Tourism Innovation Research Articles

An integrated system for tourism destination management: reflections and proposal of a conceptual model from the perspective of hospitality

This report presents the experience of the implementation of the “Tourism Observatory | SIGESTur” project, an action developed at the Federal Institute of São Paulo (IFSP Campus Cubatão). The project began in 2016, as result of academic research and university extension activity. This work reports and analyzes the results of the project, and proposes a model for innovative management of tourism destinations in the Brazilian context. In its first year, the project was considered one of the ten most innovative ideas in Brazilian tourism, at the I Tourism Innovation Camp, a contest promoted by the Panrotas portal with technical support from Sebrae (national development agency). In 2017, the case entitled “Hospitality and hostility relations among stakeholders: Influences in the competitiveness of tourist destinations” received an award during the IV World Research Summit for Tourism and Hospitality, a congress held in Orlando (USA). The project consists of two work fronts. For the elaboration of this report of experience, bibliographical and documentary research were carried out. The data analysis was done in 2019 to ensure that all previous actions were recorded. In the results, the establishment of a model is highlighted, for collecting, processing and analyzing data and distributing information to professionals in the travel and tourism industry.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ ОКАЗАНИЯ ТУРИСТСКО-РЕКРЕАЦИОННЫХ УСЛУГ В УСЛОВИЯХ ЦИФРОВИЗАЦИИ

After the advent of the Internet, travel planning has become not only relevant, but also a visual process. Potential tourists book hotels, studying their interior in advance; familiarize themselves with places of recreation and infrastructure of the receiving destination, without leaving the house.; comparing prices; study the feedback of visitors. The modern tourism business is forced to increasingly use information and communication tools in competition for the client. In the scientific literature, the concepts of “virtual tourism” and “virtual tour” are increasingly appearing, and the authors of the articles justify their advantages. Based on a study of publications, it was revealed that Russian economists consider virtual tourism as a new type of tourism, foreign authors use the concepts of “virtual tour” and “virtual reality” more. The development of information technologies takes tourism and recreation organizations to a new level of development. The purpose of the article is to determine the essence of virtual tourism: this is a new type of tourism, innovations in tourism in the context of digitalization or another worldview. This study, conducted by us, will allow us to revise the approach to the traditional definition of “tourism,” which is legally entrenched in Russian practice.

Tourism orientation as a business paradigm for the development of united territorial communities

The subject of the research is tourist orientation as a component of the business paradigm of development of territorial communities of Ukraine The purpose of the study is to substantiate the theoretical foundations and criteria for the formation of a new business paradigm of tourism orientation of rural communities. General scientific and special research methods are used. Scientific method - for systematization of existing theoretical approaches to the researched problem; analysis and synthesis (for detailing the object and subject of research and their generalization); abstract-logical (in the formation of generalizations, conclusions and proposals; the method of systematic approach - in considering tourist orientation as a system consisting of a number of interconnected elements, and, interacting, affects the communication and social efficiency of rural communities; the method of scientific abstraction - when allocating stable, typical connections in tourism orientation, which allowed to form criteria for assessing the tourist orientation of communities. Tourist orientation as a direction of formation of business paradigm of development of united communities is investigated. It is established that the strengthening of the tourism-oriented component will contribute to the creation of an innovative tourism product and attract new consumers. The main approaches to customer orientation are studied, the connection between the defined definition and tourist orientation is established. The own definition of tourist orientation of communities is offered. The stages of formation of a positive tourist-oriented environment are outlined. The principles of tourist orientation are described, cognitive marketing is defined as the basis for the formation of consumer loyalty. The criteria of tourist orientation are given and the indicators that characterize it are determined. The results of the study can be used to develop an effective strategy for rural development, taking into account and evaluating the criteria identified by the study at the stage of forming a business paradigm of tourism orientation of the community will increase investment in infrastructure, dissemination of information technology, restoration, reconstruction, objects of historical and cultural heritage, the formation of information, cognitive and tourist competencies of community residents. Key words: united communities, tourism orientation, tourism development, business paradigm, tourist impressions, cognitive marketing.

