. However the future tense trends show a major shift in the share of tourist arrivals from developed European economies to emerging Asian markets.Following is the ranking of top t erminals as per United Nations World Tourism Organization as per different categories outside(a) Tourist arrivals by country of terminal as of 2011France 80 megUnited States 62 MillionChina 58 MillionInternational Tourism receipts as of 2011United States $116 BillionSpain $60 BillionFrance $54 Billionmost visited cities by international tourist arrivalParis (France) 15.6 MillionLondon (UK) 15.2 MillionAntalya (Turkey) 10.5 MillionGoldrush_big.jpg root system AmadeusThe above diagram shows a research conducted by Amadeus which shows that there will be a dramatic change of travel spend with Asia-Pacific visitant arrivals accounting for 22% of global traffic and Asia-Pacific residents representing 32% of global travel spend in 2020. Although Europe will dominate the tourism market boilersuit but Asia-Pacific have shown a great improvement and is rebeling quick than other regions.Economic Factors pilgrimage Tourism is one of the worlds largest industries. In 2011 Travel Tourism contributed 9% to the global gross domestic reaping which look ons to more than US$6 trillion, and accounted for more than 255 one thousand thousand jobs. Travel Tourism industry is judge to grow by an average of 4% annually over the next 10 years, taking it to 10% of global gross domestic product, or some US$10 trillion. It is pass judgment that by 2022 Travel Tourism industry will account for 328 million jobs or 1 in every 10 jobs on the planet. As per a subject Travel Tourism is a key generator of employment across the European Union at one time generating 10 million jobs across Europe, substantially more than the automotive manufacturing (3.2 million), mining (3.6 million) and financial services sectors (8.5 million). conflict is created in the sectors like point services like airlines, cruise, taxi, etc hospitality services such as hotels, resorts, etc and fun industry like amusement parks, casinos, shopping malls, theatres, etc. Even Asia Pacific region is now investing money in Travel Tourism to depict same figures in their economies as well.Below is the diagram showing how the region is made towards providence and employment through Travel and Tourism (TT). It is divided up into three parts i.e. conduct, Indirect and Induced.Source World Trade and Tourism Council research reportThe direct office of TT to GDP in 2011 was USD 1,972.8bn (2.8% of GDP). The direct component part of Travel and Tourism to GDP is expected to grow by 4.2% pa by 2022. Total contribution of TT to GDP was USD 6,346.1bn in 2011 i.e. 9.1% of GDP and is expected to grow by 2.8% to USD 6,526.9bn i.e. 9.8% of GDP by 2022.Source WTTCNegative factors affecting tourismBelow are the factors which are affecting tourism in most part of the worldTerrorist terror is one of the biggest contradict factors affecting tourism. Terrorist attack in London, US, etc has reduced the number of tourist going to these countries. Also there isterrorist threattotourist destinatio ns, such as inBaliand several European cities.Tsunami in Asia had bear upon tourism in most of the Asian countries at that time. Thousands of lives were lost including galore(postnominal) tourists. Tsunami, Katrina and other cyclones in other regions have slowed raft the tourism industry in their respective countries.Virus attacks like H1N1 influenza virus have abnormal the tourism in several countries.Other factors like economic unrest and recession have affected the number of tourist going for vacation.Future DevelopmentsTourism is expected to grow at a rate of 4% annually and all this requires constant development in the technology and infrastructure. Tourists stinker be divided generally as per their budgets and taste thus new different ideas are required to pull tourist towards a country or city. For example some people like to go on a hill plot of land some people like to go out for a theme park. hence various developments were done to cater all the segments as per thei r needs. Developments like airlines have made it very sociable to travel round the world. International organization WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people is on planes at any time.Internet development has brought a new revolution in tourism industry. One can book tickets (Rail, ship, airlines, etc), plans, packages, etc through internet. One can easily get a customized package as per their needs on a click of button. Due to competition these website gives competitive prices which is always beneficial for the end customer.sustainable TourismAs the environmental condition of the world deteriorating every year this is an attempt by tourism industry to make as low impact on theenvironmentand localcultureas realizable, while lot to generate future employment for local people. