management information system in tourism and hospitality industry

The Emerald Handbook of ICT in Tourism and Hospitality

Table of contents, introduction, part one: technology in tourism and hospitality: concepts and applications, a pragmatic approach of interaction between technology and tourism-hospitality.

The tourism and hospitality sector in twenty-first century becomes technology driven. Technology application in those sectors is strategic and demand driven. It facilitates tourism and hospitality marketing; destination promotion and imaging makes the services innovative, turns the interaction between industry and its consumers better than ever before, and enables the industry to cope with neo-competitive environment. Changes occur too in tourists’ demand, choices, and consumption patterns with the advent of e-mobility. Thus shifts within the paradigm of tourism and hospitality practices are perceived overtly. This chapter will study the expanse of technology application within those sectors, endeavour to develop a conceptual frame; and review the shifts and impacts that appear out of technology and those sectors interactions.

Part Two: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Service Promotion

Online tracking using cookies and similar technologies: an analysis of hotel company practices.

Hotels, the second largest component of online travel, have traditionally collected customer data through loyalty or customer relationship management programmes, compiling data about customers and using it to improve customer service and marketing efforts ( Piccoli & O’Connor, 2003 ). Recent growth in online sales has given them access to even more granular and topical data. In particular technologies such as cookies, web bugs and beacons allow data on an individual’s browsing (e.g. the pages they have visited or the searches they have conducted) to be collected, consolidated and analysed to reveal detailed insights about customers which can subsequently be used for marketing purposes ( Gilbert, 2008 ). While previous studies have investigated data collection by hotels, for the most part these have focussed on data surrendered voluntarily, with none addressing data collection through automated means. This chapter therefore attempts to fill this research gap, investigating whether and how hotel companies use such techniques, and whether consumers are adequately informed about this data collection process. Using the top 50 global hotel brands as a population, it explores both cookie disclosure and cookie practice by global hotel brands. The findings demonstrate that hotel brands, particularly those with their headquarters in the USA, are making extensive use of online monitoring technologies, typically for marketing purposes. In most cases, this data collection is happening surreptitiously, with the data protection notices that exist overtly long as well as crouched in highly technical language. Despite legislative changes that amplify the need to inform consumers about data collection, few hotel chains currently comply with the principles of informed consent, leaving many open to potential sanction.

Factors Influencing Generation Y to Choose Airbnb

This study aims at identifying factors that influence Generation Y to choose Airbnb. The topic of this study is of great importance to understand the new trend of accommodation that is currently taking place in the hospitality industry worldwide known as Airbnb, its main target market is Generation Y. The popularity of Airbnb is on the rise and it has become the main competitor to the traditional hotel industry. This research has identified four factors – socio-economic, environmental, technological and media – that largely influence Generation Y while choosing Airbnb as their preferred accommodation. The research represents a framework to test the relationship between these factors and Generation Y decision to choose Airbnb. The data were collected in Malaysia, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, from 200 respondents of different nationalities who intend to or have experienced staying with Airbnb. The data were collected through physical distribution of the questionnaire as well as through an online survey. SPSS version 21 was used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that the various factors identified have a significant influence on Generation Y decision while choosing Airbnb as their accommodation. This finding helps Airbnb maintain its target market by determining the key factors that influence Generation Y. The study also identifies technological and environmental factors that play an important role in the Generation Y decision to choose Airbnb.

Integrated Marketing Approach in Hotel Management

The concept of integrated marketing has been recognized as a key factor in marketing literature. Integrated marketing has changed from being a customer-centric system to a customer-facing process and is the past, present, and future of marketing. This type of marketing helps build brand awareness and equity in order for people to know, trust and ultimately choose your brand over competitors. It ensures that a message is communicated via different platforms according to a specific strategy. Integrated marketing has now become more important than ever before and focusing on the customer and their requirements involve a more integrated view with a big emphasis on digital, traditional and the physical world all working together. If practiced properly, integrated marketing approach is a healthy balance that can yield unlimited results beneficial to the organization’s goals. This approach should be practiced not only for one department but also all departments at hotel companies should be included.With that in mind, hotels have begun applying this notion as part of their everyday outreach. Specifically, marketing methods and strategies will vary from hotel to hotel and some significant factors to analyze and research prior to drafting are: property size, management structure, type of ownership and type of hotel (luxury, business, hi-tech, economy, etc.), area demographics and psychographics, as well as the dynamics of the internal and external environment. The need for studying integrated marketing in the hotel context has been emphasized in this research which revealed that marketing strategies are crucial for hotel companies to raise their brand value and equity. In this respect, it is stressed that strategies can shape a positive hotel brand perception within the customer’s mind.

The Impact of Online Marketing in Travel Agency

Online marketing become a trend in recent years focussed on online social networks, such social networks have rapidly grown in popularity; providing platforms to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry. Online marketing offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to study the impact of online marketing in travel agency. The data collected using google online survey and analysed using SPSS. The findings stressed that online marketing in travel agency has a positive relationship in increasing the sale of packages in travel agency. Travel agencies who use online marketing more frequently receive more correspondence. Therefore, travel agencies should use online marketing to generate more income. The value of time has also changed, making communication a process that has to be instant and simplified. Hence, travel agencies have to use online marketing and taking into account travellers feedbacks and complaints as well as delivering information about products and services in real time. Travel agencies have no chance to face their competitors if they don’t adopt online marketing strategies.

Part Three: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Branding Aspects

Emotional branding for tourist destinations: a review of ict tools.

Hums that express emotion, colors that mesmerize, symbols that draw, tastes that stimulate desire, shapes that tap, smells that rouse are becoming more dominant weapons with which companies realize an emotional connection with consumers. It all began in the twentieth century, at the moment when the machinery industry converted into service industry making their main element as people. Also, the consumers changed with the change in industry. With numerous products at their offering consumers are often undecided which product to choose. They expect the brand to know about them personally. Trying to improve relationships between consumers and products, marketing researchers concluded that the vital component in purchasing a product is an emotion. And the motivation behind emotional branding is to build a relation between a buyer and a product by evoking buyer’s emotion. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in the process of offering a better service or product and can be effectively applied to tourist businesses. Tourism primarily comprised association between the operator, the tourist, the host, and the habitat. Since tourists have various destinations to visit it is essential that a destination attracts tourists with its own mark. Branding includes advertising the distinctive benefits which the tourist will undergo while visiting the destination, apart from the destination itself. Destination branding depends on reputation, quality, and specific attributes along with a vital component, emotion. Marketers normally desire that buyers experience the destination and many advertise their product or service as an experience through sounds, words, and visuals. The most important aspect is the experience traveler gets. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fastest growing technologies and plays a major role in our daily life. It has changed our way of living and experiences. On the viewpoint of business outlook, it has touched each and every aspect of commerce. Since the beginning of internet, it is gaining strength day by day. Therefore, ICT, with significance on the internet, has swiftly adjusted to the tourism wherein novel opportunities for creative online advertising strategies are investigated. The radical changes in the society developing from the rise of ICT gave birth to novel consuming experiences which bind virtual and physical worlds, enhancing the participation of consumers both in the production and consumption processes. The chapter focuses on the role of ICT tools in emotional branding of tourist destinations.

Part Four: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Consumption Behavior

Social media transforming tourist behavior.

The discovery of internet technologies which is one of the most important developments of the twenty-first century has enabled individuals and institutions to overcome geographical and time constraints creating fundamental changes in communication. As a result, online communities have enabled people to meet the internet for various reasons such as seeking and sharing information, discuss community issues and ask questions; and online communities have also enabled businesses and consumers to connect with each other at any time. Especially the emergence of Internet-based social media technologies such as blogs, virtual communities, wikis, social networks, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram provides tourists to share their travel experiences. Information shared on social media sites is considered to be an important source of information that can help tourists’ travel plan and may even influence the travel decisions of potential tourists. In this context, the concept of social media in tourism businesses has been examined in the research. Within the framework of the research, it has been observed that social media has influenced the tourists’ behavior regarding travel motivations in the context of various motivations (having information about destinations, hotels, services of hotels, wondering about consumers’ experiences who were in touristic consumption before, etc.). It is also among other findings that social media has increased the overtourism crisis.

Part Five: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Marketing Contexts

Influencer marketing for tourism and hospitality.

With the development of the internet and mobile technology products, revolutions are experienced in consumer behavior. Consumers of the digital age browse the other users’ experiences and thoughts before purchasing a product or service. The use of social media (SM) platforms, which are getting stronger day by day, is also preferred by companies so as to convey any message to the target audiences. SM platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the most outstanding and commonly used channels through which companies reach the target audiences. Sharing, especially including visual elements, supplies the highest level of interaction with the target audience. However, the internet bloggers/vloggers (video blogger), phenomena, influencers or SM marketers have a significant impact on the consumers of the digital age with their channels on the internet and their sharing in SM accounts. Tourism companies are not indifferent to the increasing importance of SM. Thus, they prefer working with SM influencers or bloggers by conveying the info and messages to their consumers to perceive their products and services. The influencers can spread the messages of the companies to wider consumers that companies might never be able to reach. For some years, the inclusion of influencers as part of a communication and marketing strategy has become more common and necessary for the promotion of a destination, airline or hotel group. This has been generated due to important factors such as trust, which has been the best ally of influencers: in most cases people give higher levels of credibility to what is said and done by instagramers, youtubers, bloggers, twitterers, etc. In recent years, it is one of the hottest new ways to affect potential guests’ buying decisions and create high-quality content without the excessive costs of most marketing efforts.

Internet Marketing Communication in Event Tourism Promotion

Events are social, sporty, cultural, economic and environmental or entertainment-based. They are held on specific dates and times to share common experiences. Event tourism is becoming more and more important, bringing many benefits to the destinations. National and international events are organised to create alternative tourism products, increase the number of visitors, contribute to economic development and create competitive advantage, improve the infrastructure of the destination, increase the quality of life and provide socio-cultural development support. Direct or indirect communication is important for the target audience. Today, event organisers, who want to establish strong ties with the target audience, benefit from technology as it helps to promote the event and motivate people to participate in it. Along with the development of the Internet and the social media, communication and marketing implementations have also changed. High-budgeted events are becoming an important segment of tourism. The development of technology and widespread use of the Internet and social media have added a creative and indispensable competitive element to event marketing communication.

Part Six: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Destination Promotion

New product design: creating a digital vr game to promote the conservation of nature-based tourism attractions.

Mobile games and ICT-based mixed reality tools offer significant opportunities for tourism. This chapter reviews the existing literature in both these areas, and presents a novel way of combining games and virtual reality into an interpretive tool. As a complex, threatened marine ecosystem, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef faces significant interpretive challenges, and almost no new interpretive tools have been developed over the last 30 years. Here, the authors unpack the stages and interdisciplinary approach required to design the tool and highlight how it might fit within the broader scope of ICT developments in tourism. We outline areas of future research, with a particular focus on how ICT might contribute to making nature-based tourism more sustainable, by finding fun, innovative ways to engage tourists in the conservation of some of our most iconic natural assets.

Development of a Destination Through eTourism: Experience and Creativity

This study aims to understand the development of Barcelos tourist destination, analyzing the progress of technology in local handcrafts. eTourism is a development alternative for many localities. These alternatives, when they have integrated tourist products and a defined geographical area, form a tourist destination. Focusing on tourism and its evolution, concepts and successes are investigated in the tourist market of Barcelos, proving the increase in the local economy. Before a qualitative study and through the direct observation and semi-structured interviews to some regional handcraftsmen, the forms of the innovation of the technology in the tourism of Barcelos are analyzed and what their contribution to the increase in the tourism in this territory. The study shows that, in this tourist destination, the development of handcrafts had a great social and economic impact, developing the offer and standing out in front of the tourist market. The study also concludes that the new Information and Communication Technologies’ (ICTs’) tools promote new skills, which consequently provide new opportunities as well as great challenges for all users. In the Barcelos handcraft, ICTs will revolutionize the promotion of this tourism offer, through the innovation of networks and the Internet, with all stakeholders, sharing information and knowledge of Barcelos products and services, thus increasing their fluency in tourism demand and developing the market in order to create a greater economic impact on the destination.

Website Designing and Its Impact on Tourism Destinations

Together with developing information and communication technologies and the increasing use of the Internet, there have been changes in the behaviors of the consumers during the purchasing decision process. Today’s consumers realize most of the decision process phases (such as gathering the information, determining the alternatives, evaluating the alternatives and even purchasing) from the Internet. Tourists who would like to purchase a holiday are also using the Internet during their holiday decision process. Today, websites which became an increasingly popular information source for the consumers play a significant role in potential visitors/tourists’ choices related to the destinations. Websites are used as a distribution and marketing tool in promotion and marketing of the tourism destinations. In this context, the design and content of the destination websites should be on a level which would attract and satisfy the tourists. In this chapter, the author will primarily discourse the visual and auditory factors which affect the perception of tourists and the application areas of these factors in website design. Then, the subjects such as the key features of the websites, information that should be provided on websites, the design of the website and their functions will be covered. The parameters that should be taken under consideration in order to evaluate the performance of a website and the evaluation criteria for the sites will also be included within the context of this chapter. In this chapter, the author will also discourse the benefits that the websites provide for destinations and the success factors of the destination websites. In the conclusion section of this chapter, the author will provide propositions related to the factors that should be taken under consideration in destination website design.

Changes in Tourism Destination Promotion with the Technological Innovation

Tourism industry has extensively embraced technologies to enhance operational competencies, service quality over and above customer satisfaction. This chapter presents Information Technologies as an innovative approach to promote tourism destination from Destination Management Organization’s (DMO’s) perspective. Precisely, attention has been given on how destination managers are applying different types of technological tools to promote their tourism business. In recent times, DMOs are implementing several promotional tools with the use of technology like embracing the mobile technology, Social Media, online ads, and building effective marketing strategies innovatively to compete with the cut-throat competition in travel trade. It also tried to provide an insight understanding of the changes in destination manager’s promotional strategies with the advancement of technologies. Based on primary research with destination managers and using the literature review, a collection of technology-based tools used by DMOs for the promotion of tourism at the destination level was identified and their individual impacts were measured to identify the effects on the profit generation. To accomplish the mentioned objectives, an explorative study based on basic demographic analysis along with Pearson correlation and Simple Linear Regression was conducted to examine the individual impacts of the different promotional tools used by DMOs.

Tourist Experience Exchange Through Blogs and Its Impact on Destination Promotion

Tourism is a highly informative industry, thus the developments in technology and customer behavior that influence the level and availability of travel information are essential to understand ( Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, 2017 ). “Both on the demand side and on the supply side of tourism, blogging plays a major role, enabling tourists to communicate, track and respond on their opinions and service assessments directly with the visitors through multiple Internet platforms” ( Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2015 ). Through use of Internet as well as other information and communications technologies has paved the way for modern in the tourism industry. The significance of Blogs in the tourism market is huge. Ever more investigators are exploring the impact of blogging on tourism. The Blogging is going to be a major means of contact distributed throughout the country such as wildfires. The tourism industry has benefited most from the Internet, making blogging a crucial component of the marketing and preparation of the tourism industry ( Sahoo & Mukunda, 2017 ). This section explores travel blogs as an expression of travel experience. Traveler views on prominent travel blog pages have been evaluated to obtain a sense of the experience expressed at the destination. Advancements technologies and a growing number of travel blogs make it easier for travel blog monitors to evaluate their service quality as a cost-effective method, and enhance the experience of the traveler (Pan, MacLaurin, & Crotts, 2007).

Part Seven: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Effects and Changes

Impact of information technology on tourism.

Information technology (IT) has become a strategic weapon on tourism products’ identification, presentation, dissemination and getting a sustainable competitive advantage. Tourism management is the most important candidate for using IT with the need for gathering information in large quantities and diffusion of tourism management. The heterogeneous nature of these businesses means that information-communication Technologies’ uses change from sector to sector and from management to management in the tourism sector. The development of IT has created new application areas for tourism industry managers especially in efficient cooperation and provided tools for real globalization, IT is unexpectedly part of tourism management because of information creation processing and transmission which are important in daily activities. Therefore, both rapid development of tourism demand and tourism supply have become a compulsory partner of IT; and for this reason, IT plays an important role in the tourism marketing, distribution, promotion, and coordination. Due to this importance; the impact of IT on tourism sector is valued to be investigated. This chapter stresses that IT’s uses play an efficient role in choosing the management on behalf of the consumer. Within this context, this chapter composes of the information society; IT development and tourism; the usage of IT on travel, hospitality, tourism sector, its challenges, and advantages. This chapter mostly emphasizes on these subjects that will be examined deeply.

ICT and Sustainable Development: Implications for the Tourism Industry

The tourism industry is known to be both famous and infamous in a way that there is a blurred line between how much tourism is sustainable and how much it is not. However, there is no denying of the fact that the industry is in need of innovative and upgraded mechanisms to ensure sustainability. Technology, on the other hand, is making great strides in providing support to ensure sustainable development across various sectors. Taking cues from the existing work, this chapter investigates the various facets of technology in imbibing sustainability, especially in the tourism sector, and proposes a framework for technology-led sustainable tourism development process. The chapter concludes that both technology and sustainable development concept share the common principles of being holistic, futuristic and interrelated (integrated). Therefore, technology can be a proper solution to develop a sustainable model.

Role of Mobile Technology for Tourism Development

There has been a massive, revolutionary change over the past two decades in the travel and tourism industry. Mobile technology offers privileges to consumers in order to identify, customize and purchase tourism products and support the globalization of the industry by providing tools for developing, managing and distributing beneficiaries worldwide. These diligent advancements in mobile technology have made it extremely easy for everyone to know instantly as much about the world as they want. The use of smartphones, tablets and mobile devices has empowered global tourists with more flexibility, options and freedom to explore places than ever before. For that reason, mobile technology is a perfect fit for travel and tourism that plays an important role in massive cultural shift of consumer behaviour. All over the world, businesses are struggling to adapt to that incredible spread and impact of mobile technology and in the future, the technology will go on developing and adapting, as well. As mobile technology has been evolving rapidly and spreading across multiple tourism sectors, it is pivotal to take into account its role in creating innovative experiences for consumers and fostering a sustainable competitive advantage for suppliers in the tourism industry. Though mobile evolution has contributed to enhancing the travel factor at large, not much is known about how it has affected the tourism development. Finding this information is crucial for a deeper understanding of how consumers are using tourism-related mobile technology before, during and after their trip. It could provide meaningful perceptions to meet their expectations and to enhance their travel experiences. Therefore, this chapter aims to identify the potential of mobile technology in several businesses in the tourism sector providing guidance to understanding its role to enhance value creation in the future.

Part Eight: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Smart City Involvement

Smart tourism: issues, challenges and opportunities.

Rapid development of IT and communication technologies resulted in the “Smart” concept, which of late has become quite popular. The smart concept signifies the integration of organizational networks and smart features that enrich the ecosystem, facilitate daily activities for all stakeholders, and for automatization. Smart concept was discussed as a complicated technological infrastructure in urban areas intended to promote economic, social and environmental welfare. The latest technological developments gave rise to the concepts of smart planet, smart city and smart destination that have become important in recent years. Technological innovations have had a big influence on the development of the tourism industry. Smart concept is conceptualized as smart tourism for tourism sector. Smart Tourism generally has a positive effect on the rapid change of information and technology and on the tourism sector, tourism activities and increase in customer satisfaction. In this chapter, the concept of Smart and its smart technologies are explained and information about its reflections on the tourism sector and smart tourism destinations are discussed.

Part Nine: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Marketing and Profitability

Ict-based marketing and profitability in tourism and hospitality organizations in indian scenario.

The concept of information and communication technology (ICT) has extensively used among travel and hospitality organization in the contemporary world. The present study discovers tourism and hospitality business reactions toward ICT-based marketing usage and investigates its relationship with functional competencies and profitability among tourism and hospitality business organizations in India. With a quantitative approach, the study found an extensive usage of ICT-based marketing in tourism and hospitality organizations was noted from descriptive tables. The application of regression analysis indicated positive and significant impact of ICT-based marketing on functional competencies and profitability of tourism and hospitality organizations in India. A positive and significant correlation was also noted among these two due to adoption of ICT-based marketing. This study provides insights to formulate comprehensive ICT-based marketing strategies to fulfill growing customer needs.

Part Ten: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Niche Tourism

Application of tracking tools in tourism and hospitality management.

In this chapter, the concept, use, evolution, problems and implications of tracking techniques in tourism and hospitality research are addressed. First, the concept of tracking is defined and its applications in different sciences and, particularly, in tourism and hospitality are explained. Then, the past, present and uncertain future of tracking techniques is briefly discussed, including the evolution of the different types of tools used to track the places visited by tourists. Afterward, this chapter continues pointing to the limitations of tracking tools and it points to combining different tracking techniques as a key element to gather more accurate data from tourists. Last, this chapter focuses on the implications of data gathered through tracking tools for destination and industry managers. This chapter may serve to students interested in understanding how the generation of tourism statistics is expected to evolve during next years and to practitioners pretending to improve the management of tourism destinations or enterprises.

