1. Introduction
Globalization and intense competition force organizations to be flexible and adaptable to constant changes in the market. According to many researchers, innovation is a crucial source of competitive advantage in the continuously changing environment [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Many studies in the area of management present innovation as one of the most significant factors for enhancing organizational performance [3,7,8,9,10].
Innovation is defined by Schumpeter [11] under the categories of product innovation, marketing innovation, process innovation, management innovation and input innovation. However, researchers from different fields (economists, technologists, sociologists and others) understand innovation differently and address different aspects of innovation [12].
Innovation in the tourism industry is multidimensional. Nowadays, tourists are more flexible and experienced than tourists in the past. The way that they live supports the need for innovation, and therefore companies have to respond efficiently to the increased tourism demand [13].
This demand is a powerful generator of growing competition in the global tourism market. For this reason, innovation is a key factor in the development of tourism. In order for tourism firms to be successful, they have to continuously adapt to demand-side changes [14]. Thus, tourism firms need to innovate constantly due to the speed and ease with which their competitors can adopt successful ideas. In this spirit, it is important to identify innovations that are difficult for competitors to copy [15]. Hence, the first part of the paper refers to the role of innovation in the tourism industry, as well as to the managerial innovations in this specific industry. To this end, it analyzes the factors that affect the capability of a firm to manage innovation through corporate strategy, organizational structure, management style, knowledge management, technology, innovation processes and employee management, with the final purpose of achieving sustainable development.
The second part of our analysis presents the impact of innovations in technology on the tourism industry. Tourism is a part of the economy where technology plays an essential role by assisting businesses with daily operations, while at the same time improving the customer experience and making a destination more desired by potential visitors. For this reason, it is important that hotels, restaurants, airlines and other companies keep up with the latest technology trends.
It is interesting to notice that the managerial innovations and the technological advances in the tourism industry are not only large but also continuously growing. Especially during the recent period of the COVID pandemic, the use and development of appropriate and up-to-date tools, with respect to the management and technology that tourism companies incorporate into their functions, are not simply a desire but a necessity. This paper aims to present a thorough review of the related empirical literature on these issues and attempts to provide a general picture of the latest research findings on the role of management and technological advances in the tourism industry. Finally, our analysis highlights and investigates the critical factors of management and technology that are beneficial for businesses’ prosperity and profitability as related to the tourism industry.
2. Innovation Research
Innovation is considered as a crucial source of competitive advantage in a constantly changing environment [2,6]. Innovation capability is the most important determinant of organizational performance [9].
Definitions of innovation emphasize different aspects of the term. The first definition of innovation according to Schumpeter [11] is divided into “the categories of product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, input innovation and organizational innovation”. The European Commission [16] defined innovation as “new or renewed product/services, new markets, new production methods and changes in management”. Then, Hansen and Wakonen [17] stated that “it is practically impossible to do things identically”, which renders any change an innovation by default.
From Porter [18] until now, “not only innovation has been analyzed but also the factors that influence the ability to manage innovation”. Smith [19] identified some factors that affect the ability of a company to manage innovation. These key factors are “leadership/management style, resources, organizational structure, technology, corporate strategy, knowledge management, employees and innovation process”.
In addition, Peres [20] emphasized “the importance of innovation diffusion, as the process of new products, service market penetration that is empowered by social influences”. Many innovation studies focus on manufacturing firms [21,22,23,24,25,26,27].
However, researchers are also interested in service sector innovation [28,29,30,31,32]. Nevertheless, it must be noted that there are difficulties in measuring innovation because of the intangibility, interactivity, inseparability and variability of services [33,34]. For the above reasons, human resources (employees’ skills, abilities and experiences), organization of the innovation process, innovation outputs (service innovations can be adopted from competitors easily, so innovations must be constantly developed), communications technology (ICT) and intangibility information are the most important technologies for the service sector.
3. Innovation in the Tourism Industry
Innovation is a tool for achieving economic success, environmental sustainability and competitiveness. Thus, tourism firms should innovate constantly. It is also mentioned that innovation in tourism is quite valuable in creating a sustainable advantage for tourism destinations over other destinations [35,36,37], due to the speed with which competitors can copy successful ideas. Therefore, it is necessary that innovations be difficult for competitors to adopt. In the field of tourism, the types of innovations proposed by Abernathy and Clark [38] are
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regular, which includes investing to increase productivity and training personnel to be more efficient in order to raise standards and quality;
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niche, including firms taking advantage of business opportunities, increasing their network in the market and developing new products by combining existing ones;
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revolutionary, involving applying new technologies in order to implement new methods in the market;
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architectural, aiming to develop new attractions and events and transferring the use of new research-based knowledge, including processes performed in the most optimal way.
Later, Hjalager [39] presented five types of innovation, which are
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product or service innovations: these include changes that can be noticed easily by customers (or tourists). They may be something “new” that they have not seen before or just new for the specific enterprise or at a particular destination;
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process innovations: these are changes that aim to improve the levels of efficiency and productivity or technology in a company;
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managerial innovations: these concern new ways of organizing business processes, compensating exemplary work with financial or non-financial benefits, empowering staff and improving employee satisfaction. Applying practices that retain employees are extremely beneficial in the tourism industry, as it is highly labor sensitive;
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marketing innovations: these include new marketing concepts, such as co-production of brands and loyalty programs;
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institutional innovations: these are new forms of co-operation and organizational structure, such as alliances, networks and clusters.
