The Web Portal as a Collaborative Tool

Abstract

Discussion of portals and their relevance to destination tourism is the main focus of this chapter. Traditional definitions of portals have focused on intraorganisational information sharing. Here a broader interorganisational view of portals is adopted. Information sharing beyond organisations via portals renders them a collaborative tool, which is of real benefit to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This applies equally to tourism destinations which are typified by many small and medium tourist enterprises (SMTEs) (Braun, 2002).