SESA: A Scalable Multi-channel Communication and Booking Solution for E-Commerce in the Tourism Domain

In the Tourism domain, e-Commerce is becoming the dominant means for value exchange i.e. selling and buying touristic services. Considering the latest developments of the Web in the direction of user-generated content, information sharing, online collaboration and social media, all gathered under the umbrella term of Web 2.0, the number of channels for value exchange and interaction with customers has drastically increased. Nowadays, successful e-Commerce solutions require the ability to communicate and engage with customers for a better visibility, reputation and in the end, increased revenue. In this paper, we introduce the Seekda Social Agent (SESA), an ongoing effort that aims to deliver a platform which will help businesses in the tourism domain in dealing with the challenge of improving and maintaining their communication needs in order to engage with their customers in an efficient and timely manner that ultimately supports effective and efficient value exchange. Our solution integrates various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube and Flickr, disseminates information items with one click through a multitude of channels, shows feedback collected from customers, and supports engagement and value exchange based on the use of semantic technology.