Value of Technology Application at Cultural Heritage Sites: Insights from Italy

This chapter focusses on the importance of using technology in tourism. This chapter also comprehensively highlights technologies that are impacting the tourism industry as well as the constraints the industry is facing. Many research studies have been conducted which outline the contributions and importance of technology in tourism in general. In recent years, various research studies, ranging from tourism management to geography, have increasingly explored the opportunities to use cutting-edge information and communication technologies (ICTs), implemented at different scales, in order to improve tourists’ experiences. Among several technology-driven solutions, augmented reality (AR) is usually regarded as a useful tool for tourism. AR has become an area of significant interest and investment in recent times. The present study focusses on case studies where AR-based smart tourism applications have been developed. In tourist destinations, visitors exhibit a great interest in learning while travelling. Curiosity plays a significant role for visitors buying trips for their families and they are willing to pay slightly more for a unique experience. The findings offer several contributions to the literature by providing new theoretical insights into the intersection of AR and tourism in Italian heritage sites, especially in Sicily.

Sharing Economy and Villages’ Development Through the Application of Technology: The Italian Case

The lesser-known tourist destinations thanks to new technologies are experiencing a period of growth and development. Sharing economy has given new opportunities to smaller places, in particular the villages that are living a difficult period due to depopulation. The revival of small villages has been supported by the spread of good practices which, with the help of the Internet and the sharing economy, has led to a greater social, economic and tourist growth. The opportunities to emerge on the international market have increased thanks to the introduction of web and social networks. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) help overcome accessibility and isolation problems in some places. Sharing resources and increasingly democratic communication channels have been the basis for the creation of a new economy based on authenticity, unique experiences and consequently a slow tourism linked to rural villages. The aim of this research is to show how the sharing economy is important for the development of little villages; technologies in particular help the less-known destinations to grow up economically and socially. This research analyzes the concept of authenticity, very important for the experiential tourism and the sustainability considered the key for a good development of places. Then it considered the idea of technologies related to the development of little villages, with some example of good practice from Italy.

The Effects of Industry 4.0 in Tourism and Hospitality and Future Trends in Portugal

It is no longer enough to have a technology base to meet customer needs. The competitiveness of the tourism sector is ensured through the innovation capacity that companies can achieve, either through innovation associated with services or through services. The relationship between tourism innovation and business competitiveness in the tourism sector must consider emerging and innovative technologies that appear daily in society. In this context, the information systems applied to tourism must take into consideration the various sectors of activity: accommodation, travel agencies, restaurants and gastronomy, tourist entertainment, transport, among others. In addition to tourism management information system, it must integrate an innovation mechanism, which should be based on the definition of an appropriate business model. The business model that ensures innovation has to integrate design, production, service, and marketing through a new customer relationship, therefore technology must be able to meet the demands inherent in this new model. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate how the concept of Industry 4.0 can affect the development of tourism in Portugal. In this context, it is relevant for tourism that all companies consider the technological drivers of change associated with the concept of Industry 4.0, constituting a technological basis for leveraging tourism companies to a technological environment called ‘Tourism 4.0’.

Link up with Technology Application in Literary Tourism

Literary tourism is a developing niche of cultural tourism, which is important to study and for which it is important to define paths. In this chapter, the author makes a framework of literary tourism as a niche, the author presents its definition and a listing of its main products and experiences. The author also sees some examples of resources and products that link literature to digital technologies, checking to what extent they are or may be at the service of the development of literary tourism. After the presentation of these cases, we position our proposal to articulate literary tourism and digital technologies, based on the possibility of improving the visitor’s experience and increasing the attractiveness of literary places with digital applications.

Smart Management Systems in Cities and Their Marketing: Case of the Waterloo City in Canada

Competitiveness of cities forces the city and public sector representatives to invent new methods of management and use the innovative thinking. Success of cities, based on Etzkowitz and Leyedesdorff (2000 ), has to take into account new strategies of co-operation of the academic institutions with the local authorities, entrepreneurs (in our case in tourism business) and new graduates focused on high-tech industries and start-up businesses. This trend is based on the principles of New Economic Geography ( Krugman, 1994 ; Porter, 1998 ) and the new Theory of Growth ( Romer, 1990 ), which enforce the importance of knowledge capital and smart technologies. Hjalager (2002 ) supported the idea of the importance of the institutional innovations and Ward (1998 ) mentioned that universities and research institutes are key entities to promote smart technologies and decisions in a city (Triple Helix concept). The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which belongs to the Ontario Technological Triangle. Waterloo is a city of two universities, Waterloo University and Wilfred Laurier University. The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which was focused on the competitiveness growth through the implementation of the smart management systems (Triple Helix Model) in the city marketing and governance. Some of these approaches influenced also tourism business due to multiplication effect and the growing competitiveness is a source of a continual growth of students, visitors and entrepreneurs to the city and the region.

The Innovative City Development through Place Marketing, Branding, Co-creation and Technology Application as New Perspectives for Slovakia

Competitiveness and contemporary changes in our society and modern technologies force countries to apply the innovative processes in their managerial and marketing activities. Cities as the places of life of human beings and their coexistence with modern technologies could benefit from the implementation of place marketing and branding strategies and from the accepting of new approach to their consumers, predominantly citizens, but also local and international businesses and visitors. This process should be governed by the active and effective co-operation of public authorities, which means a symbiosis of multilateral parties aiming at one goal – a successful and satisfied city users and a destination with modern and effective leadership. For this reason, not only a concept of the effective co-operation is crucial, but also a concept of modern technologies application, for instance a model of smart city or the co-creation principles applied in the fulfilment of service provision to citizens. In order to succeed in competitiveness, it is important to support in destinations the application of the innovative development and sound managerial strategies. This chapter explored a strategy applied in city marketing of one city in Slovakia, Banska Bystrica. The methods of comparison and benchmarking to propose the innovative approach to marketing have been applied. In primary and secondary researches, mixed methods have been used, a combination of quantitative methods (demand side perspective) and the application of the importance–performance analysis and qualitative methods (interviews with the representatives of municipalities, private sector and non-governmental sector representatives, e.g., supply side perspective).

An Empirical Study on Cloud Computing Technology on Hotel Industry in Sri Lanka

It is an unfortunate truth that hotel industries are sometimes behind the curve when it comes to adopting the latest technology. In the competitive environment of the hotel industry, a sophisticated portfolio of information systems applications and high-quality information technology infrastructure play a key role in hotel performance in the world. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Technological, Organizational, and Environmental factors and business benefits of cloud computing adoption on the hotel sectors’ competitive capabilities. Previous studies in Asian countries have shown that adoption of cloud computing is significantly beneficial in hotel businesses. Having that this research study sough to explain the impact of cloud computing adoption using security concerns, top management support, cost saving, and competitive pressure relative advantages. The study was conducted among randomly selected 30 star graded hotels in Sri Lanka. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among managerial and ICT professionals who were capable of making ICT decisions. The results of the data analysis revealed that cloud computing adoption level is still low among star hotels in Sri Lanka and Security Concerns, Top Management Support, Cost Saving, Competitive Pressure, and Relative Advantages are having significant impact on cloud computing adoption in the hotel sector in Sri Lanka.

e-HRM Application in Tourism and Hospitality in Sinai of Egypt

The emergence of e-HRM in tourism and hospitality industry in Sinai of Egypt depicts the challenges in competency, performance and compensation associated with progressing the human resource function towards handling the effective managerial decisions. The emergence leads to a variety of investment vehicles evolving a competitive and user friendly tool which is available for anytime, anywhere access. Thus, the delicate situations of dependency on person-based decision-making, which is highly pervasive on memory and mood consistencies for making judgements are regularised and facilitated by data. Thus, puzzles and mathematical reliance on human-based sincerities are delinked and merged to machine-based delivery, subjected to auditing at varied levels of inputs and alerts. Many intuitive, heuristics and biases that deviate the rationalisation of decision-making process are leveraged and captured continuously so that various possibilities can be formed as an algorithm at later stages. These determine the tendency to bond stronger on technology reliability. The competitiveness among decision-makers to tackle situation is completely matched to performance dependent and competency of the resources applied to the activity of deployment. The evolved system is through the stakeholders’ inputs through ‘one-to-one’, ‘one-to-many’ and ‘many-to-one’ of the tour management team, with vital inclusive of the guest responses which make it as an essential connect in the genesis for understanding the market segment for the content knowledge on the guests’ profile, behaviour and preferences expected. Sinai of Egypt is a nice place for tourism, it’s a paradise in offering, with places such as Sharm El Sheikh, Naama Bay, Ras Mohammed National Park, Mount Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery and Resorts of Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba for travellers to choose a wide range of plush five-star resorts at relatively low prices, with good weather, beyond sea-and-sand. The News media Harteez in the year 2019 had quoted that according to the Egyptian Tourism Ministry, the tourism industry had brought in $12 billion in 2018, which a mere half during the previous year. This potential can be harnessed with the adorable use of technology which can help this industry to reach unlimited geography and bring travel and leisure customers to enjoy the beauty of the creator.

Digital Marketing for Religious Event of India for Tourism Sustainability and Promotion

India is the place of many religions, customs and traditions. Religious events are regularly an exceptional tourist opportunity, and there are several religious events that take place in India throughout the year. These events not only focus on the importance of people engaging in religious events and having spiritual experience but also act as a promotional opportunity for any country. With changing times, these religious places have become a site for tourism; relatively a mere pilgrimage and digital marketing is especially useful in promoting these events and places to new potential attendees as well. Therefore, this research stresses upon the small- and medium-sized religious events that take place in various regions of India and the importance of digital marketing in sustaining and promoting the event tourism.

Part Eleven: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Economic Development

Technology-driven tourism and hospitality industry as a tool for economic development: a bibliometric analysis.

The intervention of information communication technology and technological advancements are rapidly growing and providing means of improvisations to every industry. The technological advancements have offered multifold opportunities to the businesses and other stakeholders for developing it multidimensionality. This chapter has explored the aspects of the possible economic developments because of technological developments of the industry. Overall, 167 papers have been found and analysed. Probably, this is the first paper of its type, which has investigated the relationship between technology, tourism, and economic development using the bibliometric analysis. This chapter also identifies the five important clusters of keywords for future researchers on this theme of research.

Part Twelve: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: The Future

The future of our planet is technology: is it ok to embrace the change in travel and tourism industry in the developing world.

Several tourism destinations are using social media (SM) marketing more than traditional marketing in the developed countries. The increasing use of technology has replaced the role of travel intermediary. Most of the travellers in developed countries are no longer using travel agencies for their services. Many bookings are done online using electronic devices either at office or home. It is, therefore, a fact that SM has come to stay. However, the situation is contrary to some developing countries due to several reasons; for example, unreliable source of energy, communication, poor infrastructure and lack of competition. Most of developing countries depend on tourists from developed nations to consume their tourism destination products. Moreover, the modern travellers are no longer travelling in the dark. They want to have prior knowledge about their destinations. They check online product offerings, certification and destination labels. A modern tourist is becoming a more responsible traveller. SM plays a big role by providing information about many tourism destinations. Nevertheless, there are ongoing debates regarding the usefulness, future and survival of traditional travel agents despite the fact that there are threats from online travel agents and the increasing use of SM. This chapter is a case study of Malawi as a tourist destination. It critically discusses and analyses the impact of SM as a marketing tool. It also analyses the benefits and challenges of the travel agents, and finally confirms that there is a need to embrace technological change in travel and tourism industry in the developing nations.

• Azizul Hassan
• Anukrati Sharma

We’re listening — tell us what you think

Something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1 Adoption of Information Technology (IT) in Hospitality

Learning goal.

• Understand the importance of information technology adoption in hospitality
• Know several critical concepts in IT
• Understand the role of hospitality IT
• Distinguish among the factors leading to IT adoption

Critical concepts

Information technology (IT) represents one of the most important aspects of contemporary life. Since the emergence of the computer and related devices, humans have continuously found new ways to interact with technology and develop new applications that make our life easier. Hospitality is no exception. Although it seems to be counterintuitive, hospitality, which is fundamentally grounded in human interaction, has found clever ways to use IT to optimize the way businesses are managed and to create great experiences for consumers. This section covers the role of IT in hospitality and explains several critical concepts that define IT in hospitality.

Information technology (IT)

IT in hospitality refers to the information and communication technologies used by hospitality and tourism business, which help organizations fulfill their business functions that result in value for all stakeholders: consumers, businesses, governments, the public. It is a broad concept that includes a variety of technologies and systems and has impacted the hospitality and tourism industry for a long time (Gretzel et al., 2020). For example, it includes general IT concepts such as, computers, servers, networks, Wi-Fi connectivity, but also hospitality-specific systems, such as property management systems, inventory management systems, or dining room management systems.

Within the context of this course in hospitality IT, the word “system” refers to any computer or computer-based IT that allows a user to complete a task. For example, the software and hardware used for paying for a meal in a restaurant, generally called “point of sale system”, is one of the most commonly-used systems in hospitality.

Information systems (IS)

While there are many accepted definitions of information systems, this course uses Piccoli and Pigni’s (2018) definition of information systems as “a formal, socio-technical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information” (Piccoli & Pigni, 2018).

It is very important to view IS as tools that help users to complete tasks (Ferratt & Vlahos, 1998). In the world of IT, a task represents an activity that can be done by using an IS. For example, checking-in into a hotel is considered a task, which can be completed using the computers at the hotel’s front desk and the property management system available to the staff members using those computers. Also, making reservations on an online travel agency’s website can represent a task. It can be completed using multiple systems, which include a website, a payment gateway, data provided to the website through multiple distribution systems, and the networks that allow for the transmission of data.

Role of hospitality IT

It is very important to understand the role of IT in hospitality. It is difficult to conceive that there could be hospitality organizations that do not have access to technology or do not use any technology at all. In fact, many small businesses or even individual vendors use technologies to facilitate certain tasks that are fundamental to the commercial process. For example, vendors at the farmers’ market use technologies such as mobile payment systems or apps to take advantage of convenience and security during their transactions with their consumers. It is also very important to recognize that IT is one of the greatest forces of change in almost any industry, but especially in hospitality. The hospitality is very diverse from multiple points of view, and using IT is critical to optimizing some of the specific tasks of the hospitality industry and creating superior value.

Traditionally, when looking at the evolution of IT in hospitality, one could see that IT started being used predominantly in the back-of-the-house (e.g., business office), to reduce the errors and perhaps to crunch numbers. Over time, as it evolved, new utilization contexts have been found for many of the technologies available today have become available for use in all operational areas of a business. For example, one area that traditionally did not use a lot of technology was inventory management. Today’s development in IT has created opportunities for restaurants to use software that allows them to have a better understanding of the items entering and exiting inventory, which illustrates better how the restaurant is managed. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of IT in hospitality is its continuous evolution. Systems become obsolete quite quickly, and the vendors of hospitality IT are always competing against the clock to develop new systems that are increasingly powerful and reliable. This creates an evolutionary state that gives hospitality businesses a variety of choices. Now hospitality organizations adopt IT to their own way of conducting business to offer better services and become more strategic and efficient.

Co-creating value using IT

It is very important to recognize that consumers always seek value when they interact with a business. They pay money to receive a specific bundle of products and services, generically called “experiences”. In return, they expect that the consumption of the experiences results in value. In the simplest way, value is defined as the difference between benefits and the costs resulting from the use of a product/service. In other words, if a consumer obtains more benefits from the consumption of an experience than the costs, the consumer will appropriate value. Consumers will always seek to maximize that value. They do that by learning as much information as possible about the products, services, or experiences they plan to buy prior to buying them.

Given the hospitality industry’s products characteristics, it is difficult to assess the value prior to purchasing. Yet, given the interactive nature of hospitality products and services, consumers can actually change the value proposition initially offered by businesses by interacting with business during the process of consuming the experiences. For example, a consumer in a restaurant can tell the server to add or remove ingredients from a dish, making it customized for that particular consumer. This way, by interacting with the server, the consumer receives a higher value, as the benefits of a customized product overweigh the cost. At the same time, the business obtains more value because now the consumers is happier. So this encounter resulted in a better value for both the business and the consumer, in a process that is called co-creation of value. In other words, consumers and businesses interact during the process of service consumption to figure out the best way to improve that experience, and appropriate more value. Hospitality technologies facilitate these kinds of interactions, especially when both organizations and consumers are connected through apps, texting platforms, review websites or simply communicate properly.

Why hospitality IT

It is very important to understand why hospitality should use it. Not all hospitality businesses are the same in terms of their number of consumers, number of employees, type of business that they are in, or experiences they sell. However, they all have something in common: they produce experiences that they try to sell to a carefully-selected group of consumers. It is important to recognize that, despite the diversity, hospitality organizations are ultimately in the business of producing and selling a combination of goods and services (experiences), therefore having unique characteristics. Such unique characteristics call for a different utilization of IT than in other organizations. Therefore, it is important to recognize these characteristics in order to better understand how IT can be used successfully and eventually result in value for the consumers. This logic assumes that hospitality is information-intensive, due to several characteristics.

Heterogeneity

First, the industry is heterogenous. It means that, despite the best efforts of the hospitality businesses to provide experiences that are consistent and similar over time, due to the human factor involved in hospitality, the experiences may vary from one service setting to another. For example, the consumer can go to a restaurant and purchase their favorite dish, but that experience could be different if the consumer goes to the same restaurant at different times or is served by different servers. Therefore, to reduce the heterogeneity or at least to communicate to the consumers that it’s OK to have some degree of heterogeneity, IT will go a long way. Specifically, review websites and apps can help consumers understand that various consumers with different tastes and preferences are generally happy with a restaurant and its services.

Intangibility

It is important to recognize that the hospitality industry experiences are generally intangible. That means that they cannot be smelled, touched, or felt before actually buying and consuming them. For example, a consumer wishing to stay in a hotel can go online and look at pictures of the hotel room that he or she wants to book. However, the consumer will not know anything about specific aspects of that stay in that room until he or she books the room and stays in it. For example, the consumer would not know how noisy the room would be, how the view would look like, how close to the elevator the room would actually be, how the room would smell, or how much light there would be in the room. IT can help take away some of this intangibility by providing a lot of information about how the experience will be provided. For example, there are many websites feature reviews, pictures, videos, that can provide more detailed information about the specifics of particular rooms or hotel properties. This way, consumers using such IT can make better informed decisions.

Perishability

Perhaps one of the most important characteristics of hospitality is perishability. It means that the products and services that hospitality sells cannot be stored and resold the following day. For example, if a flight has 150 available seats and the airline was only able to sell 100 seats before the departure time of the flight, it cannot repackage and resell the remaining 50 seats the following day. The opportunity to sell those seats would expire at the time when the flight departs. While this is one of the most critical problems of hospitality, IT can help in selling unsold inventory at the last minute. For example, there are websites that give consumers access to last-minute unsold inventory, which is pushed to these websites by hospitality businesses wishing to sell all their inventory according to their marketing strategies.

In conclusion, hospitality IT allows the industry to mitigate some of its characteristics and sell experiences that are valuable for both consumers and businesses. Without IT, it would be more difficult and expensive for businesses to sell these experiences, and will make it difficult for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

How users adopt IT

Importance of it adoption.

It is very important for hospitality businesses to deploy the right technologies. For this reason, businesses compete for resources and are trying to use technology strategically. However, one important question mark for businesses is whether or not the consumers would use the technologies that are available to them. For example, imagine that a hotel installs a check-in kiosk in the lobby and hopes that the consumers would use the kiosk instead of checking-in at the front desk. A very important question for the hotel would be to predict the extent to which consumers will actually use the kiosk. In other words, the hotel is interested in finding the rate of consumers’ “adoption” of the kiosk. In the world of IT, adoption is perhaps the most important concept. It reflects users’ intentions to use and their behavior of using a technology that is available to them (Herrero, San Martín, & Collado, 2018). Ideally, organizations that provide IT would like to know the rate of adoption before making the investments of installing such technologies, but this is difficult to know. However, in the past 30 years, IT researchers have found several ways to obtain insight into the potential adoption of IT by users. While researchers have developed multiple theories that predict how users adopt a new technology, several important factors that influence users’ adoption have been found. Such factors predict quite accurately the extent to which a user is likely to adopt a technology and are discussed below.

Performance of a system

Performance expectancy (or usefulness) represents a user’s perception that a specific system would allow them to complete a task better than rival systems (Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012). For example, consumers will adopt a check-in kiosk in a hotel lobby if that kiosk allows them to check in faster than using the front desk. Also, consumers will adopt a mobile payment system, such as Apple Pay in a restaurant, if this payment system allows them to pay faster and more securely than paying with cash or handing a physical credit card to a server. Of the variety of factors that influence consumers adoption of IT, performance expectancy is the most important. This is why, companies installing technologies in hospitality have to ensure that such systems do actually help the consumers complete their tasks, instead of just being nice artifacts. It is also critical for hospitality businesses to do their due diligence and only install technologies that are reliable and allow consumers to complete their tasks predictably, securely, and without error.

