ict in tourism sector

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• Review Article
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• Published: 07 October 2023

A ten-year review analysis of the impact of digitization on tourism development (2012–2022)

• Chunyu Jiang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6072-8365 1 &
• Seuk Wai Phoong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-0901 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  665 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Development studies
• Science, technology and society

Many tourism-related activities have been suspended due to the nationally enforced lockdown to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. The tourism industry suffered immensely from the lockdown, and as a result of this, digital tourism began gaining traction and attracted public attention. This study analyses the impact of digitalization on the social and economic sustainability of the tourism industry via systematic literature network analysis. The findings indicated that digitalization impacts economic sustainability, encompassing economic benefits in tourism product development, tourism consumption, and industrial development. Moreover, digitalization fosters social development, cultural awareness, and tourism participation in digital technology and cultural heritage. This study identified publication trends and research hotspots using bibliometric analysis, and it was confirmed that Sustainability was the top journal in published digital and tourism sustainability-related articles, followed by the International Journal of Tourism Research, Tourism Management , and Current Issues in Tourism . This study resulted in two implications: identifying the knowledge gap and evidence-based decision-making based on the (previous) literature. Recommendation for future research is also discussed in this study, which is helpful to policymakers, tourism planners, and researchers to develop strategies grounded in research.

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Introduction

From 2019 through 2022, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wreaked havoc on the world’s tourism business (Navarro-Drazich and Lorenzo, 2021 ). Tourism contributes to many nations’ gross domestic product (GDP) as it is intertwined with various industries (Gössling et al., 2017 ). Examples of tourism products include lodging options such as hotels and Airbnb. Food and drink, theme parks, museum visits, and fashion items such as clothes and bags are additional examples of tourism products that boost the economic health of the individual and the nation.

Tourism is regarded as a complex service-driven industry, one of the characteristics of which is that if external influences disrupt the tourism sector, other industries linked to it will also be directly affected. Tourism development refers to creating and maintaining the tourism industry in a particular location and is closely linked to economic and social progress (Telfer and Sharpley, 2015 ). Over the past four decades, global tourism development has reported intense growth performance and research on tourism development (Capocchi et al., 2019 ). Kreishan ( 2010 ) posited that the impact of tourism development on destination development is a commonly discussed issue, particularly in terms of tourism development improving economic efficiency and local competitiveness. The growth of tourism currently is significant not only from an economic perspective but also from a social perspective, as evidenced by the optimization of the local social structure (Yang et al., 2021 ), increased community participation (W. Li, 2006 ), participation of women (Ferguson, 2011 ), and increased cultural awareness (Carbone, 2017 ). Also, the development of the tourism industry benefits the environment by increasing environmental protection awareness and providing greater funding for initiatives to conserve resources and the environment (Zhao and Li, 2018 ).

However, unmanaged over-tourism can cause serious harm, according to Berselli et al. ( 2022 ). From an economic standpoint, excessive tourism can result in higher prices and imbalanced industrial structure development, which lowers industries’ overall resilience. Social issues arising from over-tourism include the commercialization of culture (Wang et al., 2019 ), the shift in locals’ attitudes from friendliness to hostility towards tourists (Kim and Kang, 2020 ), and the emergence of on-stage authenticity (Taylor, 2001 ). In terms of the environment, issues such as excessive carbon emissions causing global warming (Liu et al., 2022 ), damage to water and soil resources, destruction to flora and fauna (Gössling and Hall, 2006 ), and even harm to cultural heritage (Zhang et al., 2015 ) are some of the effects of over-tourism. Since the development of the tourism industry combines economic, social, and cultural phenomena, as well as the past COVID-19 disruptions, the industry’s suspension for several years presents a significant opportunity for all stakeholders to reposition tourism for sustainable development.

Some studies suggest the tourism industry will recover after COVID-19 (Zhong et al., 2021 ). However, given the abovementioned problems caused by over-tourism, what needs to be considered is the sustainability of the tourism industry post-COVID-19. Researchers and tourism stakeholders are becoming more aware of the importance of the concept of sustainable development (Miceli et al., 2021 ), especially since COVID-19, as the tourism or hospitality industry remains one of the least developed sectors in terms of sustainable tourism practices (Kim and Park, 2017 ). Korstanje and George ( 2020 ) noted that over-tourism is a chronic disease that mere temporary changes cannot treat; it can be minimized via education and training to raise awareness. The tourism industry needs to rethink how to develop in a sustainable and healthy direction (Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019 ), not only in terms of ecotourism or green tourism but also in terms of putting the concept of sustainability into practice at a deeper level as it faces multiple pressures and challenges of an overarching environment, economy, and society.

Sustainability is often cited as one of the reasons for improved competitiveness among different tourism destinations (Han et al., 2019 ). The United Nations 2030 (UN, 2030 ) Agenda for Sustainable Development has developed a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) plan, defined as a set of global goals for fair and sustainable health at every level, from the planetary biosphere to the local community. The aim is to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that everyone enjoys peace and prosperity now and in the future. The basic concept is that productivity can be preserved for future generations. Due to the general emphasis of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on sustainable tourism and the industry’s economic importance, the SDGs and its associated millennium development goals (MDGs) have become critical elements for research into tourism’s contribution to sustainable development and overall sustainability (Saarinen et al., 2011 ; Saarinen and Rogerson, 2014 ). Winter et al. ( 2020 ) indicated that as sustainable tourism development needs to take complete account of the combined social, economic, and environmental impacts, stakeholders are expected to integrate scientific management and practice for future sustainability using updated and innovative technologies that can provide more tourism opportunities for groups unable to travel directly while enhancing environmentally-friendly behavior. Bramwell and Lane ( 2011 ) suggested that effective policy support is also crucial to implementing sustainable tourism development, as the path to sustainable development is guided and monitored by excellent and progressive policies. From a postmodernist perspective, social media and place brand authenticity in smart tourism are essential to place trust, place identity, and place brand image, while the development of this brand authenticity is one of the critical indicators of the visitor experience (Handayani and Korstanje, 2017 ). As a result, Korstanje et al. ( 2022 ) contended that new paradigms and strategies must be created to confront risks to tourism in the 21st century and satisfy the SDGs by 2030.

Several studies are underway to determine the impact of various programs and strategies on the environmental component of sustainability practices (Goralski and Tan, 2020 ). Yalina and Rozas ( 2020 ) suggested that a digital workplace can promote environmental sustainability. Although there have been studies on the digitalization of tourism and environmental sustainability, such as Loureiro and Nascimento ( 2021 ), who reviewed digital technology on the sustainability of tourism using bibliometric methods, there is a need for a thorough examination of the impact of digital transformation on sustainable tourism growth, particularly in terms of economic and social dimensions (Feroz et al., 2021 ). Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the impact of tourism digital technology development on the economic and social sustainability of tourism development to offer future research guidance.

With the growing literature and the emergence of cross-disciplinary research related to sustainability and digitalization in tourism development, it is critical to analyze the changes in its research, summarize the focus of previous research content, and predict future research prospects. As a result, this study will address the above research gaps by answering the following three questions.

RQ1: What are the prominent documents, authors, sources, organizations, and keywords in digitalization for the economic and social sustainability of tourism development?

RQ2: What are the linkages based on bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-occurrence, and citation in digitalization for the economic and social sustainability of tourism development?

RQ3: What is the future research agenda based on the results of this study?

Literature review

Several review papers on tourism research are now available and relevant to this study. Ülker et al. ( 2023 ) assumed that there are currently 136 bibliometric studies in the tourism and hospitality industry, of which the literature review studies on overall trends in the tourism and hospitality industry are continuously being updated (Chang and Katrichis, 2016 ; Wang et al., 2023 ). Also, economic development in the tourism industry (Comerio and Strozzi, 2019 ), tourism marketing (Mwinuka, 2017 ), tourism and education (Goh and King, 2020 ), hospitality (Manoharan and Singal, 2017 ), Airbnb (Andreu et al., 2020 ), and even COVID-19 review articles related to tourism development are available (Bhatia et al., 2022 ).

With the emergence of cross-disciplinary digital-related technologies, the link between tourism and digitalization has become one of the hot topics of research, and as a result, several literature review articles on digitalization and tourism have been published, such as on robotics (Buhalis and Cheng, 2020 ; Ivanov et al., 2019 ; Pizam et al., 2022 ), ICT (Buhalis and Law, 2008 ; Law et al., 2014 ), big data (Li et al., 2018 ; Stylos et al., 2021 ), smart tourism (Buhalis, 2020 ; Mehraliyev et al., 2020 ), social media (Buhalis and Inversini, 2014 ; Mirzaalian and Halpenny, 2019 ), eye-tracking (Muñoz-Leiva et al., 2019 ; Scott et al., 2019 ), AI (Buhalis and Moldavska, 2022 ; Doborjeh et al., 2022 ; Dwivedi et al., 2023 ), VR (Koohang et al., 2023 ; Wei, 2019 ), AR (Jingen Liang and Elliot, 2021 ; Tscheu and Buhalis, 2016 ; Yovcheva et al., 2012 ), MR (Buhalis and Karatay, 2022 ), and the Metaverse (Ahuja et al., 2023 ; Buhalis et al., 2022 , 2023 ; Go and Kang, 2023 ).

Due to the rise of sustainability research, the literature review on sustainability research in tourism has seen a stark increase (León-Gómez et al., 2021 ; Ruhanen et al., 2018 ; Streimikiene et al., 2021 ). The proliferation of studies related to digitalization and sustainable tourism development has led to a considerable number of review articles (Elkhwesky et al., 2022 ; Gössling, 2017 ; Loureiro and Nascimento, 2021 ; Nascimento and Loureiro, 2022 ; Rahmadian et al., 2022 ). Feroz et al. ( 2021 ) conducted a literature study on the environmental aspects of tourism sustainability and digitalization; however, there is a distinct lack of studies on the economic and social dimensions.

Therefore, the study’s unique value is that it presents the first literature review in the field of digitalization and social and tourism economic sustainability development using a novel method of systematic literature network analysis (SLNA), filling a gap in the literature review landscape and addressing the need for more comprehensive, detailed, and up-to-date research endeavor.

Methodology

Colicchia and Strozzi ( 2012 ) proposed a systematic literature review analysis (SLNA) to identify past research trends more sophisticatedly, integrated, and scientifically. This method is currently used in reviews of sustainable development research (Afeltra et al., 2021 ) but is rarely used in reviews of tourism sustainability; therefore, SLNA is used in this study.

Systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliographic network analysis (BNA) are the two phases of SLNA. These actions comprise the first phase of SLR, which includes choosing the study’s final selection, conducting a dialectical examination of the most pertinent articles, and evaluating the results. Next, citation analysis and bibliographic coupling of BNA are also included in this paper to investigate the relationship between the previous literature, assess the research trends, and aid in uncovering future research innovation opportunities. Bibliographic coupling is a scientific mapping technique regarding two articles with a common citation contentedly comparable. This technique permits the segmentation of publications into thematic clusters utilizing published references to understand the most recent developments in current research issues (Donthu et al., 2021 ). Citation analysis reveals which papers are influential and their authors and journals and aids in comprehending what past literature has contributed (Pilkington and Meredith, 2009 ).

First phase: systematic literature review (SLR)

Introduction of slr.

The most widely used and reputable databases are the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus (Garrigos-Simon et al., 2018 ); thus, both were used in this study to eliminate data search omissions, broaden the search scope, and improve the accuracy of data outputs.

Figure 1 shows the flow diagram for systematic bibliometric analysis. Firstly, this paper takes “virtual reality or augmented reality or artificial intelligence or big data or mobile technology or internet of technology or social platform technology) and (sustainable tourism development or sustainability of tourism or green tourism or ecotourism” as keywords. The search process began by searching topics (including article titles, abstracts, and keywords). The language of the articles was set to English and had to be published between 2012 and 2022. The search process resulted in 91 articles. The data were extracted on February 15, 2022, per Fig. 2 .

This figure shows the overall process of this study from database selection until suggestions for future research. Source: Own elaboration.

The criteria and steps used to identify the selected target literature are explained in this diagram. Source: Own elaboration.

A review article with scholarly worth and contribution is required to describe the literature’s links and contents and examine and critique it precisely (Hart, 2018 ). As seen in Fig. 3 , the following research topics are divided into two categories: economic sustainability (which includes topics such as economic benefit, industry development, and tourist consumption) and social sustainability (which includes topics such as tourist behavior, social development, cultural awareness, and participation).

The research topics are divided into two categories: economic sustainability (which includes topics such as economic benefit, industry development, and tourist consumption) and social sustainability (which includes topics such as tourist behavior, social development, cultural awareness, and participation. Source: Own elaboration.

The SLRs are used to locate, appraise, and synthesize existing, completed, and documented work (Cocchia, 2014 ), facilitating classification and summarization, particularly for micro-profiling within macro-level fields of study.

Digitalization’s impact on economic sustainability

Digitalization’s impact on economic benefits.

Adequately improving the economic development of tourism is also one of the sustainable needs for developing tourism. At a time when tourism has been devastated by COVID-19, the tourism industry has almost ceased to exist. Therefore, one of the most popular research topics is maintaining substantial economic benefits while allowing the tourism industry to flourish sustainably.

Digital technology has piqued researchers’ interest due to its potential benefit to the tourism industry. Technologies that directly improve the economic situation are classed as economic benefits, and per many studies, digitization positively impacts local economic development and may bring objective revenue to tourism (Tables 1 – 7 ).

Digital technology promotes economic development. The growth of information communication technologies (ICT) positively impacts China’s tourism industry while promoting economic growth (Shehzad et al., 2019 ). As a rapidly evolving digital technology, mobile technology has significantly minimized asymmetric information, enhanced local GDP growth, and increased citizens’ financial capital through tourism (Kim and Kim, 2017 ; Phoong et al., 2022 ). Technologies such as 3D virtual, mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), or augmented reality (AR) applied in heritage tourism can effectively increase local economic income and the added value of tourism (Manglis et al., 2021 ; Martinez-Grana et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, marketing tools such as small programs and network technologies confer several advantages to tourism stakeholders, such as the ability to help local communities contribute value and support the tourism economy (Caciora et al., 2021 ; Lin et al., 2020a , b ). Also, smart heritage city tourism technology tools can drive the tourism economy to inaccessible areas (Gomez-Oliva et al., 2019 ).

The increase in income is proportional to increased economic benefits. ICT is often used in the tourism industry, which has an essential impact on the tourism service industry, one of which is the improvement of tourism income (Gomez-Oliva et al., 2019 ; Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2019 ). Virtual tourism technologies, such as AR and VR, are digital tools that can help overcome cultural heritage tourism challenges, such as reviving the tourism industry and resolving funding shortages (Lu et al., 2022 ). Mobile money, such as electronic traveler’s checks and credit cards, can assist low-income people in taking advantage of their marginal savings and encourage implementing a cashless economy for tourism sustainability (Singh, 2017 ).

Second, digital marketing technologies are frequently utilized by hotels to improve hotel performance, which increases profit (Theocharidis et al., 2020 ; Vitezic et al., 2015 ). Another example is Muslim-friendly apps promoting the international trade of products during the tourism process (Cuesta-Valiño et al., 2020 ),

Digitalization’s impact on tourism industrial development

Technological development has driven the tourism industry in local tourist cities, organizations, businesses, and governments. From the perspective of industrial market development, ICT, extensive data network marketing, and other virtual tourism technologies can create market development potential and improve market positioning for companies (Ammirato et al., 2021 ; Filipiak et al., 2020 ; Ma et al., 2021 ).

Adopting and applying information in the tourism industry are commonly regarded as a source of corporate innovation. The implementation of ICT can increase the profitability of tourism enterprises while also increasing organizational productivity (Croitoru and Manoliu, 2016 ; De Lucia et al., 2021 ; Duy et al., 2020 ; Obonyo et al., 2018 ). VR, AR, 3D digital technology, and mobile technology can all be used to improve a company’s performance and competitiveness in the tourism industry (Cranmer et al., 2021 ; Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2018 ; Pavlidis et al., 2022 ; Yuce et al., 2020 ), and these technologies have made significant economic contribution to economic sustainability.

The application and implementation of ICT play an essential role in developing the tourism industry (Adeola and Evans, 2020 ; Tan et al., 2019 ; Zhou and Sotiriadis, 2021 ). Also, digital advanced technologies, such as MR technology adopted by museums, AR technology adopted by destinations, and smart tourism products and tourism ecological reservation systems have made significant contributions in the front-end development stage, providing opportunities to monitor the future development of tourism, as well as being beneficial to the formulation and implementation of tourism industry strategies at later stages (Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ; Tsai et al., 2018 ). The abovementioned electronic environment is an excellent lubricant for tourism’s active and healthy development (Maiorescu et al., 2016 ). Moreover, apps can help customers understand legacy cities more from the standpoint of heritage preservation and help cities promote tourist city development (Briciu et al., 2020 ).

From the perspective of products sold and variations in product types, online services in Muslim-friendly apps can be helpful for market segmentation and promotion of product positioning and sales (Cuesta-Valiño et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, virtual multi-sensory technologies can improve the company’s potential, increase public awareness, and sell products (Martins et al., 2017 ). Undeniably, the development of digitalization enriches the cultural service products of museums in developing heritage tourism (Palumbo, 2021 ), and AR technology also increases the diversification of products in water tourism (Kaźmierczak et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on tourism consumption

Tourists’ spending power can reflect the overall economic development of the tourism industry as one of the contributing variables, and the number of tourists and the value of tourist flow are two measurement criteria of tourism consumer spending. Tourism apps, for example, can make traveling more convenient for tourists, increasing tourism consumption (Lin et al., 2020a , b ). Virtual tourism products or augmented reality technology allow tourists to spend more leisure time, increasing consumption (da Silva, 2021 ; Pehlivanides et al., 2020 ).

The application of virtual tourism technology is also helpful in improving the attractiveness of tourists (Cai et al., 2021 ; Manglis et al., 2021 ; Martins et al., 2017 ). Meanwhile, big data analytic tools, e-marketing (WOM), and mobile applications positively influence customers’ intention to travel and contribute to improving tourism sustainability (Gajdosik, 2019 ; Kim and Chang, 2020 ; Pica et al., 2018 ). With the application and construction of ICT, the demand for tourism has increased, and the number of tourists has also increased (Adeola and Evans, 2020 ; Kabassi, 2017 ; Kumar and Kumar, 2020 ). In addition to enhancing tourists’ imagination, virtual tourism technology and 3D digital technology can also be used as practical tools to further develop tourism and increase the number and flow of tourists (Bae et al., 2020 ; Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ; Pavlidis et al., 2022 ). Word-of-mouth marketing has increased the number of tourists (Fernandez-Lores et al., 2022 ; Wang et al., 2020 ).

Digitalization’s impact on social sustainability

Digitalization’s impact on tourist behavior.

Virtual tourism technology is gradually being implemented in the tourism industry, focusing on increasing the satisfaction of the elderly and disabled (Lu et al., 2022 ). Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are integrated into human-computer interaction system equipment, boosting service quality and increasing tourist satisfaction (Van et al., 2020 ). The mixed experience helps enrich tourists’ feelings about the surroundings, thereby boosting tourists’ contentment (Bae et al., 2020 ), and the succinct information and dependable system offered by VR can promote tourists’ satisfaction (Yuce et al., 2020 ). 3D digital technology to build innovative and appealing tourism items can help boost consumer satisfaction and positive feedback (Pavlidis et al., 2022 ).

Tourism stakeholders’ use of tourism apps is critical to increasing tourist satisfaction (Lin et al., 2020a , b ). For example, tourism management in Ho Chi Minh City’s use of Web 4.0 can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty in the long run (Duy et al., 2020 ). The mobile usability and ease of use of social media as a suitable medium directly impact satisfaction (Sharmin et al., 2021 ). It can also serve as a platform for tourists to communicate and contribute to increased satisfaction (Jamshidi et al., 2021 ). Simultaneously, tourism safety is an essential factor that influences tourist satisfaction, and the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can help to improve tourism safety (Ko and Song, 2021 ). The use of mobile technologies and payment mechanisms in the tourism process is also a fascinating study. Through electronic technology, two-dimensional code payment techniques improve tourists’ pleasure (Lou et al., 2017 ). Furthermore, incorporating digital innovation into hotel management structures increases hotel performance and client satisfaction (Vitezic et al., 2015 ).

Tourism satisfaction is directly related to tourism experience, and tourism experience is one of the most important criteria to measure in the tourism process. The findings suggest that using virtual immersion technologies such as AR, VR, and MR in the tourism process can significantly improve the tourist experience (Bae et al., 2020 ; Fernandez-Lores et al., 2022 ; Franco and Mota, 2021 ; Lee and Kim, 2021 ; Yin et al., 2021 ).

Additionally, the intention and motivation of tourism drive tourism behavior from the psychological aspect. Digital innovative technology can boost tourists’ interest in tourism products and locations, enrich their understanding of tourism culture, attract more tourists, enhance tourists’ preferences, and strengthen their desire to visit (Caciora et al., 2021 ; Cranmer et al., 2021 ; Gajdosik, 2019 ; Kang, 2020 ; Kaźmierczak et al., 2021 ; Manglis et al., 2021 ; Monterroso-Checa et al., 2020 ;). Digital marketing tools can ramp up customers’ desires and habits (Theocharidis et al., 2020 ), and digital mobile programs can increase tourists’ attention, influencing their overall view of the tourism experience (Wang et al., 2020 ). Big data can also be utilized to foresee client wants and expectations, allowing for a better understanding of customer needs (Del Vecchio et al., 2018 ). For example, Internet of Things technology can scientifically guide and divert tourists to alleviate the problem of local saturation and overload in scenic sites, thus improving the tourist experience (Xie and Zhang, 2021 ). It can also provide various cultural tourism content to enhance and support the experience of active tourists (Ammirato et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on social development

Tourism planners and governments can use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system-remote sensing (GIS-RS) technology to accurately select sites, develop eco-tourism activities, relieve the burden of tourism in the region, and thus help the locals create new employment opportunities (Chaudhary et al., n.d. ). Virtual tourism technology, such as AR, can also aid in analyzing tourist flow and conditions, improve safety, and expand job chances (Franco and Mota, 2021 ). Advances and innovations in tourism ICT can benefit enterprises enough to increase job prospects (De Lucia et al., 2021 ). Virtual tourism, ICT, mobile technology, smart heritage tourism technology, and innovative marketing methods improve stakeholders’ quality of life, increasing the tourism system and community awareness (Lemmi and Deri, 2020 ).

Digitalization’s impact on cultural awareness

Virtual technologies, such as AR, VR, and mobile augmented reality (MAR), are now widely used in cultural heritage tourism, with the potential to protect cultural heritages and enhance the potential of heritage management, thereby contributing to cultural communication (Bec et al., 2019 ; Caciora et al., 2021 ; Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ). Some studies indicate that online engagement platforms, mobile application technologies, and smart tourism models can all support the socially sustainable growth of culture (Bonacini et al., 2018 ; Pica et al., 2018 ; Zubiaga et al., 2019 ).

AR, VR, and other techniques can promote tourists’ behavior in underwater cultural tourism and raise public awareness of natural heritage protection among tourists (Manglis et al., 2021 ). Research on low-carbon travel modes is frequently concerned with tourism sustainability, and big data marketing technology can supply tourists with more low-carbon transport schemes, thus increasing tourists’ environmental consciousness (Ma et al., 2021 ). As a common medium for cultural communication, social media can raise tourists’ awareness of environmental protection (Haque et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on participation

Tourists’ active participation in cultural heritage can be enhanced by digital technology, as can people’s feeling of belonging and responsibility to society (Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2019 ; Permatasari et al., 2020 ). Virtual technology can also encourage public participation in preserving and promoting cultural heritages (Caciora et al., 2021 ), while digital media can help tourism businesses improve public relations and social participation (Camilleri, 2018 ; Haque et al., 2021 ). Increased smart tourism destinations optimize the potential for these communities to involve the destinations’ residents and impact their lives due to the improved urban tourism experience.

Stakeholders are closely linked to the sustainable development of tourism. Innovative applications of digital technology can better manage destination stakeholders, strengthening their linkages (Camilleri, 2018 ), help promote their participation in the development of tourist destinations (del Vecchio et al., n.d. ; Gajdosik, 2019 ), and create a democratic and sustainable system when promoting cultural heritage, which balances the opinions of different stakeholders.

The interactive network platform empowers local communities and encourages local inhabitants and tourists to communicate, which promotes the healthy growth of resident-tourism relationships (Dionisio et al., 2019 ). Also, ICT tourism apps influence the ultimate perception of older tourists’ travel experiences, stimulate tourists’ interest in world cultural heritage sites (WCHS), and increase contact and understanding between tourists and destinations (Ramos-Soler et al., 2019 ). Social media can help tourists increase their knowledge of environmental protection, which increases the participation of tourists and citizens and helps formulate sustainable goals (Haque et al., 2021 ).

Second phase: bibliographic network analysis (BNA)

The VOSviewer is the analysis tool used in this work to visualize the impact of digital technology on sustainable tourism development in economic and social aspects. VOSviewer employs the visualization of similarities (VOS) mapping approach to create a map (Moya‐Anegón et al., 2007 ).

Bibliographic coupling network of sources

Bibliographic coupling analysis mainly measures the similarity of documents by the number of identical references cited by documents. Although co-citation refers to the appearance of two documents in the same reference list, bibliographic coupling refers to the number of references that a group of papers share; for example, paper A and paper B are coupled if they both cite document C (Garrigos-Simon et al., 2018 ). In other words, bibliographic coupling happens when two documents quote the same document (Phoong et al., 2022 ; Mulet-Forteza et al., 2018 ), demonstrating the power of one publication in comparison to a group of others (Cavalcante et al., 2021 ). It should be pointed out that the size of the sphere represents the number of similar citations. This paper analyzes the bibliographic coupling network of sources, and the findings are summarized in Fig. 4 . Per Fig. 4 , there are 9 clusters, and the journal source with the highest number of similar citations is Sustainability . It can, therefore, be concluded that this journal has the most citations and published articles on this subject.

This figure refers to the number of references shared by a group of papers. Source: Own elaboration.

Citation network of documents

Citations are formed when two documents cite the same document and are used to illustrate the relation between documents and study fields. Figure 5 shows four clusters, each representing the degree of connection and the extent of influence in size. This study has the highest influence, according to the largest green group. It offers insight into the impact of reality and virtual reality on heritage tourism, stating that these technologies favorably impact tourists’ experiences (Bec et al., 2019 ).

