hospitality and tourism operations research examples

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Hospitality and tourism operations research.

The Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research Event requires the preparation of a detailed written strategic plan and presentation based on the results of a research study for a company providing products and services related to event management, lodging, restaurant management and travel and tourism industries. Examples may include: hotels, lodging services, convention services, food and beverage services, restaurants, museums, amusement parks, zoos and other tourism-related businesses.

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Tourism and Hospitality Research

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• Aims and Scope
• Editorial Board
• Abstracting / Indexing
• Submission Guidelines

Scimago impact factor: 0.846 Tourism and Hospitality Research (THR) is firmly established as an influential and authoritative, peer-reviewed journal for tourism and hospitality researchers and professionals. THR covers applied research in the context of Tourism and Hospitality in areas such as policy, planning, performance, development, management, strategy, operations, marketing and consumer behaviour. We accept papers in other areas within the context of tourism and hospitality provided the paper delivers research with significant implications for tourism and hospitality. Please note that for hospitality papers we expect a subsection in the conclusions of your paper clearly labelled as Industry Implications.

THR promotes qualitative methodologies and will not accept quantitative studies unless they are innovative in their approach and fully embedded in theory development and explicitly offer new knowledge. If your paper utilises quantitative methodological approaches then we expect a clear narrative in your cover letter as to how your quantitative paper meets our scope.

Each issue of Tourism and Hospitality Research publishes detailed, authoritative applied research papers from researchers and practitioners worldwide. We also accept industry Case Studies; Research Notes; Conference Reports; Practitioner Briefings; and Book Reviews that are addressing key issues, challenges and innovative aspects of tourism and hospitality.

Tourism and Hospitality Research (THR) publishes dynamic and original research on a wide range of issues in the context of tourism and hospitality. The scope of the journal is international, and, as a platform for stimulating debate, we welcome theoretical, multidisciplinary and applied submissions that offer meaningful and ambitious contributions to current discourse. THR draws upon the expertise of scholars and practitioners interested in many aspects of tourism and hospitality, including consumer behaviour, marketing, strategy, policy and planning, environmental studies, psychology and many more. The journal’s content includes empirical research, discussions of current issues and case studies. We welcome research notes and full manuscripts as well as book reviews and professional perspectives of tourism and hospitality.

Of particular interest to THR are articles adopting innovative research approaches, manuscripts that examine novel and/or under-researched areas of tourism and hospitality and review papers that support the development of future research agendas.

All papers are subject to double-blind peer review by the journal’s international community of reviewers.

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Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Tourism and Hospitality Research

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thr to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned .

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Tourism and Hospitality Research will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available — see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Tourism and Hospitality Research  may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers ; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.

If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

• What do we publish? 1.1 Aims & Scope 1.2 Article types 1.3 Writing your paper
• Editorial policies 2.1 Peer review policy 2.2 Authorship 2.3 Acknowledgements 2.4 Funding 2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests 2.6 Research data
• Publishing policies 3.1 Publication ethics 3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement 3.3 Open access and author archiving
• Preparing your manuscript 4.1 Formatting 4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics 4.3 Supplemental material 4.4 Reference style 4.5 English language editing services
• Submitting your manuscript 5.1 ORCID 5.2 Information required for completing your submission 5.3 Permissions
• On acceptance and publication 6.1 SAGE Production 6.2 Online First publication 6.3 Access to your published article 6.4 Promoting your article
• Further information

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Tourism and Hospitality Research, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope .

1.2 Article Types

Tourism and Hospitality Research  covers applied research in the context of Tourism and Hospitality in areas such as policy, planning, performance, development, management, strategy, operations, marketing and consumer behavior. We accept papers in other areas within the context of tourism and hospitality provided the paper delivers research with significant implications for tourism and hospitality. Please note that for hospitality papers we expect a subsection in the conclusions of your paper clearly labeled as Industry Implications. Each issue of  Tourism and Hospitality Research  publishes: detailed, authoritative applied research papers from researchers and practitioners worldwide. We also accept:

Original Manuscripts (6,000 – 8,000 words) An original manuscript furthers understanding of tourism and hospitality by reporting on research that is innovative, previously unpublished and not being considered for publication elsewhere. An original manuscript needs to make a valuable contribution to knowledge, policy or practice in tourism and hospitality by drawing upon sound findings, based on robust data, collected via academically rigorous methods. It should include a rationale justifying the need for the study to be conducted, a critical review of the literature underpinning the research aim, a solid elaboration of the methods used and a deep conceptualisation of results in light of the literature reviewed. Conclusions should offer suggestions for future research and if relevant, management implications.

Conceptual Papers (6,000 – 8,000 words) Conceptual papers ought to develop an idea, model, framework or theory and hold its own merit. The paper should not simply be a literature review! It should have a clear aim and structure, clearly identify the gap in the literature and provide clarity as to how the paper addresses that gap. We encourage authors of conceptual papers to be particularly courageous and innovative both in the conceptualisation and authorship of the paper. Conceptual papers are expected to foster new ideas and research and as such what they may lack in empirical strength must make up in literature review, critical analysis, rigour and interpretation.

Research Notes (2,000 – 4,000 words) Unlike an original manuscript, a research note includes discussion or debate that adds to a particular theoretical framework or methodology. A research note may, for instance, challenge concepts and methods used in other papers, or add to results achieved in other studies. It may raise issues that deserve further scrutiny or identify new questions to topics previously studied. It may also report on on-going research or suggest the application of theories and models from other disciplines to tourism and hospitality. While its structure may be more flexible than that of a traditional academic paper, a research note needs to develop knowledge of tourism and hospitality by allowing for forward-thinking and / or advancing possibilities for further research.

Professional Perspectives (2,000 – 4,000 words) Such papers ought to present clear issues that are supported by data that has not been previously published in any other format. Practitioners may wish to disseminate findings from a consultancy report or a project that casts new light on a tourism and hospitality issue.  Although the presentation of findings may be more descriptive than traditional research papers, a good professional perspective should present an interesting and provocative viewpoint.

1.3 Writing your paper

The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on  how to get published , plus links to further resources. SAGE Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online .

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

SAGE does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.  Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
• The author has recommended the reviewer
• The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools .

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

2.3.1 Third party submissions

Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, SAGE reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves .

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Tourism and Hospitality Research requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Tourism and Hospitality Research encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway .

2.6 Research data

The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the SAGE Research Data policy pages .

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• share your research data in a relevant public data repository
• include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
• cite this data in your research

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway .

3.1.1 Plagiarism

Tourism and Hospitality Research and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway .

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Tourism and Hospitality Research offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage . For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access . For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies .

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines   

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE after receipt of your accepted article.

Please ensure that you refer to each figure in the article text; this will determine the positioning of the figure in the published article.

Tables and graphs should be submitted in their original Word/Excel format. Powerpoint slides and screengrabs should be avoided. An electronic copy of the original data should also ideally be provided. Tables should not repeat data that are available elsewhere in the paper.

4.3 Supplemental material

Tourism and Hospitality Research  does not currently accept supplemental files.

4.4 Reference style

Tourism and Hospitality Research adheres to the SAGE Harvard reference style. View the SAGE Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the SAGE Harvard EndNote output file .

4.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5. Submitting your manuscript

Tourism and Hospitality Research is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/thr to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process SAGE is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID . ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link  to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway .

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 SAGE Production

Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal SAGE Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Tourism and Hospitality Research editorial office as follows:

Editorial Assistant: Alex Lagutova

[email protected]  

Editor-in-Chief: Professor Ioannis S. Pantelidis SFHEA, CMBE, FIH Head of Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Ulster University

[email protected]

Co-editors: Dr Clare Weeden Principal Lecturer in Tourism and Marketing, University of Brighton

[email protected]

Dr Rodrigo Lucena de Mello Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Brighton

[email protected]

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• Open access
• Published: 25 November 2023

Systematic review and research agenda for the tourism and hospitality sector: co-creation of customer value in the digital age

• T. D. Dang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0930-381X 1 , 2 &
• M. T. Nguyen 1  

Future Business Journal volume  9 , Article number:  94 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

2118 Accesses

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A Correction to this article was published on 07 February 2024

This article has been updated

The tourism and hospitality industries are experiencing transformative shifts driven by the proliferation of digital technologies facilitating real-time customer communication and data collection. This evolution towards customer value co-creation demands a paradigm shift in management attitudes and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Metaverse. A systematic literature review using the PRISMA method investigated the impact of customer value co-creation through the digital age on the tourism and hospitality sector. The primary objective of this review was to examine 27 relevant studies published between 2012 and 2022. Findings reveal that digital technologies, especially AI, Metaverse, and related innovations, significantly enhance value co-creation by allowing for more personalized, immersive, and efficient tourist experiences. Academic insights show the exploration of technology’s role in enhancing travel experiences and ethical concerns, while from a managerial perspective, AI and digital tools can drive industry success through improved customer interactions. As a groundwork for progressive research, the study pinpoints three pivotal focal areas for upcoming inquiries: technological, academic, and managerial. These avenues offer exciting prospects for advancing knowledge and practices, paving the way for transformative changes in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Introduction