Effort necessary to use a system

Effort expectancy (or ease of use) represents a user’s perception that a specific system allows them to complete a task without much mental or physical effort (Venkatesh et al., 2012). In other words, for users to adopt an IT, it has to be easy to use and intuitive to learn. Consumers do not want to spend a lot of time figuring out new systems, and systems that are not necessarily easy to use could be rejected easily especially in dynamic environments such as hospitality. This is why many systems today are designed with ease of use in mind, with intuitive interfaces, with large buttons, with a similar navigation structure and flow of views as a lot of other software or devices that are used outside hospitality. For example, hotel websites include the sign up/sign in buttons on the top right corner of the websites’ home pages, which is similar to many other websites outside hospitality. By using these kinds of designs, businesses are likely to guide users through effortless use of such technologies and facilitate adoption.

Research are still debating the role of effort expectancy. Some researchers found that ease of use is not as important as performance expectancy (Morosan, 2016). That is, users are likely to adopt technologies that are even difficult to use when such technologies allow them to complete tasks clearly better than other systems. For example, Microsoft Excel has increasingly incorporated advanced features, and it takes a while for a user to become familiar with these features. However, Excel is superior in many ways to competing products, and users are likely to eventually learn to use Excel despite the steep learning curve that is necessary to master some of its advanced features. The same can be said about a variety of other systems that are designed for other specific tasks, such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Dreamweaver.

Other factors

Apart from performance and ease of use, which are critical factors in the adoption of new IT, there are many other contextual factors that influence adoption. For example, consumers’ social influences are critical to IT adoption (Graf-Vlachy, Buhtz, & König, 2018). In other words, a user is influenced to use a particular system if their friends, family, or coworkers that have an influence on the user are generally agreeing that using such a system is a good idea. This is especially important as consumers can find a lot of information about the use of specific IT on online media, such as review sites or social media. Moreover, factors such as customers’ habits also could lead to adoption (Morosan & DeFranco, 2016). For example, if a consumer has a smartphone and likes to use their mobile wallet app to pay for a variety of things whenever possible, that consumer is likely to use the same app when purchasing from a hospitality business. Therefore, if a restaurant or cafe accepts mobile payments, the consumer is likely to use that particular system. Another important factor in adoption is the playfulness of a system, which denotes the ability of a system to allow the user to interact spontaneously with the system, playing and having fun with it (Morosan & Jeong, 2008). For example, many IT vendors include entertainment features in their systems, such as games, fun challenges, which allow consumers to entertain while they are using such systems. This kind of entertainment value produces engagement, and consumers are more likely to develop positive attitudes towards such systems when they are engaged, facilitating adoption.

Another group of factors influencing IT adoption is represented by users’ perceptions of security and privacy. Security refers to the perception that a system is secure, and that it can be used without being breached. In contrast, users’ perceptions of privacy refer to the extent to which consumers using the system believe that using such system influences their privacy. These two factors are extremely important, especially when using systems that rely on consumers to disclose their personal information. For example, some consumers may not be comfortable using biometric systems or digital assistant technology when traveling or staying in hotels. Finally, there are some factors that pertain to the very specific nature of the user. For example, consumers’ demographics have been shown to influence adoption. Needless to say, younger and more affluent customers tend to have a stronger technology orientation than other people, which could create use outside of hospitality, which in turn could result in adoption of hospitality IT.

Overall, the factors discussed above could influence adoption. However, it is important to note the not all the factors have exactly the same impact on consumers adoption of all technologies. A business wishing to install new technologies must do their due diligence to find exactly how their specific target consumers would interact with such systems prior to installation. This way, businesses can avoid costly installations, and develop an IT infrastructure that consumers can happily adopt to increase the value of their experiences.

Evolution of hospitality IT

To better understand the role of IT in hospitality, is important to know its evolution. This provides a good sense of where hospitality IT is going, what have the users adopted over time, and what types of tasks it allows us to complete.

While hospitality existed for many years, the use of IT is relatively recent. Some of the first types of applications where the early accounting systems, where the computers have been used in order to reduce the number of errors and provide an accurate representation of transactions in the accounting systems. The use of such applications was mostly used to improve efficiency, to reduce errors, and speed up some routine operations. Then, in the 1960s, some hotels and airlines introduced early computerized reservation systems. This was important because the travel market was growing, and more consumers than ever before were traveling. As a result, it was difficult to handle the larger number of reservations without error. For example, a reservation at a Hilton hotel had to be made by a person calling a call center, which would make an expensive long-distance phone call on behalf of the consumer to the location where the reservation needed to be made. This was laborious and prone to error. Computers helped with the accuracy of such reservations and freed up human resources to do other tasks.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, central reservation systems have been developed, as the market was growing at unprecedented rates, and a larger number of users making reservations exceeded the capabilities of non-computerized labor. Central reservation systems are large computer systems that allow information about reservations to be stored and processed, giving hotels, travel agents, and the ultimate consumers an opportunity to make and change reservations automatically without error. The 1970s and the 1980s marked the development of property management system integration with central reservation systems, therefore allowing individual hotel properties to electronically manage their inventory of rooms and room rates, and push that information electronically to travel agents. This kind of integration also contributed to reducing errors and optimizing the speed of communication between hotels and other businesses that are involved in the sale of hotel rooms.

An important development in the evolution of IT was the Internet in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Businesses realized the value of developing websites and eventually published websites that allowed customers to buy products directly online. This created situations where the websites became the primary promotional and marketing tools for a lot of hospitality businesses. Recognizing the importance of websites for purchasing hospitality experiences, a new type of businesses has emerged: online travel agencies (OTAs). They offered substantial value to consumers by providing comparisons and opportunities to purchase from multiple vendors on the same website. This level of functionality and convenience facilitated strong adoption by the consumers and eventually changed the dynamic of distribution of hospitality experiences. In other words, the traditional brick-and-mortar travel agencies no longer held significant power in the hospitality value chain, and they were replaced by OTAs such as Expedia, Travelocity, or Booking.

The 2000s marked a new step in the development of hospitality IT. Social media became important in gathering reviews about any hospitality business, and new types of websites were developed to sell hospitality products. For example, websites such as TripAdvisor or Yelp, provided reviews, helping consumers decide which hospitality products to buy, and giving them a voice to create reviews, post photos, and basically share their experiences online. In addition, given the high rate of adoption of OTAs, quite a few OTAs have emerged. Therefore, the multitude of such websites made it difficult for consumers to find the best deal easily, as they had to go to multiple websites looking for the best deal. This created opportunities for new businesses to develop websites designed to help consumers search better. For example, websites such as Kayak or Google Flights allow consumers to go online and find the best hotel rate or airline ticket using searches across multiple websites with only a few clicks. This level of optimization and convenience offered to consumers facilitated a high adoption rate for these kinds of systems.

A new wave of development was caused by the strong adoption of mobile devices, especially of smartphones. Along with the smartphones, the consumers adopted mobile applications or apps. Apps offered convenience for the consumers on devices that were always on, connected to the Internet, and easy to carry with them. This facilitated a new wave of adoption of hospitality-related apps, as now the consumers could buy hospitality experience using their mobile devices. They could basically complete all the tasks that were previously available only from a computer from their mobile device, increasing the level of convenience and optimization. In addition, new behaviors emerged, such as texting, using smartphones during downtime, which allowed consumers to learn more about various experiences that they could buy, or be persuaded by push marketing.

Finally, in the 2020s there are a lot of new trends in hospitality IT. In addition to incorporating advanced IT such as artificial intelligence, big data management, robotics, businesses have started to realize the true value of IT for both businesses and the consumers. On the one hand, many businesses have figured out the balance between the amount of technology that they want to incorporate on their experiences and the amount of traditional hospitality interactions that they want to provide to their guests. On the other hand, new businesses have found opportunities to consolidate and offer to consumers yet additional levels of convenience. For example, the emergence of super apps, which incorporate multiple apps into the same app platform, allow consumers to book various aspects of a trip without leaving the app, such as booking the hotel, finding transportation, finding a flight, buying meals, writing reviews, buying attraction or event tickets, and making payments.

As one can see, there are plenty of opportunities for hospitality businesses to incorporate IT and deliver superior value to their guests. There are virtually unlimited ways in which IT can be used to facilitate new tasks for consumers, and to rewrite the rules of hospitality and blend it with IT. This creates a hospitality industry that could be seamlessly integrated by IT, while retaining its legacy function of providing great hospitable services. In the next chapters we will learn more about how specific IT do that and how can hospitality businesses and consumers retain the best value from these efforts.

Ferratt, T., & Vlahos, G. (1998). An investigation of task technology fit for managers in Greece and the US. European Journal of Information Systems, 7(2), 123-136.

Graf-Vlachy, L., Buhtz, K., & König, A. (2018). Social influence in technology adoption: taking stock and moving forward. Management Review Quarterly, 68, 37-76.

Gretzel, U., Fuchs, M., Baggio, R., Hoepken, W., Law, R., Neidhardt, J., . . . Xiang, Z. (2020). e-Tourism beyond COVID-19: a call for transformative research. Information Technology & Tourism, 22(2), 187-203.

Herrero, A., San Martín, H., & Collado, J. (2018). Market orientation and SNS adoption for marketing purposes in hospitality microenterprises. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 34, 30-40.

Morosan, C. (2016). An empirical examination of U.S. travelers’ intentions to use biometric e-gates in airports. Journal of Air Transport Management, 55, 120-128.

Morosan, C., & DeFranco, A. (2016). It’s about time: Revisiting UTAUT2 to examine consumers’ intentions to use NFC mobile payments in hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 17-29.

Morosan, C., & Jeong, M. (2008). Users’ perceptions of two types of hotel reservation Web sites. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27(2), 284-292.

Piccoli, G., & Pigni, F. (2018). Information systems for managers: with cases (4th Edition ed.): Prospect Press.

Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 157-178.

Information technology in hospitality Copyright © by Cristian Morosan, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

• Open access
• Published: 25 November 2023

Systematic review and research agenda for the tourism and hospitality sector: co-creation of customer value in the digital age

• T. D. Dang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0930-381X 1 , 2 &
• M. T. Nguyen 1  

Future Business Journal volume  9 , Article number:  94 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

2047 Accesses

1 Citations

Metrics details

A Correction to this article was published on 07 February 2024

This article has been updated

The tourism and hospitality industries are experiencing transformative shifts driven by the proliferation of digital technologies facilitating real-time customer communication and data collection. This evolution towards customer value co-creation demands a paradigm shift in management attitudes and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Metaverse. A systematic literature review using the PRISMA method investigated the impact of customer value co-creation through the digital age on the tourism and hospitality sector. The primary objective of this review was to examine 27 relevant studies published between 2012 and 2022. Findings reveal that digital technologies, especially AI, Metaverse, and related innovations, significantly enhance value co-creation by allowing for more personalized, immersive, and efficient tourist experiences. Academic insights show the exploration of technology’s role in enhancing travel experiences and ethical concerns, while from a managerial perspective, AI and digital tools can drive industry success through improved customer interactions. As a groundwork for progressive research, the study pinpoints three pivotal focal areas for upcoming inquiries: technological, academic, and managerial. These avenues offer exciting prospects for advancing knowledge and practices, paving the way for transformative changes in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Introduction

The tourism and hospitality industry is constantly evolving, and the digital age has brought about numerous changes in how businesses operate and interact with their customers [ 1 ]. One such change is the concept of value co-creation, which refers to the collaborative process by which value is created and shared between a business and its customers [ 2 , 3 ]. In order to facilitate the value co-creation process in tourism and hospitality, it is necessary to have adequate technologies in place to enable the participation of all stakeholders, including businesses, consumers, and others [ 4 , 5 ]. Thus, technology serves as a crucial enabler for value co-creation. In the tourism and hospitality industry, leading-edge technology can be crucial in co-creation value processes because it can facilitate the creation and exchange of value among customers and businesses [ 6 , 7 ]. For example, the development of cloud computing and virtual reality technologies has enabled new forms of collaboration and co-creation that were not possible before [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Recent technologies like AI, Metaverse, and robots have revolutionized tourism and hospitality [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These technologies are used in various ways to enhance the customer experience and drive business success. AI can personalize the customer experience using customer data and personalized recommendations [ 14 ]. It can also optimize operations by automating tasks and improving decision-making. The metaverse, or virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, are being used to offer immersive and interactive experiences to customers [ 10 , 11 ]. For example, VR and AR can create virtual tours of hotels and destinations or offer interactive experiences such as virtual cooking classes or wine tastings [ 15 ]. Robots are being used to aid and interact with customers in various settings, including hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions. For example, robots can provide information, answer questions, and even deliver room services [ 12 , 16 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the crucial interplay between public health, sustainable development, and digital innovations [ 17 ]. Globally, the surge in blockchain applications, particularly in the business, marketing and finance sectors, signifies the technological advancements reshaping various industries [ 18 ]. These developments, coupled with integrating digital solutions during the pandemic, highlight the pervasive role of technology across diverse sectors [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. These insights provide a broader context for our study of the digital transformation in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Adopting new technologies such as AI, the Metaverse, blockchain and robots is helping the tourism and hospitality industry deliver customers a more personalized, convenient, and immersive experience [ 22 ]. As these technologies continue to evolve and become more prevalent, businesses in the industry need to stay up-to-date and consider how they can leverage these technologies to drive success [ 23 , 24 ].

Despite the growing body of literature on customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector, it remains scattered and fragmented [ 2 , 25 , 26 ]. To consolidate this research and provide a comprehensive summary of the current understanding of the subject, we conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA 2020 (“ Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses ”) approach [ 27 , 28 ]. This systematic review aims to explore three primary areas of inquiry related to the utilization of AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality industry: (i) From a technology perspective, what are the main types of AI and latest technologies that have been used to enhance co-creation values in tourism and hospitality?; (ii) From an academic viewpoint—What are the future research directions in this sector?; (iii) From a managerial standpoint—How can these technologies be leveraged to enhance customer experiences and drive business success?. In essence, this study contributes valuable insights into the dynamic realm of customer value co-creation in the digital age within the tourism and hospitality sector. By addressing the research questions and identifying gaps in the literature, our systematic literature review seeks to provide novel perspectives on leveraging technology to foster industry advancements and enhance customer experiences.

The remaining parts of this article are structured in the following sections: “ Study background ” section outlines pertinent background details for our systematic literature review. In “ Methodology ” section details our research objectives, queries, and the systematic literature review protocol we used in our study design. In “ Results ” section offers the findings based on the analyzed primary research studies. Lastly, we conclude the article, discuss the outstanding work, and examine the limitations to the validity of our study in “ Discussion and implications ” section.

Study background

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector is experiencing significant transformations. Despite the substantial impact on the tourism industry, the demand for academic publications about tourism remains unabated. In this recovery phase, AI and novel technologies hold immense potential to assist the tourism and hospitality industry by tackling diverse challenges and enhancing overall efficiency. In this section, the study provides some study background for the review processes.

The relationship between tourism and hospitality

Tourism and hospitality are closely related industries, as the hospitality industry plays a crucial role in the tourism industry [ 29 ]. Academics and practitioners often examine tourism and hospitality because they are related industries [ 2 , 30 ]. Hospitality refers to providing travelers and tourists accommodation, food, and other services [ 31 ]. These can include hotels, resorts, restaurants, and other types of establishments that cater to the needs of travelers [ 32 ]. On the other hand, the tourism industry encompasses all the activities and services related to planning, promoting, and facilitating travel [ 31 ]; transportation, tour operators, travel agencies, and other businesses that help facilitate tourist travel experiences [ 33 ]. Both industries rely on each other to thrive, as travelers need places to stay and eat while on vacation, and hospitality businesses rely on tourists for their income [ 32 , 33 , 34 ].

In recent years, the tourism industry has undergone significant changes due to the increasing use of digital technologies, enabling the development of new forms of tourism, such as “smart tourism” [ 8 , 10 ]. Smart tourism refers to using digital technologies to enhance the customer experience and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry [ 1 ]. These technologies, including AI and Metaverse, can be used in various aspects of the tourism industry, such as booking and reservation processes, customer service, and the management of tourist attractions [ 4 , 11 ]. The hospitality industry, which includes hotels and restaurants, is closely linked to the tourism industry and is also adopting intelligent technologies to improve the customer experience and increase efficiency [ 1 , 22 ]. Recent studies have explored the impact of these technologies on the tourism and hospitality sectors and have identified both benefits and challenges for stakeholders [ 10 , 35 , 36 ].

Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality

Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality refers to the process by which customers and businesses collaborate to create value by exchanging services, information, and experiences [ 2 , 33 ]. This process involves the customer and the business actively creating value rather than simply providing a product or service to the customer [ 37 ]. Studies have found that customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty [ 2 ]. When customers feel that they can contribute to the value of their experience, they are more likely to feel a sense of ownership and involvement, which can lead to a more positive overall evaluation of the experience [ 5 , 38 ]. In the tourism industry, customer value co-creation can increase satisfaction with the destination, trips, accommodation, services, and overall experiences [ 4 ]. These can be achieved by allowing customers to choose their room amenities or providing opportunities to interact with staff and other guests [ 5 , 39 ]. Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality can be a powerful solution for businesses to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. By actively involving customers in creating value, businesses can create a more personalized and engaging experience for their customers.

AI, Metaverse, and new technologies in tourism and hospitality

The impact of AI, the Metaverse, and new technologies on the tourism and hospitality industries is an area of active research and debate [ 2 , 4 , 29 , 40 ]. First, using AI and new technology in tourism and hospitality can improve the customer experience, increase efficiency, and reduce costs [ 13 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. For instance, chatbots and virtual assistants facilitate tasks like room bookings or restaurant reservations for customers. Concurrently, machine learning (ML) algorithms offer optimized pricing and marketing strategies and insights into customer perceptions within the tourism and hospitality sectors [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. However, there are also concerns about the potential negative impact of AI on employment in the industry [ 48 ]. Second, The emergence of the Metaverse, a virtual shared space where people can interact in real time, can potentially revolutionize the tourism and hospitality industries [ 10 ]. For example, VR and AR experiences could allow travelers to visit and explore destinations without leaving their homes [ 15 , 49 ], while online events and social gatherings could provide new business opportunities to connect with customers [ 11 ]. However, it is unclear how the Metaverse will evolve and its long-term impact on the tourism and hospitality industries [ 4 , 10 , 11 ]. Last, other emerging technologies, such as blockchain, AI-Robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), can potentially transform the tourism and hospitality industries [ 18 , 45 , 48 ]. For example, blockchain could be used to secure and track the movement of travel documents [ 18 ], while IoT-enabled devices could improve the efficiency and personalization of the customer experience [ 50 ]. As with AI and the Metaverse, it is difficult to predict the exact impact of these technologies on the industry, but they are likely to play a significant role in shaping its future [ 18 , 40 ]. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the healthcare landscape within the tourism and hospitality sector is undergoing significant transformations driven by the integration of cutting-edge AI and advanced technologies [ 38 , 51 , 52 ]. These technological advancements have paved the way for personalized and seamless experiences for travelers, with AI-powered chatbots playing a pivotal role in addressing medical inquiries and innovative telemedicine solutions ensuring the well-being of tourists [ 52 , 53 ].

This study background provides essential context for the subsequent systematic literature review, as it contextualizes the field’s key concepts, frameworks, and emerging technologies. By examining these aspects, the study aims to contribute valuable insights into the post-pandemic recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry, paving the way for future research opportunities and advancements in the field.

Methodology

This study meticulously adopted a systematic literature review process grounded in a pre-defined review protocol to provide a thorough and objective appraisal [ 54 ]. This approach was geared to eliminate potential bias and uphold the integrity of study findings. The formulation of the review protocol was a collaborative effort facilitated by two researchers. This foundational document encompasses (i) Clear delineation of the study objectives, ensuring alignment with the research aim; (ii) A thorough description of the methods used for data collection and assessment, which underscores the replicability of our process; (iii) A systematic approach for synthesizing and analyzing the selected studies, promoting consistency and transparency.

Guiding the current review process was the PRISMA methodology, a renowned and universally esteemed framework that has set a gold standard for conducting systematic reviews in various scientific disciplines [ 27 , 28 ]. The commendable efficacy of PRISMA in service research substantiates its methodological robustness and reliability [ 55 ]. It is not only the rigorous nature of PRISMA but also its widespread acceptance in service research that accentuates its fittingness for this research. Given tourism and hospitality studies’ intricate and evolving nature, PRISMA is a robust compass to guide our SLR, ensuring methodological transparency and thoroughness [ 56 , 57 ]. In essence, the PRISMA approach does not merely dictate the procedural intricacies of the review but emphasizes clarity, precision, and transparency at every phase. The PRISMA methodology presents the research journey holistically, from its inception to its conclusions, providing readers with a clear and comprehensive understanding of the approach and findings [ 58 ].

Utilizing the goal-question-metrics approach [ 59 ], our study aims to analyze current scientific literature from the perspectives of technicians, researchers, and practitioners to comprehend customer value co-creation through the digital age within the Tourism and Hospitality sector. In order to accomplish this goal, we formulated the following research questions:

What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries?

What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector?

How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

The subsequent subsections will provide further details regarding our search and analysis strategies.

