The "New Normal" in the (Post-)Viral Tourism

Journal of Business Research

South Asian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality, 2021

The rapid emergence and vast adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) have transformed tourism marketing strategies from a conservative, static marketing model to an emerging, transformative conception. The transformative power of ICT has created a paradigm shift in the tourism industry by providing an opportunity for tourism service providers and tourists to co-create value. Moreover, recent technological developments have paved the way for new markets, product/ service innovations, management practices, and competitive strategies, thus forming a complex socio-technical tourism ecosystem. Meanwhile, postmodern, digitally savvy tourists expect tourism service providers to be more active in digital platforms. Consequently, a burgeoning research stream has started looking into these new developments, capabilities, and changes driven by ICT advancement in the tourism and hospitality industry in recent times. Moreover, to better understand and anticipate these fundam...

Modern technologies, primarily information and communication technology (ICT), have a leading role in determining the future direction and pace of the tourism industry development as well as the establishment of new relations in the tourism market between supply and demand sides. Influences of modern technologies on tourism development and its forms are numerous and strong. This is reflected not only through the reservation systems and distribution channels, which are among the first to use the opportunities of modern technology in tourism industry, but also through increasingly stronger presence of ICT in different aspects of the tourism industry and tourists' behavior. This paper focuses on the impacts of ICT on the formation of new relations and emergence of new phenomena in the tourism market, changes in the tourism industry as well as changes in the tourists' behavior and decision-making process. Networking is a word that will designate the development of tourism and tourist destinations in the coming period. Thus, in this paper, special emphasis will be put on interrelations of information, technology, tourism and people (tourists) in any place at any time.

Electronic Markets, 1999

Over the passed decades, the travel and tourism sector has emerged into one of the most important sectors for developing as well as developed countries. Tourism incorporates many of the features of the information society such as globalization, mobility and information richness. People from all nations, social rank, professions and all different ways of life are potential tourists. Tourism, as a global industry, links a worldwide supplier community with consumers, equally distributed worldwide. Its physical and virtual networks enable worldwide traveling, bringing together very distant cultures and habits. The industry is diverse, the size of tourism principals varies from micro to global enterprises, the industry is partly fragmented whereas other parts like the airlines are concentrated into an oligopoly of global alliances. Information systems (IS) in tourism have been among the pioneers of leading edge technology applications: Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS) have been among the first international inter-organizational systems. Yield management systems are among the most advanced data mining applications. Tourism marketing systems typically represent the forefront of multi-media and virtual-reality applications. The World Wide Web is profoundly changing the production, distribution and consumption of touristic products. Information and communication technology (ICT) is probably the strongest driving force for changes within the tourism industry. Both industries, the ICT and the travel/tourism industry, are not only growing above average, they will also be among the most important industries in the next century. And both industries are closely interrelated and intertwined. The first part of the paper presents a structural view of the tourism industry, identifying the different types of players, the nature of the tourism business and tourism product. The second part gives a general introduction to the relationship between ICT and tourism and provides some empirical evidence of importance of tourism in the e-commerce sector. Part three gives a detailed account of the current transformation in the travel and tourism market.

Hsu, A., King, B., Wang, D., Buhalis, D., 2016, In-destination tour products and the disrupted tourism industry: progress and prospects, Information Technology & Tourism, Vol 17, pp.1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-016-0067-y Established inbound tour operators (ITOs) are being challenged by emerging competitors that have embraced technology-enabled innovations, including aspects that are associated with the collaborative or sharing economy. A variety of suppliers across the supply chain are now able to form a direct connection with customers through platform websites, thereby providing tech-savvy tourists with the capacity to create customized trips. Incumbent ITOs are now competing with emerging entrants that are responsive to customer needs because of their digital expertise. As the various provider categories have become less clear and as barriers to entry have fallen, tour service suppliers must consider the contemporary tourism ''ecosystem'' when formulating strategies. In the face of declining consumer demand for standardized tour products, there is an urgent need to consider changing tourist habits or tastes when introducing new in-destination options. In exploring the evolving features of the inbound tourism ecosystem, this paper draws upon the recent literature to focus on the distinguishing characteristics of innovative tour service and experiences. It identifies how tour suppliers respond to competitor actions, or embrace these features themselves. The authors adopt a multiple case study approach and assemble evidence from 17 examples of tourism start-ups in Taiwan. The paper concludes with implications for practitioners and suggestions for future research.

Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego. Service Management, 2015

Nowadays tourism economy is driven by information technology (IT) and telecommunications. All tourism oriented companies, such as tour operators, travel agencies, rental agencies, cruisers and hotels experience the growing impact of what is commonly known as information and communication technology (ICT). Tourism sector represents the information-intensive industry characterized by a significantly long value chain influenced, to a great extent, by information. Its creation, collection, storage, retrieval and transfer remain within the core activities of all tourism enterprises. Every single innovation in IT sector can potentially change the strategy followed by tourism companies in running a business. Such transformations are also imposed by tourists' behaviors which keep altering under the influence of information technology. The process of tourist services purchase is based on information collected through many different channels, e.g. travel agencies, brochures, the word-of-mouth, or web sides offered by tourist service suppliers, which are currently gaining much importance. Consumer decision making process in tourism sector is transformed into an online one, since direct service booking has become possible. Proper understanding of behaviors presented by those searching for travel information online, as well as using innovative information and communication technologies by tourists, remain essential for designing an effective ICT-based business model. Currently it seems to be the crucial challenge for the entire tourism sector. ICT is focused on designing the new scientific paradigm (by innovation, co-opetition, collaboration with customers) of tourism development based on modern e-technologies. The paper discusses the level of information and communication technologies application in the tourism sector. The study covers small and medium-size hotels (SMEs) and travel agencies which dominate the tourism industry worldwide. The article draws experience from the tourism industry in one of the most popular tourist destinations in Poland − Lower Silesia.

Journal of Tourism Futures, 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to speculate how recent and emerging trends in information and communication technology (ICT) could change the way tourism businesses and organizations communicate with and manage their guests. Design/methodology/approach This paper applies elements of futures and design thinking to analyze current tourism management practices and identify critical touchpoints that link tourist decisions to management strategies. Findings Fictional travel stories were used to identify and analyze how technology might affect tourism through five touchpoints– choice, connection, co-creation, customization and compliance. These stories were analyzed to identify changing forces and suggest potential paradigm shifts that tourism managers need to consider. These included increasingly complex content, the importance of compatible connections, and the critical role of coordination and cooperation in future tourism systems. Originality/value While there have been numerous...

Journal of Information Systems and Operations Management, 2013

Recent advances in technologies adjust the traditional business model in tourism, and it is expected to create new ones. The question is if companies could understand the benefit from becoming even more innovative and creative when it comes to their „smart” business strategies, in order to fully differentiate these efforts from traditional business operations. Even more, many of the traditional consumers, in the new context of ICTs development, have changed their buying habits and the consumption behaviour. They act different now, they changed the way of interacting with the others and with the business suppliers, and they also became more interested in taking part at the creation process. But are these the essential characteristics of the next generation tourists?

2020

At the end of the 20 th century in the most developed countries economy and society went through profound transformation. The emerging post-industrial society can be characterised by the dominance of service industry, more leisure time of the population, higher disposable income and more conscious consumers. These conscious consumers are more and more quality orientated and reject undifferentiated mass products. New customers of tourism and hospitality industry are not only more affluent -so less price conscious -and more quality orientated but they are also seeking activity, participation, fantasy, and experience. These new types of tourists are interested rather in aesthetic aspects of life and are seeking highly differentiated, personalised experience. In the following article the authors, professors of the French ESSCA business school overview theoretical aspects of new, post-Fordist tourism demand and present examples of the new tourism and hospitality products having emerged in the developed countries during the last years.