Cluster size indicates the degree of connection and influence of the literature and research area. There are four groups, with the blue (Encalada et al., 2017 ) and green (Bec et al., 2019 ) groups representing the two articles that are relatively most influential. Source: Own elaboration.

This Blue Group study is also prominent, proposing that the widespread use of information and communication technologies, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and data mining with high processing performance, are the key to tourism’s sustainability (Encalada et al., 2017 ).

The number of citations between documents is used in co-citation analysis to determine their relevance. Figure 6 shows which publications are cited most frequently, and it is clear that tourism management and sustainability are the two commanding the most attention. Generally, the closer two journals are located to each other, the stronger their relatedness. For example, according to an article published in Tourism Management , virtual reality has significantly increased tourism intention and consumption (Tussyadiah et al., 2018 ). Simultaneously, this article presents the finding, which illustrates that combining history with cutting-edge technology in immersive spaces can preserve and manage legacy and enrich the visitor experience and, as a result, engagement with history (Bec et al., 2019 ).

This figure represents the citation strength of publications. The circle distance represents relevance. Source: Own elaboration.

Co-occurrence network of Keywords and titles

The significance of keyword co-occurrence analysis in bibliometrics resides in an intuitive understanding of hot subjects in the study field through the frequency and relevance of terms (Phoong et al., 2022 ). Before that, the following considerations must be made.

To begin, each node in the network map indicates a keyword, and the size of the ball represents the number of keywords that appear. The larger the ball, for example, indicates the higher frequency of keywords occurring. Second, the larger the co-occurrence rate between terms, the thicker the curve between the second keywords. In the third, on the network map, different color groups reflect different theme collections, while the same color represents similar subjects (Loureiro and Nascimento, 2021 ).

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate overlay visualization (Fig. 8 ) and network visualization (Fig. 7 ). From Fig. 7 , the keywords of high frequency include tourism (37 occurrences), technology (35 occurrences), tourist (32 occurrences), experience (31 occurrences), information (25 occurrences), application (23 occurrences), data (22 occurrences), analysis (21 occurrences), impact (21 occurrences), sustainability (14 occurrences) and sustainable development (9 occurrences). Some of Red Network Group’s primary keywords are tourism, information, impact, communication technology, virtual reality, new technology, and cultural tourism. The study’s content focuses on the impact of the relationship between information technology and tourism. Yellow Network Group’s primary keywords are destination, tourism destination, environment, and AR, mainly concentrated on destination environment and AR application research. The green network group comprises tourists, analysis, process, big data, management, stakeholders, case studies, innovation, and other topics. This group has conducted more studies on the effect of digital technology on enterprise management from stakeholders’ perspectives. The Blue Network Group focuses on technology, experience, data, service, research, relationships, social media, sustainable development, tourist satisfaction, intention, and other related topics, and this group study is particularly interested in the influence of technology on tourist experience and satisfaction.

The same color indicates a close relationship between the keywords. The red network group focuses on tourism and information technology, the yellow network group concentrates on destinations and the environment, and the blue group emphasizes tourists and technology, the green group concerns tourists and analyses. Source: Own elaboration.

Darker colors indicate older keywords such as tourists, information, data, research, etc. and lighter colors show the recent hot keywords such as big data, AR, VR, sustainable development, etc. Source: Own elaboration.

After conducting a literature review on digital technology’s economic and social implications on sustainable tourism development over the last ten years and creating a density visualization network map, it can be concluded that tourist experience, information technology, augmented reality, and data are research hotspots. As a result, most studies on tourism sustainability in social and economic dimensions focus on the impact of digital technology on the tourist experience.

Even though they are all co-occurrence analyses of keywords in literature, the emphasis in each network map is different. Generally, overlay visualization and network visualization are comparable to a certain extent; however, the color differs in overlay visualization (Fig. 8 ). In the lower right corner, there is also a quantification table. Purple indicates that the keywords are older, while yellow indicates that they are more modern. For example, keywords such as big data, augmented reality, sustainable development, creation, and intention are yellow, indicating a recent research hotspot, but keywords such as communication technology, information, environment, and service are purple, indicating that these themes were formerly popular.

Results and discussion

The data were collected from 2012 until February 2022. Analysis of the published articles shows a significant increase in publications on digitalization and tourism sustainability development. In 2017, seven articles were published, 10 in 2018, 16 in 2019, and 23 in 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, there are 6 published in the first two months of 2022. These findings illustrate a rise in data availability for digitalization and sustainable tourism development research and suggest that researchers are considering this topic more seriously, demonstrating its value to academic research.

According to the findings, Sustainability was the top journal in published digital and tourism sustainability-related articles. This is followed by the International Journal of Tourism Research , Tourism Management , and Current Issues in Tourism . The number of publications on the relevant subject has increased steadily, particularly in recent years, indicating that this form of research is increasingly gaining attention. Research over the last decade has shown the existence of a certain number of empirical studies on the relationship between digitalization and tourism social and economic sustainability, and from the bibliometric analysis, it emerges that the current research direction on tourism social and economic sustainability has shifted from exploring ICT to AR and VR. Moreover, Tourism Management and Sustainability have the highest citation.

In summary, this study answers RQ1 using the bibliometric literature analysis, while a systematic literature review used to answer RQ2 and RQ3 is discussed in the conclusion and further recommendation sections.

The content of relevant articles published in WOS and Scopus in this research area over the last decade was visually analyzed through bibliometric and systematic literature analysis, and a total of 91 articles meeting the research criteria were selected to provide information on the status of the impact of digitalization on the social and economic aspects of sustainable tourism development, as well as to identify specific research fields and research topics. It can be concluded that the digitalization of the social dimension of tourism sustainability is more richly studied and explored from a more diverse perspective, considering not only the tourists’ but also the residents’ perspectives. There are two implications in the present study. The first is that this study pinpointed the knowledge gaps. Systematic literature review analysis is used in this study to identify the gaps in the existing body of research in tourism development. By reviewing the previous literature and synthesizing the findings, researchers can identify the areas receiving limited or much attention. This insight is valuable for policymakers, tourism planners, and researchers when dealing with specific areas where future research is warranted. Furthermore, the publication trend and popular research themes were also discussed in this study. This enables the policymaker and tourism planner to understand tourism development and the potential for improved policies and practices. The second implication is enabling evidence-based decision-making in tourism development. Researchers can identify patterns, trends, and best practices by synthesizing the findings from multiple studies. This evidence-based approach helps policymakers, destination managers, and tourism stakeholders make informed decisions and develop strategies grounded in research. However, there is a lack of a more comprehensive perspective to explore in an integrated manner. For example, social and economic sustainability development sometimes does not increase simultaneously, and perhaps there is a particular imbalance between the two when using certain digital technologies. Therefore, it can be observed from this study that there is a lack of research in the past ten years that has explored both the economic and social sustainability of tourism comprehensively and that future research could emphasize the integration of social and economic sustainability, even a synthesis study of three dimensions: environmental social, and economic.

Therefore, when considering future developments, several challenges were raised.

Lack of integration study of social and economic dimensions.

Lack of cooperative research among other disciplines.

Lack of suitable theory and conceptual model for sustainable development research in the tourism area.

Lack of universality in different regions based on proposed digital technology.

Lack of research from the perspective of subject education or particular population as the research object.

Based on this literature study, relatively few research topics about this research area are suggested, and the following research scope and questions can be referred to as a priority in the future research process so that research trends can be accurately grasped more quickly and efficiently.

What is the impact of digital technologies on the economic and social sustainability of destinations?

How do digital technologies used in cultural heritage tourism impact tourism sustainability?

What is the impact of digital technology on education?

How can tourism companies improve employee satisfaction, loyalty, and sustainable performance through digital technology?

How can we create a globally accessible and digital system for tourism destinations for sustainable development goals?

How does digitalization impact sustainable development from stakeholders’ perspectives?

The above suggestions and research direction recommendations can provide new research inspiration to researchers in the same field for future research, and this study is expected to help other researchers understand the current research trends related to the digitalization of sustainable tourism development.

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This research is supported by the Universiti Malaya International Collaboration Grant, grant number ST013-2022.

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Jiang, C., Phoong, S.W. A ten-year review analysis of the impact of digitization on tourism development (2012–2022). Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 665 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02150-7

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The impacts of ICTs on tourism development: International evidence based on a panel quantile approach

Chien-chiang lee.

1 Research Center of the Central China for Economic and Social Development, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

2 School of Economics and Management, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

Mei-Ping Chen

3 Department of Accounting Information, National Taichung University of Science & Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have transformed the travel and leisure sector worldwide, yet until now there are no studies presenting international evidence of the different impacts of ICTs (i.e., Internet usage, secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, high-technology export, communications as well as computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) on tourism development (i.e., international traveler arrivals, increased international tourism receipts, and travel and leisure sector returns) by considering countries with different tourism development processes (e.g., high or low tourism development quantile). It is possible that ICTs have diverse or non-linear impacts on countries undergoing varying tourism development processes. Using international data based on a new panel quantile approach, this research thus aims to explore whether ICTs affect tourism development and looks into the possible asymmetric and non-linear relationships among the many variables. Results show that increasing mobile cellular subscriptions, secure Internet servers, and fixed broadband subscriptions have greater positive effects on traveler arrivals. ICTs also asymmetrically and non-linearly influence tourism across different quantiles. Non-global financial sub-periods and developing nations gain benefits from ICTs’ establishment. Lastly, there are geographic differences in the ICTs-tourism nexus.

Introduction

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have transformed tourism worldwide and have provided a broad range of novel prospects for tourism growth (Aramendia-Muneta and Ollo-Lopez 2013). According to studies of the resource-based view, technology resources are fundamental drivers to firms’ performance (Ab Wahab et al. 2020 ), and a firm should consider its endowments to ensure that it always can competent with the best in whatever market it chooses to compete (Wernerfelt 1995 ). Currently, there is no research covering international empirical evidence of ICTs’ impact on tourism activities by considering countries with different levels of tourism development. Therefore, this study expands into the global realm and uses a broader array of countries’ data to explore the impacts of six kinds of ICTs on tourism development by examining different national tourism development levels in order to fill the gap in the literature and provide international evidence.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC 2019), one of the world’s biggest economic sectors is travel and leisure, which in 2018 contributed US$8.8 trillion to the worldwide economy, generated 319 million jobs (or 10% of total employment), and improved global GDP by 10.4%. Travel and leisure, the second fastest developing sector in 2018 (only slightly behind manufacturing), has had a remarkable effect on the global economy. Additionally, it is now the most noteworthy service sector, becoming an agent of economic growth that has been broadly approved (Lee and Chang 2008 ; Lee et al. 2021 ; Wu et al. 2021 ; Wang and Lee 2022 ). Moreover, the elements swaying the flow of travelers around the world, such as nations’ infrastructure, will remain and continue to affect tourists’ behavior when choosing their vacation destinations. With approximately all nations seeking to attract global tourists, it is thus imperative to recognize the determining factors of this sector’s receipts, tourists, and stock returns.

Travel and leisure form a highly information-intensive sector, and so its evolution is closely connected to the advance of new information technologies (Velázquez et al. 2015 ). Additionally, greater competition for international tourism has forced related organizations to adopt the latest ICTs in order to achieve a competitive edge as well as satisfactory growth (Abrhám and Wang 2017 ). This sector has broadly applied ICTs to cut costs, save on labor, increase operational efficiency, and most critically improve service quality and customer experience (Law et al. 2009 ). ICTs utilized for or through travel have become much faster, smaller, more intelligent, and more embedded in a user’s situation. Moreover, the travel and leisure sector is characterized significantly by a long value chain affected by information. Hence, the creation, gathering, storage, retrieval, and transfer functions of ICTs remain as vital applications of all tourism companies (Januszewska et al. 2015 ). However, Brynjolfsson ( 1993 ) first proposes the notion of the “IT productivity paradox”, noting that the benefits of spending by tourists are not present in output statistics.

Based on the resource-based view theory by Wernerfelt ( 1995 ), in order to achieve a certain competitive advantage a firm needs to consider its own endowment, its competitors, and its markets. We therefore empirically explore international evidence regarding whether ICTs help to positively attract international traveler arrivals (AR), increase international tourism receipts (RV), and improve travel and leisure sector returns (SR) under different tourism development levels of countries. Research confirms the strong non-linear correlations among ICTs, tourism, and macro-economic variables. For example, Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) inspect the non-linear impacts of mobile phones and Internet in Africa and present a U-shape relation. Zaballos and López-Rivas ( 2012 ) reveal a non-linear relationship between fixed broadband subscriptions and economic conditions in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Likewise, Ketteni et al. ( 2007 ) present that a non-linear association exists between ICT capital and economic growth. Meo et al. ( 2018 ) show the asymmetric effects of economic factors on tourism demand. Most tourism relevant works utilizing the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression offer only an incomplete picture of a conditional distribution (Mosteller and Tukey 1977 ) and are unable to acquire the coefficients of the independent variables for the entire regression as a function of the change in tourism factors. Thus, this study uses the panel quantile regression (i.e., method of moment quantile regression, MMQR) approach proposed by Machado and Silva ( 2019 ) to explore the ICTs-tourism nexus in a cross-country framework.

Based on data availability, we use six mature ICTs (i.e., Internet usage, secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, high-technology exports, communications as well as computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) of 118 nations for the period 2006–2017. Our research investigates the following. (1) Whether ICTs have substantial impacts on international traveler arrivals. (2) Whether ICTs have substantial impacts on international tourism receipts. (3) Whether ICTs have substantial impacts on travel and leisure sector returns. (4) Does the association between ICTs and tourism development differ at diverse quantiles of the tourism distributions. Figure ​ Figure4 4 depicts our conceptual framework and four hypotheses.

Research Framework. MMQR analysis is a non-linear model and allows for fixed effects

The contributions of this research to the existing literature of understanding the correlation between ICTs and tourism are articulated as follows. First, scant existing empirical studies explicitly highlight international evidence regarding the impacts of ICTs on tourism across different indicator (arrivals, receipts, and returns) quantiles. For example, Fernández et al. ( 2020 ), Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ), Patwary et al. ( 2020 ), and Pierdicca et al. ( 2019 ) all use integrated data to explore the ICT-tourism nexus. Thus, our study is a forerunner to consider countries with specific levels of tourism development and provides international evidence in order to identify and formulate specific ICT-related policymaking of tourism destination nations.

Second, prior studies examining the effects of ICT on tourism development employ a limited number of different ICTs at one time for analysis, such as number of Internet users and mobile cellular subscriptions (Adeola and Evans 2020 ); websites, mobile apps, and touch screen (Pierdicca et al. 2019 ); mobile and broadband subscriptions (Kumar and Kumar 2020 ); international telecommunication services, news related transactions among non-residents and residents, computer data, and technical services (Shehzad et al. 2019 ); and mobile subscriptions (Kumar et al. 2019 ). Therefore, the existing literature does not specifically address the impacts of six different ICTs in a destination nation on tourism development (i.e., international traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and sector returns).

Third, an ICT access and use has been recognized worldwide (Chinn and Fairlie 2007 , 2010 ). However, there is still little international evidence from related literature. Many regional or country-specific related studies do exist—for example, Africa (Adeola and Evans 2020 ), U.S. (Akron et al. 2020 ), 28 countries (Choudhary et al. 2020 ), Latin American countries (Eugenio-Martin et al. 2004 ), Iran (Feshari 2017 ), and Israel (Kumar et al. 2019). Taking advantage of the large amount of worldwide data from World Development Indicators (WDI) issued by the World Bank database, our research employs cross-country data from 118 nations, provides global evidence, and generalizes the findings for wider global ICT applications in order to distinguish the differences in ICTs’ impacts among countries with different tourism development levels.

Fourth and finally, Zaballos and López-Rivas ( 2012 ) pinpoint a non-linear association between fixed broadband subscriptions and economic condition. Ketteni et al. ( 2007 ) also reveal a non-linear association between ICT capital and economic development. Therefore, this study takes advantage of a new panel quantile regression (i.e., method of moment quantile regression, MMQR) approach proposed by Machado and Silva ( 2019 ) to specify how ICTs affect the entire conditional distribution of tourism development. MMQR offers a flexible tool to evaluate panel quantile regression, especially when the parameter estimations are hard or even impossible, thus producing reliable and robust results for policy formulations (Guo et al. 2020 ). This paper is a pioneering tourism study that applies MMQR to beneficially complement the present literature and has vital implications for countries across different tourism development levels.

Our findings show that secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed-line broadband subscriptions have salient positive impacts on international traveler arrivals, while mobile cellular subscriptions and communication, computer notably and negatively affect tourism receipts for countries with the greatest tourism receipts. Mobile cellular subscriptions and high-technology exports (Internet usage, communication, computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) negatively (positively) impact travel and leisure sector returns at different return quantiles. Thus, our findings support that ICTs in a destination nation determine traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and sector returns. There is also salient evidence showing how ICTs asymmetrically and non-linearly influence tourism development across different quantiles. Further tests disclose that the relationships between ICTs and tourism development are robust after considering non-global financial sub-periods, endogeneity problems, and the countries’ own economic development situations. European nations exhibit a different ICTs-tourism nexus. Interestingly, we find significantly positive impacts of the global financial crisis on sector returns at intermediate and higher return quantiles, suggesting that the travel and leisure sector can be a safe-haven during the global financial crisis.

The rest of this study is organized as follows. Section  2 briefly reviews the literature and hypotheses. Section  3 illustrates the research methodology. Section  4 analyzes and discusses the empirical findings obtained. Section  5 concludes the research.

Literature review and hypotheses’ development

Regarding the resource-based view, Wernerfelt ( 1995 ) pinpoints that it is a truism that firms have different resource endowments and that it takes time and money to change these endowments. The same saying goes for many game-theoretic analyses (Rotemberg and Saloner 1994 ) that note how a firm employs its own resource endowments to achieve certain competitive goals. Wernerfelt ( 1995 ) argues that game-theoretic analyses are so general that they often depend neither on the identity of the firm nor its competitors, nor on that of its markets. In fact, firms almost always must do better or otherwise they will exit the market. Based on the viewpoint of Wernerfelt ( 1995 ) for considering the different endowments of countries, we expand to the country level, explore ICTs’ impact on those countries with different levels of tourism development, and investigate their endowments, the whole markets, and their competitors in order to provide suggestions for economies undergoing different processes of tourism.

Zhago et al. (2019) note that with increasing technological advancement and its permeation into all aspects of human life, tourism sectors have applied a variety of technologies to facilitate travel activities that enhance travelers’ destination experiences. Tcheng et al. ( 2007 ) disclose that the positive influences of ICT can be felt earlier, since ICT is similar to other utilities such as water, electricity, and transportation. As fixed investment has positive impacts on economic growth, investment in public infrastructure such as ICTs can enhance a country’s overall development (Kpodar and Andrianaivo 2011 ). Waverman et al. ( 2005 ) also state that ICT investment is a form of cost savings, because communication utilities cut down transaction expenses. By decreasing the costs of retrieving information, ICT advances information flows, enables and improves price discovery, permits markets to function better, and helps regulate supply and demand (Kpodar and Andrianaivo 2011 ). The development of more sophisticated ICTs empowers both providers and destinations to increase efficiency and to implement a strategy in which re-engineered forms of communication dominate (Buhalis and Law 2008 ).

There are numerous studies probing the impacts of ICTs on tourism fields. For example, Mavri and Angelies (2009) use five European Union Mediterranean nations and find a salient positive relation between traveler arrivals and Internet usage. Ramos and Rodrigues ( 2013 ) use the number of Internet users in eighteen European nations, and show a positive association between number of online reservations and ICT. Kumar et al. ( 2019 ) note that mobile subscriptions can be utilized as a tool to enlarge tourism markets and visitor arrivals, mainly by keeping prospective tourism source markets informed. Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) employ the number of Internet users and mobile cellular subscriptions to explore ICT’s effect on tourism growth in African nations and present that ICT infrastructure has a positive and noteworthy influence on traveler arrivals. Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ) indicate a unidirectional causality from mobile and fixed broadband subscriptions to both tourism demand and the destination nation’s income.

The IT productivity paradox proposed by Brynjolffson (1993) conversely pinpoints the existence of negative impact of ICTs on productivity. The reason for the IT productivity paradox can be explained by the peer effect, time-lagging effect, and commoditization. Specifically, Gangopadhyay and Nilakantan ( 2021 ) explore the bank industry and address that although IT adoption can enhance firm productivity, resource use efficiency, and service quality through strengthening organizational capabilities, a proper assessment of costs and benefits of any type of new technology may be difficult for potential users, because IT has previously overlooked the influence of peer firms. Hwang et al. ( 2015 ) find that computers and Internet usage do not correlate to enhancing a firm’s competitive advantage, since they are both now commoditized, such as IT being a form of infrastructural technology, like railroads and electricity (Carr 2003 ). Moreover, because it takes time for workforces to get adjusted to new ICTs, visitor arrivals only experience a positive impact in the long run, rather than in the short run (Kumar et al. 2019 ), implying the time-age effect of ICTs.

Aramendia-Muneta and Ollo-Lopez (2013) provide evidence that the usage of various ICTs has a slight influence on the level of competition as well as on greater productivity, while they have a positive influence on expanding the market share of companies. Although ICTs as a possible new competitive factor have been tested, Mihalič ( 2007 ) confirms a negative direct impact of ICT, proxied by Internet use, on the productivity of the travel sector and attribute the results to the ICT productivity paradox. Grace et al. ( 2003 ) denote that it may be challenging to form a causal connection between ICT and economic growth, because adverse influences might arise due to the opportunity costs of ICT investments and expenditures rather than in water, food, education, skills, etc. Safaeepour et al. (2015) analyze the influence of ICT on traveler arrivals and show that the effect of ICTs in tourism affairs is not noticeable. Sigala et al. (2004) demonstrate that productivity gains accrue not from investment per se, but from the entire utilization of ICT networking and informationalization abilities. Tsokota et al. ( 2017 ) indicate that simply having ICTs without any co-ordination, integration, and collaboration cannot attain sustainable development in the travel and leisure sector.

There is hence no consensus as to how ICTs impact tourism development. It is also doubtful that ICTs have any salient impact on AR. Thus, we form the following hypotheses to generalize the associations between ICT and AR internationally. Based on the literature mentioned above, we present the hypotheses as follows.

H1: ICTs have substantial impacts on international traveler arrivals.

Using the Granger causality test, Kumar and Kumar ( 2012 ) reveal a unidirectional causality going from capital stock to ICT and from ICT to tourism receipts. Using regression models, Al-Mulali et al. ( 2020 ) show that digital adoption has a positive impact on real tourism receipts for all their sub-sample groups (except high-income countries). Tsaurai and Chimbo ( 2019 ) find ICT has a positive influence on tourism receipts both in the long and short runs. Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ) confirm the importance of ICTs to an increase of tourism receipts. However, the correlation between tourism receipts and tourist arrivals is significant with 0.5 in coefficient’s statistic regarding an unconditional correlation, and thus we realize that there exists differences between tourism receipts and traveler arrivals. Confronting the issue of the IT productivity paradox, it is doubtful that ICTs significantly impact RV via international evidence. Thus, we form the Hypothesis 2.

H2: ICTs have substantial impacts on international tourism receipts.

Using regression analysis, Chen et al. ( 2005 ) indicate that among the macroeconomic variables, only money supply and the unemployment rate significantly explain the movement of hotel stock returns, while all non-macroeconomic factors selected (i.e., presidential elections, the 921 earthquake in Taiwan, the 2003 Iraqi war, the SARS outbreak in 2003, sports mega-events, the Asian financial crisis, and the 911 terrorist attacks) have significant influences on the hotel stock returns. Chen ( 2007 ) reveals that Chinese hotel stock returns are more sensitive to general macro-level variables. Non-macroeconomic events that could significantly impact Chinese hotel stock returns encompass financial crises, natural disasters, wars, terrorist attacks, political events, and sports mega-events. Chen et al. (2012) indicate that the discount rate, unemployment rate, and oil price could significantly affect Japanese hotel stock returns and serve as significant determinants of these returns. Demir et al. ( 2017 ) present that the consumer confidence index, exchange rate, and foreign tourist arrivals could Granger cause tourism stock returns. Until now, few studies have addressed ICTs’ impacts on tourism stock returns. Built on the abovementioned literature, we hypothesize that ICTs influence travel and leisure sector returns and form the following hypothesis.

H3: ICTs have substantial impacts on travel and leisure sector returns.

Most tourism related works utilizing OLS offer only an incomplete picture of a conditional distribution (Mosteller and Tukey 1977 ) and are unable to acquire the coefficients of the independent variables for the entire regression as a function of the change in tourism factors. Additionally, Chiu and Yeh ( 2017 ) discover strong evidence of a non-linear relation between tourism development and economic growth, suggesting that it is not continuous and constant. Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) find non-linear impacts of mobile phones and Internet usage in Africa’s tourism sector that present a U-shape relation. Zaballos and López-Rivas ( 2012 ) reveal a non-linear relationship between fixed broadband subscriptions and the economic conditions in Latin American and Caribbean countries. Ketteni et al. ( 2007 ) present a non-linear association between ICT capital and economic growth. Meo et al. ( 2018 ) find asymmetric effects of economic factors on tourism demand. Thus, this study uses MMQR to probe the ICTs-tourism nexus under different tourism development quantiles and forms the next hypothesis.

H4: The association between ICTs and tourism development differs at diverse quantiles of the tourism distribution.

Compared to foreign traveler arrivals, Chen ( 2007 ) reveals that general macro-level elements are more sensitive to hotel stock returns. Tourism is also regarded as a vital means at overwhelming the macroeconomic problems via improving the balance of payments and generating income, taxes, hard currency, and jobs (Lee and Brahmasrene 2013 ). Tourism relates closely to economic development and socio-economic growth, not only for numerous developing nations, but also for some developed nations (Shahzad et al. 2017 ). Demir et al. ( 2017 ) present that growths in exchange rate and foreign traveler arrivals have a close correlation. Thus, we comprise GPD per capita growth rate (GDP), real exchange rate (EXG), inflation (INF), and unemployment (UMP) as control variables.

Methodology

Independent variables.