Importance of Storytelling

A well-told story has always been the cornerstone of good marketing and business, that is, »sales« and products and destinations. Faced with increasing competitiveness and increasingly demanding visitors seeking active nature tourism and integrated facilities, tourism stakeholders face the challenges of designing innovative tourism content that will, above all, »tell the story« and create a full, multisensory experience. Main ingredient of this holistic approach to destination development reflects primarily in the fact that the community is involved into all facets of development. The location turns into a destination once a location is harmonized with the needs of the tourists. Involving visitors in the life of the destination decreases the negative impact tourism might have and creates sustainability. How does this process work in the case of natural disasters or pandemic crises? How can storytelling become an important vehicle for connecting people and creating a disaster resilient cultural heritage? What are the tools in disaster risk management especially when we talk about cultural heritage? The underlying question is also: how do/may social innovation/participatory governance contribute to a more resilient and inclusive, cultural heritage and how can such approaches be improved and applied across Europe? This paper will explain the importance of storytelling in the context of pandemic crises as COVID-19 is, but also other natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods that are due to climate change and manmade influence more frequent than ever. Based on the results of research and examples of good practice (Croatian and European), this paper will identify basic steps and tools that can help both private and public stakeholders create quality product and content. By using examples of case studies, it will also argue that innovative approaches and participatory governance could contribute to a more resilient and inclusive cultural heritage and ultimately desired tourist destinations.

THE OPPORTUNITY OF DEVELOPING RURAL WELLBEING TOURISM IN PUGLIA REGION, ITALY IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The tourism industry is facing nowadays a wide range of issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic or accentuated by it. The dramatic decline in tourist flows in every destination forced stakeholders to rethink the actual model of business and to adapt to the new reality. The need for social distancing and the fear of tourists to visit crowded places prepared the field for more sustainable tourist activity, based on green products and services. In this context, new and innovative products like rural wellness tourism can take momentum and offer the visitors the opportunity of spending the free time in nature, in less polluted areas and with a higher impact of health.
 Italy is one of the most representative tourist destinations worldwide, with a wide range of attractions that make both urban and rural spots to be visited annually by millions of tourists. Tourism also supports the local economy and helps local communities from less developed regions to diversify their sources of income, as is the case of Puglia region, known for its agricultural potential. Puglia is one of the Italian regions where local authorities encourage the development of tourist activities, especially those specific to the ecotourism niche, as a real alternative to agriculture. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, ecotourism can represent the solution for a faster economic recovery of the southern region of the country that was dramatically affected by the lockdown imposed by the authorities in the first part of 2020. Based on the wellness tradition from the region and the international reputation of the Termes from this area, Puglia region can develop the concept of rural wellbeing tourism and promote a more sustainable tourist model.
 The present paper analyses the potential of Puglia region to introduce in its offer rural wellbeing tourism packages taking into account the profile of a spa and thermal center in the area in terms of structure and business model. The results were obtained by applying a structured questionnaire in one of the most representative thermal units in the region and the answers were interpreted using Qualitative Content Analysis. The results show that Puglia region could thrive the concept of rural wellbeing tourism and adapt it to the particularities of the area. Adopting such an innovative tourist concept that is based on a sustainable way to explore natural resources would have a significant impact on Italian tourism by creating a new trend among tourists. In this regard, the guests will have another opportunity to spend their holidays more sustainably, with a considerably lower impact on the environment.

포스트 코로나에 대응하는 정부의 혁신적인 관광정책 연구

The purpose of this study is to explore innovative tourism policies in preparation for the post-COVID-19 era. Each local government should support the related laws and systems so that various tourist contents can be developed and distributed in preparation for post-COVID-19. It is time to have tourism policy to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era while safely activating the domestic tourism industry. Therefore, this study aims to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era by presenting innovative tourism policies of tourism industry, which is one of the most hit areas due to COVID-19. The innovative tourism policy of the post-COVID-19 era was presented, and the contents are as follows: (a) the development of drive-through tourism model, (b) the response to overtourism, (c) the cultivation of leisure industry that offers innovative marine culture tourism experience, (d) the establishment of tourism infrastructure in rural areas corresponding to urban tourism which is characterized as a new paradigm of tourism - smart tourism, (e) the creation tourism environment that supports tourism in North Korea, and (f) the revitalization of the convergence tourism industry which can be permeated in to everyday life. Macroscopically, the tourism industry should respond to climate change immediately and participate in the revitalization of tourism on the Korean peninsula. The tourism industry will be an important leverage to create a future Korean economy in the post-COVID-19 era. The transition of the idea that the current crisis of tourism industry is an opportunity will contribute to advancing the tourism of Korea in the post-COVID-19 era. Based on the analysis of previous studies, this study draws meaningful implications for future research.