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development brings a positive experience for local people, tourism companies and the tourists themselves. There is a difference between sustainable tourism andec otourism. Ecotourismis a form oftourisminvolving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small scale choice to standard commercial (mass) tourism. Purpose of Ecotourism is to educate the traveler, to provide currency forecological conservation, to directly benefit theeconomic developmentand political empowerment of local communities, or to treasure respect for different cultures and forhuman rights.A number of countries around the world are dependent on Tourism and consider Sustainable tourism as the important vehicle for economic and social development. Sustainable tourism is visualized as leading to management of all resources in such a way that social, economic and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining biodiversity, cultural integrity, life support system and essential ecological processes. Itimplies butt againsting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to me et their own needs. It is not just the responsibility of government but it is the responsibility of all the stakeholders in tourism sector as well as the tourists to ensure that what they are getting today is preserve for future generations to enjoy. All stakeholders are responsible to give a good quality of life to future generations and they shouldnt do anything which would affect the lives of future generation.For Sustainable tourism from each one country has to address various issues of policy-making, planning, management and the date of the private sector and other stakeholders must be addressed in monetary value of opportunities for action and possible constraints that need to be overcome by concerted efforts.Sustainable-Development.pngSustainable tourism aims to reach a relaxation between the three factors mentioned above i.e. Social, Environmental and Economic factors without affecting the tourists expectations from their travel. Sustainable tourism integrates tourism wi th other factors like economic and step-up policies so as to reduce the negative impact mass tourism. Sustainable tourism requires involving local community as well while developing any tourism plan as they are the people who will get affected by any kind of development in their area. Murphy promoted the use of an ecological approach while implementing the sustainable tourism development process. He considered both plants and people during the process. This is in contrast to the boosterism and economic approaches to tourism planning, neither of which considers the detrimental ecological or sociological impacts of tourism development to a destination.Chapter 3 Overview of Indian Tourism IndustryIntroductionIndia is a huge land with a variety of different flora and fauna. Each place has something new to offer. It has cover by Himalayas hilly region on one side and sea on the other sides. Tourism in India is one of the largest service industries. As India is a vast country so there ar e thousands of destinations and each destination is a tourist spot in itself. Whether you visit the metros, big cities or foreign areas of India, you will experience something different and interesting alike. Besides, India is also dotted with a number of picturesque hills which pluck tourists from world over and provide a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of cities. For those who are evoke in history and architecture, India has a number of sites which have been designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. You can get a fine glimpse of the bygone era at these Heritage Sites.UK and US tourists are among major tourist population that visit India. Most popular tourist destinations, in India, among Foreigners are Kerala,Tamil Nadu,Delhi,Uttar PradeshandRajasthan. Most popular destination among Domestic tourist is Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Being oldest states of India, heritage Sites and most importantly Pilgrimage Sites, attracts Domestic t ourist. fit in toWorld Travel and Tourism Council, from 2009 to 2018, India will among top tourism destination,having the superiorest 10-year growth potential.TheTravel Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 rank tourism in India sixth in terms of price competitiveness and 39th in terms of safety and security. A 5000 year history, culture, religion and alternative medicine fascinates all segments of tourist. The focus of the industry is on Atithi Devo Bhavah campaign, targeted at the inbound foreign tourist. Translated literally it actor Guest is God.Main attraction to India is its cultural and geographical diversity. It also had a rich history and each region has its own uniqueness which appeals to large and diverse tourist base. There are many tourist spots which come under UNESCO heritage. India provides heritage, sports, medical and business. India has one of the largest and fastest evolutionmedical tourism sectors. According to global hotel and hospitality consulting firm, HV S International, the strong performance in tourist arrivals in 2005 can be attributed to a strong sense of business and investment confidence