Search strategy and selection criteria

We collected our data by searching for papers in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, adhering to rigorous scientific standards. We included only international peer-reviewed academic journal articles, excluding publications like books, book chapters, and conference proceedings [ 60 , 61 , 62 ]. The research process covered the period from 2009 to 2022, as this timeframe aligns with the publication of the first studies on value co-creation in the tourism industry in 2009 and the first two studies on value co-creation in general in 2004 [ 63 , 64 ]. The selection of sources was based on criteria such as timelines, availability, quality, and versatility, as discussed by Dieste et al. [ 2 ]. We employed relevant keywords, synonyms, and truncations for three main concepts: tourism and hospitality, customer value co-creation, and AI and new technologies in smart tourism and hospitality. To ensure transparency and comprehensiveness, we followed the PRISMA inclusion criteria, detailed in Table 1 , and utilized topic and Boolean/phrase search modes to retrieve papers published from 2009 to 2022. The final search string underwent validation by experts to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness:

A PRISMA diagram was produced to understand better this study’s search strategy and record selection.

Study selection and analysis procedure

The current study utilized the PRISMA framework to document our review process. One hundred two papers were retrieved during the initial search across the databases. Table 1 outlines the criteria for selecting the studies based on scope and quality. The study adhered to the PRISMA procedure (as shown in Fig.  1 ) and applied the following filters:

We identified and removed 17 duplicate records during the ‘identification’ step.

We excluded 27 publications in the ‘Screening’ step based on the title and abstract.

We excluded 31 publications based on the entire text in the eligibility step.

PRISMA flow diagram

As a result, we were left with a final collection of 27 journal articles for downloading and analysis. Two trained research assistants conducted title and abstract screenings separately, and any disagreements about inclusion were resolved by discussing them with the research coordinator until an agreement was reached. Papers not in English, papers from meetings, books, editorials, news, reports, and patents were excluded, as well as unrelated or incomplete papers and studies that did not focus on the tourism and hospitality domain. A manual search of the reference lists of each paper was conducted to identify relevant papers that were not found in the database searches. After this process, 27 papers were left for a full-text review.

This study used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) to evaluate the quality of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research studies included [ 65 , 66 ]. According to the findings, the quality of the study met the standards of a systematic review. Additional information can be obtained from Additional file 1 : Appendix 1.

In this section, we will report the results of our data analysis for each research question. We will begin by describing the characteristics of the studies included in the systematic literature review, such as (1) publication authors, titles, years and journals, topics, methods, and tools used in existing studies. Then each facet was elaborated by the following questions: (i) What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries? (ii) What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector? (iii) How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

Studies demographics

Figure  2 shows the yearly publication of articles on customer co-creation of value in tourism and hospitality through AI and new technologies. The chart’s data suggests two main findings. Firstly, the research on customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality through AI and new technologies is still in its early stages (1 paper in 2012). However, the annual number of published articles from 2017 to the present appears to be generally increasing. This trend implies that the application of value co-creation in this field is gaining academic attention and is becoming an emerging research area. Based on this trend, we anticipate seeing more studies on this topic published in the following years.

Publication Years with research methods

Regarding research type, 14 papers (52%) conducted quantitative research, employing statistical analysis, structural equation modeling, and data mining methods. Meanwhile, 11 papers (41%) conducted qualitative research using interviews, thematic analysis, and descriptive analysis. Only two papers (7%) used mixed research (combining quantitative and qualitative methods). The survey and interview methods (both individual and group) were found to be more common than other research methods. This suggests that interviews provide greater insight into participant attitudes and motivations, enhancing accuracy in quantitative and qualitative studies. Additionally, certain studies employed content analysis, big data analysis using UGC, and data from online platforms, social media, and big data.

Regarding the publishing journals, we found that 27 papers were published in 22 journals (refer to Table 2 ), where three journals had more than one paper on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality, indicating their keen interest in this topic. Most publications were in the Journal of Business Research, with four studies on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality. Two related studies were published in the Tourism Management Perspectives and Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. This distribution indicates that most current research on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality was published in journals in the tourism and hospitality management field. However, some journals in the computer and AI field have also published papers on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality, including Computers in Industry, Computers in Human Behavior, Computational Intelligence, and Neuroscience.

Regarding data analytics tools, SmartPLS, AMOS, NVivo and PROCESS tools are the 5 most popular software graphic tools used in studies, while Python and R are the two main types of programming languages used. In total, 27 studies, 14 refer to using AI applications and data analytics in this research flow. Metaverse and relative technologies such as AR and VR were included in 8 studies. Three studies used service robots to discover the value co-creation process. There are include two studies that have used chatbots and virtual assistants.

Publication years and journals

In recent systematic literature reviews focusing on general services, tourism, and hospitality, there has been a notable emphasis on traditional factors shaping customer experience [ 26 , 67 , 68 ]. However, this study uniquely positions itself by emphasizing the digital age’s profound impact on value co-creation within this sector. The subsequent part digs more into the specifics of this study, building on these parallels. The detailed findings offer nuanced insights into how value co-creation in tourism and hospitality has evolved, providing a more extensive understanding than previous works.

Result 1—technology viewpoints: What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries?

Several types of AI and new technologies have been used to enhance co-creation values in the tourism and hospitality industry. Nowadays, AI, ML, and deep learning can all be used to enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry [ 42 , 69 , 70 ]. There are some AI applications identified through the review process:

First, personalization and customized recommendations: AI and ML can be used to analyze customer data, such as their past bookings, preferences, and reviews, to personalize recommendations and experiences for them [ 7 , 69 , 71 , 72 ]. Cuomo et al. examine how data analytics techniques, including AI and ML, can improve traveler experience in transportation services. Applying AI and ML can help customers discover new experiences and activities they may not have considered otherwise [ 13 ]. Relating to data mining applications, Ngamsirijit examines how data mining can be used to create value in creative tourism. Moreover, the study also discusses the need for co-creation to create a successful customer experience in creative tourism and ways data mining can enhance the customer experience [ 73 ].

Second, user-generated content and sentiment analysis: ML and Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be used to analyze user-generated content such as reviews and social media posts to understand customer needs and preferences [ 12 , 37 ]. This can help businesses identify opportunities to create customer value [ 74 ]. NLP can analyze customer reviews and feedback to understand the overall sentiment toward a hotel or destination [ 75 ]. This can help businesses identify areas for improvement and create a better customer experience [ 70 ]. In the study using NLP to analyze data from Twitter, Liu et al. examine the impact of luxury brands’ social media marketing on customer engagement. The authors discuss how big data analytics and NLP can be used to analyze customer conversations and extract valuable insights about customer preferences and behaviors [ 74 ].

Third, recent deep learning has developed novel models that create business value by forecasting some parameters and promoting better offerings to tourists [ 71 ]. Deep learning can analyze large amounts of data and make more accurate predictions or decisions [ 39 , 41 ]. For example, a deep learning model could predict the likelihood of a customer returning to a hotel based on their past bookings and interactions with the hotel [ 72 ].

Some applications of the latest technologies that have been used to enhance co-creation values in tourism and hospitality include

Firstly, Chatbots and virtual assistants can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry in several ways: (i) Improved customer service: Chatbots and virtual assistants can be used to answer customer questions, provide information, and assist with tasks such as booking a room or making a reservation [ 45 ]. These tools can save customers and staff time and improve customer experience [ 76 ]; (ii) Increased convenience: Chatbots and virtual assistants can be accessed 24/7, meaning customers can get help or assistance anytime [ 50 ]. These tools can be handy for traveling customers with questions or who need assistance outside regular business hours [ 44 ]; (iii) Personalization: Chatbots and virtual assistants can use natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to customer inquiries in a more personalized way [ 45 , 70 ]. This can help improve the customer experience and create a more favorable impression of the business. Moreover, this can save costs and improve customers [ 16 ].

Secondly, metaverse technologies can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry in several ways: (i) Virtual tours and experiences: Metaverse technologies can offer virtual tours and experiences to customers, allowing them to visit and explore destinations remotely [ 77 ]. This technology can be beneficial for customers who are unable to travel due to pandemics or who want to preview a destination before deciding to visit in person [ 49 ]; (ii) Virtual events: Metaverse technologies can be used to host virtual events, such as conferences, workshops, or trade shows, which can be attended by customers from anywhere in the world [ 9 ]. This can save time and money for businesses and customers and increase the reach and impact of events; (iii) Virtual customer service: Metaverse technologies can offer virtual customer service, allowing customers to interact with businesses in a virtual setting [ 25 ]. This can be especially useful for customers who prefer to communicate online or in remote areas; (iv) Virtual training and education : Metaverse technologies can offer virtual training and education to employees and customers [ 41 ]. Metaverse can be an effective and convenient way to deliver training and can save time and money for both businesses and customers [ 7 ]; (v) Virtual reality (VR) experiences: Metaverse technologies can be used to offer VR experiences to customers, allowing them to immerse themselves in virtual environments and participate in activities that would be difficult or impossible to do in the real world [ 77 ]. This can enhance the customer experience and create new business opportunities to offer unique and memorable experiences [ 71 ].

Thirdly, IoT and robots can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector in several ways: (i) One way is by providing personalized and convenient customer experiences [ 12 ]. For example, hotels can use IoT-enabled devices to allow guests to control the temperature and lighting in their rooms, as well as access hotel amenities such as room service and concierge services [ 50 ]; (ii) In addition, robots can be used to provide assistance and enhance the customer experience in various ways [ 16 , 40 ]. For example, robots can be used to deliver items to guest rooms, assist with check-in and check-out processes, and provide information and directions to guests [ 12 ]; (iii) Both IoT and robots can be used to gather customer feedback and data in real-time, which can help to improve the quality and effectiveness of tourism and hospitality services [ 76 ]. For example, hotels can use IoT-enabled devices to gather data on guest preferences and needs, which can be used to tailor services and experiences to individual customers. This can help to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty [ 76 ]. Overall, using IoT and robots in the tourism and hospitality sector can help improve the industry’s efficiency and effectiveness and enhance the customer experience.

Result 2—academic viewpoints: What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector?

From an academic perspective, there are several potential future research directions in customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector. Some possibilities include: (1) Understanding how different technologies and platforms facilitate co-creation: Researchers could investigate how different technologies and platforms, such as social media, mobile apps, or virtual reality, enable or inhibit co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry; (2) Investigating the impact of co-creation on business performance: Researchers could examine the relationship between co-creation and business performance in the tourism and hospitality sector and identify the factors that drive success in co-creation initiatives; (3) Investigating the impact of AI and automation on co-creation: As AI and automation technologies become more prevalent in the industry, research could focus on the impact these technologies have on co-creation and value creation, including the potential for AI to facilitate or hinder co-creation; (4) Investigating the impact of the Metaverse on customer behaviour: Research could focus on understanding how the Metaverse affects customer behaviour and decision-making, and how companies can use this information to facilitate co-creation and value creation [ 9 ]; (5) Analysing the use of social media and other digital platforms for co-creation: Researchers could study how companies in the tourism and hospitality sector use social media and other digital platforms to facilitate co-creation with customers, and the impact that these platforms have on value creation [ 7 , 45 , 78 ]. Researchers could investigate how social interactions and communities in the Metaverse enable or inhibit co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry and the impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty; (6) Examining the ethical implications of the Metaverse and AI: Researchers could explore the ethical considerations surrounding the use of the Metaverse and AI in the tourism and hospitality sector, such as issues related to privacy and data security, and the potential for these technologies to perpetuate or exacerbate societal inequalities [ 48 , 75 , 77 ].

Result 3—Management viewpoints: How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

There are several ways managers in the tourism and hospitality industry can apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer experiences and drive business success. We suggest four main possibilities: (1) Implementing chatbots or virtual assistants to encourage customer co-creation: Managers can use chatbots or virtual assistants to provide quick and convenient customer service, helping businesses respond to customer inquiries and resolve issues more efficiently [ 76 ]. Then, encourage customer co-creation by inviting customers to participate in the creation of new experiences and products by gathering feedback and ideas through online forums and focus groups [ 45 ]. This can help build a sense of community and engagement and can also lead to the development of new, innovative products and experiences that will attract more customers [ 50 , 79 ]; (2) Leveraging personalization technologies and using predictive analytics: Managers can use AI-powered personalization technologies to analyze customer data and preferences and offer personalized recommendations and experiences [ 42 , 72 , 80 ]. This can help businesses better understand and anticipate customer needs and create more tailored and satisfying experiences that drive co-creation value. Managers can leverage AI-powered predictive analytics technologies to analyze data and predict future customer behavior or trends [ 75 ]. This can help businesses anticipate customer needs and make informed decisions about resource allocation and planning, enhancing co-creation value. Managers can use personalization technologies and predictive analytics to analyze customer feedback and identify areas for improvement [ 37 ]. These can help businesses better understand customer needs and preferences and create more satisfying and valuable experiences that drive co-creation value [ 7 , 36 , 41 ]; (3) Using the Metaverse to facilitate co-creation: Managers can leverage the Metaverse to allow customers to design and customize their own experiences, which can help create value in collaboration with customers [ 25 , 71 , 77 ]. Managers can use VR and AR technologies to create immersive and interactive customer experiences in the Metaverse [ 81 ]. This can help businesses differentiate themselves and stand out in a competitive market. Managers can use data analysis tools to understand how customers behave in the Metaverse and use this information to create more personalized and satisfying experiences [ 9 ]. Managers can leverage the Metaverse to facilitate co-creation with customers, for example, by enabling customers to design and customize their own experiences [ 49 , 81 ]. This can help businesses create value in collaboration with customers; (4) Integrating AI-robotics into operations to support value co-creation: Analyse your business processes to identify tasks that can be automated using AI-powered robotics, such as check-in and check-out, room service, or concierge services [ 12 , 82 ]. Managers can consider using AI-powered robots for tasks such as check-in and check-out or for delivering amenities to guests. Use AI and the latest technologies to streamline the booking and check-in process, making it faster and more convenient for customers [ 16 ]. This can include using virtual assistants to handle booking inquiries or facial recognition technology to allow customers to check in at their hotel simply by showing their faces. These can help businesses reduce labor costs and improve efficiency, enhancing co-creation value [ 16 ]. We summarize three viewpoints in Fig.  3 below.

Summary of value co-creation through the Digital Age in Tourism and Hospitality

Combining these three viewpoints as a research agenda for tourism and hospitality in the AI and digital age holds immense potential. It addresses critical aspects such as customer experience enhancement, leveraging customer-generated content, and exploring cutting-edge technologies to create value co-creation opportunities. Researching these areas allows the industry to stay at the forefront of the digital revolution and deliver exceptional customer experiences that drive business success in the next few years.

Discussion and implications

This study aimed to develop a systematic literature review of customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism industry using the PRISMA protocol [ 27 ]. The study findings highlighted that tourism and hospitality should take advantage of AI and new technologies, as it brings significant advantages. Value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector refers to creating value through the collaboration and participation of multiple stakeholders, including tourists, employees, and the industry [ 2 ]. AI, Metaverse, and other new technologies can significantly enhance value co-creation in this sector by enabling more personalized, immersive, and efficient tourist experiences [ 40 , 80 , 81 ].

From a technology viewpoint, the study reveals that manifestations of customer value co-creation through the digital age are related to AI and the latest technologies such as Metaverse, robots, IoT, chatbots, intelligence systems, and others that shape co-creation [ 42 ]. AI applications and new technologies can help shape customer value co-creation in this sector. AI can follow the rules, think like an expert, learn from data, and even create virtual and augmented reality experiences [ 4 , 10 ]. Chatbots, personalization, predictive analytics, and robotics are examples of how AI and technology can create unique and fun travel experiences [ 16 , 40 , 74 , 83 ].

From an academic viewpoint, researchers look at ways technology can help people enjoy their travels and stay in hotels by boosting the value co-creation process [ 2 ]. They are looking at how different technologies, like social media, can help people create value for themselves and others [ 45 , 84 ]. They are also looking at how AI and the virtual world can change people’s decisions and how companies can use this information to help people [ 77 , 80 ]. Finally, researchers are looking into the ethical issues of using technology in tourism and hospitality [ 48 , 75 , 77 ].

From the manager’s viewpoint, managers in the tourism and hospitality industry can use AI and new technologies to create better customer experiences and drive success [ 70 , 80 ]. These can include using chatbots or virtual assistants to help customers and get their feedback [ 50 , 76 ], using personalization technologies to understand customer needs [ 69 ], using the Metaverse to have customers design their own experiences [ 10 ], and using AI-robotics to automate tasks [ 16 , 82 ].

In light of the findings from this systematic literature review, policymakers in the tourism and hospitality sectors must revisit and revitalize current strategies. Embracing digital age technologies, especially AI and metaverse tools, can significantly enhance customer value co-creation. This necessitates targeted investments in technology upgradation, capacity-building, and skilling initiatives. While the initial resource allocation may appear substantial, the long-term returns regarding elevated customer satisfaction, increased tourism inflow, and industry-wide growth are undeniable. Policymakers must ensure a collaborative approach, engaging stakeholders across the value chain for streamlined adoption and implementation of these advancements.

Overall, the use of AI, Metaverse, and other new technologies can significantly enhance co-creation value in the tourism and hospitality sector by enabling more personalized, immersive, and efficient experiences for tourists and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry as a whole [ 15 ].

Theoretical implications

The systematic literature review using the PRISMA method on customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector has several theoretical implications.

First, this research paper addresses earlier suggestions that emphasize the significance of further exploring investigations on customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism sector [ 2 , 85 ].

Second, the review highlights the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach in the tourism and hospitality industry, in which customers’ needs and preferences are central to the design and delivery of services [ 35 , 86 ]. This shift towards customer value co-creation is driven by the increasing use of digital technologies, such as the IoT, AI, and ML, which enable real-time communication and data gathering from customers [ 1 , 40 ].

Third, the review highlights the role of digital technologies in enabling personalized and convenient customer experiences, which can help improve satisfaction and loyalty [ 87 ]. Using AI-powered chatbots and personalized recommendations based on customer data can enhance the customer experience, while using IoT-enabled devices can allow guests to control and access hotel amenities conveniently [ 12 ].

Fourth, the review suggests that adopting digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector can increase the industry’s efficiency and effectiveness [ 88 ]. Businesses use ML algorithms to automate tasks and analyze customer data, which can help streamline processes and identify areas for improvement [ 39 , 80 ].

Overall, the systematic literature review using the PRISMA method sheds light on adopting a customer-centric approach and leveraging digital technologies for customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality. Over the next five years, researchers should focus on exploring the potential of emerging technologies, developing conceptual frameworks, and conducting applied research to drive meaningful transformations in the industry. By aligning strategies with these implications, organizations can thrive in the dynamic digital landscape and deliver exceptional customer experiences, ultimately contributing to their success and competitiveness in the market [ 2 , 4 , 15 , 29 , 33 , 89 ].

Practical implications

The systematic literature review using the PRISMA method on customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector has several management implications for organizations in this industry.

First, the review suggests that adopting a customer-centric approach, in which customers’ needs and preferences are central to the design and delivery of services, is crucial for success in the digital age [ 40 , 86 ]. Therefore, managers should focus on understanding and meeting the needs and preferences of their customers and consider how digital technologies can be leveraged to enable real-time communication and data gathering from customers [ 15 , 80 ].

Second, the review highlights the importance of using digital technologies like the IoT, AI, and ML to enable personalized and convenient customer experiences [ 40 , 50 ]. Managers should consider how these technologies can enhance the customer experience and improve satisfaction and loyalty [ 36 , 39 ].

Third, the review suggests that adopting digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness in the industry [ 7 , 16 ]. Therefore, managers should consider how these technologies can streamline processes and identify areas for improvement [ 42 ]. Further, regarding privacy concerns, managers must spend enough resources to secure their customers’ data to help boost the customer value co-creation process [ 48 , 77 ].

Fourth, policymakers can foster an environment conducive to value co-creation by incorporating customer-centric strategies and leveraging digital technologies. Effective policies can enhance customer experiences, promote sustainable growth, and drive economic development, ensuring a thriving and competitive industry in the digital age.

The practical implications of applying AI and new technology for managerial decision-making in the tourism and hospitality industry are vast and promising [ 90 ]. Managers can navigate the dynamic digital landscape and drive meaningful co-creation with customers by embracing a customer-centric approach, leveraging personalized technologies, addressing efficiency and data security considerations, and strategically adopting AI-powered tools. By staying abreast of technological advancements and harnessing their potential, businesses can thrive in the next five years and beyond, delivering exceptional customer experiences and enhancing value co-creation in the industry.

Limitations and future research

The research, anchored in the PRISMA methodology, significantly enhances the comprehension of customer value co-creation within the digital ambit of the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, it is essential to underscore certain inherent limitations. Firstly, there might be publication and language biases, given that the criteria could inadvertently favor studies in specific languages, potentially sidelining seminal insights from non-English or lesser-known publications [ 91 ]. Secondly, the adopted search strategy, governed by the choice of keywords, databases, and inclusion/exclusion guidelines, might have omitted pertinent literature, impacting the review’s comprehensiveness [ 57 ]. Furthermore, the heterogeneous nature of the studies can challenge the synthesized results’ generalizability. Finally, the swiftly evolving domain of this research underscores the ephemeral nature of the findings.