Figure ​ Figure4 4 depicts our research framework. This study examines international evidence of the different impacts of ICTs (i.e., Internet usage, secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, high-technology exports, communications as well as computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) on tourism development (i.e., international traveler arrivals, increased international tourism receipts, and improved travel and leisure sector returns) by considering countries with different tourism development processes (e.g., high or low tourism development quantile). Compared to the large majority of related quantitative studies (e.g., Bethapudi 2013 ; Bizirgianni and Dionysopoulou 2013 ) using questionnaires that suffer the shortcomings of particular populations, self-selection bias, and collected samples from limited sets (Wright 2005 ), our analysis covers data on ICTs from the WDI issued by the World Bank Database. 1

Andrianaivo and Kpodar ( 2011 ) use growth in personal computer users and Internet users to probe the influence of ICT on economic growth in African countries. Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) use the number of Internet users (% of population) and mobile cellular subscriptions (% of population) to explore the association between ICTs and African tourism development. Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ) indicate a unidirectional causality from mobile and fixed broadband subscriptions to both tourism demand and the destination nation’s income. Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ) employ computer, communication, and other services , Internet users , secure Internet servers , and mobile cellular subscriptions to explore the relationship between ICTs and tourism in 28 countries. Gooroochurn and Sugiyarto ( 2005 ) discuss an innovative approach for measuring tourism competitiveness using high-technology exports for over 200 countries and find that the factor of high-technology exports has an important influence.

Following these studies, our ICT indices are proxied by six variables: (1) Individuals using the Internet, % of population (INT); (2) Secure Internet servers, per 1 million people (SEC); (3) Mobile cellular subscriptions, per 100 people (MOB); (4) High-technology exports, % of manufactured exports (TEX); (5) Communications, computer, etc., % of service exports (CCE); and (6) Fixed broadband subscriptions, per 100 people (FBS). Table ​ Table10 10 main variable list in Appendix identifies all variables employed by our study.

Main variable list

Notes: All the variables are in log difference form, except for SR, and GDP, INF, and EXG. EXG is in log form. Except for the travel and leisure stock prices of 118 countries, all data are from the World Development Indicators (WDI) by the World Bank database, which is the most comprehensive international database

Dependent variables

Utilizing the ratio of international tourism receipts to total exports, Sreekumar and Parayil ( 2002 ) investigate tourism as a growth choice. Gokovali ( 2010 ) also employs the ratio of international tourism receipts to total exports so as to explore the contribution of tourism to economic growth. Eugenio-Martin et al. ( 2004 ) use the number of traveler arrivals to study the association between that datapoint and economic growth. Chen ( 2011 ) takes tourism sector stock returns to assess the performance of supply-side investments in the tourism sector.

Following the abovementioned literature, the three dependent variables of tourism development used herein are log difference of international traveler arrivals (AR), log difference of international tourism receipts (percentage of total exports) (RV) from the World Bank database, and travel and leisure sector yearly price index from the DataStream database. Sector returns (SR) are estimated by ( P t  −  P t −1 ) / P t −1 , where P t is the adjusted closing price index at time t in US dollars. Because the latest data of AR and RV are for the year 2017, our empirical study uses 118 nations that possess AR and RV data, and our study period is 2006–2017. Table ​ Table11 11 Sample nation list provides the sample nations.

Sample nation list

Notes: We gather the nations that have tourism relevant data in the World Bank database, and the above 118 nations are utilized in this study. The bold nations are in Europe. # signifies developing countries

Control variables

Chiu and Yeh ( 2017 ) denote that tourism development has a salient relation with inflation and exchange rate changes. Chen ( 2007 ) gauges the relationships between macro-level explanatory factors and Chinese hotel stock returns by employing the consumer price index and total foreign traveler arrivals. Castro-Nuño et al. ( 2013 ) show a positive association exists between GDP and tourism. Perles-Ribes et al. ( 2016 ) note the unemployment influence of economic crises on hotel and residential tourism destinations. We thus account for the impact of economic elements by comprising EXG (log of real exchange rate, real exchange rate estimates by the destination country’s official exchange rate*US CPI/destination country’s CPI), GDP (GDP per capita growth, annual %), INF (inflation, consumer prices, annual %), and UMP (log difference of unemployment, total % of total labor force). All data are collected in US dollars. Four control factors are from the World Bank database.

Following Divino and McAleer ( 2010 ) in which the log difference has sensible interpretations, we use the log difference forms of all variables, except for SR, which has negative values and GDP, INF, and EXG. EXG is in log form. As tourism involves discretionary income, it is anticipated during a tough economy that people may choose to save their cash for the necessities of life such as food, shelter, and family supplies (Papatheodorou et al. 2010 ). Therefore, according to Ntim et al. ( 2013 ), we identify the global financial crisis period as 2008–2009. 2 Balli et al. ( 2019 ) estimate traveler arrivals by controlling regional structural changes. Eugenio-Martín et al. (2004) discover that the nexus between the number of traveler arrivals and economic development does exist in developing nations, but not in developed nations. Therefore, to conduct an inclusive investigation we split the sample data into three subgroups: developing nation, non-global financial crisis, and European nations. Most of our sample nations (33) are in Europe.

Descriptive statistics of variables

Table ​ Table1 1 provides summary statistics of our main variables. Results from Table ​ Table1 1 show that SR varies between -0.808% and 5.267% during the sample period, with the median being 0.00% and the average being 0.067%. The travel and leisure sector returns are positively skewed, suggesting that the tail on the right side of the possibility density function is fatter than that on the left side. The kurtosis coefficients are greater than 45.939 for SR, indicating that the series have fatter tails than other dependent variables. Additionally, the distributions are asymmetric. The average RV is 1.109, and the range fluctuates between -27.118 and 43.753 with a 6.589 standard deviation during the sample period, suggesting large dissimilarities among nations’ tourism receipts. The mean AR is 2.454, and the range fluctuates between -24.008 and 27.44 with a 4.988 standard deviation.

Descriptive statistics

Notes: The yearly data in this study span from 2006/01/01 to 2017/12/31. ‘Min’, ‘Max’, and ‘STD’ are respectively the minimum, maximum, and standard deviation. AR (number of international inbound travelers), RV (international tourism receipts, % of total exports), SR (country travel and leisure sector returns), INT (individuals using the Internet, % of population), SEC (secure Internet servers, per 1 million people), MOB (mobile cellular subscriptions, per 100 people), TEX (high-technology exports, % of manufactured exports), CCE (communications, computer, etc., % of service exports), FBS (fixed broadband subscriptions, per 100 people), GDP (GDP per capita growth, annual %), INF (inflation, consumer prices in annual %), EXG (real currency exchange rate per US$), and UMP (unemployment, total % of total labor force). All the variables are in log difference form, except for SR, which has negative values and GDP, INF, and EXG. EXG is in log form. The six ICT factors are INT, SEC, MOB, TEX, CCE, and FBS. The Jarque–Bera (JB) statistics of all variables indicate departures from normality and present the existence of non-linear components in the data-generating process

Table ​ Table2 2 displays the unconditional correlation between variables. The correlation between AR and RV is significantly positive. Among the six ICT variables, SR saliently and negatively relates to SEC. RV notably and negatively relates to CCE, whereas it notably and positively relates to TEX. Nevertheless, AR notably and negatively correlates to CCE. GDP is saliently positive with AR, which is consistent with Saha and Yap ( 2014 ), suggesting that governments in high-income countries can afford to invest funds toward building up and maintaining infrastructures for the tourism industry, which in turn attract more tourists with an expectation that high income increases demand for tourism. Castro-Nuño et al. ( 2013 ) also show a positive relationship between GDP and tourism. We find a negative impact of UMP and AR, which is in line with Inchausti-Sintes ( 2015 ) in that tourism promotes economic growth and reduces unemployment. The positive relation of the real exchange rate with AR and RV is similar to Ghartey ( 2013 ), whereby in the long run, tourism growth causes currency depreciation (an increase in the real exchange rate), suggesting that the depreciation increases traveler arrivals and real expenditures. The negative relation between inflation and SR is in line with Fama ( 1981 ), who says that common stock returns and inflation are negatively related. The positive relation between inflation and RV is inconsistent with Meo et al. ( 2018 ). It is expected that tourism demand responds asymmetrically to inflation, because a rise in inflation increases the travel and living costs of tourists and reduces their purchasing power. On the other hand, a decline in inflation increases purchasing power, and more tourists can visit the host country (Meo et al. 2018 ).

Unconditional correlation

Notes: Yearly data cover the period 2006 to 2017. AR (number of international inbound travelers), RV (international tourism receipts, % of total exports), SR (country travel and leisure sector returns), INT (individuals using the Internet, % of population), SEC (secure Internet servers, per 1 million people), MOB (mobile cellular subscriptions, per 100 people), TEX (high-technology exports, % of manufactured exports), CCE (communications, computer, etc., % of service exports), FBS (fixed broadband subscriptions, per 100 people), GDP (GDP per capita growth, annual %), INF (inflation, consumer prices in annual %), EXG (real currency exchange rate per US$), and UMP (unemployment, total % of total labor force). All the variables are in log difference form, except for SR, which has negative values and GDP, INF, and EXG. EXG is in log form

The panel unit-root test results show a uniform conclusion that the variables are stationary in level form. The probabilities for the Levin, Lin, and Chu tests are computed using an asymptotic Chi-square distribution. All other tests assume asymptotic normality. The maximum lag lengths are automatic selection, and Schwarz Bayesian Criterion is used to determine the optimal lag length. Due to space limitation, results of panel unit-root tests are not shown, but are available from the authors upon request.

Conventional OLS provides summary point estimations for the average results of the explanatory variables (Binder and Coad 2011 ). Focusing on the average impacts may under- or over-estimate the relevant coefficient estimates or may even fail to recognize vital associations (Binder and Coad 2011 ). Taking the unobserved individual heterogeneity and distributional heterogeneity into account, Lv and Xu ( 2017 ) examine the impact of corruption on tourism demand by using the panel quantile regression approach. Menegaki et al. ( 2020 ) explore aggregate tourist demand in Europe with a panel quantile regression approach. Hence, OLS, which can depict the association at the average level, might lead to misspecification, and information around the tails of a distribution will be overlooked.

Meo et al. ( 2018 ) find a long-run asymmetric relationship between inflation and tourism demand and apply a linear symmetric model for tourism demand, which could be misleading. Chiu and Yeh ( 2017 ) pinpoint that if one ignores the probability that the tourism-economic development nexus could be non-linear, then the findings of a linear model often cause bias due to using a false assessment method (Lee et al. 2020 ). Zaballos and López-Rivas ( 2012 ) present a non-linear connection between fixed broadband subscriptions and economic conditions. Ketteni et al. ( 2007 ) also reveal a non-linear association between ICT capital and economic growth.

MMQR offers a flexible tool to evaluate panel quantile regression, especially when the parameter estimations are hard or even impossible to calculate, thus producing reliable and robust results for policy formulations (Guo et al. 2020 ). Using MMQR proposed by Machado and Silva ( 2019 ) to control for distributional heterogeneity, Lee and Chen ( 2020 ) explore the effects of country risks on tourism development. Applying MMQR, Guo et al. ( 2020 ) analyze the impacts of influential factors on CO 2 emissions at various quantiles and control for diverse econometric challenges such as endogeneity and heterogeneity. Elheddad et al. ( 2020 ) employ MMQR to estimate models with fixed effects and models with endogenous explanatory variables.

The MMQR approach is thus applied to appraise whether ICT variables influence AR, RV, and SR by intensifying the descriptive statistics in Table ​ Table1 1 and testing Eqs. ( 1 ), ( 2 ), and ( 3 ) by utilizing AR, RV, and SR as dependent variables, respectively.

Here, tourism development’s AR it , RV it , and SR it represent nation i ’s international traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and travel and leisure sector returns in time t . ICT it denotes the six ICT proxies: INT (individuals using the Internet, % of population), SEC (secure Internet servers, per 1 million people), MOB (mobile cellular subscriptions, per 100 people), TEX (high-technology exports, % of manufactured exports), CCE (communications, computer, etc., % of service exports), and FBS (fixed broadband subscriptions, per 100 people). CV is the four macroeconomic control variables and three dummy variables (i.e., economic development state, European country, and global crisis period) that might sway AR, RV, and SR: GDP (GDP per capita growth, annual %), INF (inflation, consumer prices in annual %), EXG (real exchange rate), and UMP (unemployment, total % of total labor force). All the variables are in log difference form, except for dummy variables, SR (which has negative values), GDP, INF, and EXG. EXG is in log form.

We estimate Eqs. ( 1 ), ( 2 ), and ( 3 ) by the MMQR models to explore H1-H4. Equations ( 1 )–( 3 ) can answer the question of “whether ICT symmetrically affects tourism development (i.e., H1–H3)”. However, it does not solve the problem of whether “ICT affects tourism development differently for countries with different levels of tourism development (H4)”. From the viewpoint of policy-making, it is more interesting to understand what happens in extreme cases. To answer these questions, quantile regression can be very useful. It is an extensive form based on the traditional regression and offers a complete picture of a conditional distribution. For our study, this method helps obtain the entire influences of ICTs across the full distribution of tourism development. Furthermore, this model is robust to outliers, heteroskedasticity, and skewness (Koenker and Hallock 2001 ).

We write the model as follows:

where 0 <  ∂ <1, M yt ∂ | x t denotes the ∂ th conditional quantile of y t , x t denotes all the determinants, and β ∂ and α ∂ are the estimated parameters and unobserved effects at the ∂ th quantile. It is obvious that the above equation does not account for unobserved individual heterogeneity. 3 Thus, Eq. ( 4 ) is improved as the following a panel quantile regression form:

Machado and Silva ( 2019 ) suggest a new panel quantile regression model via moments. The approach of Machado and Silva ( 2019 ) has a unique advantage in the non-linear model and makes the calculation simpler, particularly when several endogenous variables exist. Following Machado and Silva ( 2019 ), we form the following equation:

where N it is known differentiable (with probability) transformations of x it , ∅ (.) is a known ℓ 2 function such that P ∅ ω i + N it ′ τ = 1 , and H it is an unobserved random variable. Specifically, H it ⊥ x it , E H = 0 , and E H = 1 . From Eq. ( 6 ), we obtain:

where m ∂ = F H - 1 ( ∂ ) , and hence P H < m ∂ = ∂ . When ∅ (.) is the identity function and N it = x it , Eq. ( 7 ) can be simplified to:

where α i ∂ = α i + ω i m ( ∂ ) represents the ∂ th quantile fixed effect for country i . Unlike the usual quantile fixed effect, this differs from the location shift—that is, this approach allows the time-invariant individual characteristic to distinctly affect the conditional distribution of y it across countries. The marginal effect of variable x i t , k on the ∂ th quantile of y it is β k + m ( ∂ ) × ρ ∅ ( ω i + N it ′ τ ) / ρ x i t , k .

Influences of ICTs on international traveler arrivals (H1)

We report the results from quantile analysis in Eq. ( 1 ) in Table ​ Table3 3 in terms of estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrival models. Regarding panel quantile regression estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of the independent variables on international traveler arrivals, Fig.  1 provides summary charts for the MMQR results. We estimate the quantiles, from the lower one (q = 0.1) to the higher one (q = 0.9), all of which divide AR. The non-linear effects of ICT are explored by considering different AR distributions. Figure  1 shows the marginal effect of the six ICT variables for all quantiles within the (0,1) range of AR. Figure  1 offers the non-linear findings that ICT asymmetrically affects AR at lower and upper quantiles.

Estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrival models

This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on the log difference of international traveler arrivals according to Eq.  1 . Yearly data are used for the period 2006 to 2017. *, **, and *** represent significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively. The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table2 2

Panel quantile regression estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of the independent variables on international traveler arrivals. The shaded area shows the quantile regression estimates for the quantiles ranging from 0.1 to 0.9, a solid line is the estimates, and the grey area depicts lower and upper bounds of the 95% confidence intervals for the quantile regression estimates

We draw some interesting findings about ICTs’ non-linear effects on AR. First, the effects of FBS are constantly positively significant at all quantiles, and the coefficients of two extreme quantiles are larger than those coefficients of the others, indicating that increasing FBS leads to higher AR for all AR quantiles. Our findings expand the results of Thompson and Garbacz ( 2011 ) in that low-income nations derive considerably benefit from mobile broadband services. Second, INT, TEX, and CCE show no salient impacts on AR. Third, MOB and SEC are considerably positively associated to AR at several quantiles, implying that increasing MOB and SEC non-linearly leads to higher AR at lower to higher quantiles. The MOB finding is consistent with Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ), whereby mobile cellular subscriptions have a positive effect on tourism development. Rajan et al. ( 2016 ) states that an increase in the number of secure Internet servers results in a rise by the number of tourism arrivals. Because of the inconsistent impacts of SEC and MOB, we conclude that the non-linear, positive, and significant effects of MOB and SEC influence AR trends. Taking ICTs into account helps tourism participants to realize the ICT determinants of AR. Thus, our results support Hypothesis H1 in that ICTs have positive and significant effects on international traveler arrivals. Likewise, Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) find when ICT and infrastructure increase in African nations that the level of traveler arrivals also increases.

Regarding control variables, GDP positively influences AR. Similarly, Saha and Yap ( 2014 ) note that governments in high-income countries can afford to invest funds toward building up and maintaining infrastructures for the tourism industry, which in turn attract more tourists, expecting that high income increases demand for tourism. Castro-Nuño et al. ( 2013 ) also display a positive association between GDP and tourism. INF shows asymmetric correlations with AR; i.e., a negative (positive) relation at lower (higher) quantiles, which is consistent with the finding of Meo et al. ( 2018 ) who present a long-term asymmetric association between inflation and tourism demand. UMP shows no salient link with AR. EXG is positively linked with AR and is consistent with Ghartey ( 2013 ) who note in the long run that tourism growth causes currency depreciation (an increase in the real exchange rate), suggesting that depreciation increases traveler arrivals and real expenditures. Developed countries and European countries show salient positive impacts on AR quantiles, whereas GLCR shows generally salient negative impacts on AR quantiles. Thus, AR is sensitive to macroeconomic variables.

Influences of ICTs on international tourism receipts (H2)

Table ​ Table4 4 displays quantile assessments from Eq. ( 2 ). Figure  2 presents MMQR parameter estimates along with the 95% confidence intervals (solid lines) for the predictive power of ICT variables’ influence on RV. Figure  2 displays that the estimated 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of MOB, TEX, and FBS on international tourism receipts are smaller, signifying that these variables can work as determinants in identifying RV. For the ICT variables in Table ​ Table4 4 regarding the estimates of the MMQR-based international tourism receipt models, MOB remarkably and negatively affects RV at the 25th–50th quantiles, and CCE consistently, notably, and negatively impacts RV for the entire quantiles. This implies that MOB and CCE establishment costs might lead tourism receipts to decrease. Thus, we should explore further as to whether these negative MOB and CCE impacts are consistent with the IT productivity paradox of Brynjolfsson ( 1993 ) in which the benefits of spending do not show up in statistics. TEX and FBS have a positive noteworthy effect at the 90th quantile, meaning that the highest RV nations could increase TEX and FBS to improve RV. Thus, our results partially support Hypothesis H2 that CCE, TEX, and FBS have noteworthy impacts on international tourism receipts. To sum up, we find that CCE negatively affects all RV quantiles.

Estimates of the MMQR -based international tourism receipt models

Notes: This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on international tourism receipts according to Eq.  2 . Yearly data are used for the period 2006 to 2017. The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table2 2

Panel quantile regression estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of the independent variables on international tourism receipts. The same as in Fig.  1

We next present that the influences of MOB, TEX, and FBS on RV are non-linear across the quantiles. Comparing the influences of ICT variables in Tables ​ Tables3 3 and ​ and4, 4 , the ICT indices display more noticeable positive effects on AR than on RV. The probable reasons for the significance of ICTs on AR than on RV are followings: First, AR can be more directly and immediately used to estimate tourism development. RV is largely influenced by several macroeconomic factors, such as exchange rate, inflation, oil prices etc. However, for ICTs’ impacts on RV, one needs time to convert ICT capitals into revenues. Second, as mentioned above, the IT productivity paradox whether and how IT investment leads to higher market value and/or performance remains in question. Brynjolfsson ( 1993 ) suggests IT usage should consider the time lag effect, which refers to after IT investment it may take some time to create profits.

Regarding the control variables, GDP and INF display negative influences on RV at some of the quantiles, denoting that lower GDP and an INF economy might inspire greater RV. UMP has positive impacts at some quantiles, which implies that higher UMP can cut costs in the travel and leisure sector, leading to a higher RV. EXG is positively linked with AR, which is consistent with the finding of Table ​ Table3 3 that currency depreciation (an increase in the real exchange rate) increases traveler arrivals and real expenditures. Developed countries show a mixed impact on RV quantiles, while European countries show salient negative impacts on RV quantiles. Interestingly, GLCR show saliently positive impacts on RV at higher quantiles, implying that higher RV countries gain tourism receipts especially during the global financial crisis. Thus, RV is sensitive to the control variables.

Influences of ICTs on travel and leisure sector returns (H3)

Table ​ Table5 5 presents the estimates of the MMQR-based travel and leisure sector return models by Eq. ( 3 ), and in regards to panel quantile regression estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of the independent variables on travel and leisure sector returns, Fig.  3 graphically represents the point estimates of the model parameters and displays that the estimated confidence intervals of SEC, TEX, and FBS are smaller, signifying that these variables can work as determinants in identifying SR. INT (CCE) has a substantial and positive influence on SR at the 75th (90th) quantile, and FBS has a salient and positive impact on 75th–90th SR quantiles. Likewise, Kotoua and Ilkan ( 2017 ) pinpoint that all types of businesses are supported by Internet marketing, and Internet use has made it easier for e-word of mouth to spread. Vu ( 2011 ) explores the economic effect of ICT and finds that the penetration rate of Internet users has a significant causal effect on economic growth. McDonough ( 2012 ) states that FBS increases the market power of the tourist industry. However, MOB has saliently negative impacts on SR at the 10th–75th quantiles, and TEX has a notably negative impact on the 75th quantile. Thus, our finding partially supports H3 that ICTs have important influences on travel and leisure sector returns.

Estimates of the MMQR– based travel and leisure sector return models

This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on travel and leisure sector returns according to Eq.  3 . The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table2 2

Panel quantile regression estimates with 95% confidence intervals for the impacts of the independent variables on travel and leisure sector returns. The same as in Fig.  1

Findings for control variables comprised in the model are also informative. INF is negative and significant at the lower and intermediate quantiles, which matches up with Chen et al. ( 2005 ) in that inflation is inversely related to stock returns. The mixed but salient effect of UMP in the highest quantile is in line with Chen et al. ( 2005 ) who probe the relations between macroeconomic variables and hotel stock returns and find that the unemployment rate significantly (and negatively) illuminates the movement of hotel stock returns. GDP and EXG show negative impacts on SR. In sum, one probable reason for the insignificance of ICTs on SR might be due to the lag influence in Bayo-Moriones et al. ( 2013 ), whereby the effects of ICT implementation and all the measures of perceived performance are not always instant since the lag effects and lengths vary according to the type of ICT. In the following robustness checks section, we further evaluate the effect of the time-lag effect, geographic area, and non-global crisis sub-period.

Robustness checks

Equality of slope estimates across different quantiles (h4).

Table ​ Table6 6 displays the associated p -values for the equality of quantile slope coefficients across the various pairs of quantiles. The tests confirm the visual inspection in Table ​ Table6 6 regarding statistic tests of the equality of slope estimates across various quantiles, revealing that F -tests reject the null hypothesis of homogeneous coefficients at the 10% significance level for the MOB-AR, TEX-AR, and FSB-AR pairs of quantiles and indicating that the impacts of the MOB, TEX, and FSB explanatory variables vary across the different parts of the AR; whereas TEX-RV varies across the RV quantile distributions. The findings partially support H4 that the association between ICTs (i.e., MOB, TEX, and FSB) and tourism development saliently differs at diverse quantiles of the tourism development distribution.

Statistic tests of the equality of slope estimates across various quantiles

Note: † denotes P < 0.1 (two-tailed)

Effect of ICTs on subsequent international traveler arrivals

The findings in Table ​ Table3 3 do not report subjects regarding the lag effect and/or endogeneity. To avoid these problems and include the key variables into the equations, we advance AR by one following period to evade simultaneity in Table ​ Table7 7 regarding estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrivals for the t + 1 period’s model. This allows for the influence of any alteration in ICTs to be present in AR. Compared to the ICTs’ impact of RV in Tables ​ Tables3 3 and ​ and7 7 for concurrent as well as subsequent periods, we observe the following findings. (1) INT, SEC, and CCE significantly and positively impact AR for the subsequent period at the 90th, 75th, and 25th AR quantiles, respectively. This suggests that INT, SEC, and CCE have non-linear impacts on AR. (2) Consistent with Table ​ Table3, 3 , MOB has a notably positive impact at higher quantiles, but negative impacts at the lowest quantiles in Table ​ Table7, 7 , supporting H4 that the association between ICTs and tourism development differs at diverse quantiles of the development distribution. The subsequent impacts of MOB on AR are also asymmetric. (3) TEX shows no salient impact on AR of the current period, while it shows a saliently negative one in the following period. (4) The salient positive impact of FBS on AR in the current period turns negative in the subsequent period. Whether the disappearing positive impact of FBS from the current to following period is caused by the IT productivity paradox still needs further investigation. (5) The MMQR models of present and subsequent AR have fairly different signs and noteworthy findings. Therefore, we believe that as ICTs improve speedily, their impacts on tourism development should constantly be paid attention to. Additionally, our results show that ICTs have both simultaneous and lagged influences on AR.

Estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrivals of t + 1 period’s models

Notes:　This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on international tourism receipts of t + 1 period according to Eq.  1 . The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table2 2

Subsample of the non-global financial crisis period

As tourism contains discretionary income, it is considered vulnerable to economic uncertainty and volatility (Papatheodorou et al. 2010 ; Lee et al. 2020 ). Because international tourism statistics showed negative growth in 2008, it was anticipated that they would turn worse during 2009 (Papatheodorou et al. 2010 ). Therefore, we eliminate the influence of the 2008 global financial crisis and set 2006–2007 and 2010–2017 as non-global financial crisis sub-periods to perform MMQR equations in Table ​ Table8 8 in regard to the estimates of international traveler arrivals. The findings in Table ​ Table8 8 reveal similar remarkably positive influences of SEC, MOB, and FBS on AR as in Table ​ Table3. 3 . Therefore, compared to the full period findings and non-global financial crisis period, the impacts of SEC, MOB, and FBS on AR are quite consistent.

Estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrivals for non-global financial crisis period models

Notes:　This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on international tourism receipts according to Eq.  1 . Yearly data are used for the period 2006 to 2017. The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table3 3

Subsample of developing nations

Eugenio-Martín et al. (2004) discover that the nexus for the number of traveler arrivals and economic development occurs in developing nations, 4 but not in developed nations. We explore whether ICT factors have diverse influences on dependent variables using 79 developing nations as the subsample and present the empirical findings. 5 Consistent with Table ​ Table3, 3 , MOB, SEC, and FBS still show significantly positive impacts at several AR quantiles, and their positive impacts are more salient on developing countries’ AR. We also observe a notably positive influence of TEX on AR for developing countries’ lower AR quantile, while INT and CCE show no salient impact on AR, which is consistent with the findings in Table ​ Table3. 3 . Our findings also concur with Bhat and Shah ( 2014 ) that ICT deployment is especially important for emerging areas. The findings of the developing nation subgroup are similar to those of the full sample.

Subsample of European nations

According to International Tourism Highlights (2019) from the World Tourism Organization, Europe accounts for 50% of global international arrivals and receives almost 40% of international tourism revenues, followed by Asia and the Pacific. Because the relationship between tourism receipt and GDP differs with geographic regions (Çağlayan et al. 2012 ), we employ the biggest sample region of 38 European nations as a subgroup to assess the robustness of ICT factors in specific region samples in Table ​ Table9. 9 . Consistent with Table ​ Table3, 3 , SEC and MOB display considerably positive effects on AR, signifying the upgrade in influence of SEC and MOB on AR in European nations. However, FBS shows a negative impact on AR. Additionally, TEX and CCE show saliently negative impacts on AR in Table ​ Table9. 9 . INT presents asymmetric impacts on AR from positive in higher quantiles to negative in lower quantiles for European nations. The findings of the European nation subgroup are different from those of the entire sample, but are consistent with Çağlayan et al. ( 2012 ) in that the nexus of economic factor and tourism receipt presents different geographic area features. Thus, we further enlarge the findings of Çağlayan et al. ( 2012 ) to the ICT-tourism nexus. Except for the European nation results, we discover no other notable dissimilarities between the main findings and other robustness tests, indicating that ICTs non-linearly impact AR, RV, and SR.

Estimates of the MMQR-based international traveler arrivals of European nation models

Notes: This table reports the estimation results of ICTs’ impacts on international tourism receipts of European nations according to Eq.  1 . Yearly data are used for the period 2006 to 2017. The rest of the notes are the same as in Table ​ Table3 3

We condense the results in Table ​ Table12 12 summary of the empirical results. In short, there are saliently positive impacts of SEC, MOB, and FBS, supporting H1 in that ICTs have positive and substantial impacts on international traveler arrivals, especially for several specific AR quantiles. However, MOB (TEX) has negative impacts on SR at the 10th to 75th (75th) quantiles. Likewise, CCE (MOB) has significantly negative impacts on RV for all (25th–50th) quantiles on tourism receipts. Therefore, the findings support H2 (H3) in that ICTs have substantial impacts on international tourism receipts (travel and leisure sector returns) at specific quantiles.

Summary of the empirical results

Notes: ICT (information and communication technology), SR (travel and leisure sector returns), RV (international tourism receipts as % of total exports), and AR (number of international tourism arrivals). 10, 25, 50, 75, and 90 saliently represent in these quantiles. “–” denotes a negative impact; otherwise it is positive

We infer the negative impacts of CCE and MOB (TEX and MOB) on RV (SR) due to the IT productivity paradox, specifying the possibility of a time-lag effect, peer effect, and ICT commoditization. Moreover, Chen et al. (2012) indicate that economic variables like the discount rate, unemployment rate, and oil price significantly cause Japanese hotel stock returns. Compared with tourism receipts, tourism arrivals can be more directly and immediately used to estimate tourism development. Thus, H1-H3 are supported. We further observe that the influences of ICTs on AR, RV, and SR are salient at some of the quantiles, while not at others. For instance, FBS saliently impacts RV (SR) at the 90th (75th–90th) quantile(s), while TEX impacts RV (SR) at the 90th (75th) quantile. Therefore, H4 is supported, in that the association between ICTs and tourism development saliently differs at diverse quantiles of the tourism distribution.

Implication and discussion

Expanding from the prior studies of Andrianaivo and Kpodar ( 2011 ), Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ), Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ), and Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ), our research explores more comprehensively ICTs and tourism variables, provides global evidence, and considers the different ICTs’ impacts across varying tourism quantiles. Our positive MOB finding is consistent with Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ) in that mobile cellular subscriptions have a positive effect on tourism development. Moreover, Rajan et al. ( 2016 ) address that an increase in the number of secure Internet servers results in an increase in the number of tourism arrivals, which matches our findings on salient and positive SEC impacts on AR. Therefore, taking ICTs into account helps tourism participants to realize the ICT determinants of AR. Our finding is consistent with Adeola and Evans ( 2020 ) who find when ICT and infrastructure increase in African nations that the level of traveler arrivals also increases. Our findings are also consistent with Bhat and Shah ( 2014 ), whereby ICT deployment is especially important for emerging areas. However, contradictive to the related literature that shows ICTs’ positive impacts, our findings reveal ICTs’ negative impacts, which are consistent with the saying of the IT productivity paradox.

Given the importance of ICTs on AR, RV, and SR, policymakers and/or travel and leisure managers need to consider how to build up ICT infrastructure and applications to develop tourism. Our results are vital to understanding tourism development under the sector’s greatly competitive markets globally. Several implications can be obtained from the empirical findings of this study. First, regarding to increase AR, secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed broadband subscriptions have saliently positive impacts on international traveler arrivals, suggesting that nations and tourism participants that want to attract international travelers should improve these three ICTs. In other words, nations with less international arrivals are positively sensitive to the set-up of secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed broadband subscriptions. The higher the levels of SEC, MOB, and FBS in the nation, the higher the number of AR. This finding infers that SEC, MOB, and FBS can enable tourism destination nations to increase the online presence (i.e., visibility on the Internet and collaboration with related sectors) necessary to be competitive in the global tourism market. This also advocates that as these three ICT infrastructures improve across the nations, the keener will be travelers to visit and realize the opportunities and endowments embedded in the destination country. On the contrary, mobile cellular subscriptions, the percentage of individuals using the Internet, high-technology exports, and communications as well as computer do no notably improve on traveler number.

Second, regarding the negative impacts of ICTs, MOB negatively affects SR (RV) at the 10th to 75th (25th–50th) quantiles, plus TEX (CCE) negatively impacts SR (RV) at the 75th (all) quantile(s). Interestingly, we also notice the positive INT and CCS effects (TEX and FBS effects) on SR (RV) at higher quantile, revealing the diverse features among ICT. Practically, nations with the highest tourism receipts (tourism stock returns) can increase high-technology exports and fixed broadband subscriptions (individual using Internet, communications as well as computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) to further help raise tourism receipts (tourism stock returns). Nations with lower tourism receipts should not target to increase mobile cellular subscriptions, communication, and computer technologies. Thus, any ICT investment should consider their level of tourism development as well as the target they want to improve in order to avoid any downside risk. Moreover, secure Internet servers (individuals using the Internet) does not affect RV and SR (RV), implying the higher cost of implementing secure Internet servers and individuals using the Internet than revenues.

Third, our research findings allow academic research in related fields to consider the non-linear impacts of ICTs in tourism development. In other words, our findings identify that if one ignores the possibility that the ICTs-tourism nexus could be non-linear, then the results from a linear model could often cause bias due to using a false valuation method. Our evidence confirms that ICTs non-linearly influence AR, RV, and SR across different quantiles, implying countries establishing ICTs should consider different tourism development quantiles to apply different types of ICT.

Fourth, we address the asymmetric impacts of ICTs at different quantiles of tourism development. In other words, mobile cellular subscriptions have a negative impact from the lowest quantile and a positive impact at higher quantiles on the subsequent period’s AR. Additionally, the percentage of Internet usage has a negative impact from the lowest quantile and a positive impact at higher quantiles for European countries. This asymmetry has important implications for the growth strategies of developing tourism (Faber and Gaubert 2019 ) and whether the development of ICTs should be prioritized. Therefore, for nations at varying AR quantiles, different regions, different periods, and different ICTs have varying impacts on tourism development. ICTs can thus serve as tourism development determinants especially for the non-global financial period and for developing nations. Furthermore, instead of upgrading all kinds of ICTs, priority should be given to the tourism development quartile and then toward investing in specific ICTs. Our findings have important implications across different tourism factors’ quantiles for improving this industry, and this can help management strategies during both downside and upside conditions.

Fifth and finally, our research findings validate two theories. First, our findings of ICTs’ positive impacts show that countries with different tourism development levels should consider their diverse influence, which corresponds to the resource-based view theory of Wernerfelt ( 1995 ) in that a firm should consider its endowments to ensure that it always can competent with the best in whatever market it chooses to compete. For example, we suggest tourism managers and policy makers of countries with higher SR (RV) could improve their countries’ INT, CCE, and FBS (TEX and FBS) so as to raise their travel and leisure sector returns (tourism receipts). Our research expands the resource-based view from firm management to country tourism and ICT related fields. However, SEC, MOB, and FBS positively influence tourist arrivals at most of the quantiles, suggesting that tourism managers and policy makers can apply and improve more SEC, MOB, and FBS related technologies in order to increase international tourism arrivals.

Second, regarding our findings of ICTs’ negative impacts, MOB negatively affects SR (RV) at the 10th to 75th (25th–50th) quantiles, while TEX (CCE) negatively impacts SR (RV) at the 75th (all) quantile(s). Our research observes the condition of the IT productivity paradox in the tourism field due to some salient negative and insignificant impacts of ICTs in RV. The reasons for this negative impact might relate to the time-lag effect, peer effect and/or commoditization (i.e., ICTs are like railroads and electricity, as they are necessities and widely used). Our research findings allow academic research in related fields to consider the non-linear impacts of ICTs in tourism development. In other words, our findings identify that if one ignores the possibility that the ICTs-tourism nexus could be non-linear, then the results from a linear model could often cause bias due to using a false valuation method.

This research complements the literature on the relationships between destination nations’ levels of ICTs and tourism development by paying distinctive attention to the distributions of international traveler arrivals, international tourism receipts, and travel and leisure sector returns via yearly data of 118 nations for the period 2006–2017. The main goal is to probe international evidence regarding whether ICTs influence tourism development across the conditional distribution of tourism elements. For this purpose, we use a new quantile regression approach proposed by Machado and Silva ( 2019 ). Additionally, we consider that the correlations might vary during a non-global financial crisis period, by geographic area, and under different economic development states.

Our results suggest that secure Internet servers, mobile cellular subscriptions, and fixed broadband subscriptions have positive impacts on international traveler arrivals, while mobile cellular subscriptions and communication, computer notably and negatively affect tourism receipts for nations with the highest tourism receipts. Mobile cellular subscriptions and high-technology exports (Internet usage, communication, computer, and fixed broadband subscriptions) negatively (positively) impact travel and leisure sector returns at different return quantiles. Thus, our findings support that ICTs of the host nation positively determine traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and sector returns.

The negative impacts of ICTs are consistent with the IT productivity paradox. The reason for the IT productivity paradox can be explained by the peer effect, time-lagging effect, and commoditization. Specifically, Gangopadhyay and Nilakantan ( 2021 ) explore the bank industry and address that although IT adoption can enhance firm productivity, resource use efficiency, and service quality through strengthening organizational capabilities, a proper assessment of the costs and benefits of any new technology may be difficult for potential users, because IT productivity paradox has previously overlooked the influence of peer firms. Hwang et al. ( 2015 ) find that computer and Internet usage do not relate to enhancing a firm’s competitive advantage, since they are now commoditized, much like railroads and electricity (Carr 2003 ). In other words, computers and Internet usage are not influenced by either product/service performance or business process performance (Hwang et al. 2015 ). Toy ( 2021 ) addresses in the short run that artificial intelligence implementation does not appear to affect overall productivity statistics due to the time-lag explanation presented by Brynjolffson et al. (2019).

There is salient evidence showing how ICTs asymmetrically and non-linearly influence tourism development across different quantiles. Further test results disclose that the relationships between ICTs and tourism development are robust after considering non-global financial sub-periods, endogeneity problems, and economic development conditions. However, the positive impact of fixed broadband subscriptions is insignificant for the European nation group, implying the existence of a geographic region difference in the ICTs-tourism nexus.

We also study whether the impacts of macroeconomic factors correlate with traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and travel and leisure sector returns. We discover that GDP, real exchange rate, inflation, and unemployment are considerably associated with different quantiles of traveler arrivals, tourism receipts, and sector returns. The GDP per capita growth rate notably and positive correlates with traveler arrivals, while negatively correlates with tourism receipts and sector returns. Unemployment (inflation) is asymmetric and noticeable related with travel and leisure sector returns (traveler arrivals). The results are consistent with the existing literature that there is an asymmetric link between economic factors and tourism (Meo et al. 2018 ). Baur and McDermott (2010) define safe-haven assets as those can help investors build a portfolio that mitigates any downside market risk. Interestingly, we find salient positive impacts of the global financial crisis on sector returns at intermediate and higher return quantiles, suggesting countries with intermediate and higher travel and leisure sector returns can be a safe-haven for assets during the global financial crisis.

Identifying the ICTs and tourism nexus has been a crucial subject in the tourism arena, yet undeniably we merely probe at their association among six ICTs. These are three limitations of this study. First, because we focus the discussion on six kinds of ICTs, there are other new ICT issues we have omitted, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, which could enhance our understanding of advanced technology’s effects on tourism. Second, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in serious ongoing challenges to the travel and tourism sector, but we do not consider the pandemic’s impacts on this sector. It would be interesting for studies to examine the possible benefits of new ICTs on the travel and tourism sector during serous pandemic periods. Third, this study mainly covers the non-linear effects of ICT on tourism development across different quantiles, and omits the causal relationships between ICT and tourism development. We leave these three topics for future endeavors.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the insightful comments and suggestions received from the Editor-in-chief Dr. Zheng Xiang and three anonymous referees on an earlier of this paper. This work was supported by National Taichung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan.

See Tables ​ Tables10, 10 , ​ ,11, 11 , ​ ,12; 12 ; Fig.  4 .

Chien-Chiang Lee is grateful to the Social Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province of China for financial support through Grant No: 21JL02.

Declarations

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

1 World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available and includes national, regional, and global estimates. The ICTs and tourism related literature use WDI data, such as Kumar and Kumar ( 2012 ), Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ), Al-Mulali et al. ( 2020 ), and Choudhary et al. ( 2020 ).

2 Regarding the defined period of the global financial crisis, we use information on system banking crises to establish the crisis year (Allen et al., 2012 ; Bretschger et al., 2012 ; Laeven and Valencia, 2012 ; Chen et al., 2019 ), and the starting years for the banking crises are as follows: the crisis in the U.S. and U.K. commenced in 2007, started in 2008 for all other countries, and followed through in 2009. The crisis data are given by a simple binary variable that equals one if country i had the crisis start in years 2008 and 2009 and zero otherwise.

3 Compared to time series data, the advantages of panel data include an increased amount of observations and corresponding variations and a reduction of noise caused by individual time series regression (Westerlund et al., 2015 ).

4 Data source:　Table C developing economies by region of World Economic Situation and Prospects from the United Nations. We present this data source from: 2014wesp_country_classification.pdf.

5 Due to space limitation and a reviewer’s suggestion, we omit the table of the MMQR-based international traveler arrivals for developing nations.

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Contributor Information

Chien-Chiang Lee, Email: moc.liamg@1016eelcc .

Mei-Ping Chen, Email: wt.ude.ctun@gnipiem .

Wenmin Wu, Email: moc.qq@7415004152 .

Wenwu Xing, Email: [email protected] .

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Role of ICT in Tourism

Role of ICT in Tourism: The application of ICTs is an appropriate prospect for improvising the tourism industry from an area perspective. Towards the event of destinations economies technology driven systems are very crucial. Precisely, ICTs have the potential to upsurge destination revenue for supporting the economic and social development.

Perhaps, evolving and strengthening the local tourism and tourism oriented activities with application driven mechanisms can offshoot the local entrepreneurship and connected activities. Fundamentally, ICTs consent destinations to progress and expand the web presence with better and global visibility and participation through Internet market. To build efficacy and destination competency, it’s very essential to travel beyond offline connectivity involving collaboration, clustering and inter-sect oral associations among local public and personal tourism and other tourism-related actors. In fact, it’s imperative and highly required to compete in today’s global tourism market. More precisely the advantageous effects of ICTs are to be found within the prospects to condense the traditional drawbacks of SMEs and native operators.

Primarily, ICTs deliver direct, cheap and operative access to the particular and potential customers. along side , ICTs make profitable to use various distribution channels and target niche markets. Beforehand it had been almost difficult for SMEs to spread, attend and even to be recognized. Nonetheless, for this to happen a standard improvement of ICT infrastructures isn’t adequate.

Even an appropriate benefaction of e-skills, as promoted by international organizations is by now an important factor. Towards, every new technology, the overview ICTs cannot create the assured paybacks if it’s not supplemented by balancing modifications within the current organizational settings and structures to right fit them with its typical features. Developmental paybacks of ICTs, and destination’s management activities must be relooked and newfangled ICT-enabled organizational representations are to be developed. However, to usher in change is never easy, and during a disjointed, SMEsdriven business such tourism, it’d be even tougher . Hence what must be re-examined is how traditional destination management structures are often redefined to influence ICTs and the way officious tools, resulting into the new representations and practices are often spread within tourism destinations.

Examining the contextual on the approaching benefits of ICTs towards destination management, one major aspect might be examined because the new role of the organizations responsible of the management of destinations – mentioned as Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) and grants the most features of an ICT-enabled system for the management of destinations denoted as “cybernetic incoming agency”.

At that time critical outlook on the most barriers and pertinent international policy directions connected to the diffusion strategy of integrating e-skills creation, ICT development and native interacting and cooperation projects might be implemented. it’s vital to craft measures for the sensitization tools and initiatives wont to activate ICTs acceptance in local organizations and firms.

Particularly, a radical explanation of the e-business methodology created for diffusion of ICT awareness and therefore the scholastic approach accomplished to supply the essential competencies to endure the agreement and usage of such technologies are going to be presented. ICT responsiveness and competences are often well-thought-out, because it may look very complicated for the appliance of more multifaceted and beneficial ICT enabled models like the “cybernetic incoming agency”. Theoretically watching it identifies a probable progression within the management of destinations prompted by ICTs and a complicated organizational model within the current scenario.

It also deals with wider insights in the way to device this model, not only as a group of guidelines, but with facilitation of a longtime step-by-step approach and interrelated tools developed because the results of continuing field investigations. Correspondingly, a special standpoint within the procedure of technologies, not merely as a tool, but as a framework for erudition and therefore the base of advanced learning methods aimed toward the formation of latest tourism professionals is supported and explained.

Background for the ICT Enabled Systems in commission Sector with DMO

ICTs are in varying archetypes, knowingly the techniques during which traditional destination management activities in terms of designing , Development, Marketing, Management, Coordination and Monitoring of destinations are being conceded out. as an example , within the earlier times, few DMOs were well-found and self-possessed and capable combat marketing research .

Indeed, these initiatives were quite costly consultancies. Nowadays with e-mail or web-based questionnaires the entire process is relaxed and cheap to hold out consumer analysis. Perhaps, with internet sites , it’s promising and can quantify the efficiency of a marketing operation and would examine virtually all the opposite destination management activities.

Therefore, ICTs can create variety of advantages for destination management activities with regard to; dropping costs, reducing the necessity to print brochures, less time for undertaking activities, and at an equivalent time increasing their effectiveness Additionally, ICTs can enhance new-fangled sources of incomes to fund the activities of DMOs like selling of services like; training, design and development of internet sites , consultancy and assistance for e-marketing activities and applications and technologies developed.

The discussed benefits spell out as ICTs can deliver local tourism public and personal actors who are involved in destination management with the implements, the applications and eventually with the prospect to require on these activities in additional cost effective, self-governing, and in additional eligible manner. ICT-driven development is advantageous for tourism not only in rising employment but also in creating the prospects for more high-skilled professions.

ICTs can therefore turn as ultimate drivers for tourism-driven development in developing destinations. to require hold of those benefits, there’s the necessity for a leeway of the role of DMOs beyond the outmoded promotion of the destination, the pool and dispersal of knowledge and therefore the organization of tourism activities within the destination.

In this perception DMOs become the key players within the usage and dispersion of ICT culture and with better responsiveness within the creation of the required organizational capabilities and infrastructures to line in ICTs within the local tourism industry setting.

DMOs can combat another revolution, from crucial actors to only among the multitude of actors intricate in destination’s management. This foreseen repositioning requires an enhancement of resources and capabilities mainly the event of managerial and technological competences, the capabilities to elaborate and manage complex processes and to scout for the required funding, both within the public sector and within the market. Accordingly, the cohesive ICTs Systems are actuality wont to upkeep cybernetic incoming agency to uphold and commercialize destination offering on a worldwide scale.

1. Describing Governance within the Tourism Sector

The uses and solicitation of ICT based approaches in tourism may be a answer based upon the normal way in tourism. Societies from across the world , with different magnitude are the potential tourist, so complete domain is that the marketplace for tourism. The tourism industry is assorted from micro level to global bounds.

Several means of ICT like Computer Reservation System (CRS), Global Distribution System (GDS) and knowledge System (IS) are used now days. the foremost imperative feature of ICT based tourism is that the supply end and unrestricted information to the patrons at their seats. Information is known by sizable amount of clienteles.

The supplementary drive of ICT based tourism is that it incapacitates the dissociated and geographical obstacles. the buyer and vender from anywhere of world are competent enough to share information. Travelers can access all information which is translucent.

Technology based tourism is extremely thoroughly associated to economy growth. Going deeper it’s a sort of industry where services are rendered to customers or tourist. it’s a completely interrelated business which is interlinked with food and transportation industries. it’s various activities involved in it.

Technology and tourism has revealed the transition within the industry as a results of ICT impact and have explored its possibility and potential. the main challenges facing tourism industry are immensely explored and outlined by some experts and therefore the nexus between tourism and ICT are clearly indicated.

The rapid shift-taking place between ‘traditional tourism sector’ and ‘new tourism industry’ is quiet studied. Technology features a premeditated role in restructuring the worth chain within the industry and within the process, customers are regularly acclimating to the new values, lifestyles and new tourism products, which has re-assessed by the new technologies. albeit a number of the technologies designated are now outdated, the implied missive is pertinent and provides an overall review of the changing face of the tourism industry.

Examining the core features of the industry structure and therefore the operation of the new technologies in it, ICT applications in several sectors like airlines, hotels, tour operators, road and rail transport etc. are dealt intimately . a number of the world’s largest GDS (Global Distribution System) namely Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus and World span are examined.

Besides analyzing the telecommunication technologies within the industry, the hospitality sector, entertainment sector, transport sector, management sector and other intermediaries are diligently explored. Information Technology, information management, intelligent applications and system integration etc. are examined carefully. Additional information on business strategy exploring the connection between ICT, strategy and organization is additionally articulated.

2. Tools for Governance

There are two tools especially that ought to be utilized in the tourism sector with reference to ICT and its implications: Virtual Incoming Agency Model and therefore the creation of integrated ICT system. Developed as a results of variety of research projects undertaken globally, implies a virtual incoming agency (or VIA) model which is conceived as an evolution of the concept of DMO.

Explicitly, as per the considerations beyond the virtual incoming agency is conceptualized because the organization responsible of the promotion and coordination of an integrated tourism system within a tourism destination – along side the establishment of the essential cultural, organization and technological conditions to make sure its effective implementation – that reality relates with applying the graphic organizer technique with an ICT enabled mechanism to undertake its functions . It is a technological and organizational (ICT-enabled and ICT-native) representation for the management of tourism destinations. These mechanisms are often considered with the appliance of virtual incoming agencies with all the general public or public private destination management organizations that comprehends a mission to form use of integrated ICT system.

The objectives of innovative ICT enabled systems are:

• To effectively propose the advantages of tourism for the local economy (incomes, employment, investments • To systematize the local tourism supply chain to be attention for visitors and meet their expectations while maximizing their spending and its distribution • To maintain tourism consultants in increasing the standard of their offerings and their profitability.

Consequently the integrated ICTs Systems are getting used to support virtual incoming agency within the achievement of these objectives and especially . the method is systemic and deducts iteration and indicates mechanisms to captivate on infusion of technology within the concurrent context.

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Designed and realized during a modular manner, to create and enrich progressively as per the requirements and capabilities of current and potential users. the thought underneath the platform is to make an open and scalable system, with a coffee porch in terms of costs and complexity, which permit access to actors at different levels of ICT system and technological capabilities. The platform is made to support the increasing in time, number and typologies of operators, users and services.

The platform has as purpose to take care of the consolidation of tourism information, attractions and services providers in solitary rational point of access. An actor (a public authority, consortia of public and personal tourism operators or a public-private company) need to have the accountability to function as a value-adding mediator between local tourism services providers and potential customers, on condition that the facilities are to distribute and sell offerings to the purchasers .

ICT-Enabled Models for the Management of Destinations

The convention of ICTs in tourism, the dissemination of ICT tools and practices in institutions, enterprises and destinations as an entire is way to be automatic, and therefore the results of this process aren’t certain. Therefore, through effective strategies for enabling ICT, tourism can perform well within the global market and emerge very successful.

A scientific application of ICT system can largely enhance the general effectiveness of the destination. Low responsiveness of the advantages and usefulness of ICTs particularly in decision-makers is beneath the inadequate attitude to endow the required time and money. A noteworthy insight among the travel consultants and tourism operators, of being untrained to the organizational changes are desirable from the prologue of ICTs, and thus to endow with the essential competences to use productively such tools. The conception of a constructive background towards innovation is essentially by incorporating the event of ICT solutions and promoting interoperability and therefore the definition of standards.