in India inspired byIndias strong GDP performanceStrengthening of ties with developed worldReforms in aviation sector which led to better connectivity with many countries, andOpening of sectors of the economy to private sector/foreign investment.Other factors areDevelopment of infrastructure by governmentIndias emergence as an outsourcing hubSuccess of unimagined India campaign and other tourism promotion measuresIndias growing recognition as an exciting place to visit.Ministry of TourismNational policies are planned by the Ministry of Tourism. They are responsible for the development and promotion of tourism in India. They are also responsible for the regulation of tourism industry as well as promotion of India as tourist destination to the world. They have to take consideration from all the stakeholders in the sector to execute any plan or development in any of the regions. All the stakeholders involved in this process needs to work collaboratively to function smoothly. Ministry is putting tidy effort to promote new forms of tourism like eco-tourism, medical, sports, body of water, etc.The Ministry of Tourism also maintains theIncredible Indiacampaign. As of January 2011, head of the ministry is theCabinet Minister Subodh Kant Sahay.Indiastole the limelight at the World Tourism Mart 2011 inLondonby winning two global awards Worlds Leading Destination and Worlds Leading Tourist Board,Incredible India.Economic FactorsTourism contributes 6.4% to the national GDP and 8.8% to the employment in India. It is the 3rd largest foreign exchange earner in India. Travel Tourism (TT) directs contribution to GDP in 2011 was INR1,689.8bn (1.9% of GDP). By 2012, it is forecasted that it will grow by 7.6% to INR1,818.5bn. This shows how much economy can grow just with the help of hotels, rails and other form of transportation serv ices (excluding commuter services). Not only this but it also includes the other industries which are dependent on the tourist such as restaurants and leisure industry. It is expected that by 2022 direct contribution of TT to GDP is expected to grow by 7.7% pa to INR3,805.2bn (1.9% of GDP). The Total contribution of TT to GDP was INR5,651.0bn in 2011 (6.4% of GDP) and by 2012 it is expected to grow by 7.3% to INR6,062.3bn (6.5% of GDP). Total contribution is further forecast to progression by 7.8% pa to INR12,891.2bn by 2022 (6.5% of GDP).% of whole economy GDPSource WTTC Travel Tourism Economic push 2012Direct TT generated by leisure travel spending (inbound and domestic) is 73.8% of direct TT GDP in 2011 (INR3,335.4bn) compared with 26.2% for business travel spending (INR1,181.3bn). Business travel spending is expected to grow by 4.1% in 2012 to INR1,229.6bn, and rise by 7.6% pa to INR2,562.2bn in 2022. Leisure travel spending is expected to grow by 8.6% in 2012 to INR3,622.3bn , and rise by 7.6% pa to INR7,554.3bn in 2022.Source WTTC Travel Tourism Economic Impact 2012Domestic travel spending generated 82.2% of direct Travel Tourism GDP in 2011 compared with 17.8% for visitor exports (ie foreign visitor spending or international tourism receipts). Domestic travel spending is expected to grow by 8.3% in 2012 to INR4,009.9bn, and rise by 8.1% pa to INR8,710.3bn in 2022. Visitor exports are expected to grow by 3.5% in 2012 to INR829.2bn, and rise by 5.2% pa to INR1,382.6bn in 2022.Source WTTC Travel Tourism Economic Impact 2012Below are the country rankings of absolute contribution for year 2011. We can percolate that under direct and total contribution to GDP India is ranked 11th and 12th respectively which is a good ranking. Compared to other Asian economies China is the only country ahead of India in ranking. If we consider employment parameter then India is ranked as 1st for direct contribution to employment while 2nd for total contribution to employ ment after China. If we see capital investment done with respect to other countries then India is ranked at 4th position.These rankings are in absolute term but if we consider relative value then India is way behind its neighbors. It is ranked as 126th as total contribution to the GDP. While contribution of tourism to employment is ranked at 102nd and capital investment at 97th. Compared to its competitive neighboring nation it is a poor ranking.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsContribution.jpgSource WTTC The tables provide brief extracts from the full WTTC Country League tabular array Rankings, highlighting comparisons with competing destinations as well as with the world average. The competing destinations selected are those that offer a similar tourism product and compete for tourists from the same set of origin markets. These tend to be, but are not exclusively, geographical neighbors.Below is the long term ranking on the same parameters as above. If we analyze the rankings then w e can see that it is improving from the current relative rankings.