The tourism and hospitality industry is constantly evolving, and the digital age has brought about numerous changes in how businesses operate and interact with their customers [ 1 ]. One such change is the concept of value co-creation, which refers to the collaborative process by which value is created and shared between a business and its customers [ 2 , 3 ]. In order to facilitate the value co-creation process in tourism and hospitality, it is necessary to have adequate technologies in place to enable the participation of all stakeholders, including businesses, consumers, and others [ 4 , 5 ]. Thus, technology serves as a crucial enabler for value co-creation. In the tourism and hospitality industry, leading-edge technology can be crucial in co-creation value processes because it can facilitate the creation and exchange of value among customers and businesses [ 6 , 7 ]. For example, the development of cloud computing and virtual reality technologies has enabled new forms of collaboration and co-creation that were not possible before [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Recent technologies like AI, Metaverse, and robots have revolutionized tourism and hospitality [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These technologies are used in various ways to enhance the customer experience and drive business success. AI can personalize the customer experience using customer data and personalized recommendations [ 14 ]. It can also optimize operations by automating tasks and improving decision-making. The metaverse, or virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, are being used to offer immersive and interactive experiences to customers [ 10 , 11 ]. For example, VR and AR can create virtual tours of hotels and destinations or offer interactive experiences such as virtual cooking classes or wine tastings [ 15 ]. Robots are being used to aid and interact with customers in various settings, including hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions. For example, robots can provide information, answer questions, and even deliver room services [ 12 , 16 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the crucial interplay between public health, sustainable development, and digital innovations [ 17 ]. Globally, the surge in blockchain applications, particularly in the business, marketing and finance sectors, signifies the technological advancements reshaping various industries [ 18 ]. These developments, coupled with integrating digital solutions during the pandemic, highlight the pervasive role of technology across diverse sectors [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. These insights provide a broader context for our study of the digital transformation in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Adopting new technologies such as AI, the Metaverse, blockchain and robots is helping the tourism and hospitality industry deliver customers a more personalized, convenient, and immersive experience [ 22 ]. As these technologies continue to evolve and become more prevalent, businesses in the industry need to stay up-to-date and consider how they can leverage these technologies to drive success [ 23 , 24 ].

Despite the growing body of literature on customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector, it remains scattered and fragmented [ 2 , 25 , 26 ]. To consolidate this research and provide a comprehensive summary of the current understanding of the subject, we conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA 2020 (“ Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses ”) approach [ 27 , 28 ]. This systematic review aims to explore three primary areas of inquiry related to the utilization of AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality industry: (i) From a technology perspective, what are the main types of AI and latest technologies that have been used to enhance co-creation values in tourism and hospitality?; (ii) From an academic viewpoint—What are the future research directions in this sector?; (iii) From a managerial standpoint—How can these technologies be leveraged to enhance customer experiences and drive business success?. In essence, this study contributes valuable insights into the dynamic realm of customer value co-creation in the digital age within the tourism and hospitality sector. By addressing the research questions and identifying gaps in the literature, our systematic literature review seeks to provide novel perspectives on leveraging technology to foster industry advancements and enhance customer experiences.

The remaining parts of this article are structured in the following sections: “ Study background ” section outlines pertinent background details for our systematic literature review. In “ Methodology ” section details our research objectives, queries, and the systematic literature review protocol we used in our study design. In “ Results ” section offers the findings based on the analyzed primary research studies. Lastly, we conclude the article, discuss the outstanding work, and examine the limitations to the validity of our study in “ Discussion and implications ” section.

Study background

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector is experiencing significant transformations. Despite the substantial impact on the tourism industry, the demand for academic publications about tourism remains unabated. In this recovery phase, AI and novel technologies hold immense potential to assist the tourism and hospitality industry by tackling diverse challenges and enhancing overall efficiency. In this section, the study provides some study background for the review processes.

The relationship between tourism and hospitality

Tourism and hospitality are closely related industries, as the hospitality industry plays a crucial role in the tourism industry [ 29 ]. Academics and practitioners often examine tourism and hospitality because they are related industries [ 2 , 30 ]. Hospitality refers to providing travelers and tourists accommodation, food, and other services [ 31 ]. These can include hotels, resorts, restaurants, and other types of establishments that cater to the needs of travelers [ 32 ]. On the other hand, the tourism industry encompasses all the activities and services related to planning, promoting, and facilitating travel [ 31 ]; transportation, tour operators, travel agencies, and other businesses that help facilitate tourist travel experiences [ 33 ]. Both industries rely on each other to thrive, as travelers need places to stay and eat while on vacation, and hospitality businesses rely on tourists for their income [ 32 , 33 , 34 ].

In recent years, the tourism industry has undergone significant changes due to the increasing use of digital technologies, enabling the development of new forms of tourism, such as “smart tourism” [ 8 , 10 ]. Smart tourism refers to using digital technologies to enhance the customer experience and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry [ 1 ]. These technologies, including AI and Metaverse, can be used in various aspects of the tourism industry, such as booking and reservation processes, customer service, and the management of tourist attractions [ 4 , 11 ]. The hospitality industry, which includes hotels and restaurants, is closely linked to the tourism industry and is also adopting intelligent technologies to improve the customer experience and increase efficiency [ 1 , 22 ]. Recent studies have explored the impact of these technologies on the tourism and hospitality sectors and have identified both benefits and challenges for stakeholders [ 10 , 35 , 36 ].

Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality

Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality refers to the process by which customers and businesses collaborate to create value by exchanging services, information, and experiences [ 2 , 33 ]. This process involves the customer and the business actively creating value rather than simply providing a product or service to the customer [ 37 ]. Studies have found that customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty [ 2 ]. When customers feel that they can contribute to the value of their experience, they are more likely to feel a sense of ownership and involvement, which can lead to a more positive overall evaluation of the experience [ 5 , 38 ]. In the tourism industry, customer value co-creation can increase satisfaction with the destination, trips, accommodation, services, and overall experiences [ 4 ]. These can be achieved by allowing customers to choose their room amenities or providing opportunities to interact with staff and other guests [ 5 , 39 ]. Customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality can be a powerful solution for businesses to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. By actively involving customers in creating value, businesses can create a more personalized and engaging experience for their customers.

AI, Metaverse, and new technologies in tourism and hospitality

The impact of AI, the Metaverse, and new technologies on the tourism and hospitality industries is an area of active research and debate [ 2 , 4 , 29 , 40 ]. First, using AI and new technology in tourism and hospitality can improve the customer experience, increase efficiency, and reduce costs [ 13 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. For instance, chatbots and virtual assistants facilitate tasks like room bookings or restaurant reservations for customers. Concurrently, machine learning (ML) algorithms offer optimized pricing and marketing strategies and insights into customer perceptions within the tourism and hospitality sectors [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. However, there are also concerns about the potential negative impact of AI on employment in the industry [ 48 ]. Second, The emergence of the Metaverse, a virtual shared space where people can interact in real time, can potentially revolutionize the tourism and hospitality industries [ 10 ]. For example, VR and AR experiences could allow travelers to visit and explore destinations without leaving their homes [ 15 , 49 ], while online events and social gatherings could provide new business opportunities to connect with customers [ 11 ]. However, it is unclear how the Metaverse will evolve and its long-term impact on the tourism and hospitality industries [ 4 , 10 , 11 ]. Last, other emerging technologies, such as blockchain, AI-Robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), can potentially transform the tourism and hospitality industries [ 18 , 45 , 48 ]. For example, blockchain could be used to secure and track the movement of travel documents [ 18 ], while IoT-enabled devices could improve the efficiency and personalization of the customer experience [ 50 ]. As with AI and the Metaverse, it is difficult to predict the exact impact of these technologies on the industry, but they are likely to play a significant role in shaping its future [ 18 , 40 ]. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the healthcare landscape within the tourism and hospitality sector is undergoing significant transformations driven by the integration of cutting-edge AI and advanced technologies [ 38 , 51 , 52 ]. These technological advancements have paved the way for personalized and seamless experiences for travelers, with AI-powered chatbots playing a pivotal role in addressing medical inquiries and innovative telemedicine solutions ensuring the well-being of tourists [ 52 , 53 ].

This study background provides essential context for the subsequent systematic literature review, as it contextualizes the field’s key concepts, frameworks, and emerging technologies. By examining these aspects, the study aims to contribute valuable insights into the post-pandemic recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry, paving the way for future research opportunities and advancements in the field.

Methodology

This study meticulously adopted a systematic literature review process grounded in a pre-defined review protocol to provide a thorough and objective appraisal [ 54 ]. This approach was geared to eliminate potential bias and uphold the integrity of study findings. The formulation of the review protocol was a collaborative effort facilitated by two researchers. This foundational document encompasses (i) Clear delineation of the study objectives, ensuring alignment with the research aim; (ii) A thorough description of the methods used for data collection and assessment, which underscores the replicability of our process; (iii) A systematic approach for synthesizing and analyzing the selected studies, promoting consistency and transparency.

Guiding the current review process was the PRISMA methodology, a renowned and universally esteemed framework that has set a gold standard for conducting systematic reviews in various scientific disciplines [ 27 , 28 ]. The commendable efficacy of PRISMA in service research substantiates its methodological robustness and reliability [ 55 ]. It is not only the rigorous nature of PRISMA but also its widespread acceptance in service research that accentuates its fittingness for this research. Given tourism and hospitality studies’ intricate and evolving nature, PRISMA is a robust compass to guide our SLR, ensuring methodological transparency and thoroughness [ 56 , 57 ]. In essence, the PRISMA approach does not merely dictate the procedural intricacies of the review but emphasizes clarity, precision, and transparency at every phase. The PRISMA methodology presents the research journey holistically, from its inception to its conclusions, providing readers with a clear and comprehensive understanding of the approach and findings [ 58 ].

Utilizing the goal-question-metrics approach [ 59 ], our study aims to analyze current scientific literature from the perspectives of technicians, researchers, and practitioners to comprehend customer value co-creation through the digital age within the Tourism and Hospitality sector. In order to accomplish this goal, we formulated the following research questions:

What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries?

What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector?

How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

The subsequent subsections will provide further details regarding our search and analysis strategies.

