Virtual Tourism Office: Using Technology to Promote Rural Tourism and Intelligently Cross-Market Local Products and Services

The steady decline of natural resource-based industries has posed some significant challenges to the sustainability of rural America. Many rural communities have turned to tourism as a solution for their economic revitalization. The Internet offers an ideal tool for the promotion of tourism. However, its full potential has yet to be realized by rural tourism communities. The goal of the Phase 1 R&D effort is to develop a proof-of-concept prototype which will demonstrate the technical merit and feasibility of the proposed Virtual Tourism Office software.