Therefore sensitization, competences development, organizational change and collaboration, are complementary elements for the diffusion of ICTs and related ICTenabled models in destinations, but also necessary factors for the creation of the specified ‘human’ and ‘social’ infrastructure for the amalgamation and competitiveness of local tourism supply.

These factors, along side the usage of technologies and context/laboratories for the creation of human and social capital and therefore the recognition of the indissoluble link between digital and organizational innovation, are the pillars of the strategy found out for the diffusion of ICTs and therefore the integration of local tourism offering in an integrated supply system.

For competent destination management and technology contribution tourism destinations is in synthesis an integrated strategy, being realized through a series of initiatives focused on: • The design and development of applications and solutions enabling advanced ICT services for the management of destinations • The usage of an equivalent ICT applications and solutions for the event of competences necessary to their productive usage, also as for the belief of local cooperation projects for his or her diffusion adoption in firms and institutions, and therefore the integration of the local tourism system. This strategy is predicated on the convention of ICT solutions’ development projects, for instance the event of a Destination Management System is to trigger the creation of competences and therefore the necessary organizational changes to start-up a process aimed toward fostering interactions and collaboration dynamics among local actors, with the ultimate aim to make the required prerequisites for the mixing of the local tourism system.

Preliminary from these premise, ICTs and especially the projects associated with their comprehension and diffusion, are conceived because the mechanisms necessary to the formation of the cultural collaboration attitudes and behaviors), organizational (business and ICT management competences) and technological (infrastructures and applications) environment for the effective implementation of pioneering models for the management of destinations. This strategy is articulated in three main phases which is portrayed by specific initiatives with defined objectives and roles.

The aim of those initiatives is to make local public and personal tourism operators conscious of the necessity to cooperate within the development of comprehensive propositions which will attract tourists to the destination and therefore the benefits of ICT solutions in doing so.

The intention of this segment is to interact a primary nucleus of actors, interested but not necessarily equipped, within the realization of an e-business cases that demonstrates the advantages within the usage of ICTs for local tourism institutions, enterprises and therefore the destinations overall. The e-business case will then be used for further and simpler sensitization initiatives and within the next phases. The focus is usually on increasing local ICT and e- Business competences (e-skills creation). Second, an ‘evaluation’ phase through the experimentation of ICT applications and solutions Identified previously with the aim to possess people ‘touch with their hands’ the potential benefits of such technologies; to gather the wants for the belief and/or the implementation of the technological platform and to check the business model defined. the target of this phase is to understand a pilot program for the event and implementation of an ICT platform for the management of the destination ICT development and diffusion).

The pilot program are going to be the tool for involving all the opposite relevant stakeholders, on the idea of local experiences and documented leads to the launch and realization of a virtual incoming agency (local networking and cooperation projects) within the destination. this is often the third phase, the ‘implementation’ phase.

During this phase research institutions leave the initiative to non-public enterprises – for the event and therefore the industrialization of the experimented solution – and to local public and personal tourism operators, which will use and manage the answer realized for his or her activities of organizing, promoting and commercializing the destination.

So, as previously highlighted, the event and diffusion of ICT applications and solutions aren’t the top , but rather the means of an overarching innovation policy, aimed toward facilitating the evolution of destinations’ tourism supply systems from fragmented towards integrated configurations.

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Mapping tourism and hospitality research on information and communication technology: a bibliometric and scientific approach

• Published: 20 June 2022
• Volume 24 , pages 299–340, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Arturo Molina-Collado   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6537-2468 1 ,
• Mar Gómez-Rico 1 ,
• Marianna Sigala 2 , 3 ,
• María Victoria Molina 1 ,
• Evangelina Aranda 4 &
• Yolanda Salinero 1  

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A Correction to this article was published on 01 June 2022

This article has been updated

Technology and information and communication technology (ICT) have been gaining importance in tourism and hospitality with a booming research interest during the last years and specifically recently due to the disruptions of the COVID-19 crisis. Hence it is useful to structure the existing knowledge in this field to better guide directions for future research. To that end, this study synthesizes the academic literature about ‘technology and ICT’ in tourism and hospitality by carrying out a bibliometric analysis. The study identified 2424 documents, including the words ‘technolog*’ and/or ‘ICT’ combined with ‘touris*’, ‘hospitality’, ‘hotel’, and/or ‘travel’ that were published in the period 1988–2021 and collected from tourism and hospitality journals indexed in the Web of Science (WOS) and SCOPUS databases. The analysis was carried out by using SciMAT software, which offers different bibliometric tools and methods in order to achieve consistent results through a keyword co-occurrence analysis and an evolution map. The findings revealed the major research themes, including technology acceptance model, electronic word-of-mouth, user-generated content, self-services technologies, robotics, smart tourism, virtual reality, and trust in technology. The study concludes by identifying and discussing a future research agenda.

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1 Introduction

Technology and ICTs have transformed society, the way services are provided, and so, tourism and hospitality (Zaidan 2017 ; Egger et al. 2020 ; Gössling 2021 ). The development of the internet in the 1990s (Buhalis 1998 ) and the subsequent evolution of websites, social networks, and smartphones have facilitated greater accessibility and generation of tourism content by the users (Hannam et al. 2014 ; Sigala 2015 ), which in turn revolutionized the way tourists dream, plan, book and experience their trips as well as they disrupted and disintermediated the tourism value chain (Foris et al. 2020 ; Sigala 2018 ). Technology has now become a vital part of competitiveness, distribution, and marketing in tourism organizations (Law et al. 2009 ; Xiang et al. 2021 ). As technology continues to evolve, emerging technologies [such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Big Data, Location Based Services or Virtual and Augmented Reality Systems] continue to boost innovation and disruption in tourism and hospitality (Stankov and Gretzel 2020 ; Valeri and Baggio 2021 ). Recently, COVID-19 accelerated technology adoption, while ICTs are advocated as necessary for re-starting and rebuilding the tourism and hospitality industries (Sigala 2020 ).

Indeed, the importance of technologies and ICT in tourism and hospitality has attracted great research interest generating numerous publications (e.g., MacKay and Vogt 2012 ; Law et al. 2013 ; Law et al. 2014 ; Ivars-Baidal et al. 2019 ; Law et al. 2019 ; Xiang et al. 2021 ). However, when reviewing the most relevant review analyses in the tourism and hospitality literature (see Table 1 ), we can observe several limitations. First, there is a lack of a comprehensive view of research examining technology and ICTs in tourism and hospitality, which is essential for guiding future research agendas and directions. Second, most of the review studies are about a specific technology, area, or journal (e.g., website, social media, virtual reality, restaurants, hotels, etc.). Third, most studies develop qualitative than quantitative reviews. In addition, understanding the complexities and relationships between the research topics will allow us to further enhance the required transformations in technologies and ICTs in order to achieve an appropriate and socially constructive use in tourism and hospitality (Gössling 2021 ). Therefore, it is necessary to structure and synthesize our current knowledge about technology and ICT quantitatively to develop a future research agenda that can help us advance research and progress scientific debates. To that end, this study used bibliometric tools to achieve an objective synthesis of the literature (Donthu et al. 2021a ; Zupic and Čater 2015 ) and to identify the critical research areas for future research (Samiee and Chabowski 2012 ).

Bibliometric analysis is a very useful tool for successfully synthesizing large amounts of information (Donthu et al. 2021a ; Zupic and Čater 2015 ). These studies are based on statistical and mathematical techniques (Pritchard 1969 ) and allow to analyze the productivity and quality of scientific production (Koseoglu et al. 2016 ). Bibliometric analysis has become a very popular and powerful method to study the evolution and the structure of scientific knowledge produced within many disciplines (including tourism), academic journals, and scientific concepts (Sigala et al. 2021 ). In this study, we adopted the co-word analysis based on the frequency of the co-occurrence of keywords, because it can provide new insights about research topics.

Specifically, we look at the following research questions (RQs) with respect to technology and ICT research (in this paper, we use the words ‘technology’ and ‘ICT’ because they are the keywords used in the search to identify the documents and conceptualize this research):

RQ1: What are the major research topics of past research? How do they connect with each other?

RQ2: Which are the leading topics based on the number of citations?

RQ3: How has the research field evolved? What topics do they emerge for further research?

Overall, this study also adopts a bibliometric analysis for investigating the intellectual structure of scientific knowledge published in the field of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality. First, we want to generate a holistic overview of this research field by identifying the themes, their size, and the relationships between them. Second, it is essential to investigate the relative importance of each theme, for instance, through the number of citations. Finally, this analysis also provides an insight about how research has evolved and how it should evolve in the future.

The paper is structured as follows. First, a brief literature review is conducted, providing a general background about technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality as well as about the role and use of bibliometric analysis. The paper continues by presenting the study’s bibliometric methodology, including the process, dataset, and analytical tools that were used. The following sections present the main results organized into two periods and with a content analysis showing the evolution of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality between the two periods. Finally, the study concludes by proposing a future research agenda.

2 Literature review

2.1 technology and ict in tourism and hospitality.

Technology and ICT play essential roles in tourism and hospitality and involve significant challenges and business opportunities (Law et al. 2014 ; Gonzalez et al. 2019 ; Stankov et al. 2019 ). The internet has revolutionized tourism for both providers and consumers (Standing et al. 2014 ; Lama et al. 2020 ), contributing to the expansion of e-tourism and its future transformation, based on six pillars, namely historicity, reflexivity, transparency, equity, plurality, and creativity (Gretzel et al. 2020 ). E-tourism consists of the application of ICTs in tourism (Buhalis 2003 ), specifically “ offering travel-related services remotely to the prospective travelers, where they can transact as and when required ” (Singh and Bashar 2021 , p 2516). Consequently, tourism companies and destinations have been forced to use innovative methods and ICT solutions to facilitate e-tourism, maintain their business, and improve competitiveness (Neidhardt and Werthner 2018 ; Valeri and Baggio 2021 ; Buhalis 2022 ). In this line, Berné et al. ( 2015 ) found a cause-effect relationship between the increasing use of ICT by intermediaries in the sector and business performance. Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ) also demonstrated that through improvements in the quality and coverage of technological structures, destinations could achieve efficiency gains in the tourism sector. Furthermore, ICT development has also affected the operational and strategic management of tourism businesses, with restructuring taking place due to the increased reliance on ICT in the processes and management of the businesses (Law et al. 2014 ).

In the tourism and hospitality industries, investment in technological systems and websites is vital, not only for promoting and distributing tourism services but also for obtaining customer knowledge (Hua 2020 ; Bastidas-Manzano et al. 2021 ). The use of these technologies is key in enabling consumers and service providers to communicate fluently with each other (Law et al. 2014 ), also giving place to the co-creation of value for stakeholders (Buhalis 2019 ) and the co-creation of tourism experiences (Huang et al. 2019 ). Interactions take place when tourists are willing to engage with destinations, hotels, or firms in general (Buhalis 2019 ). Furthermore, Kumar and Kumar ( 2020 ) empirically demonstrate a significant connection between ICT and tourism demand in the most prominent tourism destinations, including China, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

However, despite knowing the importance of ICT, the development of technological systems should be examined carefully, as the positive results of investment in ICT capabilities occur in a different timeframe for each action and the impact of tourism enterprises’ investment in technological systems is not immediate (Hua 2020 ). Moreover, these technologies have an added challenge: the speed at which changes occur. This means that companies cannot develop strategies based on technology and online communication in the long term and must develop dynamic innovation strategies based on personal knowledge (Munar 2012 ; Valeri and Baggio 2021 ).

Technological developments have also enabled disintermediation in tourism by connecting suppliers with customers direct (Zaidan 2017 ). As a result, multiple tools such as destination marketing systems (DMS), global distribution systems (GDS), and computer reservation systems (CRS) were developed several years ago, and new electronic intermediaries emerged (Fuchs et al. 2010 ). However, this has brought a significant challenge for traditional tourism intermediaries, many of them small and medium-sized enterprises that cannot invest a large number of resources in developing new technology-based systems (Lin 2016 ). To mitigate this impact, it was essential for intermediaries to create strong relationships and agreements with the other parts of the distribution channels, especially with tourism organizations and suppliers, in order to improve their market position and not disappear due to the emergence of other online intermediaries (Berné et al. 2015 ). In addition, these intermediaries can rely on application service providers, external information providers with whom they can benefit from new technologies at a lower cost than developing their own systems (Lin 2016 ). The adoption of ICT and technological innovations by the tourism is vital for the industry’s future and so, understanding the drivers and obstacles of technology adoption is also vital (Buhalis 2019 ). Understanding technological development and adoption is also critical as it transforms the processes and relationships between tourism suppliers and tourists and affects tourism competitiveness.

2.2 Bibliometric analysis

The bibliometrics concept was developed by Pritchard ( 1969 , p. 349) to encompass “the application of mathematics and statistical methods for books and other media”. Bibliometrics is a tool that facilitates the evaluation and study of the evolution of studied topics through statistical techniques, thus enabling the evaluation and analysis of academic quality and productivity (Koseoglu et al. 2016 ). Bibliometrics also helps to analyze a field through big datasets (Callon et al. 1991 ; Coulter et al. 1998 ; Valenzuela et al. 2017 ), making it possible to achieve greater objectivity in literature studies when bibliometric methods are applied correctly (Zupic and Čater 2015 ; Donthu et al. 2021b ).

Bibliometrics draws on information such as concepts, author names, journals, or references provided by studies published daily. It is a tool that assists researchers by providing them with a synthesis of previous studies that allows them to base their opinion on aggregate views on the topics under analysis (Zupic and Čater 2015 ). The results of the bibliometric analysis provide guidance for future lines of research (Samiee and Chabowski 2012 ). It is also helpful for journal editors, as it facilitates the analysis of the productivity of publications and thus helps them to make decisions about new publications (Zupic and Čater 2015 ). Therefore, a significant number of bibliometric studies have been carried out for different purposes, such as identifying the most prolific academics or institutions, classifying knowledge by periods or geographical areas, or identifying the level of maturity of specific topics (Koseoglu et al. 2016 ; Sigala et al. 2021 ).

In addition, bibliometric analysis has been applied in several disciplines and particular journals. Specifically, topics related to consumer, services, business, innovation, and social media have been studied. The number of bibliometric studies in tourism and hospitality has been increasing significantly since 2008 (Sigala et al. 2021 ). Some recent works, such as Kim and So ( 2022 ) about customer experience in hospitality and tourism, Nusair et al. ( 2019 ) about social media in hospitality and tourism; Shin and Perdue ( 2019 ) about self-service technology in hospitality; Palácios et al. ( 2021 ) about trust in hospitality and tourism; or Sigala et al. ( 2021 ) applied to the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management are some among many examples. This interest has gone hand in hand with an increase in the number of academic journals in the fields of tourism and hospitality in the WOS and SCOPUS databases. Furthermore, due to the growing importance of new technologies and ICT in tourism and hospitality, many researchers have conducted bibliometric studies on some topic-specific issues, such as the study by Leung et al. ( 2015 ) on tourism marketing via the internet, or the studies shown in Table 1 . However, there is no bibliometric analysis focusing on the general analysis of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality using a quantitative approach so far. Therefore, this study attempts to summarize our existing knowledge on this topic by examining the structure and the evolution of current knowledge. The study also contributes to the field by suggesting a future research agenda and directions that can progress existing knowledge.

3 Bibliometric methodology

Bibliometrics offers multiple tools and methods to achieve the objective of this work, which is to synthesize and analyze the scientific production of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality journals. In this paper, we have defined the research methodology following the studies of Donthu et al. ( 2021a ), Paul and Rialp ( 2020 ), and Zupic and Čater ( 2015 ). We selected the domain-based review in our research, because it is prevalent in areas related to business, marketing, or management, among others. This type of review can be classified into the next categories: structured review, framework-based, bibliometric review, hybrid-narrative, and review aiming for model/framework development (Paul and Rialp 2020 ). After that, we used a hybrid type review, combining the method of bibliometric and content analysis. The first one is used to analyze an extensive amount of published research by using statistical tools, and the second one is used to summarize the content (major themes) of the literature and discover future research gaps. Specifically, in this study, bibliometric methods have been used to obtain a descriptive analysis of performance of the scientific production, and the science mapping. Science mapping is a process that requires the next steps: research design, compiling the bibliometric data, analysis, visualization, and interpretation.

The first step has been to define the research questions to be answered in the study and to select the most appropriate bibliometric methods to answer these questions. We selected the co-word analysis, because it allows us to evaluate the topics that have attracted the most attention in academia and, consequently, the most important themes for the research domain (Callon et al. 1991 ). Then, we selected the WOS and SCOPUS databases as comprehensive databases for international tourism and hospitality publications and in order to increase the reliability of the findings. The software SciMAT was selected because, in addition to the network analysis, we can highlight the longitudinal analysis as a benefit versus other software (Cobo et al. 2012 ). Finally, it appeared that the best way to achieve the objective of the study was to adopt a keyword analysis, as this is the most appropriate method for identifying co-occurrence of words. This is also found as a very useful method in social sciences, because it provides a map grouping the terms of the field of study (Marshakova-Shaikevich 2005 ).

Relative to the descriptive analysis of performance, it is essential to locate the relevant information due to the multiple possibilities offered by bibliographic databases. In this study, to develop the descriptive analysis, we used the tools offered by the WOS and SCOPUS to filter documents. Specifically, these databases offer the possibility of grouping documents by year of publication, sources, countries, institutions, etc., but for this study, only the most relevant descriptive information has been considered.

3.1 Dataset and standardization

The data used to perform the bibliometric analysis of this study was downloaded from the WOS and SCOPUS databases for the period 1988–2021. In order to obtain quality data, the search was carried out by defining some criteria that delimit the area of interest of the study, following the proposal of Xiang et al. ( 2021 ) by extending information technology in tourism to social sciences. The specific search carried out was a thematic search for the topics “technolog*” and “ICT” together with the terms “touris*” or “hospitality” or “hotel” or “travel”, and it was reasoned in an attempt to cover the main publications in the domain. In this point, we should highlight that we tried several searches, and finally, the option with the broad terms “technolog*” and “ICT” was more accurate. There are two alternatives to make the search: using a high number of keywords could be an alternative (Leung et al. 2017 ); or a more concentrated search on a very few words with direct relation to the exact research topic (Leung et al. 2013 ; Zeng and Gerritsen 2014 ). Both alternatives were tested. The first search that we tried included more than 15 words (e.g., e-Tourism, e-Business, smart tourism, robotics, website, social media, etc.). In the second search, following the work of Leung et al. ( 2013 ) and Zeng and Gerritsen ( 2014 ), the search list was narrowed down to the following words: the terms “technolog*” and “ICT” combined with “touris*”, “hospitality”, “travel”, and “hotel”. We compare the findings and this search leads us to obtain publications related to “e-Tourism”, “smart tourism”, “robotics”, “website”, etc., and also publications related to technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality in general. Finally, we decided to use the last alternative. Nonetheless, we are aware of a need to recognize that there is a current discussion on two alternatives and the final decision depending on the findings.

We refined the search using the following filters. First, we filtered the results by selecting research articles (including research notes), review articles, and early access. Conference papers and book reviews were not included. Second, we selected papers in the English language. Third, we selected the journals into the category ‘Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism’ in both databases. Finally, we covered the databases’ whole period, and the first publication appeared in 1988. Many papers were duplicated in both databases. After revising no related articles and deleting duplicates, a total of 2424 were obtained and then exported to the software SciMAT (Cobo et al. 2012 ; https://sci2s.ugr.es/scimat/ ), and it generated 8132 keywords. Figure  1 offers the details of the process to obtain and analyze the information in this bibliometric analysis. The next step is to standardize those words with the same or similar meaning. First, we used an automated term grouping by singular and plurals and another based on distances, detecting terms that differ by a distance of X characters. Second, a laborious process of manually grouping terms was carried out. To do this, the terms have been sorted in alphabetical order, and the search engine has been used to locate those words with similar meanings and reduce the number of concepts. In addition, in such cases where it was not certain that they meant the same thing, it was confirmed by reading the articles to really check that they could be grouped under a single term. This action allows both adding terms to existing groups and creating new groups that encompass the words in the group. For example, ‘ease of use’, ‘perceived ease of use’, and ‘perceived ease’ were grouped under a single concept. The objective is to create groups of words having similar meanings. Once this process ended, we obtained 6299-word groups. The next step is related to the periods to offer a longitudinal analysis. It is possible to specify a cut-off point when there is an extensive dataset, and the recommendation is to find a potential event that caused key changes in the research themes between the first and second periods. In this sense, in our study, we can observe the increase in the number of systematic literature reviews about technology issues from 2017. Thus, the periods were defined as 1988–2016 and 2017–2021.

Framework to develop the bibliometric analysis

3.2 Analytical tools and process

SciMAT generates two types of outputs (Cobo et al. 2012 ): (1) performance analysis, which refers to the impact of a research theme through the number of publications (as an indicator of the productivity of the author or theme) and citations (as the influence of the author or theme within the scientific community) (Fetscherin and Heinrich, 2015; Merigó and Yang, 2017); and (2) science mapping analysis, which creates a graphic representation of the structure of research (strategic diagrams and cluster networks) and its evolution over time (Cobo et al. 2012 ). The strategic diagram is a two-dimensional map (four quadrants) built considering two parameters (Callon et al. 1991 ; Cobo et al. 2011 ): centrality and density (see Fig.  2 ). The science mapping analysis is based on the co-occurrence of the keywords, and it has been considered adequate for the purpose of this study. Specifically, the aim is to develop a co-occurrence analysis to synthesize documents (Callon et al. 1991 ). In this way, it is possible to locate relationships between terms since co-occurrence occurs when two terms appear in the same document (Cobo et al. 2011 ). This analysis enables the representation of the relationship and its strength between the different concepts through maps. In these graphic representations, keywords are represented as nodes and appear related when they are in the same documents (Cobo et al. 2011 ). In addition, following Cobo et al. ( 2012 ), we summarize the four analysis phases of the bibliometric method used in this study in Fig.  2 detection of research themes, visualization of research topics through strategic diagrams and thematic networks, the discovery of thematic areas and their evolutions, and performance analysis (see Fig.  2 ).

Source: Adapted from Cobo et al. ( 2012 )

Phases of bibliometric method and science mapping analysis.

3.3 Analysis with SciMAT

Once the data had been imported into the software, the aim of the pre-processing was to unify the similar words under a single concept as well as to solve the small errors in the imported data, and the periods have been created, the analysis with SciMAT is executed. The process of analysis with SciMAt is as follows (Cobo et al. 2012 ).

Selection of the periods. This step consists of indicating the periods to be analyzed. For the study, the two periods have been selected.

Selection of the unit of analysis. This step is essential, as it defines which aspect of the field is the object of the study. Thus, as this is conceptual research, the unit of analysis selected is the keywords that have been previously pre-processed.

Data reduction. The aim of this step is to consider the most important information to achieve more precise results. A minimum frequency value of 4 has been established, which means that only those concepts that appear in at least four publications will be considered in the analysis.

Selection of the type of matrix. As explained above, co-occurrence has been considered to be the most appropriate algorithm to achieve the purpose of the study.

Network reduction. In this step, a certain limit is selected to consider the strongest or most significant links and to eliminate the less relevant ones. A minimum value of four has been considered; that is, a relationship between two concepts must appear together in at least four documents.

Normalization. In this step, the similarity measure of the analysis is selected from the different possibilities offered by the program. The one considered most appropriate for the study is the equivalence index, which is used to relativize the relationships between the keywords since it measures their strength.

Clustering algorithm. Clustering algorithms are a key element in the construction of scientific maps. For the present study, the simple center algorithm has been used. This tool clusters the data in a way that allows generating the desired networks of related words (maximum and minimum network size: 12 and 3, respectively).

Document mapper. In this step, the software groups the documents according to the user’s selection. For this study, it has been selected the collection of core documents and the union mapper, which incorporates those documents that have at least one element in common with the cluster.

Quality measures. The total of citations and the h-index have been selected as bibliometric indicators that evaluate performance. These indicators complement other performance measures automatically provided by SciMAT, such as the number of documents.

Longitudinal. This step is necessary to complete the analysis. Jaccard’s index and inclusion index are selected to carry out a longitudinal analysis.

Make analysis. Once the previously mentioned steps have been completed, the results are graphically represented to be analyzed and interpreted, leading to the main conclusions of the study.

4.1 Data pre-processing

Once all the documents have been loaded into SciMAT, we carried out the data pre-processing explained in the methodology section to improve the quality of the data. The first step consists of the automatic grouping “find similar words by the plural”. With this action, it has been possible to go from the initial 8132 concepts to 7731. Furthermore, in this initial step, to achieve greater rigor, words or symbols that the program included as concepts and did not provide useful information have also been deleted. The next step is the manual grouping of terms as we also indicated the methodology section. Through this manual grouping, it has been possible to reduce the number of word groups from 7731 to 6299. This reduction not only reduces the number of data to be analyzed but also improves the accuracy of the analysis and gives more reliable results.

4.2 Results analysis

This section presents the analysis of the 2424 publications. First, a descriptive analysis based on bibliometric performance indicators is presented. The bibliometric performance indicators used for the analysis are the next: the number of publications per year, the most productive journals in the field, and the most cited papers. On the other hand, a strategic map and some parameters such as the number of documents, the citations, the h-index, the centrality, the density, and some keyword networks are presented to analyze the most outstanding topics in this field. Additionally, a structural analysis of the evolution of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality is also presented.

4.2.1 Descriptive analysis based on bibliometric performance indicators

Firstly, an analysis of the number of papers published per year has been carried out to measure the evolution over time of the productivity of publications in this field of research. Figure  3 shows a remarkable growth in the number of articles published in the period 1988–2021, highlighting the exponential growth of the last five years. It fluctuates from 1 in 1988 to 25 in 2005, to 162 in 2016, and 416 in 2020. There are 299 articles in 2021 when the authors close the analysis at the beginning of November 2021. This growth in the number of publications is related to the increase in the use of new technologies and their application to tourism, which is discussed in the next sections.

Evolution of the number of articles and citations

There is a great variety of journals that have contributed to this field (Table 2 ), which reflects the inter-disciplinary role, impact, and diffusion of technologies and ICT in tourism and hospitality. The most productive journals are Tourism Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, with 184, 148, and 147 papers, respectively. Another critical question is to identify the leading journals in the field in terms of the number of citations per document. In this case, the top three journals taking into account the average of citations per publication are: Tourism Management (99 citations per document), Annals of Tourism Research (58 citations per document), and Journal of Travel Research (47 citations per document).