Search strategy and selection criteria

We collected our data by searching for papers in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, adhering to rigorous scientific standards. We included only international peer-reviewed academic journal articles, excluding publications like books, book chapters, and conference proceedings [ 60 , 61 , 62 ]. The research process covered the period from 2009 to 2022, as this timeframe aligns with the publication of the first studies on value co-creation in the tourism industry in 2009 and the first two studies on value co-creation in general in 2004 [ 63 , 64 ]. The selection of sources was based on criteria such as timelines, availability, quality, and versatility, as discussed by Dieste et al. [ 2 ]. We employed relevant keywords, synonyms, and truncations for three main concepts: tourism and hospitality, customer value co-creation, and AI and new technologies in smart tourism and hospitality. To ensure transparency and comprehensiveness, we followed the PRISMA inclusion criteria, detailed in Table 1 , and utilized topic and Boolean/phrase search modes to retrieve papers published from 2009 to 2022. The final search string underwent validation by experts to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness:

A PRISMA diagram was produced to understand better this study’s search strategy and record selection.

Study selection and analysis procedure

The current study utilized the PRISMA framework to document our review process. One hundred two papers were retrieved during the initial search across the databases. Table 1 outlines the criteria for selecting the studies based on scope and quality. The study adhered to the PRISMA procedure (as shown in Fig.  1 ) and applied the following filters:

We identified and removed 17 duplicate records during the ‘identification’ step.

We excluded 27 publications in the ‘Screening’ step based on the title and abstract.

We excluded 31 publications based on the entire text in the eligibility step.

PRISMA flow diagram

As a result, we were left with a final collection of 27 journal articles for downloading and analysis. Two trained research assistants conducted title and abstract screenings separately, and any disagreements about inclusion were resolved by discussing them with the research coordinator until an agreement was reached. Papers not in English, papers from meetings, books, editorials, news, reports, and patents were excluded, as well as unrelated or incomplete papers and studies that did not focus on the tourism and hospitality domain. A manual search of the reference lists of each paper was conducted to identify relevant papers that were not found in the database searches. After this process, 27 papers were left for a full-text review.

This study used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) to evaluate the quality of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research studies included [ 65 , 66 ]. According to the findings, the quality of the study met the standards of a systematic review. Additional information can be obtained from Additional file 1 : Appendix 1.

In this section, we will report the results of our data analysis for each research question. We will begin by describing the characteristics of the studies included in the systematic literature review, such as (1) publication authors, titles, years and journals, topics, methods, and tools used in existing studies. Then each facet was elaborated by the following questions: (i) What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries? (ii) What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector? (iii) How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

Studies demographics

Figure  2 shows the yearly publication of articles on customer co-creation of value in tourism and hospitality through AI and new technologies. The chart’s data suggests two main findings. Firstly, the research on customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality through AI and new technologies is still in its early stages (1 paper in 2012). However, the annual number of published articles from 2017 to the present appears to be generally increasing. This trend implies that the application of value co-creation in this field is gaining academic attention and is becoming an emerging research area. Based on this trend, we anticipate seeing more studies on this topic published in the following years.

Publication Years with research methods

Regarding research type, 14 papers (52%) conducted quantitative research, employing statistical analysis, structural equation modeling, and data mining methods. Meanwhile, 11 papers (41%) conducted qualitative research using interviews, thematic analysis, and descriptive analysis. Only two papers (7%) used mixed research (combining quantitative and qualitative methods). The survey and interview methods (both individual and group) were found to be more common than other research methods. This suggests that interviews provide greater insight into participant attitudes and motivations, enhancing accuracy in quantitative and qualitative studies. Additionally, certain studies employed content analysis, big data analysis using UGC, and data from online platforms, social media, and big data.

Regarding the publishing journals, we found that 27 papers were published in 22 journals (refer to Table 2 ), where three journals had more than one paper on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality, indicating their keen interest in this topic. Most publications were in the Journal of Business Research, with four studies on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality. Two related studies were published in the Tourism Management Perspectives and Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. This distribution indicates that most current research on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality was published in journals in the tourism and hospitality management field. However, some journals in the computer and AI field have also published papers on co-creation value through AI and new technologies in tourism and hospitality, including Computers in Industry, Computers in Human Behavior, Computational Intelligence, and Neuroscience.

Regarding data analytics tools, SmartPLS, AMOS, NVivo and PROCESS tools are the 5 most popular software graphic tools used in studies, while Python and R are the two main types of programming languages used. In total, 27 studies, 14 refer to using AI applications and data analytics in this research flow. Metaverse and relative technologies such as AR and VR were included in 8 studies. Three studies used service robots to discover the value co-creation process. There are include two studies that have used chatbots and virtual assistants.

Publication years and journals

In recent systematic literature reviews focusing on general services, tourism, and hospitality, there has been a notable emphasis on traditional factors shaping customer experience [ 26 , 67 , 68 ]. However, this study uniquely positions itself by emphasizing the digital age’s profound impact on value co-creation within this sector. The subsequent part digs more into the specifics of this study, building on these parallels. The detailed findings offer nuanced insights into how value co-creation in tourism and hospitality has evolved, providing a more extensive understanding than previous works.

Result 1—technology viewpoints: What are the main types of AI and new technologies used to enhance value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industries?

Several types of AI and new technologies have been used to enhance co-creation values in the tourism and hospitality industry. Nowadays, AI, ML, and deep learning can all be used to enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry [ 42 , 69 , 70 ]. There are some AI applications identified through the review process:

First, personalization and customized recommendations: AI and ML can be used to analyze customer data, such as their past bookings, preferences, and reviews, to personalize recommendations and experiences for them [ 7 , 69 , 71 , 72 ]. Cuomo et al. examine how data analytics techniques, including AI and ML, can improve traveler experience in transportation services. Applying AI and ML can help customers discover new experiences and activities they may not have considered otherwise [ 13 ]. Relating to data mining applications, Ngamsirijit examines how data mining can be used to create value in creative tourism. Moreover, the study also discusses the need for co-creation to create a successful customer experience in creative tourism and ways data mining can enhance the customer experience [ 73 ].

Second, user-generated content and sentiment analysis: ML and Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be used to analyze user-generated content such as reviews and social media posts to understand customer needs and preferences [ 12 , 37 ]. This can help businesses identify opportunities to create customer value [ 74 ]. NLP can analyze customer reviews and feedback to understand the overall sentiment toward a hotel or destination [ 75 ]. This can help businesses identify areas for improvement and create a better customer experience [ 70 ]. In the study using NLP to analyze data from Twitter, Liu et al. examine the impact of luxury brands’ social media marketing on customer engagement. The authors discuss how big data analytics and NLP can be used to analyze customer conversations and extract valuable insights about customer preferences and behaviors [ 74 ].

Third, recent deep learning has developed novel models that create business value by forecasting some parameters and promoting better offerings to tourists [ 71 ]. Deep learning can analyze large amounts of data and make more accurate predictions or decisions [ 39 , 41 ]. For example, a deep learning model could predict the likelihood of a customer returning to a hotel based on their past bookings and interactions with the hotel [ 72 ].

Some applications of the latest technologies that have been used to enhance co-creation values in tourism and hospitality include

Firstly, Chatbots and virtual assistants can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry in several ways: (i) Improved customer service: Chatbots and virtual assistants can be used to answer customer questions, provide information, and assist with tasks such as booking a room or making a reservation [ 45 ]. These tools can save customers and staff time and improve customer experience [ 76 ]; (ii) Increased convenience: Chatbots and virtual assistants can be accessed 24/7, meaning customers can get help or assistance anytime [ 50 ]. These tools can be handy for traveling customers with questions or who need assistance outside regular business hours [ 44 ]; (iii) Personalization: Chatbots and virtual assistants can use natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to customer inquiries in a more personalized way [ 45 , 70 ]. This can help improve the customer experience and create a more favorable impression of the business. Moreover, this can save costs and improve customers [ 16 ].

Secondly, metaverse technologies can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry in several ways: (i) Virtual tours and experiences: Metaverse technologies can offer virtual tours and experiences to customers, allowing them to visit and explore destinations remotely [ 77 ]. This technology can be beneficial for customers who are unable to travel due to pandemics or who want to preview a destination before deciding to visit in person [ 49 ]; (ii) Virtual events: Metaverse technologies can be used to host virtual events, such as conferences, workshops, or trade shows, which can be attended by customers from anywhere in the world [ 9 ]. This can save time and money for businesses and customers and increase the reach and impact of events; (iii) Virtual customer service: Metaverse technologies can offer virtual customer service, allowing customers to interact with businesses in a virtual setting [ 25 ]. This can be especially useful for customers who prefer to communicate online or in remote areas; (iv) Virtual training and education : Metaverse technologies can offer virtual training and education to employees and customers [ 41 ]. Metaverse can be an effective and convenient way to deliver training and can save time and money for both businesses and customers [ 7 ]; (v) Virtual reality (VR) experiences: Metaverse technologies can be used to offer VR experiences to customers, allowing them to immerse themselves in virtual environments and participate in activities that would be difficult or impossible to do in the real world [ 77 ]. This can enhance the customer experience and create new business opportunities to offer unique and memorable experiences [ 71 ].

Thirdly, IoT and robots can enhance customer value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector in several ways: (i) One way is by providing personalized and convenient customer experiences [ 12 ]. For example, hotels can use IoT-enabled devices to allow guests to control the temperature and lighting in their rooms, as well as access hotel amenities such as room service and concierge services [ 50 ]; (ii) In addition, robots can be used to provide assistance and enhance the customer experience in various ways [ 16 , 40 ]. For example, robots can be used to deliver items to guest rooms, assist with check-in and check-out processes, and provide information and directions to guests [ 12 ]; (iii) Both IoT and robots can be used to gather customer feedback and data in real-time, which can help to improve the quality and effectiveness of tourism and hospitality services [ 76 ]. For example, hotels can use IoT-enabled devices to gather data on guest preferences and needs, which can be used to tailor services and experiences to individual customers. This can help to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty [ 76 ]. Overall, using IoT and robots in the tourism and hospitality sector can help improve the industry’s efficiency and effectiveness and enhance the customer experience.