In light of these limitations, several recommendations can guide subsequent research endeavors. Scholars are encouraged to employ a more expansive and diverse sampling of studies to curtail potential biases. With the digital technology landscape in constant flux, it becomes imperative to delve into a broader spectrum of innovations to discern their prospective roles in customer value co-creation [ 18 ]. Additionally, varied search strategies encompassing multiple databases can lend a more holistic and inclusive character to systematic reviews [ 27 ]. Moreover, future research could investigate the interplay between political dynamics and the integration of novel technologies, enriching the understanding of value co-creation in a broader socio-political context. Lastly, integrating sensitivity analyses can ascertain the findings’ robustness, ensuring the conclusions remain consistent across diverse search paradigms, thereby refining the review’s overall rigor.

In conclusion, this review highlights the pivotal role of digital technologies in customer value co-creation within the tourism and hospitality sectors. New AI, blockchain and IoT technology applications enable real-time communication and personalized experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Metaverse technologies offer exciting opportunities for immersive interactions and virtual events. However, privacy and data security challenges must be addressed. This study proposed a comprehensive research agenda addressing theoretical, practical, and technological implications. Future studies should aim to bridge research gaps, investigate the impact of co-creation on various stakeholders, and explore a more comprehensive array of digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sectors. This study’s findings provide valuable insights for fostering innovation and sustainable growth in the industry’s digital age. Despite the valuable insights gained, we acknowledge certain limitations, including potential biases in the search strategy, which underscore the need for more inclusive and diverse samples in future research.

Availability of data and materials

The review included a total of 27 studies published between 2012 and 2022.

Change history

07 february 2024.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00293-2

Abbreviations

• Artificial intelligence

Augmented reality

Internet of Things

Machine learning

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Virtual reality

Pencarelli T (2020) The digital revolution in the travel and tourism industry. J Hosp Tour Insights 22(3):455–476

Google Scholar  

Carvalho P, Alves H (2022) Customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism industry: a systematic literature review. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 35(1):250–273

Aman J, Abbas J, Mahmood S, Nurunnabi M, Bano S (2019) The influence of Islamic religiosity on the perceived socio-cultural impact of sustainable tourism development in Pakistan: a structural equation modeling approach. Sustainability 11(11):3039

Buhalis D, Lin MS, Leung D (2022) Metaverse as a driver for customer experience and value co-creation: implications for hospitality and tourism management and marketing. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 35(2):701–716

Grissemann US, Stokburger-Sauer NE (2012) Customer co-creation of travel services: the role of company support and customer satisfaction with the co-creation performance. Tour Manag 33(6):1483–1492

Pham LH, Woyo E, Pham TH, Dao TXT (2022) Value co-creation and destination brand equity: understanding the role of social commerce information sharing. J Hosp Tour Insights

Troisi O, Grimaldi M, Monda A (2019) Managing smart service ecosystems through technology: how ICTs enable value cocreation. Tour Anal 24(3):377–393

Buonincontri P, Micera R (2016) The experience co-creation in smart tourism destinations: a multiple case analysis of European destinations. J Hosp Tour Insights 16(3):285–315

Jung TH, tom Dieck MC (2017) Augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing for the co-creation of value for the visitor experience at cultural heritage places. J Place Manag Dev 10:140–151

Koo C, Kwon J, Chung N, Kim J (2022) Metaverse tourism: conceptual framework and research propositions. Curr Issues Tour 1–7

Dwivedi YK et al (2022) Metaverse beyond the hype: Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy. Int J Inf Manag 66:102542

Zhang X, Balaji M, Jiang Y (2022) Robots at your service: value facilitation and value co-creation in restaurants. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 34(5):2004–2025

Neuhofer B, Magnus B, Celuch K (2021) The impact of artificial intelligence on event experiences: a scenario technique approach. Electron Mark 31(3):601–617

Balsalobre-Lorente D, Abbas J, He C, Pilař L, Shah SAR (2023) Tourism, urbanization and natural resources rents matter for environmental sustainability: the leading role of AI and ICT on sustainable development goals in the digital era. Resour Pol 82:103445

Zhu J, Cheng M (2022) The rise of a new form of virtual tour: Airbnb peer-to-peer online experience. Curr Issues Tour 25(22):3565–3570

Xie L, Liu C, Li D (2022) Proactivity or passivity? An investigation of the effect of service robots’ proactive behaviour on customer co-creation intention. Int J Hosp Manag 106:103271

Wang Q, Huang R (2021) The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable development goals—a survey. Environ Res 202:111637

CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Önder I, Gunter U (2022) Blockchain: Is it the future for the tourism and hospitality industry? Tourism Econ 28(2):291–299

Wang Q, Su M (2020) Integrating blockchain technology into the energy sector—from theory of blockchain to research and application of energy blockchain. Comput Sci Rev 37:100275

Wang Q, Li R, Zhan L (2021) Blockchain technology in the energy sector: from basic research to real world applications. Comput Sci Rev 39:100362

CAS   Google Scholar  

Wang Q, Su M, Zhang M, Li R (2021) Integrating digital technologies and public health to fight Covid-19 pandemic: key technologies, applications, challenges and outlook of digital healthcare. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18(11):6053

Abbas J, Mubeen R, Iorember PT, Raza S, Mamirkulova G (2021) Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on tourism: transformational potential and implications for a sustainable recovery of the travel and leisure industry. Curr Res Behav Sci 2:100033

PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Elkhwesky Z, El Manzani Y, Elbayoumi Salem I (2022) Driving hospitality and tourism to foster sustainable innovation: a systematic review of COVID-19-related studies and practical implications in the digital era. Tour Hosp Res 14673584221126792

Shah SAR, Zhang Q, Abbas J, Balsalobre-Lorente D, Pilař L (2023) Technology, urbanization and natural gas supply matter for carbon neutrality: a new evidence of environmental sustainability under the prism of COP26. Resour Pol 82:103465

Ahmed KE-S, Ambika A, Belk R (2022) Augmented reality magic mirror in the service sector: experiential consumption and the self. J Serv Manag

Doran A, Pomfret G, Adu-Ampong EA (2022) Mind the gap: a systematic review of the knowledge contribution claims in adventure tourism research. J Hosp Tour Manag 51:238–251

Page MJ et al (2021) The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Syst Rev 10(1):1–11

Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, P. Group* (2009) Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. Ann Intern Med 151(4):264–269

So KKF, Li X, Kim H (2020) A decade of customer engagement research in hospitality and tourism: a systematic review and research agenda. J Hosp Tour 44(2):178–200

Han H (2021) Consumer behavior and environmental sustainability in tourism and hospitality: a review of theories, concepts, and latest research. J Sustain Tour 29(7):1021–1042

Medlik S (2012) Dictionary of travel, tourism and hospitality. Routledge

Reisinger Y, Kandampully J, Mok C (2001) Concepts of tourism, hospitality, and leisure services. Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure, pp 1–14

Binkhorst E, Den Dekker T (2013) Agenda for co-creation tourism experience research. In: Marketing of tourism experiences, Routledge, 219–235

Abbas J, Al-Sulaiti K, Lorente DB, Shah SAR, Shahzad U (2022) Reset the industry redux through corporate social responsibility: the COVID-19 tourism impact on hospitality firms through business model innovation. In: Economic growth and environmental quality in a post-pandemic world, Routledge, pp 177–201

Buhalis D, Harwood T, Bogicevic V, Viglia G, Beldona S, Hofacker C (2019) Technological disruptions in services: lessons from tourism and hospitality. J Serv Manag 30:484–506

Sengupta P, Biswas B, Kumar A, Shankar R, Gupta S (2021) Examining the predictors of successful Airbnb bookings with Hurdle models: evidence from Europe, Australia, USA and Asia-Pacific cities. J Bus Res 137:538–554

Gonzalez-Rodriguez MR, Díaz-Fernández MC, Bilgihan A, Shi F, Okumus F (2021) UGC involvement, motivation and personality: comparison between China and Spain. J Dest Mark Manag 19:100543

Abbas J (2020) The impact of coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) epidemic on individuals mental health: the protective measures of Pakistan in managing and sustaining transmissible disease. Psychiatr Danub 32(3–4):472–477

CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Neuhofer B, Buhalis D, Ladkin A (2014) A typology of technology-enhanced tourism experiences. Int J Tour Res 16(4):340–350

Samala N, Katkam BS, Bellamkonda RS, Rodriguez RV (2020) Impact of AI and robotics in the tourism sector: a critical insight. J Tour Futures 8(1):73–87

De Carlo M, Ferilli G, d’Angella F, Buscema M (2021) Artificial intelligence to design collaborative strategy: An application to urban destinations. J Bus Res 129:936–948

Grundner L, Neuhofer B (2021) The bright and dark sides of artificial intelligence: a futures perspective on tourist destination experiences. J Dest Mark Manag 19:100511

Al-Sulaiti I (2022) Mega shopping malls technology-enabled facilities, destination image, tourists’ behavior and revisit intentions: implications of the SOR theory. Front Environ Sci 1295

Alimamy S, Gnoth J (2022) I want it my way! The effect of perceptions of personalization through augmented reality and online shopping on customer intentions to co-create value. Comput Hum Behav 128:107105

Lee M, Hong JH, Chung S, Back K-J (2021) Exploring the roles of DMO’s social media efforts and information richness on customer engagement: empirical analysis on Facebook event pages. J Travel Res 60(3):670–686

Abaalzamat KH, Al-Sulaiti KI, Alzboun NM, Khawaldah HA (2021) The role of Katara cultural village in enhancing and marketing the image of Qatar: evidence from TripAdvisor. SAGE Open 11(2):21582440211022736

Al-Sulaiti KI, Abaalzamat KH, Khawaldah H, Alzboun N (2021) Evaluation of Katara cultural village events and services: a visitors’ perspective. Event Manag 25(6):653–664

Khaliq A, Waqas A, Nisar QA, Haider S, Asghar Z (2022) Application of AI and robotics in hospitality sector: a resource gain and resource loss perspective. Technol Soc 68:101807

Yin CZY, Jung T, Tom Dieck MC, Lee MY (2021) Mobile augmented reality heritage applications: meeting the needs of heritage tourists. Sustainability 13(5):1–18

Buhalis D, Moldavska I (2021) Voice assistants in hospitality: using artificial intelligence for customer service. J Hosp Tour Technol 13(3):386–403

Abbas J (2021) Gestión de crisis, desafíos y oportunidades sanitarios transnacionales: la intersección de la pandemia de COVID-19 y la salud mental global. Investigación en globalización, 3 (2021), 1–7

Micah AE et al (2023) Global investments in pandemic preparedness and COVID-19: development assistance and domestic spending on health between 1990 and 2026. Lancet Glob Health 11(3):e385–e413

Hau LN, Thuy PN (2022) Enabling customer co-creation behavior at a distance: the case of patients using self-monitoring handheld devices in healthcare. Serv Bus 16(1):99–123

Brereton P, Kitchenham BA, Budgen D, Turner M, Khalil M (2007) Lessons from applying the systematic literature review process within the software engineering domain. J Syst Softw 80(4):571–583

Tranfield D, Denyer D, Smart P (2003) Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. Br J Manag 14(3):207–222

Lin Z, Rasoolimanesh SM (2022) Sharing tourism experiences in social media: a systematic review. Anatolia 1–15

Page MJ, Moher D, McKenzie JE (2022) Introduction to PRISMA 2020 and implications for research synthesis methodologists. Res Synth Methods 13(2):156–163

PubMed   Google Scholar  

Snyder H (2019) Literature review as a research methodology: an overview and guidelines. J Bus Res 104:333–339

Caldiera VRBG, Rombach HD (1994) The goal question metric approach. Encycl Softw Eng 528–532

Hopfenbeck TN, Lenkeit J, El Masri Y, Cantrell K, Ryan J, Baird J-A (2018) Lessons learned from PISA: a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles on the programme for international student assessment. Scand J Educ Res 62(3):333–353

Kitchenham B, Brereton OP, Budgen D, Turner M, Bailey J, Linkman S (2009) Systematic literature reviews in software engineering–a systematic literature review. Inf Softw Technol 51(1):7–15

Dieste O, Grimán A, Juristo N (2009) Developing search strategies for detecting relevant experiments. Empir Softw Eng 14(5):513–539

Prahalad CK, Ramaswamy V (2004) Co-creation experiences: the next practice in value creation. J Interact Mark 18(3):5–14

Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2014) Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. In: The service-dominant logic of marketing, Routledge, pp 21–46

Hong et al QN (2018) Mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT), version 2018. Registration of copyright vol 1148552, no 10

Pace R et al (2012) Testing the reliability and efficiency of the pilot mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT) for systematic mixed studies review. Int J Nurs Stud 49(1):47–53

Beck J, Rainoldi M, Egger R (2019) Virtual reality in tourism: a state-of-the-art review. Tour Rev 74(3):586–612

Pahlevan-Sharif S, Mura P, Wijesinghe SN (2019) A systematic review of systematic reviews in tourism. J Hosp Tour Manag 39:158–165

Cuomo MT, Colosimo I, Celsi LR, Ferulano R, Festa G, La Rocca M (2022) Enhancing traveller experience in integrated mobility services via big social data analytics. Technol Forecast Soc Change 176:121460

Chiu M-C, Huang J-H, Gupta S, Akman G (2021) Developing a personalized recommendation system in a smart product service system based on unsupervised learning model. Comput Ind 128:103421

Cranmer EE, tom Dieck MC, Fountoulaki P (2020) Exploring the value of augmented reality for tourism. Tour Manag Perspect 35:100672

Lin S (2022) Implementation of personalized scenic spot recommendation algorithm based on generalized regression neural network for 5G smart tourism system. Comput Intell Neurosci 2022

Ngamsirijit W (2014) Value creation in creative tourism: co-creation through data mining. Int J Intell 2(2–3):255–276

Liu X, Shin H, Burns AC (2021) Examining the impact of luxury brand’s social media marketing on customer engagement: Using big data analytics and natural language processing. J Bus Res 125:815–826

Hew J-J, Tan GW-H, Lin B, Ooi K-B (2017) Generating travel-related contents through mobile social tourism: Does privacy paradox persist? Telemat Inform 34(7):914–935

Lalicic L, Weismayer C (2021) Consumers’ reasons and perceived value co-creation of using artificial intelligence-enabled travel service agents. J Bus Res 129:891–901

Hilken T et al (2022) Disrupting marketing realities: a research agenda for investigating the psychological mechanisms of next-generation experiences with reality-enhancing technologies. Psychol Mark 39(8):1660–1671

Brejla P, Gilbert D (2014) An exploratory use of web content analysis to understand cruise tourism services. Int J Tour Res 16(2):157–168

Li Z, Wang D, Abbas J, Hassan S, Mubeen R (2022) Tourists’ health risk threats amid COVID-19 era: role of technology innovation, transformation, and recovery implications for sustainable tourism. Front Psychol 12:769175

PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Liburd J, Duedahl E, Heape C (2022) Co-designing tourism for sustainable development. J Sustain Tour 30(10):2298–2317

Serravalle F, Ferraris A, Vrontis D, Thrassou A, Christofi M (2019) Augmented reality in the tourism industry: a multi-stakeholder analysis of museums. Tour Manag Perspect 32:100549

Xie L, Liu X, Li D (2022) The mechanism of value cocreation in robotic services: customer inspiration from robotic service novelty. J Hosp Mark Manag 31(8):962–983

Huang M-H, Rust RT (2021) Engaged to a robot? The role of AI in service. J Serv Res 24(1):30–41

Mamirkulova G, Mi J, Abbas J, Mahmood S, Mubeen R, Ziapour A (2020) New silk road infrastructure opportunities in developing tourism environment for residents better quality of life. Glob Ecol Conser 24:e01194

Rihova I, Buhalis D, Gouthro MB, Moital MJTM (2018) Customer-to-customer co-creation practices in tourism: lessons from customer-dominant logic. Tour Manag 67:362–375

Rahimian S, ShamiZanjani M, Manian A, Esfidani MR (2021) A framework of customer experience management for hotel industry. Int J Contemp Hosp Manag 33(5):1413–1436

Ameen N, Tarhini A, Reppel A, Anand A (2021) Customer experiences in the age of artificial intelligence. Comput Hum Behav 114:106548

Iranmanesh M, Ghobakhloo M, Nilashi M, Tseng M-L, Yadegaridehkordi E, Leung N (2022) Applications of disruptive digital technologies in hotel industry: a systematic review. Int J Hosp Manag 107:103304

Wang S, Abbas J, Al-Sulati KI, Shah SAR (2023) The impact of economic corridor and tourism on local community’s quality of life under one belt one road context. Evaluat Rev 0193841X231182749

Akhmedova A, Manresa A, Escobar Rivera D, Bikfalvi A (2021) Service quality in the sharing economy: a review and research agenda. Int J Consum Stud 45(4):889–910

Henry BM, Tomaszewski KA, Walocha JA (2016) Methods of evidence-based anatomy: a guide to conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis of anatomical studies. Ann Anat Anatomischer Anz 205:16–21

Download references

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

T. D. Dang & M. T. Nguyen

Eastern International University, Thu Dau Mot, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

DTD, conceived the research idea and designed the study in collaboration with NMT. DTD took the lead in writing the manuscript, with significant contributions from NMT. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript to ensure accuracy and clarity. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. D. Dang .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

This material is the authors’ original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere. The paper is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The original online version of this article has been revised: the affiliation is corrected for the co-author “M. T. Nguyen”.

Supplementary Information

Additional file 1..

Quality assessment of included studies.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Dang, T.D., Nguyen, M.T. Systematic review and research agenda for the tourism and hospitality sector: co-creation of customer value in the digital age. Futur Bus J 9 , 94 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00274-5

Download citation

Received : 31 May 2023

Accepted : 06 November 2023

Published : 25 November 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00274-5

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Customer value co-creation
• Tourism and hospitality

UST-Legazpi

• Your cart is empty.
• Public lists
• New Acquisitions
• LIST OF BOOKS
• Log in to create your own lists

Log in to your account

• Advanced search
• Authority search
• Recent comments
• Purchase suggestions

Simply use your ID Number for your login username and type your Surname as the default password.

• Home ›
• Details for: Management information system in tourism and hospitality industry/

Management information system in tourism and hospitality industry/ Bernardo B. Rodolfa.

• Holdings ( 4 )
• Title notes
• Comments ( 0 )

Includes bibliographical references.

There are no comments for this item.

• Add to your cart (remove)
• Dublin Core
• MARC (non-Unicode/MARC-8)
• MARC (Unicode/UTF-8)
• MARC (Unicode/UTF-8, Standard)
• Search for this title in:
• Internet Archive Scholar - Search for similar title
• Internet Archive Scholar - Search for similar author
• Other Libraries (WorldCat)
• Other Databases (Google Scholar)
• Online Stores (Bookfinder.com)
• Open Library (openlibrary.org)

Exporting to Dublin Core...

University Library and Information Services University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi | Rawis, Legazpi City | Tel: 482-02-01 loc 287-290 | Email: [email protected]

Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example

Information systems in tourism: introduction, why is information management important in the tourism industry, peculiarities of value chain in tourism industry, uses of information system in tourism, advantages of information systems to tourism companies, disadvantages of adopting information systems in tourism companies, recommendations, what newspaper companies are doing now that they can do better, works cited.

The tourism industry has extensively adopted technological innovations to help serve the demands of its customers. In organizations and institutions, Information Systems is responsible for computers, networking as well as data management.

It supports different kinds of decisions at various levels of hierarchy within organizations. Information technology supports various tourism activities.

The increase in the number of people owning computers connected to the internet in their homes have significantly changed the way tourism consumers identify their destination, make reservations, define the extent of leisure they want to obtain, choose the mode of transportation and many others (Dimanche and Jolly 2).

Many tourism firms continue to explore the diverse applications of information technologies so as to increase the value of their services.

The back-office of tourism firms uses Information Technology to handle routine operational problems as well as to facilitate multi-stakeholders interactions (Parakevas 17). It is also used in yield management.

In the front office, IT is used in managing customer relationships. Information technology is used for many purposes in tourism firms including product development, tourism marketing, data management, developing and interactions among tourism stakeholders and many others (Technovation 576). All these have dramatically improved the value chain of tourism firms.

Tourism industry is both capital and labour-intensive and requires know-how and ability to minimize risks through building up networks. Distribution and marketing adopt co-operative alliance to reduce costs, increase customer value and achieve market extension (Weiermair 2).

According to Poon (114) tourism worldwide has become a relationship and information industry. It has therefore become increasingly important to keep client data.

Tourism industry involves practice-oriented operation, experience as well as knowledge resources in areas such as corporate management, market information plus product features and brands. Value chain in the tourism industry is characterized by tourism products, destinations as well as market segments.

Tourism destinations are the heart of leisure for tourism consumers. The sceneries, parks, museums, monument and historical sites, sports and cultural activities provide great experiences to tourists.

In particular, these destinations include sandy beaches, sand dunes, scenic marine parks, waterfalls, gorges and mountain escarpments; wildlife, rural villages and archaeological sites.

The need for institutional coordination, monitoring as well as the need to pursue existing opportunities in the destinations call for the application of information systems to help manage and communicate effectively.