However, it is hard to differentiate among the previous types of innovation (product/service, process, managerial, institutional and marketing innovations), since there is a close relationship among them. For instance, a firm that needs to develop changes in marketing without technology investments (which belong to the process innovation) is impossible. In this paper, we focus on managerial innovations, as there is little research concerning this type of innovation in the tourism industry [40].
4. Managerial Innovations in the Tourism Industry
Managerial innovations play a meaningful role in increasing the effectiveness and competitiveness of firms to generate economic growth [41]. They provide a firm the capability to improve its structure, to adopt new managerial ideas and processes, to enable strategic renewal and to promote organizational change. Tourism organizations can easily imitate the most valuable innovations among them [42]; however, management innovation is difficult to replicate and challenging to imitate due to its organization-specific nature [43]. Hence, this kind of innovation assists companies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage and increase competitiveness [1,44].
In particular, managerial innovations are “new organizational structures, management practices, administrative systems, processes and techniques that could create value for the organization” [45,46]. Types of this innovation include total quality management (TQM), quality circle, just-in-time production and 360-degree feedback [47]. Increasing attention is being paid to the crucial role of managerial innovation in developing strategies for increasing economic growth, organizational performance and adopting organizational changes [42,48].
The main factors that influence a firm’s ability to manage innovation are management style/leadership, organizational structure, corporate strategy, technology, knowledge management, employees and innovation processes [19]. By analyzing these elements, we are able to understand the important role of each factor that affects the competitiveness of a company and especially those in the tourism industry.
Among various leadership approaches, it seems that empowering leadership is the most efficient, since it emphasizes employees, enhances participation in decision making, eliminates bureaucratic restrictions, and cultivates a climate of creativity that gives employees the chance to take initiative, express new ideas and find efficient ways to face the daily challenges in their workplace. This attitude encourages the flexibility to change and provide employees with the necessary resources for innovation [49,50,51,52,53]. However, empowering leadership is also related positively to several outcomes, such as sales performance, work effort [54], self-leadership [55] and employee creativity [56].
Considering this context, leaders seem to play the main role in devising and implementing management innovations in a company in order to maintain a competitive advantage over its competitors [57]. Several firms in the tourism sector need employees to creatively perform their job to upgrade service quality and maintain long-term survival [58,59,60]. Thus, managers need to apply the proper type of leadership as an effective tool to implement innovation by providing adequate resources and support to employees to make necessary changes, including recognizing and rewarding their creative behaviors.
Organizational structure is “the framework of the relations on jobs, systems, operating process, people and groups making efforts to achieve the goals” [45]. Organizational structure is a set of methods dividing a task into determined duties and coordinating them. It includes models of internal relations of organization, responsibility and decision-making delegation as well as formal communication channels. Improving the information flow is one more facility provided by the structure of the organization. Organizational structure should alleviate decision making, proper reaction to environments and conflict resolution between the departments of a firm. The relationship between the main principles of a firm and coordination across its activities and internal organizational relations in terms of reporting is an element of organizational structure [45,48,61]
Corporate strategy is the scope and the direction of an organization in the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of competences and resources, with the aim of fulfilling the expectations of stakeholders [62]. Hence, a tourism firm’s strategy should promote and support innovation inside the firm, as it can support it to maintain its competitive advantage in the market, while at the same time make it more flexible to find efficient solutions to face the constant changes that arise from the external environment in which it operates. Technology can be defined at different levels [63]. Technological innovation involves the generation and adoption of a new idea concerning physical equipment, techniques/systems or tools that extend a firm’s capabilities into production systems and operational processes [63,64,65]. For instance, ICT, social media, mobile and smart phones and websites, as well as multimedia, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and several other technological advances, especially in tourism, have helped speed up operations and have transformed the traveling process into a much more enjoyable and efficient experience.
Knowledge management is concerned with obtaining and communicating information and ideas that underline innovation competencies and include idea generation. It also covers the implicit and explicit knowledge of an organization [66,67,68] as well as the processes of gathering and using information. This is important for every firm and especially for a tourism firm, where changes are more intense and quicker. Thus, information is precious for a tourism firm, so as to be aware of such changes and to know how to act in order to maintain its privilege.
Employees and innovation processes concern the way that a firm behaves towards its employees in order for them to be satisfied and to improve their performance. In the case that the work environment enhances creativity and allows for employees to be satisfied and feel comfortable and secure to express their ideas, worries and thoughts and on the grounds that they are provided with the adequate resources, employees can be more creative, and this can lead to innovations for the company [60,69,70]. This factor is also important for tourism companies, since they mainly hire seasonal employees who are aware of the fact that they will work for a specific period of the year and that there are not many opportunities to advance in a tourism firm. This may deter them from feeling willing and motivated to do the best job that they can so as to enhance organizational performance. For these reasons, following management of employees in a tourism firm is of major importance.