Result 2—academic viewpoints: What are the future research directions in customer value co-creation through AI and new technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector?

From an academic perspective, there are several potential future research directions in customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector. Some possibilities include: (1) Understanding how different technologies and platforms facilitate co-creation: Researchers could investigate how different technologies and platforms, such as social media, mobile apps, or virtual reality, enable or inhibit co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry; (2) Investigating the impact of co-creation on business performance: Researchers could examine the relationship between co-creation and business performance in the tourism and hospitality sector and identify the factors that drive success in co-creation initiatives; (3) Investigating the impact of AI and automation on co-creation: As AI and automation technologies become more prevalent in the industry, research could focus on the impact these technologies have on co-creation and value creation, including the potential for AI to facilitate or hinder co-creation; (4) Investigating the impact of the Metaverse on customer behaviour: Research could focus on understanding how the Metaverse affects customer behaviour and decision-making, and how companies can use this information to facilitate co-creation and value creation [ 9 ]; (5) Analysing the use of social media and other digital platforms for co-creation: Researchers could study how companies in the tourism and hospitality sector use social media and other digital platforms to facilitate co-creation with customers, and the impact that these platforms have on value creation [ 7 , 45 , 78 ]. Researchers could investigate how social interactions and communities in the Metaverse enable or inhibit co-creation in the tourism and hospitality industry and the impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty; (6) Examining the ethical implications of the Metaverse and AI: Researchers could explore the ethical considerations surrounding the use of the Metaverse and AI in the tourism and hospitality sector, such as issues related to privacy and data security, and the potential for these technologies to perpetuate or exacerbate societal inequalities [ 48 , 75 , 77 ].

Result 3—Management viewpoints: How do managers in the tourism and hospitality sector apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer co-creation value and drive business success?

There are several ways managers in the tourism and hospitality industry can apply AI and new technologies to enhance customer experiences and drive business success. We suggest four main possibilities: (1) Implementing chatbots or virtual assistants to encourage customer co-creation: Managers can use chatbots or virtual assistants to provide quick and convenient customer service, helping businesses respond to customer inquiries and resolve issues more efficiently [ 76 ]. Then, encourage customer co-creation by inviting customers to participate in the creation of new experiences and products by gathering feedback and ideas through online forums and focus groups [ 45 ]. This can help build a sense of community and engagement and can also lead to the development of new, innovative products and experiences that will attract more customers [ 50 , 79 ]; (2) Leveraging personalization technologies and using predictive analytics: Managers can use AI-powered personalization technologies to analyze customer data and preferences and offer personalized recommendations and experiences [ 42 , 72 , 80 ]. This can help businesses better understand and anticipate customer needs and create more tailored and satisfying experiences that drive co-creation value. Managers can leverage AI-powered predictive analytics technologies to analyze data and predict future customer behavior or trends [ 75 ]. This can help businesses anticipate customer needs and make informed decisions about resource allocation and planning, enhancing co-creation value. Managers can use personalization technologies and predictive analytics to analyze customer feedback and identify areas for improvement [ 37 ]. These can help businesses better understand customer needs and preferences and create more satisfying and valuable experiences that drive co-creation value [ 7 , 36 , 41 ]; (3) Using the Metaverse to facilitate co-creation: Managers can leverage the Metaverse to allow customers to design and customize their own experiences, which can help create value in collaboration with customers [ 25 , 71 , 77 ]. Managers can use VR and AR technologies to create immersive and interactive customer experiences in the Metaverse [ 81 ]. This can help businesses differentiate themselves and stand out in a competitive market. Managers can use data analysis tools to understand how customers behave in the Metaverse and use this information to create more personalized and satisfying experiences [ 9 ]. Managers can leverage the Metaverse to facilitate co-creation with customers, for example, by enabling customers to design and customize their own experiences [ 49 , 81 ]. This can help businesses create value in collaboration with customers; (4) Integrating AI-robotics into operations to support value co-creation: Analyse your business processes to identify tasks that can be automated using AI-powered robotics, such as check-in and check-out, room service, or concierge services [ 12 , 82 ]. Managers can consider using AI-powered robots for tasks such as check-in and check-out or for delivering amenities to guests. Use AI and the latest technologies to streamline the booking and check-in process, making it faster and more convenient for customers [ 16 ]. This can include using virtual assistants to handle booking inquiries or facial recognition technology to allow customers to check in at their hotel simply by showing their faces. These can help businesses reduce labor costs and improve efficiency, enhancing co-creation value [ 16 ]. We summarize three viewpoints in Fig.  3 below.

Summary of value co-creation through the Digital Age in Tourism and Hospitality

Combining these three viewpoints as a research agenda for tourism and hospitality in the AI and digital age holds immense potential. It addresses critical aspects such as customer experience enhancement, leveraging customer-generated content, and exploring cutting-edge technologies to create value co-creation opportunities. Researching these areas allows the industry to stay at the forefront of the digital revolution and deliver exceptional customer experiences that drive business success in the next few years.

Discussion and implications

This study aimed to develop a systematic literature review of customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism industry using the PRISMA protocol [ 27 ]. The study findings highlighted that tourism and hospitality should take advantage of AI and new technologies, as it brings significant advantages. Value co-creation in the tourism and hospitality sector refers to creating value through the collaboration and participation of multiple stakeholders, including tourists, employees, and the industry [ 2 ]. AI, Metaverse, and other new technologies can significantly enhance value co-creation in this sector by enabling more personalized, immersive, and efficient tourist experiences [ 40 , 80 , 81 ].

From a technology viewpoint, the study reveals that manifestations of customer value co-creation through the digital age are related to AI and the latest technologies such as Metaverse, robots, IoT, chatbots, intelligence systems, and others that shape co-creation [ 42 ]. AI applications and new technologies can help shape customer value co-creation in this sector. AI can follow the rules, think like an expert, learn from data, and even create virtual and augmented reality experiences [ 4 , 10 ]. Chatbots, personalization, predictive analytics, and robotics are examples of how AI and technology can create unique and fun travel experiences [ 16 , 40 , 74 , 83 ].

From an academic viewpoint, researchers look at ways technology can help people enjoy their travels and stay in hotels by boosting the value co-creation process [ 2 ]. They are looking at how different technologies, like social media, can help people create value for themselves and others [ 45 , 84 ]. They are also looking at how AI and the virtual world can change people’s decisions and how companies can use this information to help people [ 77 , 80 ]. Finally, researchers are looking into the ethical issues of using technology in tourism and hospitality [ 48 , 75 , 77 ].

From the manager’s viewpoint, managers in the tourism and hospitality industry can use AI and new technologies to create better customer experiences and drive success [ 70 , 80 ]. These can include using chatbots or virtual assistants to help customers and get their feedback [ 50 , 76 ], using personalization technologies to understand customer needs [ 69 ], using the Metaverse to have customers design their own experiences [ 10 ], and using AI-robotics to automate tasks [ 16 , 82 ].

In light of the findings from this systematic literature review, policymakers in the tourism and hospitality sectors must revisit and revitalize current strategies. Embracing digital age technologies, especially AI and metaverse tools, can significantly enhance customer value co-creation. This necessitates targeted investments in technology upgradation, capacity-building, and skilling initiatives. While the initial resource allocation may appear substantial, the long-term returns regarding elevated customer satisfaction, increased tourism inflow, and industry-wide growth are undeniable. Policymakers must ensure a collaborative approach, engaging stakeholders across the value chain for streamlined adoption and implementation of these advancements.

Overall, the use of AI, Metaverse, and other new technologies can significantly enhance co-creation value in the tourism and hospitality sector by enabling more personalized, immersive, and efficient experiences for tourists and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry as a whole [ 15 ].

Theoretical implications

The systematic literature review using the PRISMA method on customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector has several theoretical implications.

First, this research paper addresses earlier suggestions that emphasize the significance of further exploring investigations on customer value co-creation in the hospitality and tourism sector [ 2 , 85 ].

Second, the review highlights the importance of adopting a customer-centric approach in the tourism and hospitality industry, in which customers’ needs and preferences are central to the design and delivery of services [ 35 , 86 ]. This shift towards customer value co-creation is driven by the increasing use of digital technologies, such as the IoT, AI, and ML, which enable real-time communication and data gathering from customers [ 1 , 40 ].

Third, the review highlights the role of digital technologies in enabling personalized and convenient customer experiences, which can help improve satisfaction and loyalty [ 87 ]. Using AI-powered chatbots and personalized recommendations based on customer data can enhance the customer experience, while using IoT-enabled devices can allow guests to control and access hotel amenities conveniently [ 12 ].

Fourth, the review suggests that adopting digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector can increase the industry’s efficiency and effectiveness [ 88 ]. Businesses use ML algorithms to automate tasks and analyze customer data, which can help streamline processes and identify areas for improvement [ 39 , 80 ].

Overall, the systematic literature review using the PRISMA method sheds light on adopting a customer-centric approach and leveraging digital technologies for customer value co-creation in tourism and hospitality. Over the next five years, researchers should focus on exploring the potential of emerging technologies, developing conceptual frameworks, and conducting applied research to drive meaningful transformations in the industry. By aligning strategies with these implications, organizations can thrive in the dynamic digital landscape and deliver exceptional customer experiences, ultimately contributing to their success and competitiveness in the market [ 2 , 4 , 15 , 29 , 33 , 89 ].

Practical implications

The systematic literature review using the PRISMA method on customer value co-creation through the digital age in the tourism and hospitality sector has several management implications for organizations in this industry.