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsLong term.jpgSource WTTC The above table highlights comparison with competing destination as well as with world average. It is a snapshot from WTTC country league table ranking. The competing destinations offer a similar tourism product and compete for tourists from the same set of origin markets i.e. geographic location.Statistics of Indian TourismIn 2010, numbers of foreign tourist arrival were 5.78 Million which shows the annual growth rate of 11.8%. This double digit shows that the number of tourist coming to India is increasing at a good rate because the global annual growth is just 6.6% while annual growth of entire Asia Pacific function is 12.7%. Although this annual growth rate is comparatively high but the share of India in International tourist arrival is just 0.61% and India is ranked at 40th position.We can also see in the at a lower place chart provided by UNWTO that the in bound tourism in Asia and pacific region is going to grow faster than any other region of the world. So this gives a lot of potential for Asian countries to grow and develop their economy via medium of tourism.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsunwto_general_assembly_10oct2011_slide8.jpgSource UNWTOMaximum tourist comes from USA (16%) followed by UK (13%) and then Bangladesh (7.5%). Delhi (34.5%) and Mumbai aerodrome (20.5%) is the main entry point for tourists coming to India. Below table shows the purpose of FTAs visit to India.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocs77.jpgSource India Tourism Statistic 2010In 2010, peak tourist month was December while on the lower side was May. In December there were around 11.8% tourist and in May there were 5.7% tourist only. The under graph shows that peak season were in Jan March Oct Dec in 2010. This is generally consistent with the cast in 2008 and 2009 also.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsMonth.jpgSource India Tourism Statistic 2010Peak months differ fo r countries to countries like for USA, Canada, Malaysia, Australia and Singapore, December was the peak month. For countries like UK, Germany and Korea January was the peak month. For few countries it is even August or July. But overall it is the winter season (October-December) where we see maximum FTAs in India i.e. 31.1% and minimum in summer season (April-June) i.e. 18.8%.Of all the FTAs in 2010, Male FTAs accounted for 59.3% while Female as 40.7%. Over the last 15 years the percentage of female visitors has increased in India. The trend among the age sort which we have seen in the inbound tourist was that maximum comes from the age group of 35-44, followed by the age groups of 45-54 years and 25-34 years. Minimum were in the age group of 15-24 years.Domestic Tourismalong with International tourism even Domestic tourism is increasing at a good pace. The enhance annual growth rate of domestic tourist visits to all states/UTs from 1991 to 2010 is 13.5%. Below is the diagram show ing year-wise domestic/foreign tourists visits to States/ UTs during 2000 and 2010CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsDomestic.jpgSource India Tourism Statistic 2010Below is the figure showing the percentage share of acme 10 States/UTs in Domestic tourist visits in 2010. We can see that Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu itself comprise of roughly 55% of the total domestic tourist visit. In terms of foreign tourist Maharashtra is the state which is most visited i.e. 28.5%.CUsersDellDocumentsAIMMRRDocsshare.jpgSource India Tourism Statistic 2010Chapter 4 Transport Industry in IndiaIntroductionTransport in the nation of India is an important part of the nations economy. Since the economic liberalization of the 1990s, development of infrastructure within the country has progressed at a rapid pace, and today there is a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air.Indias transport sector is large and diverse it caters to the needs of 1.1 billion people. In 2007, the secto r contributed about 5.5 percent to the nations GDP. usual transport still remains the primary mode of transport for most of the population, and Indias public transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world. Indias rail network is the 4th longest and the most heavily used system in the world, transporting over 6billion passengers and over 350 milliontons of loading annually.Good physical connectivity in the urban and rural areas is essential for economic growth. Since the early 1990s, Indias growing economy has witnessed a rise in demand for transport infrastructure and services. However, the sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on the economy. Major improvements in the sector are required to support the countrys continued economic growth and to reduce poverty.Primary Mode of loony toonsRailways.Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned rail line enterprise, owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. It is one of the worlds largest railway networks comprising a total of 114,500 kilometres (71,147 mi) of track over a route of 65,000 kilometres (40,389 mi) and 7,500 stations. IR carries over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. In 2011-2012 Railway earned INR104,278.79 crore (US$18.87 billion) which consists of INR69,675.97 crore (US$12.61 billion) from freight and INR28,645.52 crore (US$5.18 billion) from passengers tickets. It is one of the worlds largest employers.The railways play a leading role in carrying passengers and lode across Indias vast territory. However, most of its major corridors have electrical capacity constraint requiring capacity enhancement plans. To reduce congestion on rail corridors along the highly trafficked florid Quadrilateral and improving port connectivity government is launching the National Rail Vikas Yojana (National Railway Development Program). The development of two Dedicated F reight Corridors from Mumbai to Delhi and Ludhiana to Dankuni is also in governments plan. ways.Roads are the dominant mode of transportation in India today. They carry almost 90 percent of the countrys passenger traffic and 65 percent of its freight. The parsimoniousness of Indias highway network at 0.66 km of highway per square kilometer of land is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and much greater than Chinas (0.16) or Brazils (0.20). However, most highways in India are narrow and congested with poor come to the fore quality, and 40 percent of Indias villages do not have access to all-weather roads.Ports. India has a long coastline, spanning 7516.6 kilometres, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. It is serviced by 13 major ports (12 government and 1 corporate) and 187 notified minor and intermediate ports. The latest accessory to major ports is Port Blair on June 2010, the 13th port in the country. These ports serve the countrys growing foreign chan ge in gasoleneeum products, iron ore, and coal, as well as the increasing movement of containers. Inland water transportation remains largely undeveloped despite Indias 14,000 kilometers of navigable rivers and canals.Aviation. India has125 airports, including 11 international airports. Indian airports handled 96 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo in year 2006-2007, an increase of 31.4% for passenger and 10.6% for cargo traffic over previous year. The dramatic increase in air traffic for both passengers and cargo in recent years has placed a heavy strain on the countrys major airports. passenger traffic is projected to cross 100 million and cargo to cross 3.3 million tons by year 2010. Privatization and expansion of the Mumbai and New Delhi Airports and development of new international airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore.Transport infrastructure in India is better developed in the southern and southwestern parts of the country.PESTLE AnalysisPolitical place setting Many limitations were imposed by public transport sector. Also government has imposed many taxes which will further increase the prices of automobiles. Government has asked public transport vehicles in many cities to move to CNG instead of petrol which has affected many individuals. Launching the ambitious National Highway Development Program which has seven phases and is expected to be completed by 2012. It includes improved connectivity between Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, popularly called the Golden Quadrilateral, in the first phase, North- in the south and East- West corridors in phase two, four laning of more than 12,000 km in phase three, two laning of 20,000km and six laning of 6,500 km respectively in phase four and five, development of 1,000km of expressway in phase six and other important highway projects in phase seven. Total expected investment is INR 2.2 trillion. Accelerated Road Development Program for the North East Region to provide road connectivity to all State capitals and govern headquarters in the region.Economic Context Petrol prices are increasing every year at a sky rocket speed and this will surely hamper the transport industry as it will lead to increase in the travelling fare. Consumer confidence has decreased as a ending of the economic downturn and people are seeking savings in their everyday life. Increase in the average disposable income of both families and individuals indicates that more people can afford to buy and use a private car. Tourism bring foreign exchange earnings of USD 14.19 Billion. The top-income households, the real consuming class with high disposable income, have been getting richer faster. It is for this reason that the boom in sales of virtually every consumer product from cars to bikes to TV sets is visible all over.Societies Context Growing population and numbers of visitors/tourists/immigrants imply increasing demand for transport Services. People are more time-poor and seek efficient ways of transport in the city, where public transport possesses advantages such as rail and bus lanes that avoid traffic jams. People seek the convenience, personal comfort and social status that mainly private cars or, to a certain degree, taxis can offer technology Context Rapid development in communication and computer technologies, e.g. increasing use of videoconferencing, tele-working and the Internet