Some elements that pertain to innovation as an outcome for a tourism company are form, magnitude, referent and type. More precisely, form is differentiated into service or product innovation, business model innovation and process innovation. Service or product innovation concerns a new service facility or a new product for the company [71], the customers or the market [72]. Process innovation concerns the “introduction of new management approaches, new production methods and new technologies that can be used to improve management processes and production” [72]. Business model innovation determines how a company creates and delivers value to its customers, whether it is new to the firm, customer or industry.
Magnitude indicates the degree of newness of the innovation outcome with respect to the referent [12]. Radical innovation includes fundamental changes, whereas incremental innovation represents variations in the existing practices and routines [73]. Both types of innovation are important for a tourism firm, as they help it to be more operational.
Referent defines the newness of innovation as an outcome. It can be new to the firm, to the market it serves, or to the industry. In terms of type, we can distinguish administrative and technical innovations. Administrative innovations are indirectly related to the basic work activity and more directly related to its managerial aspects, such as human resources, organizational structure, administrative processes and so on. Conversely, technical innovations include the products, processes and technologies that are used to produce products or render services related directly to the basic work activity of an organization.
Thus, the role of innovation as an outcome is essential for successful exploitation of an idea in order to improve the performance of a tourism firm. Consequently, one way for the firms to increase “quality” in the tourism sector is via managerial innovations, which lead to increased organizational performance [74,75,76,77].
Likewise, the broader elements of the tourism sector, such as restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, tourist shops, promotion/advertising agencies, transportation companies and any other kind of firm whose operation is related to the tourism sector, that aim to innovate tend to increase the possibilities to enhance their firm growth [78] and productivity [79].
Apart from these, innovation is also influenced by external and internal environmental factors [80,81], size, leadership characteristics, professionalism and entrepreneurial characteristics [82], management attitudes [83], the level of e-commerce business [84], the ability of entrepreneurs [85], the adoption and use of ICT [86], the customer relation management system, the capability of building relationships and partnerships with customers and suppliers [87] and cooperation with firms that hold the leading position in the market [88]. There are many advantages for a firm, especially in the tourism sector, to be member of a network. A network may include customers, suppliers, firms, authorities and academics.
Cooperation among the members of a network can lead to the development of ideas that can in turn improve creativity and result in the implementation of innovations. These partners contribute to the innovation process. This can influence the competitiveness of the tourism industry, since networks are incubators of innovative ideas and new businesses [89]. Through networks, scientific knowledge is transferred, and consequently, innovation can be improved and fostered [90]. The ability to absorb external knowledge is a key factor in developing competitive and original innovations [90].
The role and the importance of the relationship among innovation, innovation in the tourism industry, management innovation and technological innovations are summarized in Figure 1.
Figure 1 shows the links among different types of innovations, and especially management and technological innovations, which lead to an increase in organizational performance. Organizational performance encompasses three areas: financial performance, product/service or market performance and shareholder return [91,92].
The first area of financial performance describes the economic statement of the firm as profits, return on investments, return on assets and so on. The second area of product/service market performance includes the market share of the firm. The last area of shareholder return concerns the total shareholder return, the economic value added and others. There are different ways (or variables) to measure organizational performance [93]. In this paper, we refer only to the main areas of this dimension.
In addition, it must be mentioned that according to the size of the firm, its strategy, its goals, its capabilities, its needs, its budget and the market that it operates in, among other criteria, every company is able to adopt different types of innovation in order to improve its performance [94]. For instance, technological innovations are necessary, especially in tourism. Hence, further analysis of this element is provided in the following section.
5. Technological Innovations in the Tourism Industry
In this part of our analysis, we present the impact of technological innovations throughout the tourism industry. Tourism is a field of the economy where technology plays an essential role by assisting businesses with daily operations, while also improving the customer experience or making a destination more desirable by the potential visitors. In addition, the achievement of sustainable tourism is a dynamic, continuous process that demands constant monitoring of effects, appropriate preventive measures when required and the incorporation of the proper technological tools to promote tourism activities and ensure that tourists are being provided the best experiences. For this reason, it is important that hotels, restaurants, airlines and other companies keep up with the trends in the field of technology.
In the period of the pandemic, the tourism industry has undergone a deep metamorphosis; technology has played a crucial role. Taking into account the fact that sustainable tourism is defined by the UN World Tourism Organization as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities” [95], it is clear that within during the period of the pandemic, the incorporation and proper use of technological advances by businesses is a necessity in order to attain the objectives of prosperity and sustainable development for tourism firms.
Concerning the effect of technological advances on the tourism industry, we extensively searched the related literature, which provided us with a large number of papers. We categorized the technological development aspects that affect tourism into the following dimensions:
ICT
Social Media
Internet and Websites
Mobile and Smart Phones
Other Technological Advances
To carry out our analysis, three online databases were searched, namely RePEc, IDEAS and Google Scholar. In order to identify the empirical studies in our analysis, we followed a protocol that involved several steps. First, we searched the databases using the terms (“ICT” OR “Social media” OR “Internet” OR “Website” OR “Mobile” OR “Smartphone” OR “Digital” OR “E-Business” OR “E-Commerce”) AND (“Tourism” OR “Sustainable Tourism”) to broadly identify studies related to technology and tourism. Second, we read the abstracts and excluded those studies that did not apply an empirical method. Finally, we read the studies, keeping only those that produced an empirical result on the role of technological advances in sustainable tourism.