First, the review suggests that adopting a customer-centric approach, in which customers’ needs and preferences are central to the design and delivery of services, is crucial for success in the digital age [ 40 , 86 ]. Therefore, managers should focus on understanding and meeting the needs and preferences of their customers and consider how digital technologies can be leveraged to enable real-time communication and data gathering from customers [ 15 , 80 ].

Second, the review highlights the importance of using digital technologies like the IoT, AI, and ML to enable personalized and convenient customer experiences [ 40 , 50 ]. Managers should consider how these technologies can enhance the customer experience and improve satisfaction and loyalty [ 36 , 39 ].

Third, the review suggests that adopting digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sector can lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness in the industry [ 7 , 16 ]. Therefore, managers should consider how these technologies can streamline processes and identify areas for improvement [ 42 ]. Further, regarding privacy concerns, managers must spend enough resources to secure their customers’ data to help boost the customer value co-creation process [ 48 , 77 ].

Fourth, policymakers can foster an environment conducive to value co-creation by incorporating customer-centric strategies and leveraging digital technologies. Effective policies can enhance customer experiences, promote sustainable growth, and drive economic development, ensuring a thriving and competitive industry in the digital age.

The practical implications of applying AI and new technology for managerial decision-making in the tourism and hospitality industry are vast and promising [ 90 ]. Managers can navigate the dynamic digital landscape and drive meaningful co-creation with customers by embracing a customer-centric approach, leveraging personalized technologies, addressing efficiency and data security considerations, and strategically adopting AI-powered tools. By staying abreast of technological advancements and harnessing their potential, businesses can thrive in the next five years and beyond, delivering exceptional customer experiences and enhancing value co-creation in the industry.

Limitations and future research

The research, anchored in the PRISMA methodology, significantly enhances the comprehension of customer value co-creation within the digital ambit of the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, it is essential to underscore certain inherent limitations. Firstly, there might be publication and language biases, given that the criteria could inadvertently favor studies in specific languages, potentially sidelining seminal insights from non-English or lesser-known publications [ 91 ]. Secondly, the adopted search strategy, governed by the choice of keywords, databases, and inclusion/exclusion guidelines, might have omitted pertinent literature, impacting the review’s comprehensiveness [ 57 ]. Furthermore, the heterogeneous nature of the studies can challenge the synthesized results’ generalizability. Finally, the swiftly evolving domain of this research underscores the ephemeral nature of the findings.

In light of these limitations, several recommendations can guide subsequent research endeavors. Scholars are encouraged to employ a more expansive and diverse sampling of studies to curtail potential biases. With the digital technology landscape in constant flux, it becomes imperative to delve into a broader spectrum of innovations to discern their prospective roles in customer value co-creation [ 18 ]. Additionally, varied search strategies encompassing multiple databases can lend a more holistic and inclusive character to systematic reviews [ 27 ]. Moreover, future research could investigate the interplay between political dynamics and the integration of novel technologies, enriching the understanding of value co-creation in a broader socio-political context. Lastly, integrating sensitivity analyses can ascertain the findings’ robustness, ensuring the conclusions remain consistent across diverse search paradigms, thereby refining the review’s overall rigor.

In conclusion, this review highlights the pivotal role of digital technologies in customer value co-creation within the tourism and hospitality sectors. New AI, blockchain and IoT technology applications enable real-time communication and personalized experiences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Metaverse technologies offer exciting opportunities for immersive interactions and virtual events. However, privacy and data security challenges must be addressed. This study proposed a comprehensive research agenda addressing theoretical, practical, and technological implications. Future studies should aim to bridge research gaps, investigate the impact of co-creation on various stakeholders, and explore a more comprehensive array of digital technologies in the tourism and hospitality sectors. This study’s findings provide valuable insights for fostering innovation and sustainable growth in the industry’s digital age. Despite the valuable insights gained, we acknowledge certain limitations, including potential biases in the search strategy, which underscore the need for more inclusive and diverse samples in future research.

Availability of data and materials

The review included a total of 27 studies published between 2012 and 2022.

Change history

07 february 2024.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00293-2

Abbreviations

• Artificial intelligence

Augmented reality

Internet of Things

Machine learning

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

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Dang, T.D., Nguyen, M.T. Systematic review and research agenda for the tourism and hospitality sector: co-creation of customer value in the digital age. Futur Bus J 9 , 94 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-023-00274-5

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Strategy implementation research in hospitality and tourism: Current status and future potential

Omer faruk aladag.

a Faculty of Administrative Science, Abdullah Gul University, Kayseri, Turkey

Mehmet Ali Köseoglu

b School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Fuad Mehraliyev

c Institute of International Business and Governance, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong, 30 Good Shepherd St, Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong

• • The researchers analyzed scholarly contributions to strategy implementation within the hospitality and tourism literature.
• • A systematic review was conducted on the basis of 139 contributions to the literature.
• • Relevant items were grouped into six topic clusters to generate novel research questions that can advance the field.
• • The articles were classified as mature, intermediate and nascent, dependent on their positioning in the research life cycle.
• • Four main knowledge gaps within the hospitality and tourism literature were identified.

To achieve their business objectives, hospitality and tourism organizations need effective implementation as well as consistent strategy formulation. However, the implementation aspect of strategy has attracted relatively less scholarly interest than strategic planning despite its critical role in achieving performance outcomes. Consequently, it is timely to provide an in-depth analysis of the strategy implementation literature. This is particularly the case in hospitality and tourism management where comprehensive literature reviews of strategy implementation have been lacking. To address the knowledge gap, the authors conduct a systematic literature review of 139 articles that appeared in 42 journals over the period 1988–2019. The items were grouped into six topic clusters with a view to generating novel research questions that have the potential to advance the field. We identify four main gaps that should be addressed and suggest prospective research directions.

1. Introduction

The constant pressure to outperform competitors is prompting contemporary businesses to make substantial investments of time and other resources in the formulation of strategy ( Wolf and Floyd, 2017 ). A different though comparable challenge involves how strategies can be executed across whole organizations. The dependence of successful strategizing on the effectiveness of implementation is rather self-evident ( Hrebiniak, 2006 ). Organizations across all economic sectors face the challenge of achieving consistent strategy formulation, and without effective implementation will struggle to reach their intended targets ( Brenes et al., 2008 ). Superior performance will only be achieved when strategies are effectively implemented. While strategic planning has been one of the most commonplace tools in management ( Wolf and Floyd, 2017 ), implementation related problems ( Verweire, 2014 ) have frequently impeded its effectiveness

Although strategy implementation occupies a critical space between strategic planning and performance outcomes, its scholarly appeal has been overshadowed by the formulation aspect of strategy. While researchers have proposed abundant theories and techniques about how to plan effectively, they have devoted less attention to the relationship between strategy implementation and performance outputs ( Hrebiniak, 2006 ).

There has been some increase of interest in strategy implementation amongst hospitality and tourism researchers over recent years ( Harrington et al., 2014 ). However, challenges remain despite this considerable scholarly output. Strategy implementation is multi-faceted and encompasses a multitude of activities that are undertaken by different levels of management ( Noble, 1999 ). The multi-dimensional nature of the implementation concept has opened up alternative paths of investigation and has led to a fragmentation of the research domain ( Yang et al., 2010 ). In parallel to the developing literature, practitioners have been embracing new approaches to strategy implementation, thereby adding complexity and indiscipline to the existing knowledge base ( Vaara and Whittington, 2012 ). As the body of knowledge has continued to grow, there has been an increasing need to consolidate and organize the sum of scholarly insights ( Kunisch et al., 2018 )

Noting the combined growth of interest in and around the topic and a fragmentation in the research area, we believe that it is timely to consolidate and integrate the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism management. We propose a “state-of-the-art” evaluation of the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism with a view to advancing debate and asking the following meaningful questions that can be considered by future researchers:

• 1) What are the key features and trends of the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism management?
• 2) How can strategy implementation research in hospitality and tourism be classified in terms of research life cycle, issues explored and methodologies?
• 3) What are the prospective future research directions?

The authors address the first research question by deploying a systematic literature review of the type that has been described by Denyer and Tranfield (2009) and Tranfield et al. (2003) . Such approaches adopt a structured approach that is both repeatable and testable. They follow carefully defined steps to reveal the research territory, thereby creating the opportunity to provide a more comprehensive view of the relevant phenomenon. The authors identify the current state of the literature and any potential gaps which merit consideration. To address the second research question, we classify the articles according to their position in the research life cycle, using a framework proposed by Edmondson and McManus (2007) . This approach provides a basis for assessing the maturity of strategy implementation studies in hospitality and tourism. It also allows for the identification of research avenues that merit closer attention. To answer the third research question, we combine our results from the other research questions and identify several potential research directions that can address gaps in current knowledge.

The main contribution of literature reviews is to provide a synthesis of existing evidence about a defined topic or domain in the pursuit of broad conclusions ( Baumeister, 2013 ; Siddaway et al., 2019 ). Through such means, review studies play a critical role in guiding future research ( Cropanzano, 2009 ). Furthermore, an increasing number of scholars have drawn attention to the importance of literature reviews to management which acknowledgment which acknowledges a base of evidence ( Rousseau et al., 2008 ; Rynes and Bartunek, 2017 ). Briner et al. (2009) have noted that systematic literature reviews are particularly valuable forms of evidence-based knowledge which can inform policy makers and practitioners. In this regard, our study makes several prospective contributions to hospitality and tourism knowledge. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the only literature review conducted over the past two decades on the subject of strategy implementation in hospitality and tourism. Given the crucial role of strategy implementation in achieving performance outcomes ( Hrebiniak, 2006 ; Brenes et al., 2008 ), examining how the literature has developed over an extended timespan has important scholarly and managerial implications. Second, our review is the first to assess strategy implementation research according to its position in the research life cycle. This approach reveals which parts of the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism may be viewed as nascent, intermediate and mature respectively, thereby opening up the prospect of new debates about future directions. The research life cycle approach also helps us recognize the studies that are most likely to contribute to future advances in the field. Thirdly, this study identifies gaps in the literature in terms of content and methodology by outlining a comprehensive map of the relevant domain. The review highlights potentially fruitful avenues for research.

