A Research on Innovation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Tourism Industry: Case of Travel Agencies Operating in Antalya

Abstract

There has been a growing focus on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in tourism industry. Innovation has been playing an increasing role in hospitality industry, and is especially important for the SMEs as well as travel agencies. However, innovation research has been applied to SMEs in hospitality industry on a limited extent. This paper discusses various definitions of innovation and innovation approaches in the context of SMEs in tourism industry. The objective of the paper is to reveals innovation activities of the travel agencies as one of the SMEs in tourism industry. In addition, the paper aims to reveal the relationship between innovation and the operating age of travel agency, and total personnel number of travel agency. To this end, a questionnaire was prepared. Questionnaires were employed to travel agencies operating in Antalya Province which has been known as the capital city of tourism in Turkey. Results have shown that improvements in the production process are so important in the survival of travel agencies. There is a significant relationship between ‘service innovation’ and ‘operating age’. There is also a significant relationship between ‘organizational innovation’ and ‘number of personnel’.