Supporting the Development of Homestay Tourism in the Yangtze River Delta: A Study Based on Tourists' Perceived Value

Homestay tourism has begun to flourish throughout the country, becoming a model of tourism innovation and upgrading, and attracting increasing amounts of capital. Through the collection and analysis of tourist questionnaire data for key cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and based on the theory of tourists' perceived value,18 factors related to the perception of homestay tourism are examined. Through exploratory factor analysis, three main factors of facilities and environment perception, cultural experience perception and service value perception are extracted. Then, from the perspectives of each of these perceptions, this study determines the degree of support for homestay tourism development in the Yangtze River Delta, obtains the key factors that affect the development of homestay tourism, and constructs a structural equation model of tourist perception and the degree of homestay tourism support. By calculating the regression path of the structural equation, the standardized path coefficients of the facilities and environment perception, cultural experience perception and service value perception are found to be 0.724, 0.813 and 0.692, respectively. These three factors have a significant impact on the development of homestay tourism agglomeration. Positive facilities and environmental perception can effectively support the development of homestay tourism, while the cultural experience perception provides its basic condition, and the service value perception constitutes an important factor of homestay tourism development. To better guide the development of homestay tourism, attention must be paid to developing the tourism facilities and environment, to cultivating tourism cultural experiences, and to improving of tourism service value.

뉴실버세대의 필요와 욕구에 기초를 둔 혁신적 웰니스관광 콘텐츠 개발 및 포지셔닝전략 방안 모색

뉴실버세대의 필요와 욕구에 기초를 둔 혁신적 웰니스관광 콘텐츠 개발 및 포지셔닝전략 방안 모색

뉴실버세대의 필요와 욕구에 기초를 둔 혁신적 웰니스관광 콘텐츠 개발 및 포지셔닝전략 방안 모색

뉴실버세대의 필요와 욕구에 기초를 둔 혁신적 웰니스관광 콘텐츠 개발 및 포지셔닝전략 방안 모색

Airbnb and hotels: friends, enemies or frenemies?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the intricate relationship between the flagship of the sharing economy, Airbnb and hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachTo identify the impact of Airbnb on hotel RevPAR, the paper used a triple difference-in-differences framework that compares changes in cities in South Africa where Airbnb started operating relative to areas without Airbnb. A total of 569 hotels were analysed.FindingsWhile the study finds no evidence of adverse impacts of Airbnb on hotel RevPAR, the findings show that the entry of Airbnb led to a decrease in RevPAR of budget hotels. However, its impact is more pronounced during periods of peak demand, consequently, disrupting the pricing power of hotels.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was based on the impact of Airbnb on hotel RevPAR in hotels situated in specific cities in South Africa. Caution is therefore required when generalising the findings of this study to other hotels in other geographic areas. Moreover, if a longer time series data set of hotels in the post-Airbnb time period could become available, it would be interesting to further investigate the time-varying dynamic effects of Airbnb on hotel RevPAR. However, the findings underscore the notion that innovations are not intrinsically disruptive but only relative to another product. In so doing, the study adds to the limited body of work in the field on disruptive innovation and to the academic discourse on innovation in tourism more broadly.Practical implicationsFirst, the findings suggest the impact on hotels tends towards Airbnb generally playing a largely complementary role rather than a diversionary one. However, to increase RevPAR, hotels should systematically change their pricing models to account for flexible capacity by rethinking the wisdom of seasonal pricing and reduce prices during peak seasons to avoid inviting more competition from Airbnb.Originality/valueTo the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the relationship between Airbnb and hotel markets using a triple difference methodology.

Innovative tourism product as a factor in the development of the tourism industry

The research of the conformation and development of innovative tourist products is a current problem today. The article summarized and systematized the innovative features of the tourist product in order to build the tourist industry and increase the competitiveness of the tourist industry. It stated that innovation is a necessary process in creating a new attractive tourist product, also in creating сonducive conditions for intensifying the activity of investors in the tourist sphere of the country. The following types of innovations in the tourist industry are listed, namely: product, technological, marketing, service, organizational and management innovations and innovations of logistics. The competitive strengths which should be the basis of formation of competitiveness of Ukraine in the field of tourist business, are highlighted, namely: unique healing climate, numerous territories with therapeutic opportunities, considerable historical and cultural potential, attractiveness of our country's tourist industry for foreign investment. Also defined are the problematic directions regarding the tourist attractiveness of Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the state should support the development of tourist business in Ukraine in accordance with the following principles: to provide financing in accordance with the needs of the industry, to create favorable conditions for its further development, to determine and maintain priority directions of the development of the industry, to support and protect the Ukrainian and foreign tourists, tour operators and agents and their associations. The popular and new innovative directions of tourist, trends and technologies that are currently in demand with tourists are identified. Each tourist trend direction is described. The main requirements are listed and proposals are made to create an innovative tourist product.