The paper is organized into several sections. The first part presents a review of strategy implementation in the mainstream strategic management literature. In progressing the systematic literature review we then present a detailed explanation of key methodological decisions by contributing authors. The data analysis section reports the relevant results. Following this step, we classify the articles in our sample according to Edmondson and McManus’s (2007) framework and topic clusters. We then draw upon our analysis results to discuss future research opportunities leading ultimately to the conclusions.

2. Literature review

There is no agreed upon definition of strategy implementation, despite the importance of this topic for connecting theory with management practice. The attendant tension suggests a need to reach closer agreement. To date, some authors have adopted a managerial perspective as a basis for defining the term. Barrick et al. (2015) , for example suggested that implementation concerns the willingness of senior management to ‘specify and pursue strategic objectives, and to adopt clearly defined metrics to dynamically monitor progress’ (p. 118). Along similar lines Schaap (2006) , defined strategy implementation as ‘those senior-level leadership behaviors and activities that will transform a working plan into a concrete reality’ (p.14). Other studies have attempted to provide a more comprehensive view of strategy implementation, notably as the ‘post-authorization phase of a strategic decision’ ( Anchor and Aldehayyat, 2016, p. 649 ). Another proposed definition has considered the whole organization as follows: ‘the communication, interpretation, adoption, and enactment of strategic plans’ ( Noble, 1999 ). Most conventional approaches have adopted a temporal sequencing approach towards the three elements of strategic planning, formulation and implementation. Following this approach strategy is first formulated and then implemented. However, a practical reality is overlooked, namely the inseparability of different stages in the planning process and that organizations sometimes need to improvise emergent strategies in the face of uncertainty ( McDermott and O’Connor, 2002 ). The need for organizations to improvise is particularly evident at the time of writing which coincides with the Covid-19 outbreak. Inevitably, hospitality and tourism organizations could not have been entirely prepared for such an eventuality.

Many variables are responsible for shaping strategy implementation, including organizational structure, control mechanisms, strategic consensus and leadership ( Noble, 1999 ). Various scholars have examined the relationship between organizational structure and strategy implementation. For example, O’Reilly et al. (2010) examine how the implementation of strategic initiatives was influenced by the consistency of leadership effectiveness across different levels of the hierarchy. They concluded that ‘it is not the effectiveness of a leader in isolation that affects organizational performance, but the alignment of leaders across hierarchical levels that is associated with the successful implementation of a strategic change’ (p.111). On the other hand, Zott and Amit (2008) claim that performance is influenced by the fit between strategy and the prevailing business model. Another key managerial consideration is how to measure and evaluate performance during and after strategy implementation. The control function evidently occupies a critical position. Henri (2006) examined the relationship between management control systems and implementation success and suggests that an interactive use of performance measurement systems is significant in translating strategy into organizational performance.

Regardless of structure and control, strategy is implemented by people and this places interpersonal issues at the centre of implementation. The extent of strategic consensus is one of the most important interpersonal factors for implementation. Strategic consensus is defined as a shared organizational understanding and commitment to a strategy ( Noble, 1999 ). Whereas strategic consensus has been treated as a critical success factor, Walter et al. (2013) also show that strategic alignment to the environment is an important complement to consensus. Studies that examine commitment at different managerial levels show that the strategy implementation process is vulnerable to potential conflicts between mid-level and top-level management ( Huy, 2011 ). Similarly, and in the absence of sufficient leadership efforts, employee resistance may hinder strategic change ( Furst and Cable, 2008 ). Bundy et al. (2013) adopt a broader view of strategic consensus and place their focus on external stakeholders. They propose that the responsiveness of firms to stakeholder concerns depends on strategic cognition, defined as the degree to which management prioritize a stakeholder issue. The literature on strategic consensus commonly articulates the merits of a collective organizational mind-set for purposes of implementation and performance. Despite the conventional assumption that strategic consensus and implementation success are positively related, Kellermanns et al. (2011) note that the results of empirical studies about the characteristics of this relationship have been inconsistent. They find that the relationship between strategic consensus and performance is moderated by the place of participants in the hierarchy, type of strategy content, and environmental dynamism.

3. Methodology

This study deploys the systematic literature review method that has been described by Denyer and Tranfield (2009) and Tranfield et al. (2003) . Systematic literature reviews have many advantages over their less structured equivalents, such as their use of a replicable and transparent process that minimizes biases and errors ( Tranfield et al., 2003 ). The method has also been acknowledged as a reliable way to present a comprehensive view of existing knowledge in a specific field, since the adoption of step-by-step procedures ensures the validity of the process ( Denyer and Tranfield, 2009 ). For the preceding reasons, the authors of the current study deemed a systematic literature review to be the most applicable research method.

3.1. Setting conceptual boundaries

The first step in a systematic literature review is to define boundaries in line with the research goals ( Denyer and Tranfield, 2009 ). Since definitions of strategy implementation are not exclusive to hospitality and tourism, the current authors adopted a definition that has been widely used in the strategic management literature. Strategy implementation is defined for present purposes as ‘the communication, interpretation, adoption, and enactment of strategic plans’ ( Noble, 1999 ). The review encompasses articles that relate to various elements of implementation in hospitality and tourism.

3.2. Data collection and analysis

In this step the authors set out to construct a comprehensive database of strategy implementation articles pertaining to hospitality and tourism. It is necessary to assemble such a database to extract useful data that identify prominent topics in strategy implementation. In building the database, the authors established exclusion and inclusion criteria by topic coverage, time range, search words and type of articles. First, we included only articles that have been published in academic journals. Second, we excluded articles that are not directly related to strategy implementation or to hospitality and tourism. Third, we used different search terms to conduct our search that reflect the multi-faceted nature of strategy implementation, such as ‘strategy and implement*’, ‘strategy and enact*’, ‘strategy and communication’, ‘strategy and participation’ and ‘strategy and stakeholder’ within the Scopus and Web of Science databases. We limited the research area to hospitality and tourism and our initial search generated 977 articles. Next, each member of the research team examined the article abstracts and selected articles that 1) directly address strategy implementation or 2) explicitly expresses concrete implications for strategy implementation. Following the application of the selection criteria, we identified 139 relevant articles that were published in academic journals over the period 1986–2019.

Following the selection phase, we read each article carefully to organize defining characteristics under categories such as research topic, country, name of journal, year of publication and methodology. We also grouped articles according to Edmondson and McManus’ (2007) research life cycle framework and classified research as nascent, intermediate or mature. In order to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, each co-author undertook an independent reading of each article and codified data into his/her own database, following the Edmondson and McManus (2007) framework.

4. Literature analysis

In the following section, we present the characteristics of the collected articles in order to provide a general picture of the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism.

4.1. General considerations about journals, years of publication, and authors

We now report findings about the thematic codes which were respectively: name of journal and year of publication. It was found that the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management contains the highest number of strategy implementation articles (n = 21). The other prominent journals in order of frequency of appearance are: International Journal of Hospitality Management (n = 15) and Tourism Management (n = 10). Table 1 presents a breakdown of the number of articles by journal. We observe that strategy implementation has been examined in both tourism and in hospitality focused journals. This shows a widespread concern for strategy implementation issues across the two areas.

Number of articles by journals.

Fig. 1 highlights the increasing volume of articles over the years and particularly in the period since 2004. In addition, and considering that strategy implementation research began to flourish in 1980s ( Candido and Santos, 2019 ), it is unsurprising to see the appearance of related articles in hospitality and tourism journals during the same period. However, the figure shows that scholarly interest remained low until the early 2000s. Although strategy implementation has been researched for more than thirty years in hospitality and tourism, the topic is still attractive for scholars as a growth area.

Number of articles by years.

Thirdly, we examined the lead authors of selected articles and the countries where their host institutions are located. Regarding countries of affiliation, we observe that US-based authors published the highest number of articles (n = 33). These were followed by authors located in the United Kingdom (n = 19), Canada (n = 15) and Australia (n = 12). The number of articles published by each country are shown in Fig. 2 .

Number of articles by countries.

4.2. Theoretical perspectives

In this section, we examine theoretical aspects of the articles that are under consideration. Specifically, we explore the authors’ use of management theories. It is commonplace for literature reviews to consider the theoretical perspectives that have been adopted in articles that are being considered ( Danese et al., 2018 ). During their reading of each article, the authors considered references to existing theories, and to author arguments and contributions. In cases where papers were theory based, we made an assessment of which was most applicable.

None of the previous articles stated the theoretical frameworks from which they were derived. The current researchers sought to identify the related theories as they read through each of the relevant articles. It was observed that most of the articles drew from multiple theories. However, when pressed to determine the primary theoretical framework that is adopted by an article, it was found that stakeholder theory is the most commonly used (n = 53). The stakeholder theory perspective views a company as a set of relationships amongst groups that have a stake in that business ( Jones, 1995 ). Stakeholder theory asserts the critical importance of managing these relationships for the creation and distribution of value ( Freeman, 1984 ). It views stakeholders as playing a significant role as influencers of strategic decisions ( Rodgers and Gago, 2004 ; Murillo-Luna et al., 2008 ). From these observations, it is evident that stakeholder theory provides a useful lens for examining strategy implementation issues from a relational perspective. Most of the articles in our sample that used stakeholder theory are focused on the implementation of tourism and/or destination management strategies. One explanation for the popularity of stakeholder relationships as a topic in strategy implementation research is the necessity of assembling the collective efforts of various bodies to implement such plans. Comparatively speaking, stakeholder theory has not been a popular framework in mainstream strategic management studies and scholarly interest has only increased recently ( Laplume et al., 2008 ; Bridoux and Stoelhorst, 2014 ). Its relative prominence in hospitality and tourism studies may be attributable to field specific characteristics. The particular need for stakeholder cooperation and coordination in tourism strategy implementation may have enhanced the usefulness of stakeholder theory as a lens to illuminate different parts of the process.