The vast majority of the studies employed a theoretical model or applied correlation analysis, but not regression analysis, which did not allow us to perform a meta-analysis, which would be highly desirable. During our research, we identified hundreds of studies whose results were based on descriptive statistics and graphical illustration, which did not make it possible to conduct an MRA (Meta-Regression Analysis), which could provide us with the quantitative and not only qualitative results of the impact of technology on tourism [96]. Therefore, we limited our focus to providing a review of the role of technological advances in sustainable tourism by relying only on the empirical literature, which was the third and final step of our search process; we excluded all the related theoretical literature that did not generate empirical results.
In the following sections, we discuss the empirical literature related to the role of each separate technological aspect in sustainable tourism. We analyze each technological aspect and present a review of the empirical studies that have been conducted to investigate their impact on sustainable tourism development through various ways (i.e., tourists from abroad, tourism sectors such as hotels, profits, etc.).
5.1. ICT
The massive progress of Information Communication Technology (ICT) positively affects the tourism industry through several channels. ICT is used by tourism firms as a tool for promotion through online platforms. In addition to this, it can be used for business transactions by trading or providing information to consumers about the product or service they offer. For instance, photo and graphic designs, GPS, google maps or other real-time crowd control technologies, or even recommendation and booking information, offer tools for a tourism business to apply its marketing more efficiently and increase the prospects being chosen as a travel destination.
The use of ICT in the tourism industry has been found to boost tourism demand [97,98]. ICT is also considered as a factor that significantly affects tourism, travel, and other related industries [99] and can improve the quality of the provided tourism services for specific sectors, such as medical tourism [100]. The positive effects of ICT apply not only in the short run but also in the long term [101], suggesting that the proper use of ICT can become an asset of tourism firms towards achieving sustainable tourism development.
Remarkably, each year, Springer publishes an e-book entitled “Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism” that includes several articles on the role of ICT in the tourism industry in that specific year as the outcome of international conferences concerning the role of ICTs in the tourism industry, clearly indicating that ICTs are not only a desired tourism tool but more importantly, a necessity. Table 1 shows the literature on the role ICT.
5.2. Social Media
It is important to be able to return to the pre-COVID tourism periods of fun and pleasure. Tourists should maximize their satisfaction and utility when they visit a destination, without polluting the environment and with every respect to the local communities. Towards this direction, information provided via social media by tourists, local residents, or even professionals in the field of tourism can assist in restarting tourism. Taking into account the fact that the current generation uses social media on a daily basis, it is easily understood that social media can promote responsible behavior for sustainable tourism.
Literature on the consequences of social media (especially Instagram, Facebook and TripAdvisor) in the tourism industry is not new and has been explored by several authors and within various contexts [108]. Zarezadeh et al. [109] has reviewed and analyzed 152 studies on these issues since 2008. However, they state that there is still much room for research and propose specific areas. The general picture in the literature conveys that social media plays a significant role in many dimensions of tourism and in the communication and interaction process with the consumers [110]. Table 2 presents a review of some recent empirical studies on the impact of social media on sustainable tourism development.
5.3. Internet and Websites
Tourists change their ways of thinking before, during and after a trip as a result of the use of internet. Within this framework, it seems appropriate to incorporate into our analysis the impact of the internet on the tourism industry. Digital technologies have altered the way we approach a destination, and the massive use of the internet certainly is a factor that all firms should consider, adjust for and make the best use of. In addition, the websites of tourism companies can affect the decisions of customers in various ways. The attainment of the information, the evaluation of the alternatives or even the purchase of a tourist product (trip or holiday package) are often the outcome of using a website and other internet tools.
Undoubtedly, the internet and websites are also employed as a marketing tool so as to promote a tourism destination [119]. Standing et al. [120] published a research review on the effect of the internet in travel and tourism, which included studies during the decade 2001–2010, where among other things, they stated the need for more research on this issue. We attempt to present the results of the empirical literature thereafter (i.e., since 2011), as depicted in Table 3.
5.4. Mobiles and Smartphones
Mobile phones and smartphones, with their applications, have significantly involved the tourism process, since they enhance the trip experience and influence tourist behavior by implicitly affecting their judgment and choices. In general, it has been reported that mobile phones and broadband subscriptions have a positive impact on tourism demand [130]. More specifically, the development of mobile applications for travel organizations and movement, and even QR codes, are some ways in which travelers’ satisfaction is boosted [131].
Dorcic et al. [132] published their study on the effect of mobile phones and their use in smart tourism, including papers between 2012 and 2017. In addition, Law et al. [133] published an extensive literature review on this issue regarding papers published in hospitality and tourism journals. In our study, Table 4 presents a picture of some empirical studies that have been conducted on this issue, where the essential role of modern mobiles is clear in the target of sustainable tourism development.
