The digital revolution in the travel and tourism industry

Abstract

The digital revolution is radically changing the world we live in. Sensors in smart homes are able to interconnect devices such as thermostats, washing machines, television sets, laptops, tablets, and other objects to the Internet of Things platforms. New digital technologies have introduced important innovations in factories, hospitals, hotels, cities and territories. Industry 4.0 is signaling the end of well-established patterns and is asking scholars, managers and citizens willing to survive in this everchanging and increasingly complex environment to observe it through different lenses and new paradigms. The tourism sector, also, is very much involved in digital transformations, increasingly qualifying them with expressions such as Tourism 4.0 or Smart Tourism. What impact does the digital revolution have on tourism? What do tourism 4.0 and smart tourism have in common? What are the main differences? Adopting a conceptual approach and focusing on the travel and tourism industry, our work aims to provide a point of view and some preliminary answers to the above questions. In paragraph 1 we illustrate the main changes brought about by the digital revolution 4.0 in industry, the Web, and tourism. Then, the concepts of tourism 4.0 and smart tourism are compared in Sect. 2. Section 3 illustrates how the consumer experience of digital tourists changes before, during, and after the trip. Paragraphs 4 and 5 illustrate the challenges of tourism destinations and tourism ecosystems in the smart perspective. In the final section of the paper, we highlight that in the near future it will not be possible for tourism ecosystems and territories to only take into account digital innovations, but they will have to include smart tourism perspectives like sustainability, circular economy, quality of life, and social value; they should also aim to enhance tourism experiences and to increase the competitive advantage of smart tourism destinations. Tourism 4.0 technologies need to be geared toward the improvement of the quality of tourism practices, assuming smartness and sustainability as the right paradigm for improving the quality of life and the social value of both guests and local residents.

Determinants of the Propensity for Innovation among Entrepreneurs in the Tourism Industry

“…The investments of the tourism sector in communication systems [1] are generating innovation in their products, processes and organisation [135]. Moreover, the literature on technological innovation in the tourism sector adapts the well-known concept of Industry 4.0, establishing the concept of Tourism 4.0 [136], a new ecosystem which is based on the paradigm of the production of high-tech services [137]. Typical 4.0 industry technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) can help to unlock the innovative potential of the tourism sector [138].…”

Impact of Resources on the Development of Local Entrepreneurship in Industry 4.0

“…The activities of municipalities on the Internet and the development of digital products to influence consumer purchasing decisions are also important [75]. According to the Pencarella study (2019), in the near future, tourism ecosystems and territories will not only be able to rely only on digital innovations, but will have to take intelligent tourism prospects into account, such as sustainability, closed economy, quality of life and social value; they should also strive to improve the quality of tourism and increase the competitive advantage of intelligent tourist destinations [59].…”

“…Tourism has been quick to jump onto the emerging Industry 4.0 trend, embracing increased technological development within its own framework of Tourism 4.0 [58]. Tourism 4.0 may be referred to as a new tourism value eco-system built upon a highly technology-based service production paradigm and supported by the common principles of Industry 4.0, namely interoperability, virtualization, decentralization, real-time data gathering and analysis capability, service orientation, and modularity [59]. Tourists become more educated and open to travel; companies and associations play an increasingly important role in ensuring the development of tourism, whereas the Internet becomes the dominant form of promotion and customer acquisition.…”

Tourism 4.0 technologies and tourist experiences: a human-centered design perspective

“…It is therefore not surprising that tourism has been quick to jump onto the emerging Industry 4.0 trend, embracing increased technological development within is own framework of Tourism 4.0. Tourism 4.0 may be referred to as a new tourism value eco-system built upon a highly technology-based service production paradigm and supported by the common principles of Industry 4.0, namely interoperability, virtualization, decentralization, real-time data gathering and analysis capability, service orientation, and modularity (Pencarelli, 2019 ).…”

“…The possible consequences are technostress, information overload, dehumanization and depersonalization of tourist experiences, human rights violations, perceived riskiness of technology use, and ultimately tourist experience value destruction (Dinçer et al 2020 ; Kim and Qu 2014 ; Lee et al 2014 ). Pencarelli ( 2019 ) pinpoints that Tourism 4.0, in practice, often lacks a people-orientation and a sustainability component, and focuses mostly on the efficiency of new technological solutions. In these contexts, HCD becomes critically important for ensuring that technology use does not harm humans or undermine the many benefits that can be derived from tourism.…”