On the other hand, concerning the most cited papers (Table 3 ), it is worth noting that among the ten most cited papers, 7 of them have been published in the journal Tourism Management , making this journal not only the leader in terms of the number of papers published in the field but also in terms of their popularity. The most cited paper also belongs to this journal, and it is Dimitrios Buhalis and Rob Law’ paper on the state of e-Tourism research, which has been cited almost 1500 times.

4.2.2 Science mapping analysis of technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality

Through the analysis of the conceptual structure carried out in SciMAT, we will discover the thematic areas in both periods. We identified the themes located in the strategic diagrams and cluster networks for each period. On the one hand, the themes are located in one of four quadrants depending on centrality, which measures the degree of interaction of a network with others, and density, which gauges the internal strength of the network. Both oscillate between 0 and 1. On the other hand, the thematic or cluster network represents a theme and its connections with other topics based on the co-occurrence of the keywords. The most relevant keyword is at the center of the network. The volume of the sphere is related to the number of articles, and the thickness of the link between two keywords represents the association strength (see all the cluster networks in the Appendix). In order to complete the analysis, Table 4 presents the themes ordered by quadrants, and the main performance indicators for each theme are detailed: centrality range, density range, number of documents, number of citations, and h-index.

4.2.2.1 The emerging period (1988–2016)

Sixteen themes emerge from the SciMAT analysis. The internet has the largest number of documents (108), followed by the technology acceptance model (73), competitiveness (71), and customer satisfaction (70). Two of them are motor themes (technology acceptance model and customer satisfaction) together with e-WOM (52) and adoption (40) (see the top right quadrant of Fig.  4 ). The performance measures indicate that the internet and e-WOM were the most relevant themes by the number of citations, with 5993 and 7206 citations and h-index of 39 and 32, respectively (see Table 4 ).

Strategic diagram for the period 1988–2016 (number of documents)

The cluster network of technology acceptance model shows that it has been analyzed from different perspectives, such as online travel shopping or mobile hotel booking (see the Appendix). Amaro and Duarte ( 2015 ) examine online travel shopping and integrate several theoretical models providing advances such as the essential role that perceived risk plays in purchasing travel online. In this sense, they recommend effective ways to reduce perceived risk to enhance willingness to purchase travel online. In addition, Ozturk et al. ( 2016 ) find that the utilitarian value of mobile hotel booking is more important than the hedonic value in relation to usage intentions.

Several themes related to customer satisfaction appear in the cluster network: service quality, commitment, or customer loyalty. The study of Kim et al. ( 2011 ) covered a gap in tourism e-commerce, developing a theoretical model that incorporates trust and satisfaction and their effects on customer loyalty. Several studies conclude that satisfaction is very significant to increase purchase intention of tourism products online (e.g., Bai et al. 2008 ).

e-WOM has been analyzed since social media, user-generated content (UGC), online review, or credibility. e-WOM is one of the most important information sources in the hospitality and tourism industry because consumers cannot evaluate the tourism services prior to their consumption (e.g., Litvin et al. 2008 ). In the context of online reviews, Filieri and McLeay ( 2014 ) identify the antecedents of online reviews adoption, such as information quantity and product ranking. In general, travelers use UGC websites to search for travel information that other consumers have taken because they trust information posted by other travelers more than information from service providers (Herrero et al. 2015 ). For this reason, the analysis of information credibility is a major concern in the online tourism and hospitality industry due to travelers seeking information from various social media platforms, and previous research tries to understand how travelers respond to online reviews and analyze their credibility (e.g., Ayeh et al. 2013 ; Casalo et al. 2015 ).

Finally, adoption, as the last motor theme, presents links with smartphone, mobile apps, mobile commerce, computer technology, e-services, etc. Adoption has been defined as the extent to which consumers modify their behavior by utilizing information technology (Filieri and McLeay 2014 ). The technology adoption model has been studied many times in the context of the tourism and hospitality industry in order to examine the predictors of mobile app use among tourists. For instance, smartphone self-efficacy has been considered as a critical component in tourism and travel app design (e.g., Lu et al. 2015 ; Okumus and Bilgihan 2014 ).

In the second quadrant, themes that have well-developed internal but weak external links emerged (see the top left quadrant in Fig.  4 ): business performance, e-commerce, GPS, climate change, and data envelopment analysis. Their cluster networks results showed that business performance had been analyzed in the hotel industry, and it connects mainly to technological innovation, green technology, or product innovation. E-commerce has been studied in the context of technology and e-business adoption, trust in technology, and analyzing the purchase intention. Bilgihan et al. ( 2014 ) conclude that successful e-commerce strategies must be associated with the creation and management of customer experience, which in turn leads to purchase intention, and loyalty. GPS links to tracking technologies (e.g., Spangenberg 2014 ); climate change has taken into consideration the aviation industry and the ski tourism; and envelopment data analysis links to technical efficiency and productivity (we have included the figures of the cluster networks in the Appendix due to space reasons).

The third quadrant includes the next themes (bottom left of Fig.  4 ): management, technology, and tourism, which is between the third and fourth quadrant. These themes can be considered as less developed, and some of them could emerge in the second period due to their position in the strategic diagram. Management presents links with destination, sustainability, crisis management, co-creation, or growth, among others. In this context, Piccoli ( 2008 ) underlines information technology can provide firms with a sustained competitive advantage in the tourism and hospitality industry. Technology has been studied from smart tourism or food service perspectives related to mobile devices. Some authors point out that the birth of smart tourism happened when destinations considered new technologies involving tourists as active co-creators of their own experiences (e.g., Buonincontri and Micera 2016 ). The third theme is tourism which presents links with promotion technologies, destination image, small business, or qualitative research, among others. An excellent example of the use of promotion technologies is the study of Digiorgio ( 2016 ), who analyzes the relationship between promotional tools and the percentage of bookings received through three different channels (online travel agencies, digital channels, and direct channels).

Finally, the fourth quadrant (bottom right of Fig.  4 ) also presents central themes like in the first quadrant (many connections) but is internally underdeveloped, so they could be considered as potential themes for the next period. The themes and their number of publications are the next: Internet (108), competitiveness (71), model (62), and information technology (61). Internet presents links with websites, ICT, online travel agencies, DMOs, consumer behavior, and segmentation, among others. The paper of Buhalis and Law ( 2008 , p. 619) is a benchmark in the e-tourism literature because they conclude “ how the Internet changed the market conditions for tourism organizations due to ICT provided new tools for tourism marketing and management ”. In addition, these authors advanced that “ the future of e-Tourism will be focused on consumer-centric technologies ”. Competitiveness is related to knowledge management, innovation, strategy, and managerial efficiency. Model refers to e-tourism, theory of planned behavior, task technology fit, and tourist experience. Information technology has been studied considering its usage and variables such as perceived risk, social influence, and intrinsic motivation. It also includes the role of human resource management.

4.2.2.2 The expansion period (2017–2021)

The main character in the second period is the thematic diversity (twenty-four themes), with UGC and self-service technology standing out as major research topics (see Fig.  5 ). Analyzing these two top motor themes, we can observe that UGC has 133 publications and 2369 citations, and self-service technology has 119 publications and 1559 citations (see Table 4 ). UGC is linked to social media, e-WOM, online reviews, big data, Facebook, Tripadvisor, and online hotel booking, among others. In the first period, e-WOM was the central theme, and it was related to UGC; however, in the second one, UGC is the central theme. Social media tools such as Facebook and Tripadvisor have been used in the second period of research to examine how hotels and destinations are using them as a marketing tool, how consumers interact, and how tourists’ online engagement has evolved in the hospitality industry (e.g., Gálvez-Rodríguez et al. 2020 ; Gruss et al. 2020 ; Molina et al. 2020 ) or its influence on attitudes and behavioral intentions (e.g., Sharif and Mura 2019 ). The recent paper of Chen et al. ( 2021 ) provides an assessment of the links between social media and big data by examining technologies and different social media platforms. Analyzing the cluster network of self-service technology, we can observe that it is linked to hotels and restaurants, service-dominant logic and value co-creation, adoption, and behavioral intention, among others. Wei et al. ( 2017 ) analyze the impact of self-service technologies on consumers’ service experience. Liu et al. ( 2020 ) examine the usage process of self-service technologies in hotels into three stages: adoption, implementation, and acceptance. Liu and Hung ( 2020 ) investigate the role of self-service technology compared with service employees in hotels.

Strategic diagram for the period 2017–2021 (number of documents)

Other motor themes ordered by the number of publications are the next: customer satisfaction (98), trust in technology (78), business performance (54), and robotics (54) (top right quadrant of Fig.  5 ). The cluster networks (see the Appendix) display the subsequent findings. Related to customer satisfaction, we can observe the relevance of service quality, service experience, customer loyalty, and technology readiness. Hailey Shin et al. ( 2021 ) examine the relationship between travelers’ technology readiness and satisfaction, and loyalty. Trust in technology presents links to the online environment such as e-commerce, sharing economy, technology continuance intention, or Airbnb (e.g., Nathan et al. 2020 ). Research offers evidence of the importance of trust in tourism e-commerce and m-commerce, suggesting that tourism and hospitality firms can benefit by targeting marketing campaigns that emphasize elements that are affected by trust (e.g., Falcao et al. 2019 ). Business performance links to data envelopment analysis, technical efficiency, IT capabilities, CRM, or market orientation. Data envelopment analysis has been useful to determine the drivers of tourism growth and achieving sustainable tourism development, finding some essential components in this process: technological efficiency, technology gap effect, technological progress, among others (e.g., Zha et al. 2020 ). Related to CRM in the tourism and hospitality industry, the literature suggests that the implementation of a successful CRM program requires a combination of people, processes, and technology (e.g., Law et al. 2018a , b ). Tourism literature also explains the role of market orientation in tourism firms for marketing purposes (e.g., Herrero et al. 2018 ). Finally, robotics links to e-services, artificial intelligence, automation, or future tourism, among others. In this line, the recent review of Gaur et al. ( 2021 ) sheds light on future tourism, examining the role of artificial intelligence and robotics in hotels. They consider that “the service automation with service robots’ could boost hotel competitiveness ” (Gaur et al. 2021 , p. 4093). In addition, it is essential to understand the consumers’ perceptions and experiences with the robots’ contactless services and to be aware that artificial intelligence and automation technologies are transforming tourism services as we know them (Webster and Ivanov 2020 ).

Seven themes emerged in the second quadrant (top left in Fig.  5 ). These themes ordered by the number of documents are the next: TAM (82), smart tourism (69), virtual reality (47), GPS (32), managerial efficiency (16), heritage tourism (10), and competitiveness (9). The themes in the second quadrant include highly developed, isolated, and highly specialized topics with high internal links but weak external links with other topics. In this analysis, we can highlight smart tourism and virtual reality. Since the first relevant research on smart tourism (e.g., Gretzel et al. 2015 ), there has been a very extensive development in this field corresponding with the second period (e.g., Jovicic 2019 ; Nam et al. 2021 ). There has been a transformation of e-tourism into smart tourism due to the intensive adoption of ICT, the interaction with stakeholders, and decisions based on big data (Femenia-Serra and Ivars-Baidal 2021 ). The relevance of virtual reality in tourism could be comparable with the importance of social media, and the analysis of the understanding of the factors that affect the consumers’ perceptions is vital (e.g., Lo and Cheng 2020 ).

The third quadrant (bottom left in Fig.  5 ) reveals four underdeveloped themes, which include ordered by the number of articles: management (70), technology (60), tourist experience (58), and tourism (47). These themes are potentially emerging or disappearing themes. Management presents links with smart-hotel (e.g., Wu and Cheng 2018 ); the cluster network of technology presents links with service encounters, human–machine interaction, or hospitality technology (e.g., Yang et al. 2021 ). Tourist experience is related to emotions, involvement, or identity, among other aspects (e.g., Leung and Wen 2021 ). Tourism has been studied from different perspectives (state, educational, advertising, etc.).

Finally, the fourth quadrant (bottom right in Fig.  5 ) shows the central themes in the research field that are weakly developed. They include, ordered by the number of articles: information technology (106), travel (96), model (78), impact (70), hospitality (59), innovation (53), and ICT (44). These themes share links with other topics in the analysis. For instance, the cluster network of information technology presents a variety of topics such as the internet, virtual communities, hotel websites, and the theory of reasoned action, among others (e.g., Purohit and Thakar 2019 ; Zhou et al. 2021 ). Travel relates to computer technology, destination image, or consumer behavior. The links of model are focused on the analysis of usability, value, and preferences of mobile technology (e.g., Law et al. 2018a , b ). In this period, it also analyzes the impact of digital channels or the pricing (Styvén and Wallström, 2019 ). Hospitality, innovation and ICT share the links with themes related to digital technology.

4.2.2.3 Structural analysis of the evolution of ‘technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality’ research with SciMAT

SciMAT offers two maps relating to the longitudinal results: (1) overlapping map, which shows the number of keywords analyzed in each period. The number of keywords in the first period was 2922 and 4492 in the second one. Moreover, this map indicates the inclusion rate (number of keywords from the first period that maintains in the second one). In this analysis, this rate was 38% (1115 words maintained and moved to the second period), and 3377 new words were incorporated in the second period. (2) The second map is the evolution map, which provides the evolution of the themes over time, obtaining a dynamic perspective of the conceptual structure of published research on technology and ICT in hospitality and tourism. Each column represents a different period, and the lines establish the relationships between the different topics over time. Related to the lines, the following aspects should be considered (Murgado-Armenteros et al. 2015). First, the continuous lines indicate a thematic nexus since both topics share the same main item. Second, the broken lines indicate those topics related because they share specific keywords. Third, the thickness of the lines is an indicator of the inclusion rate. Fourth, the size of the spheres is proportional to the number of publications achieved by each theme.

This map was manually transformed to achieve a more synthesized arrangement of the topics, allowing for their grouping by large thematic areas (see Fig.  6 ). The thematic areas were: (1) modeling in technology acceptance; (2) technology innovation; (3) social media and ICT; and (4) management and competitiveness. The map also allows us to detect the existence of some themes that remain constant over time (e.g., TAM, customer satisfaction, model, technology, GPS, information technology, business performance, management, and competitiveness) and themes that emerge in the second period (e.g., tourist experience, trust in technology, self-service technology, smart tourism, virtual reality, robotics, UGC, ICT, impact, hospitality, travel, innovation, managerial efficiency, and heritage tourism). Next, the subject matter and conceptual composition of each of the four areas will be analyzed.

Longitudinal evolution map about research trend on technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality

Technology acceptance, customer satisfaction, and tourist experience Technology acceptance model and customer satisfaction are highly developed themes in the first (first quadrant) period covering topics such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, personal innovativeness, UTAUT, online travel shopping, mobile hotel booking, service quality, and customer loyalty. The technology acceptance models are used to explain technology acceptance in the context of tourism and hospitality. The technology acceptance model and customer satisfaction also have high centrality and density in the second period. The technology acceptance model in the second period incorporates new links such as social influence or perceived enjoyment. In the case of satisfaction, it presents new links to technology readiness, consumer innovativeness, and memorable experience. In the second period, tourist experience emerges, and it analyzes experiences with online destination platforms and their identity and authenticity.

Adoption of future technology In the first period, adoption is a motor theme (first quadrant), e-commerce and GPS are highly developed and isolated themes (second quadrant), and technology is configured as an emerging or declining theme (third quadrant). In the second period, GPS and technology maintain their position in the second and third quadrant, respectively; and new themes such as smart tourism, virtual reality, or robotics emerge. Adoption and e-commerce are related in the first period, and they present links with technology and e-business adoption in medium sizes enterprises and security. However, technology, in the second period, refers to service encounters, engagement, or human–machine interactions. Related to the themes that emerge in the second period, robotics is a motor theme (first quadrant), and virtual reality and smart tourism are highly developed and isolated themes (second quadrant). Robotics refers to future tourism, virtual reality incorporates interactivity and flow experience as essential topics, and smart tourism focuses on analytics, among other aspects.

Social media and ICT Information technology is a motor theme (first quadrant) in the first and second periods. E-WOM is also a motor theme in the first period, and the internet is a relevant theme to the field, but it is not sufficiently developed (fourth quadrant). Information technology related to intrinsic motivation, perceived risk, and social influence in the first period, and it evolves in the second one to the analysis of tourist behavior in mobile hotel booking or hotel websites and also links with virtual communities. In the first period, E-WOM related to social media, UGC, online reviews, or credibility; and in the second period, this theme evolves to UGC, which incorporates big data as an essential topic of interest. In the first period, the internet offers great potential due to its position in the fourth quadrant, and it refers to website, digital channels, online travel agencies, and ICT. However, in the second period, ICT gains centrality, and it offers growth potential due to its connections with systems, panel data, sustainable development, or mobility.

Management and competitiveness Management is considered as an emerging or declining theme (third quadrant) in the first and in second periods because it is an underdeveloped and marginal theme with low centrality and density. Business performance is a highly and isolated theme (second quadrant) in the first period and evolves to a motor theme (first quadrant), presenting links to online CRM or information technology capabilities. Competitiveness and tourism are considered relevant to the field, but they are not sufficiently developed (fourth quadrant), suggesting future lines of research. They evolve to travel and innovation in the second period. Competitiveness is a high and isolated theme in the second period. Its relevance is due to the analysis of the evolution of technology in the supply chain management in tourism and hospitality (e.g., principal–agent relationships). Heritage tourism emerged in the second period related to sustainability, cultural tourism, and 3D technology.

5 Future research agenda

This study offers the foundation for identifying future research gaps on technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality. We have described the evolution of the research themes in the two periods, and we have grouped them into four broader areas. Subsequently, we use these areas to discuss the future research agenda and to speculate how these themes might evolve. Specifically, future research areas should include:

Regarding technology acceptance, customer satisfaction, and tourist experience, issues related to modeling the tourist experience require more research (Gretzel and Stankov 2021 ). During the last years, we can observe that research about the technology acceptance model focused its attention on analyzing drivers such as subjective norms, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, personal innovativeness, or social influence. These concepts have been widely examined from a general point of view and in a broad range of literature from within the generic field and hospitality or tourism. However, although we know what factors drive technology acceptance, we still do not know a lot about which technologies generate the most customer satisfaction and/or which are the critical factors influencing tourist experience. As COVID-19 has accelerated technology adoption and enabled new tourism experiences (i.e., digital and physical experiences representing the increasing demand of tourists for blended experiences), there is currently an increasing need to understand the acceptance of these ‘new’ experiences by the post-COVID-19 tourists as well as the new context and its factors affecting the tourists’ satisfaction of such experiences. Such knowledge will be equally useful for tourism destinations and firm’s managers.

From the adoption of future technology perspective, more attention must be paid to the emerging new technologies and the processes and factors forming trust in these technologies. As destinations and tourism companies continuously need to use new technologies to provide better services and experiences (Hua et al. 2021 ), research looking into the adoption of the emerging technologies becomes very vital. As technological advances and applications in tourism and hospitality occur in increasing speed, it becomes essential to examine whether travelers seek out new and unusual new technology experiences in the same rate (Koo and Chang 2021 ). Based on our analyses of the two periods, it is also observed that studies in both periods heavily focus on the most heavily adopted technologies (i.e., internet in the first period and UGC and social media in the second period), ignoring and/or paying less attention to technologies that are less adopted and/or used. However, technologies such as virtual and augmented reality as well as robots and AI that have been less adopted and used in the previous period are currently having an exponential adoption rate due to the COVID-19 implications. Hence, it becomes important not only to focus on and examine the adoption and success factors of heavily used technologies but also to understand the context and the factors influencing the adoption and use of less popular technologies. Such knowledge can better help us understand how technology adoption happens and/or not happens and how context and situational factors can play an important role in the former. In addition, it would be relevant to better understand the barriers that do not favor trust in new technology, because although previous research shows that trust in technology significantly influences technology adoption, past studies also provide inconsistent findings regarding the process of forming technology trust (Hua et al. 2021 ).

Social media and ICT in future research. Based on the analysis of their cluster networks, social media and ICT could be suggesting topics for further research to face their challenges, such as ICTs are consciously used by destinations and businesses to move on specific agendas (Gössling 2021 ). On the one hand, social media and ICTs generate online interactions between tourists, and they could cause information myopia due to the uncertainty of the interactions and online reviews. For this reason, future studies should address the real benefits of social media and ICTs in general and in the tourism and hospitality industry. On the other hand, previous research has identified that “ technological changes increasingly facilitate the concentration of power into certain platforms ” (Mehraliyev et al. 2021 , p.227), such as TripAdvisor, Booking, and Airbnb. As research into the field of the platform economy is currently evolving in tourism, it will be interesting for future research to investigate and challenge the ‘unquestioned’ mantra that the social media ‘empower’ the users versus the ‘platforms. Such research can also focus on the role of ‘big’ data and content in providing ‘empowerment’ and power, as data is declared as the oil of the new economy. As data has always been the lifeblood of tourism, research investigating into the role and implications of data collection, analysis, and use in tourism and hospitality becomes critically important.

From management and competitiveness perspectives, more research is needed to analyze the factors that contribute to tourism and hospitality competitiveness and how destinations and businesses should manage those factors. Definitions, models, and factors related to tourism competitiveness have been studied in the tourism and hospitality literature. Previous research mainly focused on tourism competitiveness or destination competitiveness from a supply-side approach, and it has shown that there are different competitiveness factors such as information or climate depending on the sector (Cronjé and du Plessis 2020 ). Hence, future studies should explore the demand side and analyze the opinions of tourists regarding what makes a destination competitive. For instance, there are new trends such as sustainability, responsibility, well-being, social/community value, ICTs, and smart tourism that future ICT competitiveness research should examine. COVID-19 has intensified the need to increase the sustainability and responsibility of tourism and hospitality, while the role of ICT for generating social value, sustainability, and well-being is increasing. Future studies should critically include into the operationalization and measurement of competitiveness such soft factors such as community well-being and social value and subsequently examine the role and use of ICT in achieve this type of competitiveness. As competitiveness measured solely on quantitative results such as business profits, visitors’ numbers, and reduced costs becomes obsolete, future research should be able to measure, quantify and provide evidence of the impact of ICTs in such soft constructs in tourism and hospitality. Such research knowledge is instrumental and vital in the tourism industry in order to show firms and destinations the ‘reasons’ to adopt and invest on such ICTs. In addition, as “ only a few studies have tried to understand destination competitiveness from a cultural perspective ” (Kumar and Dhir 2020 , p.9), future studies should also investigate how national cultures and other cultural attributes influence people’s understanding on tourism competitiveness and so, their decision-making to invest on ICT to achieve the latter.

6 Conclusions, implications, and further research

This study has two major contributions to the field: (1) it synthesizes and critically analyzes research about technology and ICT in tourism and hospitality published in journals during the period 1988–2021; and (2) it provides directions for further research. In contrast to earlier studies using a qualitative approach for reviewing past literature, this study used a quantitative analysis for identifying the themes of past research and examining their contribution. Hence, this paper provides a more precise way to quantify but also visualize the structure and the evolution of our knowledge development in this field. In addition, the paper develops a future research agenda that identifies several suggestions and directions for future research. Finally, the majority of past papers reviewing the evolution of the knowledge in the field of information technology in tourism have focused on specific topics, areas, platforms, or business applications, such as smart tourism, eTourism, social media, artificial intelligence, robotics, hotels, TripAdvisor, Airbnb. On the contrary, several authors (e.g., Xiang et al. 2021 ) have advocated that research on this field should be advanced by studying beyond these narrow focused issues. In this vein, our research contributes to the current literature by: broadening the areas for understanding the knowledge structure and development in the field of ICT tourism and hospitality; and consequently, by identifying directions for future research that go beyond single topics such as management and competitiveness issues, such as sustainability, responsibility, well-being, and social/community value.

7 Limitations

Despite having worked to achieve a synthesis as accurately as possible of the scientific production in the field of new technologies in tourism, there are some limitations associated with bibliometric analysis. First of all, the compilation of documents may have omitted some relevant articles in the field due to the keywords used in the search. Second, there are articles with a large number of keywords and others with only a single keyword. Third, as mentioned in the methodology, some keywords are written in different ways, an effect that has been tried to alleviate through the pre-processing of the data. Therefore, despite having carried out the process conscientiously and having checked whether specific terms could really be grouped, errors may have been made, or some words may have been omitted when carrying out the grouping.

Availability of data and material (data transparency)

Not applicable.

Change history

15 july 2022.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-022-00230-z

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude both to the editors and to the three anonymous reviewers for all their helpful suggestions.

This work was supported by the University of Castilla-La Mancha and co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund under Grant 2020-GRIN-28990.

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Molina-Collado, A., Gómez-Rico, M., Sigala, M. et al. Mapping tourism and hospitality research on information and communication technology: a bibliometric and scientific approach. Inf Technol Tourism 24 , 299–340 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-022-00227-8

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-022-00227-8

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THE ROLE OF ICT IN TOURISM INDUSTRY

The Information Communications Technologies (ICT) plays a major role in tourism, travel and hospitality industry. The Integration of ICT in the tourism industry is an essential for success of tourism enterprise. ICT facilitates an individual to access the tourism products information from anywhere any time. Tourism enterprises can also reach the targeted customers across the globe in a single click on the keypad after emergence of mobile computers, web technologies etc. The purposive sample of 112 managers of tourism, travel and hospitality enterprises in India were surveyed through a questionnaire with the Managing Directors, Directors, General Managers, Team Leaders and Senior Managers. The present study explores the business development, revenue generation, minimization of cost and reaching the customers. The paper explains the gaps between tourism business and ICT influence and suggests measures to fill the gaps in tourism enterprises. The strategic goal is to integrate ICT with tourism that will enable more accessibility, visibility of information, availability of variety of products and satisfaction.