Tourism organizations continuously build on their destination’s own strength in order to increase their core competencies and provide quality services and products to tourism consumers. Most tourism destination marketing agencies have developed websites which offer different levels of interactivity.

Interactive websites are very important as they provide multiple tourism destination suppliers with opportunity to uniquely assemble the specific components of their destination offer sought by individual tourism consumers.

Tourism companies apply a combination of intermediaries, the internet, brand names as well as business relationships to guide individuals through the wide range of destination options that are available.

Bonera and Corvi (9) believe that the use of branded virtual intermediaries as well as trusted brand names has lowered the risks involved in purchases of tourism products.

Customer order is a very important aspect of tourism value chain. In the tourism industry, tourists have alternatives whenever they are purchasing tourism products.

They have the option of arranging their travel plans by obtaining guidance from tour operators or with the help of outbound travel agents or just arranging travel plans by themselves.

By using tour operators, they can access holiday packages and at the same time, individual arrangements allow flexibility in their travel experiences. They can also use incoming travel agents to make transfer arrangements (Buhalis and O’Connor 13).

The industry has a vertical separation of its services as well as products. It offers visitors products as well as services which include food, accommodation, transportation, entertainment together with shopping services that take place in a natural inter-industry specialization as well as a longer value chain.

Peculiarities in services in tourism organizations are also characterized by tourism industry cluster (Deng 70). Tourism organizations, institutions and associated service companies tend to cluster in particular geographical regions.

This is normally based on competition as well as cooperation among companies in provision of tourism services (Liu, Yin, Yu-Qi 22). Tourism enterprises as well as tourism-related support companies and tourism institutions are normally located around the core tourist attraction.

They have closer economic ties and focus development in specific geographical area. The economic attributes of the industry, the agglomeration of tourism enterprises and support institutions promote tourist and capital flow as well as logistics into the tourist destination while tourism resources attract tourists.

The cluster in the tourism industry takes value chain as the overriding mode. In this case, the linkages between the core tourism resource and performance of enterprises which are within the cluster as tourism suppliers-users relationships are connected through value chain (Deng 71).

Tourism industry cluster promotes interconnectivity of tourism market channels. Marketing channels in each industry within tourism sector can connect the industrial chain food, accommodation, transportation, entertainment, shopping as well as travel. This helps guide development in tourism industry cluster.

It promotes timely market demand and tourism interaction which enables the industry to achieve high customer satisfaction. The vertical markets are highly complex creating the need for strong cooperation among tourist operators.

Travel agencies as well as their suppliers have adopted specific e-procurement initiatives. These are aimed at creating economies of scale through utilizing optimization as well as higher efficiency by adopting online supply systems in the value chain (Baggio and Corigliano 3).

Market segmentation in the tourism industry is achieved by applying elements of e-commerce which facilitate collection large amounts of client data to create marketing-data-bases. This enables tourist organizations to customize supply targeted at different market segments.

Tourism industry provides unique service management aimed at achieve tourism consumer satisfaction. The management of service is targeted at achieving intended consumer delivered value. The driving force for the tourist operators is to provide quality service as perceived by tourism consumers.

The marketing tourist companies are managed such that tourists’ expectations are met timely. Management of services involves putting in place value chain which helps integrate marketing activities, products and services provision, corporate management, production processes as well as resource management. In service management within the tourism sector, interactive communication is very important.

According to Gabriel (11) communication interactions in the service industry make consumers aware of the relationship between the cost of obtaining a service and the expected value. Value chain is applied in managing as well as marketing tourism destinations and products.

Information Systems enable value chain managers communicate with the organization’s partners, suppliers and prospective customers directly. It offers user-friendly access to channels of communication as well as employees of the firm through the use of intranets.

It helps value chain managers coordinate activities among operators, destination management agencies, flight companies as well as hoteliers to help provide higher value services to customers and to leverage the economies of scale.

The coordination enables them share costs so that they can offer fair prices to tourism consumers (OECD Development Centre 26).

Information technology enable value chain managers outsource specific non-core functions of the organization from specialist agencies and business organizations to handle the part or the entire process.

Networking also allows organizations to outsource value added services as well as products from competent and trusted partners. As such, ICTs enable tourism companies expand their value by including continuous products and services and proving greater value-added transactions (Buhalis and O’Connor 16).

Information systems also provide value chain managers with the capacity to use organisation data to perform online transactions. It offers various internal-management applications which facilitate strategic as well as operational management. It also provides marketing applications for value chain managers.

They are therefore able to search for profitable as well as significant niche market segments. The application tools help them identify value-added components and enable them promote differentiated tourism products relevant to particular market segments (Buhalis (b) 806).

Value chain managers use IS to assess elements of the organizations’ external environment, levels of competition within the industry as well as customer needs and accordingly adapt strategies which enable them enhance the organizations’ competitiveness.

This enables them differentiate and add value to their products to suit individual requirements (Buhalis (a) 807).

IS assists value chain managers in Destination Management Systems which are based on different Information Systems. Destination Management Systems utilises different data to represent tourism products as well as services.

DMS assists value chain managers disseminate and exchange information. According to Kanellopoulos, Karahanidis and Panagopoulos (1) destination management organizations use Destination Management Systems to develop marketing channels for tourism destinations and to promote their destinations.

DMS helps value chain managers collect, store, manipulate and in addition distribute tourism information. It also facilitates reservation transactions as well as other commercial activities. It enables value chain managers get access to complete as well as up-date information about other destinations which gives them the capacity to make informed decisions.

For example, it provides knowledge on attractions, accommodation together with travel information among others (Dimanche 14). This is used by destination management organizations in decision-making in destination management.

Information Systems assists destination marketers provide detailed descriptions of intangible products that they offer; photos and videos to help influence tourism consumer purchase decisions.

The description includes the level of expenditure for each package. Tourists often choose among destinations based on the holistic destination attributes (Çetinkaya 1).

How Is Information Management Used in the Tourism Industry?

Information and communication technologies are used in this sector to perform tourism product development, training of tourism personnel, marketing as well as distribution of tourism products. Information systems is used in this industry to perform collaborative filtering.

This is application software that uses customer database built by the company or the intermediaries to classify customers with similar profiles using characteristics such as travel patterns, preferences as well as interests among other characteristics based on previously accumulated data.

The findings are therefore used to customize tourism products and for direct marketing (Menon, and Nath 5). Personalization profiling is also a major application of IS in the tourism industry.

In this case personalization software is used to track and monitor the purchasing trends as well as preferences of tourism consumers. The results are used to customize products and services according to the needs as well as preferences of customers. They can also be used to carry out direct marketing.

Information systems enables electronic transactions through electronic payment. Electronic payment simplifies the buying-payment process and help skip intermediaries.

It helps monitor casual relationships so as to understand the correlation between the impacts of the company’s advertisements and the outcome purchase patterns (Menon, and Nath 5).

Tourism organizations also utilize the application of Virtual Reality and Web Casting. This provides cyberspace vacation experience to tourism consumers through the internet.

It enables customers to have perfect of view of the destination they are planning to visit. The technology is used by tourism organizations to market their products and services (Menon, and Nath 6).

Video conferencing is also used by tourism companies to communicate with each other regardless of the spatial location. It allows geographically dispersed tourism companies and service providers to cooperate (Menon, and Nath 7).

Tourism organizations also use Computer Reservation Systems as well as Global Distribution Systems to aid reservations. CRS allows tourism organizations and service providers to communicate with the travel agents.

The system helps increase sales volume as it provides information on available tourism products and is also utilized in selling the product. GDS on the other hand distributes reservation as well as information services particularly to sales outlets worldwide ((Menon, and Nath 7).

Information systems is used by tourism firms to assemble packages which are reflective of the market. It enables tourism companies research on the best offers in the market and use them to assemble their packages.

The packages are made in air travels, flight bookings through global reservation system, accommodation and transfers as well as add-on services.

Information systems enable tourism firms reinvent tourism packages with greater individual-focused activity thereby providing huge opportunities for intermediaries and principals. This helps enhance the total quality of the ultimate product.

Information systems are used in the tourism industry to enable tourism consumers to identify, customize and acquire tourism services and products.

It helps develop, manage and distribute offers to tourism consumers worldwide. Information technology has become a major determinant of tourism organizations’ competitiveness.

Information systems can help lower administration as well as production costs through integration of internal data and processes.

Tourist organizations can reduce communication and operational costs by incorporating operational systems, capitalizing on internal efficiencies, lowering the labour costs in the back office and empowering tourism consumers to have timely access to information.

ICTs contribute to the decline of distribution costs incurred by tourism companies as more consumers can now serve themselves online. Tourism firms are also able to reduce the costs associated with purchases since they have the capacity to access marketplaces through ecommerce.

Moreover, it helps them reduce administrative costs associated with procurements since they have ecommerce connection with suppliers (Buhalis and O’Connor 13).

Networking channels both within tourism organizations and between partner organizations supports communication within the industry and individual tourism firms.

The growth of the internet and the development of intranets and extranets within and between companies help support communication between organizations, external partners, units and employees within an organization.

Intranets as well as Enterprise Resource Planning systems enhances coordination of departments, functions and processes which enable the organization to reduce labour costs. Information and communication technology also supports the adoption integrated electronic infrastructure.

Interoperability helps increase efficiency and responsiveness and therefore makes informed decisions. Information systems thus empower employees in the organization to improve their performance. This increases internal efficiency as well as effectiveness.

Extranets on the other hand enhances interoperability as well as interactivity between organizations. This promotes formulation of alliances that help build complementary services and to also expand reach.

Tourism firms have consistently applied information systems in yield management. Information technology supports accurate demand estimates as well as decisions to either change capacity or price in order to optimize revenue (Enz and Withiam 32).

Yield management involves coordinating calendar, capacity, cost, time as well as customer. It enables organizations match services timing as well as pricing to tourism consumers’ willingness to pay depending on its timing in addition to demand from other tourist consumers.

ICTs provide revenue-management with critical information regarding previous demand patterns, events affecting demand as well as competitor pricing. In addition, it provides consistent interactivity with consumers and organization partners which enable competitive and flexible pricing (Enz and Withiam 32).

They provide the capacity to monitor sales allowing tourist firms to adjust their products or prices (Buhalis (b) 417). It also facilitates promotional campaigns.

It alerts tourist organizations on excess demand or capacity and therefore they are able to divert their capacity to profitable segments of the market. The internet provides the capacity to make online auctions for disposing distressed capacity and to advertise last minute offers. These help acquire additional revenue.

Tourism firms use information technology to project demand, schedules as well as to monitor the expected carrier capacity factors before deciding on visitors’ capacity and expansion into new markets. ICTs also enhance direct distribution of tourism products which is a very important function for raising revenues.

Distributing tourism products directly enable tourist companies save fees plus commission. In the process, the organization also reinforces its brand as it engages with consumers (Buhalis and O’Connor 12).

The ability to sell products directly to consumers increases customer loyalty to the individual organizations and hence reduces leakages to competitors.

Tourism organizations use ICTs to build awareness and promotions through websites and search engines optimization, pop-ups and newsletters. It provides tourism organizations with the capacity to build as well as to maintain websites internally and through their partners.

This enables them to achieve a global presence as well as partnerships throughout the world. Small tourism firms are also able to develop their virtual size.

According to Buhalis and Licata (212) the internet enables tourism companies to expand their value chain as well as promote their products and brands by means of a combination of systems alongside partners.

Initial investment into Information Systems is very costly. Implementation of application programmes such as GDS, GIS, CRS among other applications require massive investments since they involve complex network of large mainframe computers, PCs as well as telecommunications. Besides, the investment may not give immediate returns (Menon, and Nath 7).

Maintenance of the network system is also expensive. It requires high level expertise which is expensive and not easily available. Moreover, the application programmess are constantly modified meaning that the programmes have to be updated every time and again. These increase the operational costs of tourism organizations.

The availability of communication networks allows consumers to access tourism information and obtain products and services from several tourist companies. They therefore become more experienced and sophisticated making it difficult to please them.

Internet enhances the development of virtual corporations and increases globalization. This brings more market players in the tourism industry which in turn complicates the distribution channels raising heterogeneity as well as requiring standardization.

Information systems is a key component of tourism organizations. Organizations therefore need to optimize its applications in value chain management and operation within the industry by adopting the following measures:

• Build intranets and extranets and also develop business partnerships. It is has been noted that tourists choose among destinations based on the total attributes of the destination. Extranets will help create partnerships and coordinate partnerships activities. Competition in the tourism industry is heightened and is characterized by network of interactions between tourist organizations and related service providers.
• Connect the company’s information systems infrastructure to the internet. Internet enhances the company’s marketing abilities and also helps increase value and customization of tourism products. By building a more interactive website with optimized search engines, the company empowers tourism consumers to acquire all its tourism information. This will help value chain managers including destination management organizations to interact more with the customers, reduce the cost of distribution and achieve greater customer loyalty. This will in turn help build a virtual value chain and increase the company’s virtual size.
• Offer comprehensive services that enable tourism consumers to arrange their travel over the internet at one site.
• Develop an integrated reservation system for the whole cluster or group of partners. This will enable customers to make reservations for all parts of their vacation in just one transaction. Integrated reservation system facilitates customization by empowering the customer to create his or her own tour in a way that suits him or her.
• Maintain a database that allows the company or the intermediary to keep an accurate profile of each visitor. This will facilitate customization of services to each tourist.

Newspaper and Technology

Newspaper publishers today have built websites that they use to provide online published news to consumers. Online media services offer internet users instant and free of charge access to information and therefore most consumers have come to prefer to read newspapers online.

Newspaper publishers mostly rely on their sales staff to sell most of their products and therefore limiting their revenues. Most newspaper publishers tend to rely on print products to generate their revenue since they find them easier to monitor as compared to web products.

This implies that traditional newspapers have to reinvent value chains as well as business models that enable them increase their revenues. They need to restrict some of their articles to paid subscribers so as to obtain revenue from online newspaper publications (Graham and Sacha 9).

They also have to use advertisements to promote the coming newspaper’s articles and encourage subscription or purchase of the newspaper.

Newspaper publishers have to capitalize on the broad realm of online opportunities available both in the local and international market. This will help them offset the increasing declines in revenue which is the core of the business.

A few newspaper publishers have adopted video presentation of particular news which they consider significant.

All online newspaper publishers have to adopt the virtual reality as well as web casting applications that create value chain to the publishers by extending this to advertisements available to all paid subscribers as well as non-subscribers.

Adding videos to the news presented through online publication would be more appealing to the current visitors of the internet and new consumers. They also have to negotiate for more advertisement contracts so as to balance between news and advertisements.

The online advertisements should be made more attractive and should provide much detail of the products, services, brands and destinations they advertise so as to achieve customer loyalty and increase revenue from online publishing.

They should therefore develop more attractive newspapers and adopt presentation formats that are appealing to customers. They have to empower the capability of subscribers to optimize search engines to obtain information they want to read with much ease.

They have to increase traffic in their websites through search-engine marketing, website design as well as search engine optimization (American Press Institute 17). This will help its advertising businesses better reach their target customers.

They need to use other major websites such as Yahoo, Google, MySpace, Facebook as well as other major websites with powerful search engines which could help connect hard-to-reach consumers (American Press Institute 17).

The websites need to be more interactive so that corporate companies and individuals can order their daily newspapers online which can then be delivered to them in their locations or via mail. Printing quality newspapers and delivering to homes and institutions increases readership and customer loyalty to the newspaper.

They should use the websites to collect information on customers’ news preference and interests and therefore customize the newspapers to reflect the behaviors of the customers.

In addition, newspaper publishers which utilize the internet to distribute information should update news content on their websites more often (Graham and Sacha 36).

Newspapers have continuously developed and maintained social networks to help interact with consumers and achieve diverse sources of news content. However, they do little to achieve customer loyalty and create new audiences through their social networks.

They therefore have to identify consumer groups and develop online user communities. This will bring together consumers with similar interests and keep them engaged.

The target groups will extend their activities to paid search engines in their areas of interest. This could also increase circulation of newspaper copies via mail or through traditional sales.

By creating online discussion groups or communities, the newspaper company gets the opportunity to acquire user-generated content such as uploaded photos, written news articles and any other information content to increase its information sources (American Press Institute 24).

Newspapers highly depend on advertisements to earn revenues from published newspapers. Advertising is therefore an important element of value chain in this industry considering their contribution to revenue as well as financial sustainability of newspaper’s operations.

Newspaper publishers have to outsource more advertisement contracts and also increase their in-house collaboration with advertising agencies. Newspaper companies can use the internet to expand partnerships with large advertising agencies worldwide so that they are able to acquire local and international advertisement contracts.

Online advertisements presented on websites should provide for gift certificates from small or local businesses as well as rewards websites which offer coupons to customers so as to retain subscribers. This will add value to the products provided online as well as the website.

Local businesses would be able to use money-saving coupons in buying coupon advertising. The newspapers would also be paid through gift certificates which they can resell through their websites at a discount to customers.

These will eliminate the cost barrier to advertising especially by small business and therefore encourage advertising (American Press Institute 37).

Although newspaper publishers have adopted internet applications, they do not use the internet to advertise themselves. They sell their print newspapers to hotels and airlines at cheaper prices as a way of achieving international reputation and global brand so as to boost their advertising opportunities (Graham and Sacha 35).

They should use pop-ups to advertise their brand names as well as their advertisement space and also advertise on other established websites so that they can increase their virtual size. This will enable international companies easily know about them and contract them to perform international advertisements.

There is significant cooperation among companies in the media industry (Karla 638). Today, the newspaper industry is characterized by partnerships through content sharing and in organizing for information collection trips from far locations. They also make syndication deals between themselves.

These partnerships enable newspaper companies reduce costs of operation while focusing on ways of building their brands and core competencies as well as reinventing methods of creating value chains in their activities. Through content sharing agreements, they are able to reduce or cut completely the fees they pay to news wires.

They are also able to reduce risks by sharing costs among publishing partners. However, these partnerships are limited in activities. The partnerships would be more beneficial if they shared core technologies of news collection and production.

In addition, newspaper partners would increase their value chain if they could agree to use each other’s market channels. This would give them the opportunity to market their brands, products and advertisement space on their partners’ websites and provide links to their websites.

They would also be able to use other channels of marketing adopted by their partners including their newspapers.

In most cases, these partnerships are limited to their regions of coverage. They should extend their partnerships to international level to enable them acquire more diverse news contents and develop international brands.

By making partnerships with many newspaper publishers, the company is able to connect as well as touch every consumer including several businesses.

This would give the company an opportunity to reach consumers who want and are able to afford mass-reach advertising. The American Press Institute (1) describes these advantages as local information as well as connection utility.

Although newspaper publishers have adopted technologies that enable them efficiently and effectively collect and produce news both in print and online publications, most of them do not provide broad news content.

Journalists are able to gather news online by collecting information from websites and using internet applications to watch live events. This gives them the capacity to present accurate news without travelling to the points of where the events have taken place.

They also use mobile technologies and GIS systems to deliver information instantly regardless of the distance from the media house. User interface, advanced mobile as well as wireless networks technologies have significantly improved value chain in information gathering and delivery to media houses.

The development of kindle and e-reader has changed the way people access information (Graham and Sacha 40). GIS enables the transmitting of large amount of data in the shortest time possible from news wire or journalists collecting information from frequently visited locations.

However, news content presented by newspapers is less as compared to other online publishers including the non-profit generating websites.

They should be able to take advantage of the technologies available to present the highest-band-width information to consumers so as to be able to meet the wide demographic trends. This will enable the companies to better serve the information needs of every consumer group.

American Press Institute. Making the Leap Beyond Newspaper Companies . February 2008. Web.

Baggio, Rodolfo and Corigliano, Magda. Italian Tourism on the Internet: New Business Models. New York: Springer-Verlag Wien, 2002. Print.

Bonera, Michelle and Corvi, Elisabeth. Web Orientation and Value Chain Evolution in the Tourism Industry . Paper Number 51. Brescia: Universita degli Studi di Brescia, 2005. Print.

Buhalis, Dimitrios and O’Connor, Peter. Information Communication Technology Revolutionizing Tourism. Tourism Recreation Research , 30.3 (2005): 7-16, Guildford: University of Surrey.

Buhalis, Dimitrios. eAirlines: Strategic and tactical use of ICTs in the airline industry. Information & Management 41(2004): 805-825. 2004. Guildford: Elsevier.

Buhalis , Dimitiros and Licata, C. The future of e-Tourism intermediaries. Tourism Management , 23.3 (2002): 207-220. Guildford: University of Surrey.

Buhalis, Dimitrios. Strategic Use of Information Technologies in the tourism Industry. Tourism Management , 19.3 (1998): 409-423. London: Elsevier Science Ltd.

Çetinkaya, Ali. Destination Competitiveness Through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems 2009 . Tasucu: Selcuk University, 2009. Print.

Deng, Nianmei. Research on Creating Tourism Industrial Cluster in the Three Gorges Region . Yichang: College of Economic and Management in Three Gorges University, 2008. Print.

Dimanche, Frederic and Jolly, Dominique. Tourism and Technology . Sophia Antipolis: CERAM Business School, 2010. Print.