INNOVATIVE DIRECTIONS OF INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF STATE REGULATION IN THE REGIONAL TOURIST SPHERE

Introduction. From an economic point of view, the tourism industry is a sector that can provide a high income for relatively small investments in innovative tourism. Over the past 10-15 years, Ukraine has experienced negative trends associated with the decline of industrial areas, the outflow of labor abroad, unstable government policy, which, in turn, has affected tourism. However, despite this, the service sector is one of the promising areas of economic development of Ukraine. The purpose of this article is research of innovative directions of increasing the efficiency of state regulation in the regional tourist sphere. Results. The article analyzes the tourist flows of Mykolaiv region, which allow so identify general trends in the development and interest of potential consumers of tourist services in the visited areas and general trends in the activity of tourists – citizens of Ukraine going abroad. The general analysis of tourist flows of the Mykolaiv area for 2000-2017 is carried out that exacerbates a problem of necessity of effective directions development of the regional tourist sphere taking into account regional peculiarities and problems of development of innovative processes in the tourist sphere. Conclusions. The current legal framework governing the activities of business entities in the market of tourist services in Ukraine is not perfect, it contains a significant contradiction between the priorities and objectives of state tourism policy, it is characterized by a certain declarativeness, which is not supported by appropriate mechanisms to stimulate the development of domestic tourism business in general and foreign tourism in particular. Most legal regulations governing tourism are not properly enforced, which hampers the solution of many complex problems in the tourism industry. Measures to improve the regulatory framework should be aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of domestic tourism business and real economic mechanisms to stimulate the development of the tourism industry. Key words: tourism, recreation, market of tourist services, innovations of tourism, infrastructure, tourist streams, strategy.

Impacto de Eventos Innovadores para la Dinamización del Turismo

Existen diversos motivos que generan brechas y debilidad en la competitividad del país turísticamente y en la explotación de atractivos naturales, culturales y sociales. Estos son: la ineficiente explotación de productos y servicios a escala internacional; no ver al turismo como una fuente de ingresos para la economía, la poca promoción, estrategias de bajo impacto, falta de calidad e innovación. Bajo este precepto la presente investigación tiene el objetivo de analizar el impacto de los eventos innovadores como medio para dinamizar el sector turístico en una nación, considerando que la explotación turística genera un desarrollo económico sostenible sin el perjuicio del desgaste de los recursos naturales, para lo cual se aplicó la metodología cualitativa de revisión literaria de fuentes secundarias de alto impacto, lo que garantiza la calidad de la información consultada y analizada, donde se pudo concluir que en el marco de este tipo de turismo se generan nuevas propuestas con contenidos culturales innovadores y sofisticados, donde la creación de eventos turísticos innovadores acrecentará la dinamización de destinos por medio de sus visitantes y el desarrollo económico a nivel país.

The Future and Challenges of Applying Innovative Technologies in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Asia

Technological innovation is a major actor in the tourism and hospitality industry over the past few decades. Technology shrinks costs by replacing expensive human labor with innovative labor of technology itself. Innovative technology use boosts operational efficiency and improves customer services and experiences. This chapter aims to underpin the future challenges of using new technological innovations in Asia’s tourism and hospitality industry by answering the following questions: Will growing technological innovation flourish tourism and hospitality business in Asia? Can technology knit the Asian region with the rest of the world into a one-touch digital electronic market place? Would the use of new technology in the Asian tourism industry transmit world culture and infiltrate the conservative Asian ideas and tradition by eroding previous generations’ values? Can reduced travel costs harm Asian travel business by shifting the customers into Europe? What would be the impact of using increased technological innovation in tourism on the environment? These questions’ answers will show whether applying innovation in tourism changes the game rules and saturate the market.

Transformative Tourism as an Innovative Tool for Rural Development

Abstract This conceptual article identifies major changes in the 21st century society that gave birth to a new generation of cultural tourists and to an innovative type of cultural tourism business that meets their needs – transformative tourism. The transformative tourism business is analysed as an integral part of a transition from the paradigm of industrial to post-industrial servitized economic system by implementation of three major paradigm innovations. The research related to the development of paradigm innovations in cultural tourism provides an opportunity to supplement the existing knowledge not only about innovative ways of cultural tourism development in rural regions, but also about general challenges facing the rural development in the post-industrial society.

The creation of innovative tourism products via local actor analysis and their organization in the territory

Over decades, tourism has grown steadily and has become increasingly diverse, becoming one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. Indeed, among all this forms of tourism, emerging geological tourism in recent years is considered as an alternative that can be associated with classical tourism, which constitutes a presentation of the geological and geomorphological heritage of a territory and highlights the Enormous geological and cultural diversity. Our study forms part of the ongoing work on a territorial project which aims the structuring of these resources/territory (what can be done? what happens? Offers, events). The valorization, mobilization and combination of these resources are made to give various forms of geological tourism in a transversal and territorial approach.