5.5. Other Technological Advances
So far, we have dealt with the empirical research that has investigated the effects of ICT, social media, the internet and websites, and mobile phones and smartphones on tourism industry. However, there are other technological advances that affect the profitability and successful operation of tourism businesses along with their sustainable character. Such advances include WOM, online reviews, digital or communication platforms, geotag, e-services, augmented reality (AR) and several others. We should not neglect the growth of usage of Big Data and the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the operation of modern tourism companies, which have helped them to understand tourists in a better and more comprehensive way, extending their learning ability to comply with their needs and desires [140]. There are also other technological advances, such as virtual reality (VR) and AR, which have been found to play important roles for accessibility and marketing in tourism [141].
Table 5 presents some recent studies on this topic, along with their features, sample and method characteristics, and the main conclusions they draw. It is important to emphasize that the majority of these empirical studies highlight the role and importance of all technological aspects in the tourism industry. Considering that many of these studies are recent and that they have incorporated into their analysis the period of the coronavirus, which has been harmful to tourism, it is understood that the massive use of technology in the tourism sector is crucial. In this framework, the need for knowledge and the effective use of these tools of technological progress is essential in order to achieve sustainability.
6. Discussion and Results
Challenges introduced by competition force tourism firms to grow and lead innovation initiatives. Innovations include different types of change depending on the organization’s capabilities, resources and strategies [153,154]. Innovation also relates to the operations, processes, people, products or services of a company. Therefore, different innovations can contribute to generate growth and competitiveness in a tourism firm [155,156]. Especially in the tourism industry, due to globalization and constant changes in the market, the concept of competitiveness has become more comprehensive, since it forces organizations to be in continuous development [157].
The competitiveness of a company is related to policies, institutions and other factors, determining their presence in the market. The strength of a firm is determined by its competitiveness and the strategy that it follows in order to gain competitive advantage and strengthen its position in the market. Therefore, management and technological innovations might be an essential path for tourism firms to increase their productivity and competitiveness [158,159].
Concerning the aspect of management innovation, the way that a firm is directed plays an important role in enhancing its performance. Factors such as the type of leadership that a firm applies, its organizational structure, knowledge management, technology, human resources and the strategy that a company follows affect its competitiveness and increase its performance. Thus, a tourism firm should try to improve these factors in order to increase its performance. However, the improvements should take place according to the needs, goals, strategies, weaknesses and strengths that each firm has, corresponding to the different characteristics of a firm.
From the aspect of technological innovation, it seems that technology has penetrated almost all dimensions and levels of operation of tourism businesses and is a requirement for their success and longevity. Technology offers environmental benefits and saves time and materials, such as brochures, posters, etc. In addition, in the coronavirus era, wherein people pay attention to contacts and practice social distancing, it can be said that technological advances are a necessity in modern tourism [160].
In this direction, we can infer that management and technological innovations can increase tourism firms’ competitiveness and the competitiveness of the tourism industry, respectively. Thus, this article highlights the role and the importance of management and technological innovations for a tourism firm, as well as the factors that a company can improve in order to create innovation.
Furthermore, there are some managerial implications that arise from this research and may be useful for managers in the tourism industry. No matter what type of strategy the manager(s) of each firm decide to apply, they should consider the fact that every company is unique. Considering this, any type of corporate strategy they might select and plan to follow should enhance the flexibility and the reactivity of the firm to the constant changes of the market. It should also encourage faster responses to situations through decision making, which result in better quality and innovation for the firm. Additionally, the strategy that a firm follows should aim to eliminate its weaknesses and improve its competitiveness, as well as to establish strategy according to the market where it operates.
Finally, there are some implications stemming from the empirical literature on the role of technological innovations in the tourism industry. It is well known that the Fourth Industrial Revolution that we live in, commonly referred as Industry 4.0, will transform entire production systems and products [161]. Our study highlights the most important technological innovations that have been used in the tourism industry, categorizing the technological aspects into five dimensions (ICT, social media, websites and the internet, mobile phones and smartphones, and other technological advances). Judging by the empirical literature presented in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5, we believe that the vast majority of the studies present a positive impact of all these parameters on tourism business performance; they increase tourism demand, arrivals, revenues, reservations, and in general, they make a tourism destination more attractable and desirable. From the customers’ point of view, they receive higher satisfaction and they enjoy their experience more, making such technology an effective marketing tool in the modern framework of competition. Thus, our study provides a basic guide for future works that seek to deepen the role of technological innovations in the tourism industry and can be used by tourism policy makers to strengthen the technological infrastructure of a tourist destination. It also provides motives for tourism firms to use technological tools to promote their business and increase the prospects of their prosperity and sustainability.
7. Conclusions
The tourism industry has specific characteristics, and it should not be compared in the same way with other industries. Tourism experience depends on a variety of services and products that are created by different businesses. Tourism products are characterized by an intangible nature [35,162]. Thus, tourism innovation is quite different from innovation in other industries.