Dimanche, Frederic (Ed.). Tourism, mobility, and technology. In Proceedings of the TTRA Europe Annual Conference . Dalarna: Travel and Tourism Research Association Europe, 2007. Print.

Enz, Cathy and Withiam, Glen. Yield Management. CHR Report . Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 2001. Print.

Gabriel, Elisante. Value Chain for Services: A new Dimension of Porter’s Value Chain . 2010. Web.

Graham, Vickery and Sacha, Wunsch-Vincent. The Evoultion of News and the Internet . Paris: OECD.

Kanellopoulos, Dimitris, Karahanidis, Jordan and Panagopoulos. How the Semantic Web revolutionizes Destination Management Systems . Patras: Technological Educational Institution of Patras.

Karla, Jurgen. The Virtual Kiosk for the Electronic Newspaper. IADIS International Conference WWW/Internet 2004. Aachen: RWTH Aachen University.

Liu Gao, Yin, Yi-mei, Yu-Qi, Lu. Tourism and enterprise clusters: to enhance the competitiveness of the new strategy of destination model [J]. Fujian Forum , 8 (2004):22-25. Hong Kong: National Research and Development Center.

Menon, Deepa and Nath, Anand. Role of Information Technology in Tourism. 2010. Web.

OECD Development Centre. The Tourism Sector in Mozambique: Value Chain Analysis , volume 1. March 2006. Web.

Paraskevas, Alexandros. The Impact of Technological Innovation in Managing Global Value Chains in the Tourism Industry. OECD Conference on Global Tourism Growth: A Challenge for SMEs. 6-7 September 2005, Gwanju (Korea). Oxford: Oxford Brookes University, 2005. Print.

Poon, Auliana. Tourism, Technology, and Competitive Strategies . Wallingford: Cab Intern, 1993. Print.

Technovation. Investing in technology for tourism activities: Perspectives and challenges. Technovation 29 (2009): 576-579. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Weiemair, Klaus. Product improvement or innovation: What is the key to success in tourism ? Munich: OECD, 2004. Print.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, August 24). Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example. https://ivypanda.com/essays/information-systems-and-tourism-industry/

"Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example." IvyPanda , 24 Aug. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/information-systems-and-tourism-industry/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example'. 24 August.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example." August 24, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/information-systems-and-tourism-industry/.

1. IvyPanda . "Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example." August 24, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/information-systems-and-tourism-industry/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Information Systems in Tourism Industry: Essay Example." August 24, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/information-systems-and-tourism-industry/.

• Destination Marketing and Destination Management in Tourism
• Publishers are Shapers of History
• Tourism Destination Management and Development
• Tourism Destination Competitiveness
• Improving Tourism Destinations Competitiveness
• Barcelona as a Tourist Destination
• Phuket, Thailand, as a Tourism Destination
• Tourism Destination Evaluation on Iraq
• Analysis of Destination: Tourism in Dubai
• Equitours' Organization: Tourism Destinations
• Tourism: the Mentawai Archipelago Surfing Industry
• Tourism, Travel and 9/11
• Al Tayyar Travel Group-role in transforming Saudi tourism
• Tourism Industry in France
• ICT and How it Influences Consumer Behaviour in Tourism

International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention

An open access publication issn: 2349-2031 |.

Articles | Open Access

Application of Information Systems in Tourism and Leisure Sector

• Dr. Zita Malcienė + −
• Laima Skauronė + −

Dr. Zita Malcienė

The Doctor of Social Science, of Panevėžys University of Applied Sciences.

Areas of scientific interests : Market Research; Knowledge Management; Motivation to Learn; Personal Career Management

Laima Skauronė

Public Relations and Study Quality Coordinator of  Bioeconomy development Faculty Vytautas Magnus University

Areas of scientific interests : Strategic Organizational Management; The financial autonomy for rural municipalities

The article analyzes the peculiarities of application of information systems in tourism and leisure sector, reveals the advantages of competitiveness. The study found that the functionality of information systems application provides a user with information about hotels, travel, and the attractiveness of leisure products. Therefore, in the development of tourism and leisure organizations, it is important not only to maintain good contacts with clients or establish positive relations and their consolidation in society, but also to implement information systems.

Introduction

Application of information systems and information dissemination in Lithuanian tourism sector is one of the topical issues. In the 21st century, professional, personal life and business development are unthinkable without modern information systems. Realization of the tourist product requires such information systems that can provide information on tourist accommodation, booking and booking opportunities, transport rent, ticket reservations and other services within a short period of time.

Globalization process determines a rapidly expanding flow of information which results in building the information society. It is understandable that the emergence of information systems was determined by the level of computer technology evolution and changing expectations and needs of users. Despite the rapid development of information systems only since the middle of 1990 they have become important in the activities of tourism and leisure organizations as most of them began to actively use the Internet ( Novikov, 2007 ). For businesses, the Internet has made it possible, without much effort, to gain access to large groups of consumers, to provide specific information about the products offered, to securely disseminate details about their activities, to quickly and efficiently receive customer requests, to order the necessary services, and to reduce the financial costs of producing and distributing printed materials ( Agarval, Prasad, 1999 ).

The tourism and leisure sector has become a mature market that needs changes in the transmission of information. Innovations, according to the researchers (Crawford et al., 2005; Davidaviciene et al. 2009; Vaškaitis, Arminienė, 2013),

include many participants contributing to product development and network management. The application of information systems improves a company's activities, coordinates functional and business lines, increases the competitiveness in the tourism business and promotes a greater flow of tourists. Modern information systems strategically help organizations make the right decisions, and, thanks to them, tourist regions can realize everything they have got by presenting themselves to potential tourists: museums, architectural monuments, various cultural and sporting events, festivals, and other activities. Therefore, in order to maintain a high level of customer service, it is necessary to analyze the possibilities of information systems application.

The object of this paper – isinformation systems.

The aim of this research – is to evaluate advantages and disadvantages of information systems application in relation to consumers.

To achieve the goal, the following tasks were structured:

• To analyze theoretical aspects of application of information systems in the tourism and leisure sector.
• To examine advantages and disadvantages of the use of information systems in the tourism and leisure sector with respect to consumers.

Methods : Analysis of scientific literature, survey.

Research ethics. Respondents were told that participation would be voluntary, guaranteeing anonymity, privacy, the right to decide on the opportunity to participate in the research and express their thoughts freely.

Theoretical Aspects of Information Systems Application in Tourism and Leisure Sector

The concept of information systems has experienced momentous changes in different periods of existence. Every decade, the area of use accelerated, helping to reach a faster speed of service, ensure a higher level of quality, and change consumers' behavior. The large amount of information of various kinds, its selection and screening, storage, processing and presentation have become the main factors of the development of a tourism company ( Selezniava, 2011 ).

Tourism and leisure industry requires the most diverse application of information systems, from the widely used systems for working with electronic tables, text and databases to the use of specialized programs that provide automated work for individual tourist companies ( Ikonikov, Sadovskaja, 2014 ). Tourism automated control systems are designed to create an effective tourist structure and improve the working conditions for the staff. Installing information systems, a company does not need to change its profile much since flexibility only is enough (Župerka, Župerkienė, 2015). According to G. Korres ( 2008 ), the spread of information and communication technologies in the tourism sector allows users to interact directly with tourism service providers.

Today`s tourism and leisure is an intelligent and informative

service industry closely associated with specific activities of a tourism company, so the smart use of information systems creating and offering a new product is important ( Esaulova, 2010 ), as well as distribution of tourism services via electronic business, „even without visiting a territory“ ( Langviniene, Hungary, 2005, p. 295 ).

Information systems in tourism and leisure industry are divided into shared management modules of the global systems, tourist destination systems, general destination management and auxiliary systems which are classified in greater details. Information systems are the elements comprising the environment: computers, software, computer networks, databases, and people. The main purpose of information systems is to store, process and transfer the final required information for decision-making.

In the 1950s, the role of information was recognized as a key resource for businesses, organizations, regions, and communities because the development of various types of automated information systems began. The first information systems were intended solely for the processing of invoices and payroll accounting, and were implemented through the use of electromechanical accounting machines. It encouraged time and cost reduction while preparing paper documents.

In 1970, information systems began to be used by businesses as a production management tool that supports and accelerates the process of preparing for solutions. The emergence of personal computers triggered the emergence of distributed computing resources and decentralized management systems. This reduced the centralized burden of computer resources and the highest level of management, which allowed focusing on key and long-term strategic decisions.

The beginning of the 1990s is considered to be the age of the network. In those days, network interconnection began at all levels, increasing the capabilities and reliability of information systems, reducing the size of equipment and reducing costs by acquiring it and connecting terminals located in different places of the planet.

In the 20th century, the development of the sports, recreation and entertainment industry accelerated, bicycles, motorcycles and cars have come to life. As a result, information systems in the tourism and leisure sector resulted in increased competitiveness and improved cooperation.

The following information systems are commonly used in the sector of tourism and leisure services:

Computer reservation system is the global distribution system which is represented by Amadeus, Saber, Galileo, etc. Initially, these systems were designed for booking airline tickets, but later hotel, cruise booking and car rental were incorporated.

The global computer network is a global information transfer and storage system that connects various types of computer networks. This system allows you to use your computer to search for information and communicate directly with that network user.

The satellite navigation system is destined for overground and space equipment designed to detect the location of land, water and air objects, and their movement parameters (speed, movement direction).

A telephone network is a system of telephone exchanges and communication nodes for the provision of telephone communication. It is used for transmitting analogue, digital messages, text or graphics. Network subscribers can be natural or legal persons (companies, organizations).

Electronic payment system is destined for transferring money by businesses, financial organizations and Internet users for goods via the Internet with e-money ( EasyPay ), mobile payment system (iPay) or international payment system (Web Money-transfer).

Electronic document flow system is an electronic document management structure for organizational technical system, distributed by computer networks and providing document flow control. The basis of this system consists of work with electronic elements, management of cooperation with customers, processing of applications, automation of services.

E-business is a system that executes basic business processes on the basis of the modern Internet technologies and it is integrated into information systems. This system provides a competitive edge for businesses by reducing costs.

Office application system is a software product designed to perform common tasks and provide partial automation for routine work in tourism companies working with text ( Word ), electronic table processing ( Excel ) and databases ( Access ).

The legal information system is destined for reliable legal information storage with an effective search and analysis capabilities for a wide range of professionals. It provides a quick access to legal information and opportunity for the prompt work.

Multimedia system is a creation of electronic directories, catalogs, museum and tourist guides, etc. Electronic guides allow you to travel virtually through the offered routes, view these routes in active mode, get information about a country, objects, hotels, campsites, motels, and to get discounts. A client can plan a travel or leisure according to price, discounts, season, and transportation system.

Geographic information system is destined to provide spatial information related to objects. The system is used for designing tourism areas and acquaintance with a territory.

All of these systems serve to create an effective tourism and leisure structure in pursuance of comfortable working conditions for employees as a part of professional development. The factors influencing the participation of tourism service providers in the system are compliance with the goals of the organizations (attracting as much visitors and users as possible). Establishment of good contacts with customers in the field of tourism and leisure, promotion of tourist and leisure services, setting up and consolidation of positive tourism and leisure relationships in society is one of the determinants of the new information systems. Tourist firms must provide the users with informational, accessible, user-friendly, reliable, of inspirational content and interactivity system.

Individual needs determine the consumption of tourism and leisure products. The study by L. A. Isajeva ( 2014 ) found that the use of tourism products and services is determined by conditions and circumstances that affect the needs of the developing population. According to L. I. Bušujeva ( 2005 ), the internal factors determining the use of information systems are dependent on:

• Information changes:
• increase of information value;
• increasing demand for information quality;
• growing confidence in the results of analysis or research.
• Organizational changes :
• the need to reduce administrative staff;
• review of implementation of some activities and processes;
• database and specialists expansion in the field of information technologies.
• Company's performance changes:
• enhancing the company's position in the market;
• profit increase;
• focusing on individual users;
• increasing precision by targeting groups.

Supposedly, the companies with improved collection and distribution of information can predict the market trends better. However, there are many obstacles encountered not only by the company employees (giving access to the data accumulated in the organization), but also by consumers (using information systems). Most of the companies face four main obstacles. The first obstacle is the managers' fear of investing in the technical part, since it is unclear whether it will pay off; the second is the investment of staff into the qualification improvement, the third is lack of knowledge of staff and resistance to innovations; and fourthly, negative experience, shortage of informativeness and promotion measures. Issues arising from information system users lead to lower productivity and persistent errors in the transmission of information. V.S. Novikov ( 2007 ) states that consumers do not purchase tourist products on the Internet because they do not trust virtual agencies, they do not know reliable tourist websites. Another serious problem is the relevance of the online publication of information. Not surprisingly, attractive prices announced on the websites of tourism and leisure agencies are already redeemed, and managers offer different options. All this is bound up with the lack of a united database, which undergoes the changes of real activity. Another problem is the fear of people using electronic payment systems. People prefer to withdraw money from ATMs, and traditionally pay cash in the agencies because they are scared to be tricked by losing their savings through online systems. Therefore, it is important for the company executives from the very beginning to provide the modernization and improvement of information systems, which would allow expanding the possibilities of their business.

Presentation of Information Systems Application Research

With the rapid development of technology, some consumers are still afraid of using information systems because they do not embrace the innovations. Organizations contribute to the solution of the problem, but they either offer little purchase of tourism and leisure products on the Internet, or do not update the information systems. A survey was conducted to find out about users' access to the information systems.

During the research, 191 residents of Panevėžys city were interviewed, of whom 58 men and 133 women. It was found that the majority of respondents had higher education (73%), a small proportion had secondary (14%) and vocational (11%) education. The smallest part were people with the basic education (2%).

The aim of a survey was to estimate the most frequently purchased tourism and leisure products. The study showed that 63% of respondents buy online independently and only 23% of them do it through the travel agencies. The remaining interviewed (14%) indicated that they usually buy tickets at the booking-offices of Cido Arena, theater and community house, but never use the information systems. It is becoming clear that more people plan their journey or leisure time in accordance with their desire and demand. They do not need to go to the tourism agencies because of the high level of technological progress and subjective factors. Furthermore, it was important to find out the reasons preventing the quarter of respondents, living in the technological era, from the purchase of tourism and leisure products through online systems. This fact indicates that respondents need managerial advice.

When traveling on your own, you need to find a lot of different information about the country you want to visit, and not all information can be found in the Lithuanian language, so the knowledge of foreign languages is required. It should be noted that small travel agencies in Lithuania do not want to invest money into the internet sites, therefore consumers can still see obsolete, outdated information, and only a small part of tourism and leisure products can be purchased online. Other factor leading to non-use of online systems is mistrust, as they often contain unreliable, vague and misleading information. Online travel agencies often use a promotional trick to attract customers, offering a small initial travel cost which is later replaced (hidden extra costs spring up which make the overall cost of travel less attractive).

A modern person is very busy and often his/her free time does not coincide with the working hours of travel agencies, making it easier and faster to save time by buying online. According to one respondent, „online system is a great thing when travel on your own, since it is possible to reserve everything by yourself without leaving home, and the trip itself becomes much cheaper”. The survey results made it clear that respondents prefer to compare prices of various websites at any time of the day, and find the most suitable option in line with their needs.

The study investigated how often the respondents buy tourism and leisure products using the information systems. From the data obtained, it was cleared up that 35% of respondents usually buy once, and 36% respectively twice a year using information systems. In 2017, according to the Official Statistics Portal of Lithuania, consumers bought less tourism and leisure products than in 2016. It follows thence that people's demand to buy could have been determined by the economic conditions on which the needs are directly dependent. A small number of respondents (11%) buy once a month, because tourism and leisure products are used depending on the needs and situation. It should be noted that consumers are interested and encouraged by the purchase of products through the information systems 24/7, without leaving home.

The results of the survey revealed that consumers prefer to buy tickets for concerts, theater, cinema as this is the most popular way of spending free time in Lithuania. Some respondents devote their time to the purchase of tours or SPA procedures. Fewer users buy tickets for festivals, seminars and exhibitions because such events have less interest and are up for the target groups. Sports enthusiasts usually buy an annual ticket and enjoy their favorite team match without worrying that tickets can be sold out. Tickets for amusement parks and circus are bought infrequently since this kind of entertainment happens only once or twice a year. The conclusion is that consumers buy various leisure products through online systems as far as they do not need to buy tickets beforehand, fear of long queues or worry about ticket sales. Pursuit of convenience and time saving shape such behavior.

The majority of respondents independently buy the following tourist products: airplane/bus tickets, accommodation services. Independent purchase of ferry/train/cruise tickets and car rentals allows to guess that people want to save up money by buying online without assistance of tourism professionals. A small percentage of consumers, who buy travel packages from tourism agencies, are happy since everything is done for them, and they have nothing to worry about, just have pleasure walking with a guide and enjoy a rest. Summing up, it is obvious that consumers feel the need to buy or make reservations for tourism and leisure products on their own.

The survey participants are mostly satisfied with the electronic payment systems and the Internet. These systems allow them to use the reservation systems independently, to pay for tourism and leisure products in real time. By purchasing products independently, through the reservation systems, you can see realistic photos taken by travellers, read and write reviews. Many people use maps and satellite navigation systems while traveling, and, consequently, reach the destination effortlessly, without asking for help. It shows that in the current world, a consumer will be hardly able to manage without some information systems. On the ground of the survey data, consumers are mostly influenced by the constant updates of the information systems, which allow to receive the latest offers avoiding misunderstandings. It sometimes happens that a consumer buys a tourism or leisure product online, but the product was already sold out a few hours ago. An improved system allows you to quickly find the proper information and constantly get acquainted with the latest developments, view the latest photo galleries, create a travel route or service package for yourself.

The most common problem faced by the survey participants is the lack of consultation on web sites and, if provided, it is on during working hours only. Tourism and leisure companies should consider extending the time period for providing advice or providing them twenty four hours a day. In this way, consumers would be encouraged to use the information systems more often. Non-upgraded systems provide inaccurate, false information that disappoints a client. There are often technical errors that prevent you from paying for products or services, or advertise discounts that do not exist in reality.

Such mistakes pose additional problems and inconvenience to users. Also, an overly tricky menu complicates the search and causes problems since it takes a lot of time to realize how it works. Information systems should be upgraded and updated to prevent consumers from facing problems.

The disadvantages highlighted in the study are given below:

Unsatisfactory information about a product or service. With a very concise description, it is difficult to get customers interested in buying products, so leisure organizations should provide more detailed and widespread information to keep the consumers concerned.

When paying for goods online, it is often not allowed to use various payment cards, i.e., a consumer is required to mostly use a credit card, and, as a result, only a few websites allow paying by debit card or transferring money to a company's account.

In Lithuania, if you want to book or order leisure products, consultations are available on the phone only, as such services are not always provided online. It is very inconvenient for people who are busy or work late hours.

Leisure companies should offer a wider range of services such as bowling, paintball, etc., taking into account a consumer needs and prepaid services through the information systems.

Respondents believe that „higher discounts and exclusive offers always attract people's attention because it affects psychologically”. A user feels exceptionally pleased if he/she personally gets special offers with significantly higher discounts. For many, while buying leisure and tourism products online, it is very important to use easier and simpler information systems which make it possible to quickly, efficiently and conveniently find the proper information. Price comparisons on various sites would allow the buyer to choose the cheapest option for the same product because people often do not want to pay more for the same stuff. Getting a quick response to inquiries, customers receive specific and up-to-date information about the product they are interested in, and are not forced by the agency managers to wait long. The variety of goods and wider presentation of information along with a faster, high-quality search system would allow customers to save time looking for the appropriate tourism and leisure products. Web sites should secure greater reliability by usage better protecting systems against various hackers and spammers. Besides, websites should have clear, easy-to-understand content with better quality information. Analyzing the factors stimulating development of new information systems in tourism and leisure sector, consumers' desire to receive better discounts and exclusive offers is definite.

Summarizing the data that are obtained, it can be stated that people of all ages use information systems for the purchase of tourism and leisure products. Finding the proper information fast and receiving the latest offers attracts respondents the most. Consumers often buy online once or twice a year, besides, they can compare the prices of different websites and purchase cheaper products. The study revealed that the purchase of leisure products, such as tickets for concerts, theater and cinema predominates, while travel products are mostly purchased for airline tickets and accommodation services. E-payment systems and the Internet satisfies the needs of users the most since, without those tools, to buy through online systems would be hardly possible. The study also revealed that among the issues of information systems, consumers face lack of consulting, technical errors and non-upgradeable systems. Therefore, when shopping for leisure products, consumers cope with shortage of information, not of all payment cards accessibility and impossibility to buy all products online. More frequent use of information systems by the customers will result in higher discounts and exclusive offers and will meet their needs.

Needs satisfaction, better discounts, best deals of the day and other actions would encourage the respondents to use the information systems more often.

Table below demonstrates advantages and disadvantages of information systems usage indicated by the survey respondents.

It can be stated that purchase of tourism and leisure products and services through online systems is shaped by consumer desires, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and economic conditions of people on which the needs depend. The need itself is formed by the price comparisons, search for the most affordable options, availability to buy products at any time of the day, convenience and time-saving. Such systems allow the seller to reduce expenses and labor costs when processing orders, optimize as many business processes as possible analysing the demand. Application of information systems enables to increase the growth of sales of tourism and leisure services.

