The Expansion of Technology in Small and Medium Hospitality Enterprises With a Focus on Net Technology

In several earlier studies it was revealed that small/independent hotels are being marginalized from the mainstream tourism industry due to their inability to participate in the transformation of best practices due to their reluctance to utilize information technologies. Wales is a good illustration of a peripheral region with predominately small independent hotels and as such is reflective of the profile of the independent hotel sector in Europe. This article is based on research undertaken in collaboration with the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) via postal surveys in 1994, 2000, and 2001 into the use of technology and, specifically the latter surveys, focused on the penetration of the Internet in hospitality organizations in Wales. The responses to the surveys were sufficient to reach some comparisons over a period of time about the growth of technology and the Internet in this sector, the factors that influence the use of technology, and additionally some insight into the opinions of hotel managers who are nonusers of technology and the Internet. This article concludes that penetration is high in 2001 and the WTB has acted neither as a facilitator nor an influence in its adoption by its members.