Innovative activities in the tourism industry are still quite limited, especially in Greece [40]. This can be explained by the size of the firms, as small companies that operate in the tourism sector are not able to support innovations, and their employees do not have the proper knowledge, experience, abilities and skills to significantly contribute to organizational performance.
Additionally, SMEs do not have the resources required to maintain a high capability. Hence, they largely depend on external support and resources [163]. In addition, their small size may present an obstacle to reach a high level of innovation, and this can negatively affect the profitability of investments in market research, R&D, new products and skills development [1,164]
Moreover, small companies are characterized by conservative organizational culture and personnel, which are resistant to change. For this reason, collaboration in the tourism industry is indispensable [165]. Cooperation in various types of networks tends to increase the capacity of a firm to foster innovation. Through collaboration, tourism firms can acquire knowledge, and through knowledge, they can in turn increase their innovative capacity. Nevertheless, it should be noted that innovation in the tourism industry is difficult to implement, as the processes are visible and that makes it difficult for them to be protected. Hence, competitors can become aware of (or copy) new ideas [166]. In addition, the tourism industry is a labor-intensive sector where only employees who are qualified and trained are able to provide knowledge and ideas that can increase the probability of enhancing innovation. Thus, a meaningful role is played by human resources, as only highly qualified employees are able to take advantage of opportunities and improve organizational performance [167]. The tourist sector involves low wages and low productivity, which might be the reason that investments to change the production structure and to increase human capital are discouraged. Consequently, tourism firms lack skilled human capital, and this continues to hinder the process of attracting qualified and motivated personnel [35,60].
For the above reasons, the way that a firm is directed plays an important role in enhancing its performance and maintaining its competitive advantage in the market. Consequently, a firm should acquire the appropriate personnel, with the abilities, skills and knowledge necessary to enhance its performance. Employees also must be placed in the right position in order to be able to contribute to organizational performance. Moreover, managers should try to create a pleasant working environment wherein employees will be able to work efficiently, as they will be able to collaborate with their colleagues or with their superiors to resolve daily issues. In this respect, they will have the adequate resources to work, and they will feel secure to express their ideas, worries, problems and solutions in the workplace [70].
In this direction, a firm may enhance the possibilities to increase innovation in terms of firm management, personnel and working environment [60]. When managers are positive and support innovation in all aspects of the firm, they may also increase the use of technology, which will provide another opportunity to enlarge market share.
Concerning the role of technological developments, technology has penetrated almost all dimensions and levels of operation of tourism businesses and is a requirement for their success and longevity. In fact, if we consider that technology is environmentally friendly and saves time and materials such as brochures, posters, etc. In addition, in the coronavirus era, wherein people pay attention to contacts and apply social distancing, it can be said that technological advances are a necessity in tourism.
Our analysis in the second part describes the most important results of recent studies regarding (1) ICT, (2) social media, (3) the internet and websites, (4) mobile phones and smartphones, and (5) other technological advances such as WOM, online reviews, digital or communication platforms, geotag, e-services, AR and others. In all technological advances, it is clear that they have been incorporated into tourism firms’ operation and marketing orientation and have altered the way tourists travel, allowing a more interactive and exciting experience.
This paper analyzes not only the factors that influence the ability to manage innovation in a firm (such as corporate strategy, organizational structure, management style, knowledge management, employees and innovation processes), but also the crucial elements of technology in the tourism industry (ICT, social media, mobiles and smartphones, websites and other technological advances). In this context, our study aims to fill the gap in the related literature, since, to our knowledge, it is the first study to capture the findings of the empirical scientific studies that investigate the role of managerial and new technological innovations in sustainable tourism development. By these means, the results of this paper may be considered as a basis for other studies since it shows empirical evidence of managerial and technological innovations in the tourism industry. This study can be replicated in other sectors of the industry, as well as in other countries.
Conceptualization, G.G. and E.P.; methodology, G.G. and E.P; formal analysis, G.G. and E.P.; resources, G.G. and E.P; writing—original draft preparation, G.G. and E.P.; writing—review and editing, G.G. and E.P.; project administration, G.G. and E.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
This research received no external funding.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Enlarge this image.Figure 1. The framework of the links among innovation, innovation in the tourism industry, management innovation, technological innovations and organizational performance.
Literature on the impact of ICT on sustainable tourism development.