Assessing the results of the survey, it is seen that tourism and leisure service organizations could more often provide a system of points-based rebates to encourage consumers to buy through online systems. For example, a customer would accumulate points more frequently and then use them to partly cover the price of product. Organizations, by providing consumers with a discount system, would encourage them to purchase more often on their online systems.

Summarizing the results of this research it is possible to maintain that the information systems in the tourism and leisure sector allow users to participate in service delivery, build packages, and form the desired products while the sector organizations will be able to free up their employees swapping them for other activities, and discover new breakthrough opportunities in the tourism market.

• Analysis of scientific literature revealed that the tourism and leisure industry requires the application of the most diverse information systems, ranging from widely used systems for working with electronic tables, text and databases to the use of specialized programs that provide automated work for individual tourist companies. Tourism and leisure organizations use various information systems such as reservation systems, the Internet, satellite navigation systems, electronic payment systems which create an efficient functioning of the tourism services sector and prospects for its development.
• After analyzing consumers` use of information systems and buying tourism and leisure products, it was observed that the latest information technologies enable the user to quickly create an individual „tourism product“. In addition, the application of information technology systems creates added value for tourism sector organizations and enhances their competitive edge. The results of the research revealed that electronic payment, reservation systems and the Internet satisfy consumers' individual needs in the tourism and leisure sector the most. However, the study also revealed some shortcomings in the application of new information systems from the point of view of consumers. It is found that there is a lack of 24/7consultation in cyberspace, limited accessability of some payment cards, and insufficiency of system functionality. All of these reduce consumers` ability and satisfaction of their requirements when choosing tourism and leisure products.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

• Dr. Zita Malcienė, Laima Skauronė, Dr. Rasa Glinskienė, Youth Entrepreneurship Promoting in Rural Municipality Situation and Challenges , International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention: Vol. 7 No. 06 (2020)

Copyrights & License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

• Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing
• Data Science & AI
• Python, Hadoop, Spark and Kafka
• Cloud Data Warehousing
• Planning & Consolidation
• Managed Services
• KPI Cloud Analytics
• KPI Real-Time Analytics
• BI Report Conversion Utilities
• Oracle to Snowflake Migration Utility
• Discoverer Migration Wizard
• Integrated Salesforce-ERP Analytics
• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Azure
• ThoughtSpot

Experience / Case Studies

• Testimonials
• White Papers
• Quick Start Programs

Case Study: Royal Caribbean - Business Intelligence in the Middle of the Ocean

Royal caribbean cruise lines achieves onboard analytics that maximize performance of in-voyage revenue.

Download The Entire Case Study

Royal Caribbean Case Study: Business Intelligence in the Middle of the Ocean.  

About Royal Caribbean 

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is the world’s second largest cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Cruises, and CDF Croisières de France. The company currently has 40 ships in service that call on approximately 400 worldwide destinations.  

Business Drivers

There were two main business drivers for Royal Caribbean:

• Increase access to data
• Better manage the business

Key personnel were provided limited ability to make actionable decisions to affect onboard revenue during a voyage. There was no visibility to detailed guest level transactions. Data resided onboard each individual vessel without a consolidated view of the fleet. Most importantly, because of existing architecture, the summary-level voyage information could only be collected at the end of each voyage. The company did not know how well a particular voyage was performing against targets until they returned to port and all the passengers departed. This was too late to affect change to in-voyage revenue.

Top executives sought the ability to better manage the business and grow voyage revenue by better understanding relationships between guest’s demographics and their spending patterns. For example, on a given voyage, what country are our passengers from and, based on historical data, what are they most likely to consume in the form of food & beverage, on-board activities and on-shore excursions.

The management teams needed a tool to quickly identify revenue performance trends during these 3-10 day voyages and make associated changes to drive revenue instead of just reporting on it.

“The pattern that revenue builds during a voyage is certainly not linear.  One of the important things was to show the expected pattern that revenue would have day-over-day and let the user see where we are relative to that pattern.”

- Richard Paley, Royal Caribbean

Solution Detail

Technology consultancy KPI Partners partnered with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines on a unique business intelligence solution.  Through the use of state-of-the-art business intelligence technology, Royal Caribbean can now bring together various disparate data sources to help optimize the vacation experience for travelers on all of their ships.

Shore-side managers and shipboard users access dashboards on a daily basis to track usage of amenities such as their onboard spas and shore excursions as well as revenue streams for various food and beverage outlets.  By profiling near real-time voyage analytics against historical data and dimensions such as age and country of origin, Royal Caribbean can optimize promotions that best appeal to the passengers.

The complex project was a multi-year effort that started with a proof-of-concept developed using the 10g version of the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) on a single ship within the Royal Caribbean fleet.  After multiple design & development iterations, the production implementation was a custom Cruise Ship Analytics solution deployed using the upgraded 11g version of OBIEE.  All 22 ships within the Royal Caribbean International-branded fleet now participate while at sea and distribute data via satellite to on-shore servers for analysis.

Because of the grand scale of this effort, several notable challenges were encountered and overcome.  The biggest challenge was determining how to create a high performance analytics solution while ships are at sea.  Data transfer rates are limited and user adoption would have stalled if people were forced to wait for screens to paint with data FOR their dashboards.   

Considerations were made, and best practices were developed, for scalability, system upgrades, and performance.  The capabilities of the Oracle databases were also utilized to their fullest potential; Data was partitioned, indexes were created, and summary objects were built.  Because of the optimizations, dashboards will paint within 2-3 seconds on average.

Cruise Ship Analytics - At A Glance

The following list encompasses the high-level areas in which shipboard and shore-side management teams can now conduct near real-time analysis via Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Ship Analytics solution. 

• Shipboard Overview
• Shore-side Overview
• Shore Excursions
• Specialty Dining
• Photography

Why Was Oracle Chosen?

In an effort to stay consistent with the very large Oracle footprint that exists at Royal Caribbean, Oracle BI was selected as the enterprise-standard reporting application.  Licenses for Oracle BI were purchased as part of an upgrade with the Hyperion Suite of products, but were originally shelved because a lack of expertise existed to deeply the BI tool.  RCCL partnered with a credible and experienced systems implementation partner who could provide strategic direction on the best practices required for deploying a scalable enterprise-reporting platform.

When weighing the features and benefits of Oracle’s business intelligence suite versus those of other vendors, the ability to combine data from multiple sources proved to be an attractive benefit.  Royal Caribbean has several different types of front-end transactional and back office systems that needed to be integrated in order to provide a valuable central source of reporting truth.

Oracle BI also offered an intuitive, easy-to-use, interface.  A platform that required minimal training was very important due to the geographically disperse and culturally diverse user base that would be utilizing the system.

Why Was KPI Partners Chosen?

As the most experienced systems implementation partner focused on Oracle BI & EPM, KPI partners was chosen because of their expertise within Oracle BI and related technology.  KPI Partners has successfully implemented the most complex deployments of Oracle BI in the world and the project at Royal Caribbean required in-depth expertise to provide the high-level of performance required in a satellite-driven data exchange environment.

KPI Partners offered functional expertise in the travel and hospitality industry.  KPI also offered global delivery capabilities that leverage a blended-shore model with a combination of high-value on-site experts and lower cost offshore resources.

The effort was launched in mid-2009 with a KPI Partners Vision Workshop that brought together all the key stakeholders within Royal Caribbean’s Technology Department, Royal Caribbean’s Business Sponsors, functional & subject matter experts, and the business intelligence project team.  In December 2009, the original pilot version of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution was introduced to ‘Oasis of the Seas’, the largest cruise ship in the industry.  

After a comprehensive and successful 12-month pilot period that involved the inclusion of four other cruise ships, an additional round of capital funding was approved to expand the project beyond the pilot.

In January 2012, the production version of Cruise Ship Analytics was launched across all 22 ships in the Royal Caribbean International-branded fleet.

Solution Components:

Business Intelligence Components

• Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise 

Edition 11.1.1.5

• Enterprise Data Warehouse - Oracle 

Database 11g R2

Other Platform Components

• Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise 5

• Authentication: LDAP

• Total Number of Users: 150+

Educational Components

• Custom OBIEE training program via 

KPI University

Data Sources

• Onboard Point-of-Sale Systems

• Pre-Cruise Reservation Systems 

(Guest Data)

• On-Shore Excursion Systems 

(Reservations & Sales)

• Financial Planning System 

(Revenue Targets)

Oracle Footprint 

• PeopleSoft

• JD Edwards

• Oracle Databases

Future Plans

The company plans to introduce three more ships to the Royal Caribbean International brand by the end of 2015, to increase to a capacity of approximately 100,00 berths.  Cruise Ship Analytics will be deployed to each of these new vessels.

In addition, Royal Caribbean plans to expand the Cruise Ship Analytics solution across the rest of the company’s brands: Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Cruises, and CDF Croisières de France.  

By the end of 2015, Cruise Ship Analytics, powered by Oracle BI, will be operational on all 43 ships under the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. umbrella.

Compatibility with mobile devices, such as the iPad and smart phones, is already available with certain restrictions due to security.  The business would like to expand on this capability and make mobile usage more pervasive. 

Due to the high rate of user adoption since the January 2012 launch, enhancement requests for additional functionality have been rolling-in regularly from the business.  The Cruise Ship Analytics solution continues to evolve.  Royal Caribbean is already planning for the inclusion of new executive-level summary dashboards and month-to-month financial reporting by vessel.

Results: 

Cruise Ship Analytics Maximizes Royal Caribbean’s Voyage Revenue

Royal Caribbean immediately reaped the benefits of a dazzling global deployment of Cruise Ship Analytics across 22 vessels and over 400 ports of call.

Success Criteria

Royal Caribbean required a single consolidated global view of their onboard and shore-based revenue performance as well as detailed revenue analysis for every ship within the fleet and for every voyage.  A successful implementation would facilitate the ability to refresh business intelligence data multiple times per day and accommodate 24 x 7 user access.    

High-level performance and data accuracy were critical success criteria.  Dashboards needed to be light and paint within a few seconds using satellite data connections. 

Accomplishments

Royal Caribbean found over time that the two major categories that really affect spend-patterns are nationality and age.  Reports were generated in this area and provided great insight.  The industry-related logic and integration of data sets to make this possible was extremely complex.

Key project accomplishments:

• An enterprise data warehouse was created and populated with data. 
• Data was combined from disparate sources  to provide a comprehensive view of each ship’s performance. 
• Leveraged LDAP for authentication.
• The solution was rolled-out 22 ships  located around the world with minimal  effort.
• Food & beverage managers, bar managers,  hotel directors, and marketing managers  were trained in a timely fashion.  Management teams were provided with  near real-time views of how each ship is  measuring against their voyage metrics. 
• Provided business intelligence to allow  shipboard management to modify onboard  activities to achieve desired results through  demographically targeted promotions.

Quantitative Results 

Return-on-Investment (ROI)

It is still early to quantify the impact of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution through a systematic measure, Royal Caribbean is already experiencing anecdotal return-on-investment (ROI) with their business intelligence solution because they are able to modify onboard marketing activities to specific demographics to maximize voyage revenue.

For example, if beverage revenue is lacking on a particular voyage, management can now identify this deficiency quickly and tailor promotions around a particular brand of beer (Molson) that has historically appealed a segment of guests on-board based on their country of origin (Canada). 

There has also been a specific case of a Royal Caribbean vessel that sails out of the South American region that has never made their revenue target with the onboard spa.  Using the information within the Cruise Ship Analytics solution, especially the demographic breakdown, the management teams were able to figure out what the profile was of those spending at the spa and to whom they needed to get marketing information and what specific products and services they needed to market. Since the launch of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution, the South American vessel has now been able to consistently achieve their revenue targets.  

Report lead-time has been reduced from up to 14 days to being refreshed 4-times per day (every 6 hours).

Adoption 

User adoption within Royal Caribbean’s Shipboard and Shore-side Management groups has been very high.  The solution currently supports over 150 users who are experiencing response times ranging from 0-30 seconds.  An additional 150 users are scheduled to be added.

Tags: Royal Caribbean , Oracle , Travel , Customer 360 Analytics , Business Intelligence , Hospitality , Retail BI

Subscribe to the Case Studies

• Case Studies
• Communications
• Consumer Goods
• Entertainment
• Environmental
• Hospitality
• Human Resources
• Manufacturing
• Medical Devices
• Pharmaceuticals
• Public Sector
• Business Intelligence
• Data Discovery
• ERP Analytics
• Marketing Analytics
• HR Analytics
• Customer 360 Analytics
• Planning and Consolidation
• Online NOSQL Databases
• Cloud Application Integration
• Cloud Master Data Management
• Delivery Leadership
• Product Engineering
• Informatica
• Salesforce.com
• Systems Implementation
• Application Extensions
• Migration Programs
• System Upgrades
• Acceleration Tools
• AMC Entertainment
• Bank of Hawaii
• Cox Communications
• Cricket Wireless
• Dealer Tire
• EMC Corporation
• Family Dollar
• GE Healthcare
• New York University
• PNC Financial Services
• Progressive Insurance
• Royal Caribbean
• San Diego Unified School District
• Savings Bank Life Insurance
• St. Jude Medical
• State of Louisiana
• Stiefel Laboratories
• Travis Credit Union
• University of California-Berkeley

VIEW ALL CASE STUDIES

KPI Partners provides strategic guidance and technology systems for clients wishing to solve complex business challenges involving cloud applications and big data. Learn more

• Technologies

Oracle | Tableau | Snowflake | AWS | Azure | Confluent Qlik | MapR | Cloudera | Hortonworks | DataStax | SAP Teradata | NetSuite | Salesforce | Attunity | Denodo |  Numerify View all

• Our Process
• BI & Data Warehousing

KPI Partners, Inc. 39899 Balentine Drive, Suite #212

Newark, CA 94560, USA Tel: (510) 818-9480

© 2022 KPI Partners

• College Catalog
• Events Calendar
• Current Students
• Future Students
• Faculty & Staff
• Business & Community

Tourism and Hospitality Management Proficiency Certificate

• College Catalog - 2024-2025
• Academic Calendar
• Academic Divisions
• Admissions Information
• College Costs
• College Information
• College Policies and Procedures
• Degree and Certificate Programs
• General Education Requirements
• Course Offerings
• Student Support Services
• Specialized Programs
• College Faculty & Staff
• Student Life - Beyond the Classroom
• Archived Catalogs

Description:

Those who pursue a career in tourism and hospitality management are involved in every aspect of their organization's many moving parts. From the front of the house to the back, people in hospitality management need a firm grasp of finance, marketing, and employee management to succeed. This proficiency certificate provides students with key foundational knowledge and skills they need to begin a career in the tourism and hospitality industry. This certificate covers a wide range of content, from foodservice to finances, to human resources and marketing, because knowing how to handle multiple facets of the industry will help students prepare for successful careers. Students may choose to continue in the Tourism and Hospitality Management AA degree as all of the credits apply to the Tourism and Hospitality Management program.

Program Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the Tourism and Hospitality Management proficiency certificate, students will be able to:

• Create favorable guest experiences by using professional service management techniques in a tourism and hospitality business environment.         
• Contribute to positive team performance in a hospitality business environment by appraising and managing one's own team-related competencies, in particular, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes considered transportable from one team to another.  
• Integrate human, financial, and physical resources management into tourism and hospitality operations and model the behaviors of effective, ethical leaders by demonstrating the fundamental principles of leadership.   
• Use professional written and oral communication skills and technology to successfully communicate.            
• Practice professional ethics, provide leadership, demonstrate personal and global responsibility, and work effectively as a team member.

Program Entry Requirements:

This certificate is open to interested students. Students are required to satisfy placement at the time of admission. Students who are identified as needing developmental course work must satisfactorily complete the appropriate English and mathematics courses as part of the certificate. 

Program of Study and Graduation Requirements:

Successful completion of the program requires a "C" grade or better in each of the courses listed.

Course Sequence:

Minimum credits needed to graduate:, for more information, contact:.

The Division of Business and Technology, Room B2-22, 1700 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130, Telephone (215) 751-8414; or the College Information Center (215) 751-8010.

• Please enter a valid email.
• Reminder: Republication of data obtained on this site is prohibited without written consent from CBRE Hotels Research Terms of Use
• Acknowledge

Stay in the Know

Latest news and research from cbre hotels.

Stay on top of industry trends and receive exclusive content.      Subscribe to our Newsletter

Global Research Tools

Cbre: research and insights, u.s. cap rate survey, q4 2023 u.s. hotel figures, cbre hotels: research center.

• Travel, Tourism & Hospitality ›
• Accommodation

Hotel  industry in the U.S. - statistics &  facts

What are the most popular hotel companies in the u.s., u.s. hotel industry key performance indicators (kpis), key insights.

Detailed statistics

Hotel room revenue in the U.S. 2019-2023

Selected cities with the highest hotel rates in the U.S. as of September 2023

Number of hotel jobs in the U.S. 2019-2022

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Current statistics on this topic.

U.S. hotel and motel industry market size 2012-2022

Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value

Revenue per available room of the U.S. hotel industry 2001-2022

Related topics

Recommended.

• Hotel industry worldwide
• Hotel industry in the UK
• Hotel industry in China
• Hotel market in Central and Eastern Europe
• Hotel industry in the Benelux

Recommended statistics

Industry overview.

• Premium Statistic U.S. hotel and motel industry market size 2012-2022
• Premium Statistic Hotel room revenue in the U.S. 2019-2023
• Premium Statistic Number of hotel jobs in the U.S. 2019-2022
• Premium Statistic Hotel generated state and local tax revenue in the U.S. 2019-2023
• Basic Statistic Selected cities with the highest hotel rates in the U.S. as of September 2023

Market size of the hotel and motel sector in the United States from 2012 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Hotel room revenue in the United States from 2019 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of hotel jobs in the United States from 2019 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in millions)

Hotel generated state and local tax revenue in the U.S. 2019-2023

Direct state and local tax revenue generated from hotels in the United States from 2019 to 2021, with a forecast for 2022 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Selected cities with the most expensive hotel rates in the United States as of September 2023 (in U.S. dollars)

Key players

• Premium Statistic Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value
• Premium Statistic Sales of biggest global hotel and resort companies 2023
• Premium Statistic Most positively viewed hotel brands in the U.S. Q3 2023
• Premium Statistic American Customer Satisfaction Index for hotel companies in the U.S. 2008-2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated luxury hotel brands in North America 2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated upper upscale hotel brands in North America 2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated upscale hotel brands in North America 2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated upper mid-scale hotel brands in North America 2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated mid-scale hotel brands in North America 2023
• Premium Statistic Highest-rated economy hotel brands in North America 2023

Leading hotel brands based on brand value worldwide in 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Sales of biggest global hotel and resort companies 2023

Leading hotel and resort companies worldwide in 2023, by sales (in billion U.S. dollars)

Most positively viewed hotel brands in the U.S. Q3 2023

Hotel brands that the public view the most positively in the United States as of Q3 2023

American Customer Satisfaction Index for hotel companies in the U.S. 2008-2023

American Customer Satisfaction Index scores for hotel companies in the United States from 2008 to 2023

Highest-rated luxury hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated luxury hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Highest-rated upper upscale hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated upper upscale hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Highest-rated upscale hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated upscale hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Highest-rated upper mid-scale hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated upper mid-scale hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Highest-rated mid-scale hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated mid-scale hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Highest-rated economy hotel brands in North America 2023

Highest-rated economy hotel brands in North America as of May 2023

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

• Premium Statistic ADR of hotels in the U.S. 2001-2022
• Premium Statistic Occupancy rate of the U.S. hotel industry 2001-2022
• Premium Statistic Revenue per available room of the U.S. hotel industry 2001-2022

ADR of hotels in the U.S. 2001-2022

Average daily rate of hotels in the United States from 2001 to 2022 (in U.S. dollars)

Occupancy rate of the U.S. hotel industry 2001-2022

Occupancy rate of the hotel industry in the United States from 2001 to 2022

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) of hotel industry in the United States from 2001 to 2022 (in U.S. dollars)

• Premium Statistic Forecast ADR of hotels in the U.S. 2022-2024
• Premium Statistic Forecast occupancy rate of the U.S. hotel industry 2022-2024
• Premium Statistic Forecast revenue per available room in the U.S. hotel industry 2022-2024

Forecast ADR of hotels in the U.S. 2022-2024

Forecast average daily rate of hotels in the United States from 2022 to 2024 (in U.S. dollars)

Forecast occupancy rate of the U.S. hotel industry 2022-2024

Forecast occupancy rate of hotel industry in the United States from 2022 to 2024

Forecast revenue per available room in the U.S. hotel industry 2022-2024

Forecast revenue per available room (RevPAR) of hotel industry in the United States from 2022 to 2024 (in U.S. dollars)

Further reports Get the best reports to understand your industry

Get the best reports to understand your industry.

Mon - Fri, 9am - 6pm (EST)

Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm (SGT)

Mon - Fri, 10:00am - 6:00pm (JST)

Mon - Fri, 9:30am - 5pm (GMT)