Research on the Development of Coastal Rural Tourism in China from the Perspective of Industrial Integration

Li, J., 2020. Research on the development of coastal rural tourism in china from the perspective of industrial integration. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 271-273. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Rural tourism, as a new industry combining agriculture and tourism, has received increasing attention from the whole society. However, there are still some deficiencies in the development of the coastal city rural tourism industry. The development foundation of rural tourism industry in coastal cities is good, but the development constraints cannot be ignored. With the rapid economic development, rural tourism has been developing rapidly. With the diversification of consumer demand and the improvement of quality of life, it is necessary for us to re-understand the countryside and rural tourism, grasp the ecology, format and culture of the countryside in an all-round way, and enhance the product quality and innovation of rural tourism on this basis. Industrial integration is an important path of tourism innovation and development. Based on the perspective of industrial integration, this paper analyzes the development of rural tourism in coastal areas of China, and combined with the actual situation of rural areas in coastal cities, trying to explore the future direction of rural tourism development in coastal cities.

New Silk Road infrastructure opportunities in developing tourism environment for residents better quality of life

Residents’ communities feature to make innovative tourism development strategies. Residents play an indispensable role in developing policies and sustainable tourism infrastructure projects. A few research studies have sought to understand the animated influence of sustainable tourism opportunities on residents’ life. The study examines how tourism opportunities enhance residents’ quality of life in the context of the New Silk Road Initiative. The main objective of the current research study is to analyze the interplay of perceived impacts of New Silk Road tourism infrastructure development on local communities’ perception of sustainable tourism development and perceived quality of life. Previous researches were focusing on sustainable tourism projects incorporated various approaches to describe the linkage between the chosen variables. This study built and tested a causal model that specified the direct and indirect interconnections of perceived tourism infrastructure, sustainable tourism development, and residents’ perception of the quality of life. This study incorporated a self-administered questionnaire to collect data sets from Kazakhstan’s residents. The findings indicated that both direct and indirect effects of the New Silk Road Initiative of tourism infrastructure exhibited significant and positive influence on residents’ quality of life through residents’ perceived sustainable tourism development. The results indicated that the New Silk Road Initiative for tourism infrastructure positively effects developing sustainable tourism opportunities, which, in turn, escalates residents’ life quality. Besides, findings are useful in designing the promotions of sustainable tourism governance and residents’ welfare under New Silk Road Infrastructural Projects. However, solely tourism infrastructure strategies cannot improve residents’ quality of life. Economic, social, cultural, and environmental factors are vital to developing sustainable tourism at the destinations and need concentration to stimulate and ensure the positive impact of tourism infrastructure on specific beneficial outcomes. The findings’ implications are useful in developing more infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan.

Challenges in initiating Tarsius fuscus’ creative ecotourism at Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park

Tarsius fuscus (tarsier) has a high potential to be developed as a tourism attraction at Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park (Babul NP). This study aims to identify challenges in developing sustainable tourism of Tarsius fuscus. Surveys, interviews, and documentation methods were employed in collecting data. Data were analyzed quantitatively and by using descriptive analysis, potential tourism analysis, internal factor and external factor evaluation analysis, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. Babul NP has potential resources that can be used to enhance tourism, such as Tarsius fuscus that serves as the main attraction, its habitat’ beautiful panorama, and local communities who can play a role in tourism. Nevertheless, the initiation and development of tarsier tourism face difficulties because infrastructure is limited, it is not a primary program of the management, tarsiers are not popular among tourists, and promotion is limited. It requires management effort and great advertising. It also needs to use all of the potency, especially using abandoned potency such as culture and tradition of the local community. It opens the opportunity of tourists to involve actively (co-creation) in tourism. This strategy to initiate and develop this tourism will form a new model and innovation of tourism, namely Tarsius fuscus creative eco-tourism.

Rethinking Emotions and Destination Experience: An Extended Model of Goal-Directed Behavior

This research aims to extend the model of goal-directed behavior, by deepening its emotional path and including new variables to predict tourist behavioral intention: hedonism, destination experience, and tourism innovativeness. Based on a final sample of 457 European tourist nationals, the findings showed the significant influence of hedonism and tourism innovativeness on tourist desire. In addition, findings uncover the mediating role of hedonism on the emotional path. The findings also extend previous research by revealing that not all destination experience dimensions (sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual) equally influence tourist behavioral intention. Indeed, only sensory and intellectual destination experience dimensions were found to affect behavioral intention. The findings have important implications for tourism managers crafting destination experiences and contribute to tourism research by presenting a more comprehensive framework of goal-directed behavior applied to tourism.