| Author(s) and Year | Country and Sample Period | Method | Result | Similarities/Differences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Innovation | Dimension of Impact | Sign of Impact | ||||
| Lee et al. [ |
118 Nations— |
Panel regression estimates |
ICTs have positive impacts on international traveler arrivals. | ICT | Tourism development | Positive |
| Zhou and Sotiriadis [ |
China— |
Dynamic panel data estimation | Positive relationship between ICTs and tourism industries. | ICTs | Tourism industrial convergence | Positive |
| Adeola and Evans [ |
Africa— |
Dynamic panel |
ICT positively affects tourist arrivals. | Information and communication Technology (ICT) | Tourism arrivals | Positive |
| Choudhary et al. [ |
28 countries— |
Panel Regression Estimates and Granger Causality Estimates | ICTs are vital for tourism development. | ICTs by different |
Tourism demand | Positive |
| Milićević et al. [ |
former Yugoslavia— |
Correlation analysis and panel regression method | IDI use (i.e., the ICT Development Index) positively affects international tourist arrivals and receipts. | ICT Development Index (IDI) | Tourist arrivals and |
Positive |
| Nadeem et al. [ |
Pakistan— |
ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration | ICT infrastructure has adverse impacts on tourism. | ICT infrastructures | Tourism receipts | Adverse |
| Agiomirgianakis et al. [ |
Turkey— |
Dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) | Policies encouraging ICT have a positive influence on tourism demand. | ICT | Tourism demand | Positive |
| Anish et al. [ |
India (Kerala)— |
Regression analysis | ICT (as a separate dimension of service quality) significantly affects value of service in medical tourism. | ICT (as a separate dimension of service quality) | Value of Service | Positive |
| Fuchs et al. [ |
Austria (Hotels)— |
Partial Least Square Modelling and Logistic Regression | 14 results regarding ICT are provided in the study. One of them is that online auctions have a positive impact on the performance of hotels. | Online auction platforms, like |
Hotel performance | Positive |
| Kumar [ |
Vietnam— |
ARDL approach Granger causality | ICT has a momentous positive effect on tourism in the long-run. | ICT | Tourism development | Positive |
| Berne et al. [ |
Spain— |
OLS and 3SLS estimation | ICT plays an important role in the power balance of tourism distribution channels (study provides the framework of the process). | ICT forces | Tourism market structure and channel processes | Change |
Literature on the impact of social media on sustainable tourism development.
| Author(s) and Year | Country and Sample Period | Method | Result | Similarities/Differences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Innovation | Dimension of Impact | Sign of Impact | ||||
| Hysa et al. [ |
Poland— |
Results of the mean scores of compliance of the respondents | Social media promotes responsible behavior for sustainable tourism. | Social media | Sustainable tourism recovery | Positive |
| Arasli et al. [ |
Nigeria— |
Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) | Social media (SM) positively affects tourists’ satisfaction. | Social media marketing | Tourists’ satisfaction | Positive |
| Sharmin et al. [ |
China— |
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique | Smartphone-based social media affects consumers’ satisfaction. | Smartphone-based social media | Consumers’ satisfaction | Positive |
| Halawani et al. [ |
Lebanon— |
PLS-SEM approach | Significant effects of social media characteristics. | Social media commerce | Hotel business performance | Positive |
| Liu et al. [ |
21 respondents, 14 Chinese— |
21 interviews | Social media have two direct and two indirect impacts on tourists’ choices. | Social media | Tourists’ choices of six travel components | Diversification of the effects (mainly positive) |
| Moorthy et al. [ |
Malaysia— |
Linear Regression | Social media can promote local tourism. | Social media | Planning domestic |
Positive |
| Jaya and Prianthara [ |
Indonesia |
Structural equation modeling with PLS software | Social media influencers have a positive and significant effect on purchase intention. | Social media influencers | Purchase intention of tourists | Positive |
| Kumar et al. [ |
India |
Questionnaire method | Through methods like social media marketing are utilized by Kerala’s tourism operators to attract international customers, effectiveness of the same is increased. | Social media marketing | Brand awareness | Positive |
Literature on the impact of internet and websites on sustainable tourism development.
| Author(s) and Year | Country and Sample Period | Method | Result | Similarities/Differences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Innovation | Dimension of Impact | Sign of Impact | ||||
| Arasli et al. [ |
Nigeria— |
Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) | Website quality (WQ) is correlated positively with satisfaction. | Website quality | Tourists’ |
Positive |
| Borisavljeviæ and Radosavljeviæ [ |
Serbia— |
Binary logistics model | Investing in web design and content leads to better relationships with customers in travel agencies. | Web design and content | Customer |
Positive |
| Rehman et al. [ |
65 BRI listed economies— |
Vector error correction model (VECM) approach | Technological inaccessibility and its underdeveloped infrastructure decrease tourism revenues. | Internet implication | Tourism revenues | Positive |
| Castañeda et al. [ |
UK and Spain— |
Multivariate analysis of variance | Websites are an effective tourism tool. | Promotional websites | Tourist attitude | Positive |
| Chow [ |
12 |
Panel regression analysis | The arrivals-to-population ratio (“Arrivals”) is positively associated with internet access. | Internet access | Tourism arrivals | Positive |
| Gaffar et al. [ |
Indonesia— |
Path analysis with SPSS 20 | Websites are not always important (in sport tourism sector). | Website navigational design | Tourism |
One dimension positive, three dimensions no influence |
| Kornpitack and Sornsaruht [ |
Thailand— |
Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) | Significant relationships between the traveler’s attitude and perception of an online website’s ease of use and trust. | Website’s ease of use and trust | Traveler’s intention to purchase | Positive |
| Liberato et al. [ |
Portugal |
Correlation analysis | Internet access is essential, especially when planning a trip. | Application and information available on the internet | Tourists’ satisfaction | Positive |
| Gunter and Önder [ |
Austria |
Bayesian |
10 Google Analytics website indicators can improve managerial decisions. | Google analytics | Tourist arrivals | Diversification of the effects |
| Pereira et al. [ |
Portugal— |
Structural equation modeling | Websites can increase customer loyalty and satisfaction. | Website |
Customer loyalty and satisfaction | Positive |
Literature on the impact of mobiles and smartphones on sustainable tourism development.