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The hotel and tourism industry remains male-dominated, particularly in the upper echelons of management and ICT remained underutilized. While there is a massive revolution in this trend across the globe, it appears much progress has not been made in our nation Nigeria. This paper aimed at evaluating the relevance of ICT and Gender Participation to Sustainability of Hospitality and Tourism Industry in Nigeria. The research study was conducted in tourism organizations, travel agents, hotels, restaurants, resorts, professionals in tourism, travel and hospitality industry within Nigeria. The respondents are from the tourism/hospitality industries employees and entrepreneurs only. Introduction Information communication technologies (ICTs) have been transforming tourism globally. The ICT driven re-engineering has gradually generated a new paradigm-shift, altering the industry structure and developing a whole range of opportunities and threats. ICTs empower consumers to identify, customize and purchase tourism products and support the globalization of the industry by providing tools for developing, managing and distributing offerings worldwide. Increasingly ICTs play a critical role for the competitiveness of tourism organizations and destinations. ICTs are becoming a key determinant of organizational competitiveness. The enhancements in ICTs' capabilities, in combination with the decrease of the size of equipment and ICTs' costs, improved the reliability, compatibility and inter-connectivity of numerous

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is increasingly playing an important role in developing a competitive economy based on knowledge and innovation. Use of ICT enables the provision of a higher quality of citizen's life; it helps ease and efficiency of business processes and increase the efficiency and transformation of management. The use of ICT in different sectors of the Albanian economy has begun to be realized rapidly, improving economic and financial performance and expanding the range of services that are offered to users. ICT has been used massively also a sector which in Albania brings an important impact on GDP it is the tourism sector, however, it is noted that the use of ICT in this sector is at levels lower than in other countries of Europe as well as the region. The use of ICT and the Internet in the tourism sector in the world but also in Albania has enabled the creation of a new business environment, the global distribution of information as a very important element for the tourism sector and the creation of new channels of distribution, transforming the tourism sector globally. The tourism sector in Albania, which is competing strongly from neighboring countries after the period of its establishment and strengthening, currently faces the challenge of the massive use of ICT in the provision of information and the enhancement of services for its clients. The purpose of this paper is to evidence the level of use of ICT in the tourism sector in Albania, and based on analysis of data collected, presents recommendations on the use of ICT in the sector, aimed at increasing performance, expanding services and improving the quality of services provided to customers.

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Technological advancement in contemporary eras has rendered tourism enterprises across the globe more innovative than ever before. There has been a paradigm shift in the management of contemporary organizations related to the tourism industry as a result of the more established relationships between business and technology. Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) tools are now indispensable to the tourism industry as ICT systems are being rapidly diffused throughout the industry allowing none of the players to break free from its impacts. The Tourism industry in India on the heels of ICT can be rendered agile for the benefit of the Indian economy since tourism affects everything in a country. This study is therefore set into motion to analyse the nexus between ICT and tourism, to investigate the role ICT plays in tourism operations and lastly to identify the effect of ICT based tourism on the Indian economy. The design used for this study was that of the exploratory research design and data was collected for this research using secondary sources. It was concluded according to this study that the Indian tourism industry can certainly be developed more swiftly and progressively if ICT tools and modules are streamlined in an effort to harness its benefits and advantages for the overall advancement of the Indian economy since tourism aids economic developments.

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Technology is playing a vital role in the life of human beings from opening of eyes in the morning with the alarm ringing to closing the eyes at night seeing the dreams of a bright sunny day the next morning. Travel on the other hand is a basic instinct of human beings from the times immemorial. ICT (Information, Communication and Technology) has supported number of fields to grow and develop to the current position which was far away from the thinking of human beings. Technology also became a part of tourism travel growth with the various innovative ideas in the field to start with CRS / GDS systems for the end consumer. GDS (Global Distribution System) is main contribution to the online 24 X 7 availability of tourism products to the potential customers not in the urban areas of developing India but also to the people staying in the far flung states of country with difficult terrains yet rich in culture, heritage, flora and fauna. The paper emphasis the role of technology and social networks in the life of traveller ( tourists ) to the different parts of Himachal Pradesh bridging the gap in the travel wheel of the individuals to select the destination to travel in the near future and time taken by individuals to make a final reservation to start his travel process. The paper also talks about the e tourism assessment of travel websites, blogs, podcasts checked by an individual to select a tourism product of a destination and making a final travel to a destination. Key words: Social Networking, E Tourism assessment, ICT, Global Distribution System

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The Emerald Handbook of ICT in Tourism and Hospitality

Table of contents, introduction, part one: technology in tourism and hospitality: concepts and applications, a pragmatic approach of interaction between technology and tourism-hospitality.

The tourism and hospitality sector in twenty-first century becomes technology driven. Technology application in those sectors is strategic and demand driven. It facilitates tourism and hospitality marketing; destination promotion and imaging makes the services innovative, turns the interaction between industry and its consumers better than ever before, and enables the industry to cope with neo-competitive environment. Changes occur too in tourists’ demand, choices, and consumption patterns with the advent of e-mobility. Thus shifts within the paradigm of tourism and hospitality practices are perceived overtly. This chapter will study the expanse of technology application within those sectors, endeavour to develop a conceptual frame; and review the shifts and impacts that appear out of technology and those sectors interactions.

Part Two: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Service Promotion

Online tracking using cookies and similar technologies: an analysis of hotel company practices.

Hotels, the second largest component of online travel, have traditionally collected customer data through loyalty or customer relationship management programmes, compiling data about customers and using it to improve customer service and marketing efforts ( Piccoli & O’Connor, 2003 ). Recent growth in online sales has given them access to even more granular and topical data. In particular technologies such as cookies, web bugs and beacons allow data on an individual’s browsing (e.g. the pages they have visited or the searches they have conducted) to be collected, consolidated and analysed to reveal detailed insights about customers which can subsequently be used for marketing purposes ( Gilbert, 2008 ). While previous studies have investigated data collection by hotels, for the most part these have focussed on data surrendered voluntarily, with none addressing data collection through automated means. This chapter therefore attempts to fill this research gap, investigating whether and how hotel companies use such techniques, and whether consumers are adequately informed about this data collection process. Using the top 50 global hotel brands as a population, it explores both cookie disclosure and cookie practice by global hotel brands. The findings demonstrate that hotel brands, particularly those with their headquarters in the USA, are making extensive use of online monitoring technologies, typically for marketing purposes. In most cases, this data collection is happening surreptitiously, with the data protection notices that exist overtly long as well as crouched in highly technical language. Despite legislative changes that amplify the need to inform consumers about data collection, few hotel chains currently comply with the principles of informed consent, leaving many open to potential sanction.

Factors Influencing Generation Y to Choose Airbnb

This study aims at identifying factors that influence Generation Y to choose Airbnb. The topic of this study is of great importance to understand the new trend of accommodation that is currently taking place in the hospitality industry worldwide known as Airbnb, its main target market is Generation Y. The popularity of Airbnb is on the rise and it has become the main competitor to the traditional hotel industry. This research has identified four factors – socio-economic, environmental, technological and media – that largely influence Generation Y while choosing Airbnb as their preferred accommodation. The research represents a framework to test the relationship between these factors and Generation Y decision to choose Airbnb. The data were collected in Malaysia, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, from 200 respondents of different nationalities who intend to or have experienced staying with Airbnb. The data were collected through physical distribution of the questionnaire as well as through an online survey. SPSS version 21 was used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that the various factors identified have a significant influence on Generation Y decision while choosing Airbnb as their accommodation. This finding helps Airbnb maintain its target market by determining the key factors that influence Generation Y. The study also identifies technological and environmental factors that play an important role in the Generation Y decision to choose Airbnb.

Integrated Marketing Approach in Hotel Management

The concept of integrated marketing has been recognized as a key factor in marketing literature. Integrated marketing has changed from being a customer-centric system to a customer-facing process and is the past, present, and future of marketing. This type of marketing helps build brand awareness and equity in order for people to know, trust and ultimately choose your brand over competitors. It ensures that a message is communicated via different platforms according to a specific strategy. Integrated marketing has now become more important than ever before and focusing on the customer and their requirements involve a more integrated view with a big emphasis on digital, traditional and the physical world all working together. If practiced properly, integrated marketing approach is a healthy balance that can yield unlimited results beneficial to the organization’s goals. This approach should be practiced not only for one department but also all departments at hotel companies should be included.With that in mind, hotels have begun applying this notion as part of their everyday outreach. Specifically, marketing methods and strategies will vary from hotel to hotel and some significant factors to analyze and research prior to drafting are: property size, management structure, type of ownership and type of hotel (luxury, business, hi-tech, economy, etc.), area demographics and psychographics, as well as the dynamics of the internal and external environment. The need for studying integrated marketing in the hotel context has been emphasized in this research which revealed that marketing strategies are crucial for hotel companies to raise their brand value and equity. In this respect, it is stressed that strategies can shape a positive hotel brand perception within the customer’s mind.

The Impact of Online Marketing in Travel Agency

Online marketing become a trend in recent years focussed on online social networks, such social networks have rapidly grown in popularity; providing platforms to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry. Online marketing offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to study the impact of online marketing in travel agency. The data collected using google online survey and analysed using SPSS. The findings stressed that online marketing in travel agency has a positive relationship in increasing the sale of packages in travel agency. Travel agencies who use online marketing more frequently receive more correspondence. Therefore, travel agencies should use online marketing to generate more income. The value of time has also changed, making communication a process that has to be instant and simplified. Hence, travel agencies have to use online marketing and taking into account travellers feedbacks and complaints as well as delivering information about products and services in real time. Travel agencies have no chance to face their competitors if they don’t adopt online marketing strategies.

Part Three: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Branding Aspects

Emotional branding for tourist destinations: a review of ict tools.

Hums that express emotion, colors that mesmerize, symbols that draw, tastes that stimulate desire, shapes that tap, smells that rouse are becoming more dominant weapons with which companies realize an emotional connection with consumers. It all began in the twentieth century, at the moment when the machinery industry converted into service industry making their main element as people. Also, the consumers changed with the change in industry. With numerous products at their offering consumers are often undecided which product to choose. They expect the brand to know about them personally. Trying to improve relationships between consumers and products, marketing researchers concluded that the vital component in purchasing a product is an emotion. And the motivation behind emotional branding is to build a relation between a buyer and a product by evoking buyer’s emotion. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in the process of offering a better service or product and can be effectively applied to tourist businesses. Tourism primarily comprised association between the operator, the tourist, the host, and the habitat. Since tourists have various destinations to visit it is essential that a destination attracts tourists with its own mark. Branding includes advertising the distinctive benefits which the tourist will undergo while visiting the destination, apart from the destination itself. Destination branding depends on reputation, quality, and specific attributes along with a vital component, emotion. Marketers normally desire that buyers experience the destination and many advertise their product or service as an experience through sounds, words, and visuals. The most important aspect is the experience traveler gets. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the fastest growing technologies and plays a major role in our daily life. It has changed our way of living and experiences. On the viewpoint of business outlook, it has touched each and every aspect of commerce. Since the beginning of internet, it is gaining strength day by day. Therefore, ICT, with significance on the internet, has swiftly adjusted to the tourism wherein novel opportunities for creative online advertising strategies are investigated. The radical changes in the society developing from the rise of ICT gave birth to novel consuming experiences which bind virtual and physical worlds, enhancing the participation of consumers both in the production and consumption processes. The chapter focuses on the role of ICT tools in emotional branding of tourist destinations.

Part Four: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Consumption Behavior

Social media transforming tourist behavior.

The discovery of internet technologies which is one of the most important developments of the twenty-first century has enabled individuals and institutions to overcome geographical and time constraints creating fundamental changes in communication. As a result, online communities have enabled people to meet the internet for various reasons such as seeking and sharing information, discuss community issues and ask questions; and online communities have also enabled businesses and consumers to connect with each other at any time. Especially the emergence of Internet-based social media technologies such as blogs, virtual communities, wikis, social networks, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram provides tourists to share their travel experiences. Information shared on social media sites is considered to be an important source of information that can help tourists’ travel plan and may even influence the travel decisions of potential tourists. In this context, the concept of social media in tourism businesses has been examined in the research. Within the framework of the research, it has been observed that social media has influenced the tourists’ behavior regarding travel motivations in the context of various motivations (having information about destinations, hotels, services of hotels, wondering about consumers’ experiences who were in touristic consumption before, etc.). It is also among other findings that social media has increased the overtourism crisis.

Part Five: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Marketing Contexts

Influencer marketing for tourism and hospitality.

With the development of the internet and mobile technology products, revolutions are experienced in consumer behavior. Consumers of the digital age browse the other users’ experiences and thoughts before purchasing a product or service. The use of social media (SM) platforms, which are getting stronger day by day, is also preferred by companies so as to convey any message to the target audiences. SM platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the most outstanding and commonly used channels through which companies reach the target audiences. Sharing, especially including visual elements, supplies the highest level of interaction with the target audience. However, the internet bloggers/vloggers (video blogger), phenomena, influencers or SM marketers have a significant impact on the consumers of the digital age with their channels on the internet and their sharing in SM accounts. Tourism companies are not indifferent to the increasing importance of SM. Thus, they prefer working with SM influencers or bloggers by conveying the info and messages to their consumers to perceive their products and services. The influencers can spread the messages of the companies to wider consumers that companies might never be able to reach. For some years, the inclusion of influencers as part of a communication and marketing strategy has become more common and necessary for the promotion of a destination, airline or hotel group. This has been generated due to important factors such as trust, which has been the best ally of influencers: in most cases people give higher levels of credibility to what is said and done by instagramers, youtubers, bloggers, twitterers, etc. In recent years, it is one of the hottest new ways to affect potential guests’ buying decisions and create high-quality content without the excessive costs of most marketing efforts.

Internet Marketing Communication in Event Tourism Promotion

Events are social, sporty, cultural, economic and environmental or entertainment-based. They are held on specific dates and times to share common experiences. Event tourism is becoming more and more important, bringing many benefits to the destinations. National and international events are organised to create alternative tourism products, increase the number of visitors, contribute to economic development and create competitive advantage, improve the infrastructure of the destination, increase the quality of life and provide socio-cultural development support. Direct or indirect communication is important for the target audience. Today, event organisers, who want to establish strong ties with the target audience, benefit from technology as it helps to promote the event and motivate people to participate in it. Along with the development of the Internet and the social media, communication and marketing implementations have also changed. High-budgeted events are becoming an important segment of tourism. The development of technology and widespread use of the Internet and social media have added a creative and indispensable competitive element to event marketing communication.

Part Six: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Destination Promotion

New product design: creating a digital vr game to promote the conservation of nature-based tourism attractions.

Mobile games and ICT-based mixed reality tools offer significant opportunities for tourism. This chapter reviews the existing literature in both these areas, and presents a novel way of combining games and virtual reality into an interpretive tool. As a complex, threatened marine ecosystem, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef faces significant interpretive challenges, and almost no new interpretive tools have been developed over the last 30 years. Here, the authors unpack the stages and interdisciplinary approach required to design the tool and highlight how it might fit within the broader scope of ICT developments in tourism. We outline areas of future research, with a particular focus on how ICT might contribute to making nature-based tourism more sustainable, by finding fun, innovative ways to engage tourists in the conservation of some of our most iconic natural assets.

Development of a Destination Through eTourism: Experience and Creativity

This study aims to understand the development of Barcelos tourist destination, analyzing the progress of technology in local handcrafts. eTourism is a development alternative for many localities. These alternatives, when they have integrated tourist products and a defined geographical area, form a tourist destination. Focusing on tourism and its evolution, concepts and successes are investigated in the tourist market of Barcelos, proving the increase in the local economy. Before a qualitative study and through the direct observation and semi-structured interviews to some regional handcraftsmen, the forms of the innovation of the technology in the tourism of Barcelos are analyzed and what their contribution to the increase in the tourism in this territory. The study shows that, in this tourist destination, the development of handcrafts had a great social and economic impact, developing the offer and standing out in front of the tourist market. The study also concludes that the new Information and Communication Technologies’ (ICTs’) tools promote new skills, which consequently provide new opportunities as well as great challenges for all users. In the Barcelos handcraft, ICTs will revolutionize the promotion of this tourism offer, through the innovation of networks and the Internet, with all stakeholders, sharing information and knowledge of Barcelos products and services, thus increasing their fluency in tourism demand and developing the market in order to create a greater economic impact on the destination.

Website Designing and Its Impact on Tourism Destinations

Together with developing information and communication technologies and the increasing use of the Internet, there have been changes in the behaviors of the consumers during the purchasing decision process. Today’s consumers realize most of the decision process phases (such as gathering the information, determining the alternatives, evaluating the alternatives and even purchasing) from the Internet. Tourists who would like to purchase a holiday are also using the Internet during their holiday decision process. Today, websites which became an increasingly popular information source for the consumers play a significant role in potential visitors/tourists’ choices related to the destinations. Websites are used as a distribution and marketing tool in promotion and marketing of the tourism destinations. In this context, the design and content of the destination websites should be on a level which would attract and satisfy the tourists. In this chapter, the author will primarily discourse the visual and auditory factors which affect the perception of tourists and the application areas of these factors in website design. Then, the subjects such as the key features of the websites, information that should be provided on websites, the design of the website and their functions will be covered. The parameters that should be taken under consideration in order to evaluate the performance of a website and the evaluation criteria for the sites will also be included within the context of this chapter. In this chapter, the author will also discourse the benefits that the websites provide for destinations and the success factors of the destination websites. In the conclusion section of this chapter, the author will provide propositions related to the factors that should be taken under consideration in destination website design.

Changes in Tourism Destination Promotion with the Technological Innovation

Tourism industry has extensively embraced technologies to enhance operational competencies, service quality over and above customer satisfaction. This chapter presents Information Technologies as an innovative approach to promote tourism destination from Destination Management Organization’s (DMO’s) perspective. Precisely, attention has been given on how destination managers are applying different types of technological tools to promote their tourism business. In recent times, DMOs are implementing several promotional tools with the use of technology like embracing the mobile technology, Social Media, online ads, and building effective marketing strategies innovatively to compete with the cut-throat competition in travel trade. It also tried to provide an insight understanding of the changes in destination manager’s promotional strategies with the advancement of technologies. Based on primary research with destination managers and using the literature review, a collection of technology-based tools used by DMOs for the promotion of tourism at the destination level was identified and their individual impacts were measured to identify the effects on the profit generation. To accomplish the mentioned objectives, an explorative study based on basic demographic analysis along with Pearson correlation and Simple Linear Regression was conducted to examine the individual impacts of the different promotional tools used by DMOs.

Tourist Experience Exchange Through Blogs and Its Impact on Destination Promotion

Tourism is a highly informative industry, thus the developments in technology and customer behavior that influence the level and availability of travel information are essential to understand ( Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, 2017 ). “Both on the demand side and on the supply side of tourism, blogging plays a major role, enabling tourists to communicate, track and respond on their opinions and service assessments directly with the visitors through multiple Internet platforms” ( Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2015 ). Through use of Internet as well as other information and communications technologies has paved the way for modern in the tourism industry. The significance of Blogs in the tourism market is huge. Ever more investigators are exploring the impact of blogging on tourism. The Blogging is going to be a major means of contact distributed throughout the country such as wildfires. The tourism industry has benefited most from the Internet, making blogging a crucial component of the marketing and preparation of the tourism industry ( Sahoo & Mukunda, 2017 ). This section explores travel blogs as an expression of travel experience. Traveler views on prominent travel blog pages have been evaluated to obtain a sense of the experience expressed at the destination. Advancements technologies and a growing number of travel blogs make it easier for travel blog monitors to evaluate their service quality as a cost-effective method, and enhance the experience of the traveler (Pan, MacLaurin, & Crotts, 2007).

Part Seven: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Effects and Changes

Impact of information technology on tourism.

Information technology (IT) has become a strategic weapon on tourism products’ identification, presentation, dissemination and getting a sustainable competitive advantage. Tourism management is the most important candidate for using IT with the need for gathering information in large quantities and diffusion of tourism management. The heterogeneous nature of these businesses means that information-communication Technologies’ uses change from sector to sector and from management to management in the tourism sector. The development of IT has created new application areas for tourism industry managers especially in efficient cooperation and provided tools for real globalization, IT is unexpectedly part of tourism management because of information creation processing and transmission which are important in daily activities. Therefore, both rapid development of tourism demand and tourism supply have become a compulsory partner of IT; and for this reason, IT plays an important role in the tourism marketing, distribution, promotion, and coordination. Due to this importance; the impact of IT on tourism sector is valued to be investigated. This chapter stresses that IT’s uses play an efficient role in choosing the management on behalf of the consumer. Within this context, this chapter composes of the information society; IT development and tourism; the usage of IT on travel, hospitality, tourism sector, its challenges, and advantages. This chapter mostly emphasizes on these subjects that will be examined deeply.

ICT and Sustainable Development: Implications for the Tourism Industry

The tourism industry is known to be both famous and infamous in a way that there is a blurred line between how much tourism is sustainable and how much it is not. However, there is no denying of the fact that the industry is in need of innovative and upgraded mechanisms to ensure sustainability. Technology, on the other hand, is making great strides in providing support to ensure sustainable development across various sectors. Taking cues from the existing work, this chapter investigates the various facets of technology in imbibing sustainability, especially in the tourism sector, and proposes a framework for technology-led sustainable tourism development process. The chapter concludes that both technology and sustainable development concept share the common principles of being holistic, futuristic and interrelated (integrated). Therefore, technology can be a proper solution to develop a sustainable model.

Role of Mobile Technology for Tourism Development

There has been a massive, revolutionary change over the past two decades in the travel and tourism industry. Mobile technology offers privileges to consumers in order to identify, customize and purchase tourism products and support the globalization of the industry by providing tools for developing, managing and distributing beneficiaries worldwide. These diligent advancements in mobile technology have made it extremely easy for everyone to know instantly as much about the world as they want. The use of smartphones, tablets and mobile devices has empowered global tourists with more flexibility, options and freedom to explore places than ever before. For that reason, mobile technology is a perfect fit for travel and tourism that plays an important role in massive cultural shift of consumer behaviour. All over the world, businesses are struggling to adapt to that incredible spread and impact of mobile technology and in the future, the technology will go on developing and adapting, as well. As mobile technology has been evolving rapidly and spreading across multiple tourism sectors, it is pivotal to take into account its role in creating innovative experiences for consumers and fostering a sustainable competitive advantage for suppliers in the tourism industry. Though mobile evolution has contributed to enhancing the travel factor at large, not much is known about how it has affected the tourism development. Finding this information is crucial for a deeper understanding of how consumers are using tourism-related mobile technology before, during and after their trip. It could provide meaningful perceptions to meet their expectations and to enhance their travel experiences. Therefore, this chapter aims to identify the potential of mobile technology in several businesses in the tourism sector providing guidance to understanding its role to enhance value creation in the future.

Part Eight: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Smart City Involvement

Smart tourism: issues, challenges and opportunities.

Rapid development of IT and communication technologies resulted in the “Smart” concept, which of late has become quite popular. The smart concept signifies the integration of organizational networks and smart features that enrich the ecosystem, facilitate daily activities for all stakeholders, and for automatization. Smart concept was discussed as a complicated technological infrastructure in urban areas intended to promote economic, social and environmental welfare. The latest technological developments gave rise to the concepts of smart planet, smart city and smart destination that have become important in recent years. Technological innovations have had a big influence on the development of the tourism industry. Smart concept is conceptualized as smart tourism for tourism sector. Smart Tourism generally has a positive effect on the rapid change of information and technology and on the tourism sector, tourism activities and increase in customer satisfaction. In this chapter, the concept of Smart and its smart technologies are explained and information about its reflections on the tourism sector and smart tourism destinations are discussed.

Part Nine: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Marketing and Profitability

Ict-based marketing and profitability in tourism and hospitality organizations in indian scenario.

The concept of information and communication technology (ICT) has extensively used among travel and hospitality organization in the contemporary world. The present study discovers tourism and hospitality business reactions toward ICT-based marketing usage and investigates its relationship with functional competencies and profitability among tourism and hospitality business organizations in India. With a quantitative approach, the study found an extensive usage of ICT-based marketing in tourism and hospitality organizations was noted from descriptive tables. The application of regression analysis indicated positive and significant impact of ICT-based marketing on functional competencies and profitability of tourism and hospitality organizations in India. A positive and significant correlation was also noted among these two due to adoption of ICT-based marketing. This study provides insights to formulate comprehensive ICT-based marketing strategies to fulfill growing customer needs.

Part Ten: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Niche Tourism

Application of tracking tools in tourism and hospitality management.

In this chapter, the concept, use, evolution, problems and implications of tracking techniques in tourism and hospitality research are addressed. First, the concept of tracking is defined and its applications in different sciences and, particularly, in tourism and hospitality are explained. Then, the past, present and uncertain future of tracking techniques is briefly discussed, including the evolution of the different types of tools used to track the places visited by tourists. Afterward, this chapter continues pointing to the limitations of tracking tools and it points to combining different tracking techniques as a key element to gather more accurate data from tourists. Last, this chapter focuses on the implications of data gathered through tracking tools for destination and industry managers. This chapter may serve to students interested in understanding how the generation of tourism statistics is expected to evolve during next years and to practitioners pretending to improve the management of tourism destinations or enterprises.

Value of Technology Application at Cultural Heritage Sites: Insights from Italy

This chapter focusses on the importance of using technology in tourism. This chapter also comprehensively highlights technologies that are impacting the tourism industry as well as the constraints the industry is facing. Many research studies have been conducted which outline the contributions and importance of technology in tourism in general. In recent years, various research studies, ranging from tourism management to geography, have increasingly explored the opportunities to use cutting-edge information and communication technologies (ICTs), implemented at different scales, in order to improve tourists’ experiences. Among several technology-driven solutions, augmented reality (AR) is usually regarded as a useful tool for tourism. AR has become an area of significant interest and investment in recent times. The present study focusses on case studies where AR-based smart tourism applications have been developed. In tourist destinations, visitors exhibit a great interest in learning while travelling. Curiosity plays a significant role for visitors buying trips for their families and they are willing to pay slightly more for a unique experience. The findings offer several contributions to the literature by providing new theoretical insights into the intersection of AR and tourism in Italian heritage sites, especially in Sicily.

Sharing Economy and Villages’ Development Through the Application of Technology: The Italian Case

The lesser-known tourist destinations thanks to new technologies are experiencing a period of growth and development. Sharing economy has given new opportunities to smaller places, in particular the villages that are living a difficult period due to depopulation. The revival of small villages has been supported by the spread of good practices which, with the help of the Internet and the sharing economy, has led to a greater social, economic and tourist growth. The opportunities to emerge on the international market have increased thanks to the introduction of web and social networks. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) help overcome accessibility and isolation problems in some places. Sharing resources and increasingly democratic communication channels have been the basis for the creation of a new economy based on authenticity, unique experiences and consequently a slow tourism linked to rural villages. The aim of this research is to show how the sharing economy is important for the development of little villages; technologies in particular help the less-known destinations to grow up economically and socially. This research analyzes the concept of authenticity, very important for the experiential tourism and the sustainability considered the key for a good development of places. Then it considered the idea of technologies related to the development of little villages, with some example of good practice from Italy.

