Supply Chain View of Tourism

Abstract

Tourism being observed as a supply chain, this article describe its practices under a conceptual research framework with a special reference to education tourism. The author projects the education tourism as a continuum where both service supply chains of education and tourism are integrated. The research implication is directed towards the cross-sectoral objectives of communities involving the tourists, students and destination communities. The original thoughts and value propositions in this research are portrayed as a supply chain framework. Unlike goods supply chain management, the service supply chain of education tourism grows complex due to the coexistence of the overlapping service objectives for education and tourism. Education tourism deals with students and tourists frequently interchanging their roles; leveraging the services of the vendors and outsourced partners. The increasing complexity of education tourism demands smart technology applications to manage it as an integrated total supply chain.