| Author(s) and Year | Country and Sample Period | Method | Result | Similarities/Differences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Innovation | Dimension of Impact | Sign of Impact | ||||
| Sharmin et al. [ |
China— |
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) | Mobiles affected satisfaction. | Mobile usefulness and mobile ease of use | Consumers’ satisfaction | Positive |
| Kumar and Kumar [ |
9 tourist destinations— |
Pooled mean group approach | A 1% increase in mobile subscriptions and broadband would increase international visitor arrivals by 0.04% and 0.11%, respectively. | Mobile and broadband subscriptions | Tourism |
Positive |
| Kuo et al. [ |
Vietnam |
Partial |
Mobiles affect tourism industry in several ways. | Mobile tourism app | Orientation of customer intentions to visit tourism destinations | Positive |
| Majid et al. [ |
All the ASEAN countries— |
Panel data, panel unit root and cointegration | Broadband and mobile technology exhibited a mediocre and substitution impact on air passenger volume. | Broadband and mobile technology | Airline passenger volume | Mediocre |
| González-Reverté et al. [ |
Spain |
Four regression |
The study finds usefulness of mobile devices, but also fear of privacy risk. | Mobile device usage | Tourists’ risk perception | Diversification of the results |
| Fong et al. [ |
China— |
PLS-SEM | If users perceive that mobile apps offer superior services, they will reuse them. | LOC dimensions (in mobile apps) | Hotel reservations | Positive |
| Kim and Kim [ |
Comprehensive analysis |
Content analysis | Mobile technology is expected to foster sustainable competencies for smart tourism. | Mobile tour app reviews | Consumers’ attitudes and preferences | Positive under circumstances |
| Lee et al. [ |
South Korea (Changdeokgung) (222 respondents)— |
Structural |
Contradictory results with both positive and negative effects of smartphone apps. | Smartphone applications | Touristic experience and tourism satisfaction | Positive |
Literature on the impact of other technological advances on sustainable tourism development.
| Author(s) and Year | Country and Sample Period | Method | Result | Similarities/Differences | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technological Innovation | Dimension of Impact | Sign of Impact | ||||
| Arasli et al. [ |
Nigeria— |
Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) | eWOM affects satisfaction positively | Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) | Tourists’ |
Positive |
| Monoarfa et al. [ |
Gorontalo, Indonesia— |
Validity and reliability testing, |
E-commerce has an influence on tourism performance, while E-WOT does not. | E-Commerce |
Business performance | Positive and no impact, respectively |
| Zhang et al. [ |
China— |
Structural Equation Models (SEMs) | Live streaming positively affects the intention to travel in 3 ways. | Live streaming | Travel intention | Positive |
| Cranmer et al. [ |
UK— |
Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis | Augmented reality is a valuable tourism tool. | Augmented reality (AR) | Tourism industry |
Various results on the five dimensions |
| Jayathilaka et al. [ |
Sri Lanka— |
Qualitative research method of content |
Online reviews affects customers’ mindset when choosing a hotel for accommodation. | Online reviews | Inbound travelers’ decision |
Positive |
| Lopez-Cordova [ |
Unspecified |
Gravity model estimation | The adoption of digital platforms in the tourism industry has facilitated international travel. | Digital platforms | Demand |
Positive |
| Mishra and Gupta [ |
6 countries in |
Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) | The adoption of e-commerce by tourism and hospitality start-ups improved their performance. | E-commerce | Business performance | Positive |
| Chung et al. [ |
Korea— |
Partial least squares (PLS) | The study finds geotag useful for tourists. | Geotag | Traveler’s readiness | Various results |
| Ban et al. [ |
Romania— |
OLS, structural equation modeling, cluster analysis and polytomous logistic regression. | The study determines the factors influencing the tourism consumer satisfaction, as it results from the evaluations posted on an online communication platform. | Online communication platform | Tourism consumer |
Impact depends on various factors |
| Aureli et al. [ |
Rimini (Italy) |
Panel data analysis | TripAdvisor reviews positively affected hotel performance. | TripAdvisor reviews | Hotel |
Positive |
| Vigolo and Confente [ |
North-East Italy (205 tourists aged ≥50 years)— |
Regression analysis | Online WOM (word-of-mouth) increases possibilities for online purchases. | Online word-of-mouth | Online travel purchase intention | Positive |
| Neuts et al. [ |
The Netherlands |
Structural Equation Model (SEM) | E-forums and virtual tours affected expenditure. | E-services | Tourist expenditures | Positive |
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; Papadionysiou, Evangelia 2
1 Department of Management Science and Technology, University of Patras, 26334 Patras, Greece
2 Department of Business Administration of Food and Argicultural Enterprises, University of Patras, 30100 Agrinio, Greece;