The Effects of Industry 4.0 in Tourism and Hospitality and Future Trends in Portugal

It is no longer enough to have a technology base to meet customer needs. The competitiveness of the tourism sector is ensured through the innovation capacity that companies can achieve, either through innovation associated with services or through services. The relationship between tourism innovation and business competitiveness in the tourism sector must consider emerging and innovative technologies that appear daily in society. In this context, the information systems applied to tourism must take into consideration the various sectors of activity: accommodation, travel agencies, restaurants and gastronomy, tourist entertainment, transport, among others. In addition to tourism management information system, it must integrate an innovation mechanism, which should be based on the definition of an appropriate business model. The business model that ensures innovation has to integrate design, production, service, and marketing through a new customer relationship, therefore technology must be able to meet the demands inherent in this new model. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate how the concept of Industry 4.0 can affect the development of tourism in Portugal. In this context, it is relevant for tourism that all companies consider the technological drivers of change associated with the concept of Industry 4.0, constituting a technological basis for leveraging tourism companies to a technological environment called ‘Tourism 4.0’.

Link up with Technology Application in Literary Tourism

Literary tourism is a developing niche of cultural tourism, which is important to study and for which it is important to define paths. In this chapter, the author makes a framework of literary tourism as a niche, the author presents its definition and a listing of its main products and experiences. The author also sees some examples of resources and products that link literature to digital technologies, checking to what extent they are or may be at the service of the development of literary tourism. After the presentation of these cases, we position our proposal to articulate literary tourism and digital technologies, based on the possibility of improving the visitor’s experience and increasing the attractiveness of literary places with digital applications.

Smart Management Systems in Cities and Their Marketing: Case of the Waterloo City in Canada

Competitiveness of cities forces the city and public sector representatives to invent new methods of management and use the innovative thinking. Success of cities, based on Etzkowitz and Leyedesdorff (2000 ), has to take into account new strategies of co-operation of the academic institutions with the local authorities, entrepreneurs (in our case in tourism business) and new graduates focused on high-tech industries and start-up businesses. This trend is based on the principles of New Economic Geography ( Krugman, 1994 ; Porter, 1998 ) and the new Theory of Growth ( Romer, 1990 ), which enforce the importance of knowledge capital and smart technologies. Hjalager (2002 ) supported the idea of the importance of the institutional innovations and Ward (1998 ) mentioned that universities and research institutes are key entities to promote smart technologies and decisions in a city (Triple Helix concept). The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which belongs to the Ontario Technological Triangle. Waterloo is a city of two universities, Waterloo University and Wilfred Laurier University. The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which was focused on the competitiveness growth through the implementation of the smart management systems (Triple Helix Model) in the city marketing and governance. Some of these approaches influenced also tourism business due to multiplication effect and the growing competitiveness is a source of a continual growth of students, visitors and entrepreneurs to the city and the region.

The Innovative City Development through Place Marketing, Branding, Co-creation and Technology Application as New Perspectives for Slovakia

Competitiveness and contemporary changes in our society and modern technologies force countries to apply the innovative processes in their managerial and marketing activities. Cities as the places of life of human beings and their coexistence with modern technologies could benefit from the implementation of place marketing and branding strategies and from the accepting of new approach to their consumers, predominantly citizens, but also local and international businesses and visitors. This process should be governed by the active and effective co-operation of public authorities, which means a symbiosis of multilateral parties aiming at one goal – a successful and satisfied city users and a destination with modern and effective leadership. For this reason, not only a concept of the effective co-operation is crucial, but also a concept of modern technologies application, for instance a model of smart city or the co-creation principles applied in the fulfilment of service provision to citizens. In order to succeed in competitiveness, it is important to support in destinations the application of the innovative development and sound managerial strategies. This chapter explored a strategy applied in city marketing of one city in Slovakia, Banska Bystrica. The methods of comparison and benchmarking to propose the innovative approach to marketing have been applied. In primary and secondary researches, mixed methods have been used, a combination of quantitative methods (demand side perspective) and the application of the importance–performance analysis and qualitative methods (interviews with the representatives of municipalities, private sector and non-governmental sector representatives, e.g., supply side perspective).

An Empirical Study on Cloud Computing Technology on Hotel Industry in Sri Lanka

It is an unfortunate truth that hotel industries are sometimes behind the curve when it comes to adopting the latest technology. In the competitive environment of the hotel industry, a sophisticated portfolio of information systems applications and high-quality information technology infrastructure play a key role in hotel performance in the world. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Technological, Organizational, and Environmental factors and business benefits of cloud computing adoption on the hotel sectors’ competitive capabilities. Previous studies in Asian countries have shown that adoption of cloud computing is significantly beneficial in hotel businesses. Having that this research study sough to explain the impact of cloud computing adoption using security concerns, top management support, cost saving, and competitive pressure relative advantages. The study was conducted among randomly selected 30 star graded hotels in Sri Lanka. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among managerial and ICT professionals who were capable of making ICT decisions. The results of the data analysis revealed that cloud computing adoption level is still low among star hotels in Sri Lanka and Security Concerns, Top Management Support, Cost Saving, Competitive Pressure, and Relative Advantages are having significant impact on cloud computing adoption in the hotel sector in Sri Lanka.

e-HRM Application in Tourism and Hospitality in Sinai of Egypt

The emergence of e-HRM in tourism and hospitality industry in Sinai of Egypt depicts the challenges in competency, performance and compensation associated with progressing the human resource function towards handling the effective managerial decisions. The emergence leads to a variety of investment vehicles evolving a competitive and user friendly tool which is available for anytime, anywhere access. Thus, the delicate situations of dependency on person-based decision-making, which is highly pervasive on memory and mood consistencies for making judgements are regularised and facilitated by data. Thus, puzzles and mathematical reliance on human-based sincerities are delinked and merged to machine-based delivery, subjected to auditing at varied levels of inputs and alerts. Many intuitive, heuristics and biases that deviate the rationalisation of decision-making process are leveraged and captured continuously so that various possibilities can be formed as an algorithm at later stages. These determine the tendency to bond stronger on technology reliability. The competitiveness among decision-makers to tackle situation is completely matched to performance dependent and competency of the resources applied to the activity of deployment. The evolved system is through the stakeholders’ inputs through ‘one-to-one’, ‘one-to-many’ and ‘many-to-one’ of the tour management team, with vital inclusive of the guest responses which make it as an essential connect in the genesis for understanding the market segment for the content knowledge on the guests’ profile, behaviour and preferences expected. Sinai of Egypt is a nice place for tourism, it’s a paradise in offering, with places such as Sharm El Sheikh, Naama Bay, Ras Mohammed National Park, Mount Sinai, St Catherine’s Monastery and Resorts of Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba for travellers to choose a wide range of plush five-star resorts at relatively low prices, with good weather, beyond sea-and-sand. The News media Harteez in the year 2019 had quoted that according to the Egyptian Tourism Ministry, the tourism industry had brought in $12 billion in 2018, which a mere half during the previous year. This potential can be harnessed with the adorable use of technology which can help this industry to reach unlimited geography and bring travel and leisure customers to enjoy the beauty of the creator.

Digital Marketing for Religious Event of India for Tourism Sustainability and Promotion

India is the place of many religions, customs and traditions. Religious events are regularly an exceptional tourist opportunity, and there are several religious events that take place in India throughout the year. These events not only focus on the importance of people engaging in religious events and having spiritual experience but also act as a promotional opportunity for any country. With changing times, these religious places have become a site for tourism; relatively a mere pilgrimage and digital marketing is especially useful in promoting these events and places to new potential attendees as well. Therefore, this research stresses upon the small- and medium-sized religious events that take place in various regions of India and the importance of digital marketing in sustaining and promoting the event tourism.

Part Eleven: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Economic Development

Technology-driven tourism and hospitality industry as a tool for economic development: a bibliometric analysis.

The intervention of information communication technology and technological advancements are rapidly growing and providing means of improvisations to every industry. The technological advancements have offered multifold opportunities to the businesses and other stakeholders for developing it multidimensionality. This chapter has explored the aspects of the possible economic developments because of technological developments of the industry. Overall, 167 papers have been found and analysed. Probably, this is the first paper of its type, which has investigated the relationship between technology, tourism, and economic development using the bibliometric analysis. This chapter also identifies the five important clusters of keywords for future researchers on this theme of research.

Part Twelve: Technology Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: The Future

The future of our planet is technology: is it ok to embrace the change in travel and tourism industry in the developing world.

Several tourism destinations are using social media (SM) marketing more than traditional marketing in the developed countries. The increasing use of technology has replaced the role of travel intermediary. Most of the travellers in developed countries are no longer using travel agencies for their services. Many bookings are done online using electronic devices either at office or home. It is, therefore, a fact that SM has come to stay. However, the situation is contrary to some developing countries due to several reasons; for example, unreliable source of energy, communication, poor infrastructure and lack of competition. Most of developing countries depend on tourists from developed nations to consume their tourism destination products. Moreover, the modern travellers are no longer travelling in the dark. They want to have prior knowledge about their destinations. They check online product offerings, certification and destination labels. A modern tourist is becoming a more responsible traveller. SM plays a big role by providing information about many tourism destinations. Nevertheless, there are ongoing debates regarding the usefulness, future and survival of traditional travel agents despite the fact that there are threats from online travel agents and the increasing use of SM. This chapter is a case study of Malawi as a tourist destination. It critically discusses and analyses the impact of SM as a marketing tool. It also analyses the benefits and challenges of the travel agents, and finally confirms that there is a need to embrace technological change in travel and tourism industry in the developing nations.

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• Open access
• Published: 24 October 2018

Integration of ICT and tourism for improved promotion of tourist attractions in Ethiopia

• Mekonnen Wagaw   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9367-7528 1 &
• Feven Mulugeta 1  

Applied Informatics volume  5 , Article number:  6 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Information and communication technology (ICT) is revolutionizing the lives of people and operations of organizations. ICT has become a major driver of touristic sectors to effectively promote tourist attractions and services. As a result, many countries have succeeded in using ICTs and more precisely the internet to develop their tourism industries. However, the use of ICT in promoting tourist attractions in Ethiopia is still low. Hence, this survey research empirically studied the factors affecting the integration of ICT and tourism. The findings show that social influence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, cost effectiveness, competitive advantage, and facilitating conditions such as experience, ICT resources and skill significantly affect behavioral intention to use ICT in the tourism sector of Ethiopia.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is revolutionizing the lives of people and operations of business organizations. Business organizations use ICT to process, store, disseminate, and promote their products and services globally. Beginning from the introduction of the internet, people have been accessing any information at anytime from anywhere. Hence, it is becoming inevitable to live without the aid of ICT.

Being the world’s largest economic endeavor, tourism is enhancing economies of countries. It accounts for 10% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.7% of the world’s jobs (Meriague 2014 ). Furthermore, due to globalization, strong tourism sector is considered to be a sign of a country’s social development, evolution, and progression (Meriague 2014 ).

Since tourism is one of the major sectors in today’s world, many countries are competing to attract tourists through all means of communication, and such communication has become a major driver of touristic sectors all over the world. The role of communication is to inform prospective tourists and influence their choices regarding touristic destinations and the type of touristic products they purchase.

Many countries have succeeded in using ICTs and more precisely the internet to develop their tourism industries. For example, Malaysia and Australia have been very successful in attracting many tourists through these means (Mohsin 2005 ). On the other hand, countries such as Iran have not been able to increase their number of international visitors, largely due to a lack of ICTs and internet development (Salavati and Hashim 2015 ).

Although Ethiopia possesses numerous natural, religious, historical, and cultural tourist attractions, utilization of tourism as a sector of the country’s economy goes five decades back. Considering the economic contribution of tourism to Ethiopia, the first tourism office was established in 1962 during the imperial regime (Ali 2017 ). During the military regime, the sector’s contribution reduced drastically but beginning from the 1990s, the number of tourists increased. Among Ethiopia’s fascinating tourist attractions, nine of them are UNESCO world heritage sites (Ali 2017 ). However, the tourism sector’s economic contribution and its potential are incomparable. According to research findings, unless a country promotes its tourist attractions to the rest of the world, it is impossible to increase the number of visitors. Hence, the integration of well-crafted ICT solutions is needed, and since we are living in a digitized world, it is necessary for the tourism industry to rely on ICTs and especially the internet as tool of international communication.

Problem statement

Since tourism is one of the major sectors in today’s world, many countries are competing to attract tourists through all means of communication and such communication has become a major driver of touristic sectors all over the world. The role of communication is to inform prospective tourists and influence their choices regarding touristic destinations and the type of touristic products they purchase.

To attract prospective tourists in this digitized world, modern ICT strategies are needed, and it is necessary for the tourism industry to rely on ICTs and especially the internet as tools of international communication.

Ethiopia has been attracting a huge number of foreign tourists visiting a variety of magnificent natural, cultural, historical, and religious heritages found in the country. However, the potential of those tourist attractions and number of visitors are incomparable. Moreover, provision of sufficient information to tourists and promotion using modern ICT services is very low. As a result of this, the sector’s contribution to the nation’s GDP is insignificant. The sector’s contribution to the nation’s GDP was 4.1% in 2015 (WTTC 2016 ).

Hence, this research has the objective of investigating the integration of ICT in the tourism sector for improved promotion of the Ethiopian tourist attractions so as to enhance the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP. To empirically measure the factors affecting the integration of ICT and tourism, this research work adopted the Unified Technology Acceptance Theory (UTAUT) developed by Venkatesh et al. in 2003 and two additional constructs were included from related literature.

To investigate the integration of ICT in the Ethiopian tourism sector for improved promotion of the Ethiopian tourist attractions so as to enhance the sector’s contribution to the country’s development.

This research work empirically investigated sample tourism organizations to answer the following research questions: (1) what is the current status of the integration of ICT in the Ethiopian tourism sector? (2) What are the factors affecting the integration of ICT and tourism in the Ethiopian context? and (3) To what extent do these factors affect the integration of ICT and tourism in Ethiopia?

Theoretical framework

The fundamental theoretical framework of this research arises from a body of research in integration of ICT and tourism. With the objective of identifying determinants that affect integration of ICT and tourism for improved promotion of tourist attractions in Ethiopia, highly related and relevant literature on the issue are reviewed.

There are many theories on technology acceptance. For instance, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) developed by Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975 ) predicted that subjective norms and attitudes determine our behavioral intentions. Then, in 1989, Davis et al. came up with Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). As stated by this theory, intention to use a technology is determined by individual’s perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and intention to use determines actual use of a technology. Next, diffusion of innovation (DOI) was created by (Rogers 1995 ). This theory states that “Individuals are seen as possessing different degrees of willingness to adopt innovations and thus it is generally observed that the portion of the population adopting an innovation is approximately normally distributed over time. Breaking this normal distribution into segments leads to the segregation of individuals into the following five categories of individual innovativeness (from earliest to latest adopters): innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards” (Rogers 1995 ). Besides, Task Technology Fit Theory (TTF) was developed by Goodhue and Thompson in 1995 . According to this theory, if information technology is capable to match with the tasks of users, IT is more likely to have positive impact on individual performance. Moreover, the Unified Technology Acceptance Theory (UTAUT) was developed by Venkatesh et al. in 2003. This theory states that users’ technology acceptance and subsequent usage behavior is determined by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions. According to Venkatesh et al., this theory used gender, experience, age and voluntariness of use as moderators for intention of use and behavior.

On the basis of UTAUT, the researchers of this study included two more constructs to increase the study’s scope. Hence, this research hypothesized that integration of ICT and tourism in promoting tourist attractions is affected by perceived usefulness, social influence, perceived ease of use, cost effectiveness, competitive advantage, and facilitating conditions, see Table  1 .

Based on the theoretical propositions of UTAUT and related relevant literature, this study proposed 11 hypotheses with regard to the integration of ICT and tourism for improved promotion of tourist attractions.

This research work is proposed to measure the following 11 hypotheses so as address research questions and achieve the stated objective. Table  2 summarizes these hypotheses.

Study design

In this empirical study, organizations in Ethiopia working at tourism were surveyed in consideration of positivist philosophical assumptions.

Positivist epistemology assumes that knowledge is measurable and it is objectively described (Heyman 2009 ). Thus, this survey research used quantitative approach throughout the data collection, analysis, and interpretation phases.

The primary data collection instrument was standardized questionnaire which constituted structured questions for each of the constructs using a 5-Likert scale ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”. From the distributed 453 questionnaires, 429 were filled and returned back, yielding a response rate of 94.6%.

The research participants were selected based on stratified sampling technique. This is because the tourism sector encompasses varied institutes such as national and regional tourism and culture organizations, tour operators, travel agents, and destination marketing organizations. The criteria for stratification were (1) type of tourism enterprise, (2) service type, (3) experience, and (4) location.

The research population included all tour and travel operators in the country, and federal and regional tourism and culture offices were included. From this population, a sample of 429 samples was studies. The data analysis process started immediately after measuring the validity and reliability of the collected data. Since this research work deployed quantitative research, deductive data analysis method was used. The theory-based quantitative data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software.

The data were collected from research participants after getting informed consents from study participants using an attachment on the research questionnaire. Their privacy and the information they provide were kept confidential. Most of the study participants were male and between the age of 35 and 45 whom account 73% and 33%, respectively (see Table  3 ). About 68% of the study participants were selected from privately owned tourism organizations. Most of these organizations have spent between 6 and 10 years (34%) providing tour and travel services which accounted 32% (Fig.  1 ).

Proposed research model

The analyzed data showed that a higher number of both computer and internet skilled workers were found in private touristic service providers than governmental providers (see Fig.  2 ). Most these workers have basic computer and internet skills than intermediate and advance skills in private and governmental touristic sectors. Study participants in private touristic organizations had better computer and internet skills than their counter parts.

Basic Computer and Internet Skills (n = 429)

Only 16% of the study participants working in touristic organizations reported that they had know-how of advanced computer and internet use skills. This implies that most of the employs do not know the intermediate and advanced services of their computers and the internet.

According to the respondents’ responses, touristic organizations use some promotional mechanisms to promote tourist attractions and touristic services (see Fig.  3 ). They use magazines, newspapers, flyers, websites, social media, and television and radio. However, flyer (31%) and magazine (26%) are the dominant tools. Although websites, social media, and television/radio have higher capability to be accessed by higher number of tourists globally, the percentage of these tools being used by participants low. According to the analysis result, website users are 23%, while social media and television/radio users are 8% and 2%, respectively.

Promotional Mechanisms (n = 429)

Reliability and validity of the model

Cronbach Alpha Coefficient was used for measuring the validity of the study. As per the Psychometric Theory (Nunnally and Bernstein 1978 ), the acceptable Cronbach Alpha value has to be greater than 0.7. The analyzed data of this study revealed that the seven constructs had above 0.7 (see Table  4 ). Similarly, although an acceptable composite reliability has to exceed 0.7, the result of this study showed that the seven constructs scored above 0.7. Furthermore, Average Variance Extracted (AVE) was used to evaluate convergent validity. Assuming that 50 or more of the variance of the indicators ought to be accounted, a study’s AVE result has to exceed 0.5 (Fornell and Larcker 1981 ). All constructs in this study resulted in AVE above 0.5.

The Pearson Product-momentum correlation coefficient ( r ) was used to test the hypotheses of this study. According to Kothari ( 2004 ), in case of measuring association between variables, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation is the widely used measure. In correlation analysis, if the correlation coefficient exceeds 0.5 ( r  > 0.5), it shows significant relationship between variables.

To measure factors affecting ICT integration in the Ethiopian tourism, this study empirically analyzed eleven hypotheses. Subsequently, the analysis result showed that positive relationship between the variables at a significance level of 0.05 (see Table  5 ).

The first hypothesis (H1) states that there would be a significant positive association between social influence (SI) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.80 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The second hypothesis (H2a) states that there would be a significant positive association between perceived usefulness (PU) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.84 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The third hypothesis (H2b) states that there would be a significant positive association between perceived usefulness (PU) and social influence (SI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.85 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The fourth hypothesis (H3) states that there would be a significant positive association between perceived ease of use (PEU) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.79 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The fifth hypothesis (H4a) states that there would be a significant positive association between cost effectiveness (CE) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.78 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The sixth hypothesis (H4b) states that there would be a significant positive association between cost effectiveness (CE) and perceived usefulness (PU) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.83 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The seventh hypothesis (H5a) states that there would be a significant positive association between competitive advantage (CA) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.75 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation. The eight hypothesis (H5b) states that there would be a significant positive association between competitive advantage (CA) and cost effectiveness (CE) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.66 at p  < 0.05, which shows moderate positive correlation. The ninth hypothesis (H5c) states that there would be a significant positive association between competitive advantage (CA) and perceived usefulness (PU) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.68 at p  < 0.05, which shows moderate positive correlation. The tenth hypothesis (H5d) states that there would be a significant positive association between competitive advantage (CA) and social influence (SI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.62 at p  < 0.05, which shows moderate positive correlation. The ninth hypothesis (H6) states that there would be a significant positive association between facilitating conditions (FC) and behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in the tourism sector. The correlation coefficient between these two variables is r  = 0.82 at p  < 0.05, which shows strong positive correlation.

Furthermore, using multiple regression analysis between the dependent and independent variables, the standardized weights of predictors of behavioral intention (BI) were determined (see Eq.  1 ):

where Y  = variable to be predicted or dependent variable (DV), X  = variable that predicts Y , α  = intercept, β  = coefficient of X , ɛ  = regression residual (error).

The regression analysis revealed that, see Table  6 , standardized weights of the independent variables such as social influence (SI), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), cost effectiveness (CE), competitive advantage (CA) and facilitating conditions (FC), and the dependent variable behavioral intention (BI):

According to McKelvey and Zavoina ( 1975 ), the coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) determines the proportion of variance in the dependent variable which is predictable from the independent variable. High coefficient of determination shows greater explanatory power of a regression model. Accordingly, the coefficient of determination of behavioral intention (BI) to use ICT in Ethiopian tourism is 0.844, which means that the regression model explained 84.4% of the variance in BI. Thus, this high value of R 2 depicts that the regression model is very good and the model statistically significant at F  = 381.1, confidence interval 95%, and p  < 0.001. Figure  4 shows the standardized coefficients or determination weights of the independent variables (SI, PU, PEU, CE, CA, and FC) on the dependent variable (BI).

Coefficient of regression analysis

The empirical demonstration of the proposed model enabled to identify predictors that determine intention to use ICT in tourism. Social influence has significant impact on the study participants’ behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism. As social influence to use ICT in tourism increases, the behavioral intention to use it also increases. There is also strong positive association between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention to use ICT in the tourism. This shows that users are more interested to integrate ICT in their tourism activities when they think that such technologies will be helpful. The finding also showed significant positive relationship between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism. That means tourism organizations are motivated to use ICTs when such technologies are easy to use letting them to have more time for other activities. There was significant association between cost effectiveness and behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism. Cost-effective ICT facilities are more preferable by tourism organizations. Moreover, there is significant relationship between competitive advantage and behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism. This suggests that users’ behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism increases when they believe that the technology will improve their competitive advantages over their counter parts. Besides, the research illustrated significant association between facilitating conditions and behavioral intention to use ICT in tourism. Tourism organizations’ behavioral intention to use ICT increases when facilitating conditions such as users’ experience, resources, and background ICT skill increases.

Implications and conclusions

Using an extended Unified Technology Acceptance Theory (UTAUT), this empirical research found out factors affecting integration of ICT in tourism for promoting Ethiopian tourist attractions. Consequently, the study addressed the three research questions raised in the beginning of the research work. The first question was “What is the current status of the integration of ICT in the Ethiopian tourism sector?”. Although ICT plays significant role in promoting tourist attraction, particularly in the developed world and some developing countries, this research result shows that the integration of ICT in the tourism sector of Ethiopia is low. This shows that major improvements in the integration of ICT in promotion of tourist attractions in Ethiopia is required by the tourism stakeholders such as national and regional tourism and culture organizations, tour operators, travel agents, and destination marketing organizations. The second research questions states that “What are the factors affecting the integration of ICT and tourism in the Ethiopian context?”. The result showed that social influence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, competitive advantage, cost effectiveness, and facilitating conditions were significantly associated with integration of ICT in tourism in Ethiopia. This implies that the improved model could be applicable to other developing nations that have similar settings or context with Ethiopia. The last research question was “To what extent do these factors affect the integration of ICT and tourism in Ethiopia?”. According to the analysis result, social influence, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, cost effectiveness, competitive advantage and facilitating conditions significant predictors of organizations perceived behavioral intention to use ICT in the tourism sector for promoting Ethiopian tourist attractions. Take a look at the correlation coefficients from Table  5 .

Limitations

This empirical study was carried out using data gathered from tourism organizations in Ethiopia. However, it would be better if data from other countries were included.

Future works

This improved model is a foundation for future research works on acceptance, adoption, or assimilation of ICT in tourism organizations particularly in the settings of developing nations. Future study could also focus on the technology or ICT adoption strategies of tourism organizations. Moreover, to measure the long-term effect of ICT adoption in the tourism sector, longitudinal study could be required.

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Authors’ contributions

The corresponding author, MW, worked from initiation to close out of the research work. The co-author, FM, also included her valuable contribution to this research particularly in reviewing related literature, data gathering and encoding activities.

Acknowledgements

Our first respected gratitude goes to those research participants who devoted their valuable time and effort and contributed their valuable experiences to this study. Second, our gratitude goes to Bahir Dar University for its financial support and ambitious plan and encouragement of researchers to engage in research. Finally, we would like to dedicate this research work to our families for their love, encouragement, patience, and unconditional support.

Competing interests

We confirm that this research is an original work and there is no any individual or organization having competing interest on this study.

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Wagaw, M., Mulugeta, F. Integration of ICT and tourism for improved promotion of tourist attractions in Ethiopia. Appl Inform 5 , 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40535-018-0053-x

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Received : 06 July 2018

Accepted : 12 October 2018

Published : 24 October 2018

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40535-018-0053-x

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