The resource-based view of the firm is the second most commonly used framework (n = 32). This approach views the firm as a bundle of resources and competitive advantage, depending on whether these resources are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable ( Barney, 1991 ). The essence of this framework is the need to develop and obtain new resources to increase competitiveness. The incidence of the resource-based view in our sample applies to a wide range of topics, including barriers to strategy implementation, marketing, human resources and social media strategies.

The third common framework is contingency theory (n = 19). The concept of fit is centre stage in this approach. Contingency theory asserts that organizational structure and environment must fit together if an organization is to survive ( Drazin and Van de Ven, 1985 ). The main appearance of contingency theory in our sample is to examine how strategy implementation processes are shaped by the external environment.

Social capital theory is the fourth most commonly used framework (n = 14) in the sample. Social capital has been defined as “the sum of actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by individuals or social units” ( Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p.243 ). Social capital theory has a focus on social relationships and networks and has been used extensively to examine outcomes at individual and organization levels ( Payne et al., 2011 ). The important role of social capital in strategic management has also been established by previous researchers ( Acquaah, 2007 ). Most deployments of social capital theory in hospitality and tourism management articles have sought to investigate the effects of organizational characteristics on strategy implementation.

Agency theory is the next most commonly encountered framework in the sample (n = 13). It derives from economics and examines the principal-agent relationships which typically involve delegation in work settings ( Eisenhardt, 1989 ). The agency problem is frequently encountered in such relationships since the principal and agent may have divergent interests and it is costly to verify the work of the agent ( Eisenhardt, 1989 ; Jensen, 1994 ). In our sample, agency theory is used most prominently for the examination of management control issues to ensure the effectiveness of strategy implementation.

Industrial organization theory (n = 6) follows agency theory in terms of incidence. Industrial organization theory is the essence of Porter’s five forces model and places reliance on industry forces to explain strategic firm behaviours ( Porter, 1981 ). According to this theory, industry forces constrain firm level strategy formulation, implementation and performance ( Young et al., 1996 ). In our sample, industrial organization was used primarily to demonstrate barriers and constraints to the implementation of marketing strategies. Relative to mainstream studies, however, industrial organization is used infrequently in hospitality.

Human capital theory (n = 4) is the least commonly used theory in our sample. This approach focuses on individual capabilities and their development rather than on social ties ( Nafukho et al., 2004 ). Human capital is the combination of knowledge, information, ideas, skills, and health of an individual ( Becker, 2009 ). According to human capital theory, individuals with greater human capital are likely to succeed more in strategy implementation ( Greer et al., 2017 ; Dimov and Shepherd, 2005 ). A small number of articles in our sample used human capital theory to study managerial capabilities in strategy implementation. When we compare hospitality and tourism management with mainstream strategic management, it is notable to observe such minimal interest in the role of individual qualities in strategy implementation.

Lastly, we observed the changing preferences for theoretical perspective by analyzing the use of theories by year and ordering. The relevant findings are presented in Fig. 3 .

Number of articles by theoretical perspectives.

Little theoretical variation was evident in most of the years leading up to 2005. Prior to 2005 only one or two different theoretical perspectives were observable, except in the case of 1997 and 2001. We observed an increase in the use of different theoretical frameworks after 2005.

It is noteworthy that human capital theory was first observed rather late (in 2001) but has been on the rise over the past two years. A similar situation holds for industrial organization theory which has attracted increasing recent interest. Agency theory has been another subject of renewed scholarly interest, particularly over the past decade. Social capital, on the other hand has been attracting less recent attention. The trend is more stable in the case of contingency theory, stakeholder theory and the resource-based view. Despite periodic setbacks, there has been consistent use of these theories.

4.3. Countries of research focus

This section considers countries where empirical studies have been conducted. Our review shows that only six studies used data that were collected in multiple countries. 108 studies were conducted in the single country settings. Amongst the single country studies, 74 were explorative and 32 of them tested theory or theories. In addition, all the studies that used data from multiple countries are explorative studies. Given the limited generalizability of explorative studies, it is evident that strategy implementation research in hospitality and tourism has been highly country specific. This points to a need for more investigations that compare data from different countries.

4.4. Research types and methodologies

The following section presents the findings about methodologies deployed in the various articles under review. We first classified the type of research into three categories according to their aims: explorative, theory building and theory testing. Explorative studies include open-ended inquiries about a phenomenon of interest, whereas theory building studies aimed to build a theoretical framework using different concepts and theory testing studies conducted empirical tests to verify predetermined theories. According to this classification, explorative studies constitute the majority in our sample (n = 87) and are followed by theory testing (n = 32) and theory building studies (n = 22). The prominence of explorative studies signals a need for theory development and indicates that new investigations should be undertaken to validate new constructs and propositions. Only a limited number of studies made explicit mention of their methods (n = 32). In these studies the methods deployed were: single case study (n = 23), multiple case study (n = 8) and action research (n = 1). The minimal use of well-defined theoretical frameworks stemmed primarily from the high number of explorative articles. However, it also indicates a need for more studies to test and verify existing theories in the hospitality and tourism context.

The current authors next deployed Edmondson and McManus’s (2007) research life cycle framework in order to categorize the articles under seven dimensions. These were respectively: research questions, type of data collected, data collection methods, constructs and measures, goal of data analysis, data analysis methods and theoretical contributions. This approach provided a useful tool for the authors to place hospitality and tourism studies within the wider field of strategic management research. According to this framework, research articles fit into one of three phases: nascent, intermediate or mature. The following section presents the characteristics of the various phases and how our sample fits into the Edmondson and McManus’s (2007) framework.

In this framework, articles are assessed according to the abovementioned seven dimensions. These characteristics are used to locate them within the research life cycle. Table 2 includes the typical properties of nascent, intermediate and mature research articles. However, these categories should be seen as a continuum rather than as rigid and mutually exclusive points.

Categorization of research according to the life cycle framework.

In Table 2 we observe that researchers preferred open-ended inquiries rather than asking focused research questions or testing hypotheses. Accordingly, there was a predominance of qualitative over quantitative data. Only a tiny fraction of the sample used hybrid or mixed data. While surveys were the main data collection method for studies testing existing theories, it was unsurprising that nascent and intermediate research relied primarily on interviews and text data. When constructs and measures are considered, all of the studies employed established constructs or measures and none introduced any new concepts. Researchers evidently preferred using existing constructs and measures for the hospitality and tourism context, rather than developing something new. Most of the studies that included data analysis aimed to identify patterns in data, while others aimed to run preliminary tests on new propositions and to test formal hypotheses. Content analysis was the primary method for examining qualitative data, though analyses of thematic content were only undertaken in two studies. The remaining articles used common statistical techniques to analyse quantitative data.

Lastly, it is notable that none of the studies in the sample introduced a suggestive theory that invites further work on a set of issues. Most contributed to the literature by adding specificity, new mechanisms, or new boundaries to existing theories. The other studies offered a provisional theoretical contribution by integrating separate bodies of work. When the overall state of the strategy implementation literature in hospitality and tourism is evaluated, we see that most articles fit into the nascent or intermediate research categories. In other words, we can safely claim that strategy implementation research in hospitality and tourism remains immature. At best, it may be concluded that hospitality and tourism articles provided provisional theoretical contributions. Combining these two facts, there is a need for stronger theoretical contributions in the area, for methodological refinements and empirical testing. Future studies should both introduce generalizable and testable theories emerging from the field and test existing theories more intensively.

4.5. Content of the research

This section aims to identify the strategy implementation issues that have been most actively examined by hospitality and tourism scholars. We observe the predominance across the relevant literature of some issues over others. Six topic clusters of research are identified in our review: (1) understanding how relationships with the external environment are managed in strategy implementation, (2) examining how organizational characteristics influence strategy implementation, (3) exploring success factors and impediments in strategy implementation, (4) developing strategy implementation frameworks and (5) assessing strategy implementation effectiveness. Table 3 provides a detailed presentation of the various topic clusters and issues that have been explored.

Content analysis of strategy implementation articles in hospitality and tourism.

It is evident in Table 3 that the largest number of articles have dealt with success factors and impediments respectively in strategy implementation. This indicates that strategy implementation has been examined as a managerial concern rather than as a theoretical one. Relative to other sub-branches, more attention has been given within this cluster towards external barriers to strategy implementation and success factors in marketing strategy implementation for hotels and destinations. Another interesting finding in this cluster was that sustainability is the third most common area in which implementation issues are discussed. This is consistent with the increasing popularity of sustainability research in management and organization studies. Information technology, innovation and revenue management strategies are the least studied subjects in terms of implementation success. Considering the increasing importance of data management and innovation in business performance and competitiveness, information technologies and innovation deserve more attention from hospitality and tourism researchers. It is noted that big data and artificial intelligence are especially relevant for strategy research ( Van Rijmenam et al., 2019 ). Therefore, more studies are needed in hospitality and tourism to address their current status and future promise for strategy implementation.

Articles on the role of organizational characteristics in strategy implementation constitute the second largest topic cluster. Human resource development, employee participation, organizational structure and managerial capabilities are among the most studied factors that influence strategy implementation. Marketing is again the most examined organizational function similar to the previous cluster. On the other hand, governance of strategy implementation processes has been largely neglected at the organizational level. Then minimal research on the governance of strategy implementation consists of two articles on balanced scorecard applications and a single article on corporate boards. Governance is critically important for effective implementation since it functions both as a control mechanism to address principal-agent problems and as a feedback mechanism that ensures information flow. Thus, governance of strategy implementation at the organizational level is a potential investigative avenue for future researchers.

