Sustainability and resilience of tourism
Sub-topics: environmental sustainability (CO2 emissions), resilience and social aspects of sustainability (mobilities, migration, acculturation, well-being), effects of community-based ecotourism
Research in this area proposes to investigate drivers and competencies that lead to innovation in tourism from three different perspectives i) related to organizational, ii) relational and iii) destination-level aspects are pivotal in developing in a smart way and creating resilience. Given challenges such as shortage of skilled labor, mobility, migration and other adverse effects on the tourism/service industry, research needs to address these issues. We want to gather further understanding and recognize which human capabilities, internal processes, and external collaborations foster tourism development.
Further, we focus on the impact and the sustainability of the different market interventions and offer solutions for improvements. The quantification of the policy effects is based on impact analysis, one of the department’s core competencies. As an evaluation base for most of the measures we developed the Tourism Marketing Information System (TourMIS). TourMIS is crucial for our tourism analyses and leading engagement in forecasting. TourMIS is also widely internationally accepted and is used by the European Travel Commission (ETC) as well as numerous DMOs.
Socio-economic aspects of tourism
Sub-topics: tourism economics, demand, performance, impact analysis, Airbnb and the sharing economy.
At the School of Tourism and Service Management we are attempting to better understand the forces and factors that determine the competitiveness of tourism destinations. In this research field we focus on different economic, environmental, and social aspects of destinations with the goal of improving the strategic decision making of tourism planners. Some of the methods to measure the competitiveness of destinations include benchmarking destinations based on traditional key performance indicators such as arrivals and occupancy rates, but also non-traditional, innovative indicators, such as website metrics of inpidual destinations, are investigated. As the benefits of definitional systems of destination competitiveness are limited, cause-effect relationships are tested.
ICT in tourism and hospitality
Sub-topics: ICT support in tourism and hospitality marketing and management, UGC, social media, extended reality technologies (AR, VR), data systems/data spaces
Digitalization has had a profound impact on the tourism industry. The integration of online booking platforms, AI-driven recommender systems, (real-time) data analytics, and the rise of the sharing economy have revolutionized the industry, changing how we develop and consume travel experiences. Several of our faculty members actively delve into these transformative trends to leverage the potential of digital technology for creating value for tourism stakeholders, facilitating resilience, and narrowing the persistent digital pide in the tourism industry. The core research topics include:
Smart tourism management systems, including tourism management information systems such as TourMIS or the European Tourism Data Spaces initiative to facilitate the interoperability of data and inclusivity of digital systems across Europe.
Digitalization of tourism operations, including implementation of robots in hotels, use of extended reality technologies (AR/VR) for travel, or digitalization of art experiences.
Data science for tourism, including data analytics and recognizing patterns in data. For example, topic modeling to gain insights into value propositions, sentiment analysis for destination preferences, or destination image profiling with social media data.
Visitor behavior
Sub-topics: consumer attitudes and behavior, consumer experiences, experience design, hospitality and tourism management models of visitors' behavior, Airbnb and the sharing economy, value creation, service failure and recovery, and employee and customer outcomes.
This research area circles around understanding how travelers, tourism sector employees, and tourism companies make decisions, behave, and interact within destination and travel contexts; what factors influence travelers' preferences, choices, motivations, and subsequent service evaluations, such as satisfaction, perceived value, or service quality. The faculty engaged in this research domain builds their research around the following topics: understanding reactions to service failures or service recoveries, uncivil or destructive consumer behavior, sustainable choices, and sustainable behavior. Additionally, we explore the travelers' reactions and the efficacy of solutions aimed at fostering sustainable behavior while ensuring engaging positive experiences.
Strategic destination development
Sub-topics: strategic destination marketing and management, tourism development, management science applications to travel and tourism, smart destination management, service innovations.
Innovative destinations assure sustainable development, offer cutting-edge technological infrastructure, are accessible to everyone, and integrate the visitor with the location to provide a stellar experience balanced with the resident's quality of life. Research in this field is focusing on supporting smart development in urban and rural areas, respecting the needs of all stakeholders involved.