The third largest cluster includes articles that aim to understand how relationships with the external environment are managed during strategy implementation. Stakeholder relationships in tourism development strategies are examined by more than half of the articles in this group. These articles typically study how different bodies cooperate in developing a tourism region. The other subbranches contain low numbers of articles. Considering that inter-organizational relationships lie at the center of organization-environment interactions, more studies are needed on how businesses manage their environment. This is especially the case for studies about the management of resource dependencies through cooperation and negotiation with other actors. Such investigations would make an important contribution to the field.

Developing strategy implementation frameworks is the next topic cluster and features a relatively small number of articles. Since strategy implementation is not peculiar to hospitality and tourism, it is natural to adopt implementation processes that have been developed outside the field. However, it would be interesting to determine the extent to which hospitality and tourism constitutes a unique context that has sector specific influence on strategy implementation.

Lastly, assessment of strategy implementation performance contains only three articles and constitutes the smallest cluster. This is indicative of the lack of interest in post-implementation issues in hospitality and tourism. Since performance assessment is a fundamental component of strategy evaluation, it serves as an important feedback mechanism for rearranging and improving strategy implementation ( Tayler, 2010 ). Hospitality and tourism studies can potentially benefit from innovative investigations of strategy implementation assessment.

5. Future research opportunities

This section highlights future research directions, drawing on gaps in the literature and classifications based on the research life cycle. We also provide possible research questions that are applicable to each knowledge gap.

Our review has identified four types of gap in the literature and prospective future avenues for research. The first type of gap concerns context. Given the increasingly international nature of the hospitality and tourism sector, we believe that multi-country studies deserve greater attention. Considering that strategy implementation is influenced by both context and by organizational factors, cross-country comparative studies can illuminate the issues that are faced by multinational hospitality businesses. For example, comparative case studies may offer an enhanced understanding of how successful implementation processes can be transferred to properties in other countries across international hotel chains.

The second gap concerns theoretical perspectives. The current literature has deployed a narrow range of theoretical frameworks to address a limited range of important topics. Future studies may use new theoretical frameworks such as resource dependence theory or new institutional theory to shed light on implementation related topics. For example, resource dependence theory may prove useful when examining how hospitality businesses implement strategies to manage their resource dependencies with the external environment. Meanwhile, institutional theory may add new insights about how strategy implementation practices are influenced by different institutional arrangements in various contexts. On the other hand, future studies can also apply previously used theories to new topics. For example, agency theory may be deployed to examine the principal-agent relationships between company headquarters and foreign branches in hotel chains.

The third gap relates to methodology. Most of the studies which provide explicit expression of their preferred methods use single case studies. More variation is needed in terms of research methods if relevant issues are to be addressed accurately. Where case studies are used they should extend multiple cases in order to enable comparison within samples. Secondly, our overall findings about the research life cycle have shown that strategy implementation research in hospitality and tourism remains immature. More testing of theory is needed to move this research area towards maturity. It was also striking that explorative studies have been used intensively, though no suggestive theory has been produced for the area. Those conducting future explorative studies should aim to make a stronger theoretical contribution. We also observed that hybrid data were only used in a small number of studies. The deployment of mixed research methods might enable researchers to provide more significant theoretical contributions. To date, even theory testing studies did not express their theoretical approach explicitly or state the theories that were being tested. Future studies should give greater prominence to the refinement of methodologies and clearer articulation of research aims.

The fourth type of gap in the literature pertains to research content. Strategy implementation studies should address emerging trends that are likely to affect the future of strategy implementation. Advances in information technologies, artificial intelligence and big data are among the top trends that will cause long-lasting changes to the implementation of strategy in hospitality and tourism. Such topics evidently offer fruitful research avenues for the future. Another under-researched subject is the organizational governance of strategy implementation. Governance related articles in the literature generally focused on relationships with external stakeholders. However, governance mechanisms for strategy implementation inside the organization did not receive the attention that they deserved. Future researchers should address overlooked issues such as control mechanisms, implementation tools, corporate politics and power relations among related actors. A largely neglected area of content was the assessment of implementation performance. Measuring implementation performance serves an important function in strategy evaluation and therefore deserves more interest from future researchers. A final research domain for potential contributions is the development of new strategy implementation frameworks for hospitality organizations. The topic clusters and the research life cycle framework offer novel insights about optimal research directions. The four types of gap in the literature and possible future research questions are presented in Table 4 .

Topic clusters and future research questions.

6. Conclusions

This study has provided a systematic literature review of strategy implementation research in tourism and hospitality, and has presented the selection and analysis of 139 articles that were published during the period 1986–2019. By conducting a literature analysis, we have identified five topic clusters and four major gaps in the strategy implementation literature within hospitality and tourism.

The main contribution of the study has been to provide a picture of the current state and trends in the literature, by grouping articles according to features such as theoretical perspectives, research topics, countries and methodologies. Through such means, the paper has identified gaps that also point to potentially fruitful avenues of research.

Some limitations of the study should also be noted. Firstly, our search was confined to hospitality and tourism journals. Our sample may have missed articles in other journals that utilize data from hospitality and tourism organizations. Second, we excluded book chapters, conference proceedings and grey literature. Nevertheless, we believe that the selected articles are sufficient to cover a wide range of topics related to the research area. Third, though we employed a multitude of search terms that would cover different aspects of strategy implementation, we may have missed related articles with different keywords. Lastly, our suggestions for future research are based on the literature analysis, leaving limited scope for creativity. However, we believe that our approach is justified, since we have ensured the reliability of the process by following transparent steps.

In conclusion, this review provides a clear picture of the strategy implementation literature in tourism and hospitality through an analysis of the content and methodologies of 139 articles. Our analysis has identified four major gaps in the literature and has offered possible future research questions pertaining to different topic clusters. Having addressed significant gaps in the literature, we hope that this paper will provide a stimulus for future researchers.

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Operations Management in the Hospitality Industry

Table of contents, understanding service operations strategy.

This chapter covers four main concepts: (a) providing an understanding of service; (b) organizing hospitality decisions and processes; (c) defining strategic service visions; and (d) dissecting operations strategies for hospitality services. In the first section, the definition of service, the five service dimensions, and the service package are covered. In the second section, hospitality decisions and processes are framed by service concepts and the service-profit chain. A service concept is the starting point for developing hospitality operations strategies, while the service-profit chain explains the link from customer satisfaction and customer loyalty to a service firm’s growth and profitability. In the third section, the strategic service vision is explored. Successful service firms all have a strategic service vision, which includes a set of ideas and actions organized in a systematic way to maximize a firm’s performance. In the fourth and final section, the operations strategy for hospitality services is covered. Successful service operations occur when management defines and adheres to a competitive operations strategy.

Designing Service Experiences

Hospitality services are among the most robust experiences enjoyed by consumers. To deliver them successfully, careful attention to detail is first needed for the design and development of those experiences. This chapter begins by exploring the array of elements that holistically construct an experience, from process to people to physical environments. Then, the customer experience management framework is used to outline a recommended technique for approaching experience design. Finally, a brief survey of visualization techniques shows how experiences can be modeled for assessment and improvement.

Designing Service Environments

Operations management involves utilizing given resources as efficiently as possible to deliver services to customers and meet business goals. Developing efficient business operations requires a hospitality organization to design efficient service environments, as part of its mission. This chapter articulates the key design and planning strategies for the development of a successful hospitality organization. The first section covers the process of location selection, as the most important factor leading to the success of a hospitality organization. The second section discusses strategies for estimating the number of users (service employees and customers) during peak and idle times to justify a costly financial investment. The third section concerns the readers with the topic of layout planning, with the goal of service optimization for a targeted number of customers. The fourth section deliberates workflow conditions, and finally, the last section addresses the ambience and design of the physical hospitality environment, which is crucial for customer evaluation of a hospitality organization as it creates a first impression.

Forecasting Demand

Forecasting is a vital part of hospitality operations because it allows businesses to make imperative decisions, such as pricing, promotions, distribution, scheduling, and arranging facilities, based on the predicted demand and supply. This chapter covers three main concepts related to forecasting: it provides an understanding of hospitality demand and supply, it introduces several forecasting methods for practical application, and it explains yield management as a function of forecasting. In the first section, characteristics of hospitality demand and supply are described and several techniques for managing demand and supply are addressed. In the second section, several forecasting methods for practical application are explored. In the third section, yield management is covered. Additionally, examples of yield management applications from airlines, hotels, and restaurants are presented.

Inventory Control

Unlike manufacturing firms where the production of goods can be adjusted according to the demand of customers, hospitality firms do not have the ability to alter the capacity of the changing demand of guests in a short period of time. Given the relatively fixed capacity or supply, maximizing revenue through inventory control is essential for hospitality operations. This chapter covers operations inventory control extracted from the field of revenue management. First, the concept of capacity management and planning is enclosed and various capacity management tactics and inventory control strategies are explored. Next, the management and principles of space inventory through inventory-based restrictions, strategic pricing, displacement analysis, and distribution channel management are addressed. Finally, the respective applications of these principles, strategies, and tactics in several hospitality sectors are discussed.

Managing Supply Chains

This chapter covers three main concepts: it provides an overview of supply chain management (SCM), introduces the concepts of procurement and what is entailed within this function, and explains how inventory is managed. In the first section, SCM is considered broadly but also in the context of hospitality. The key roles and objectives of SCM as well as the significance of supply chain risk and disruption are considered. In the second section, the concept of sourcing is discussed. Sourcing is a critical function in any organization: without this, an organization would cease to operate. The importance of supplier selection is explored, with methods to make the most appropriate selection and for subsequently managing suppliers. Finally, the third section focuses on how inventory management can be optimized. Concepts such as economic order quantity (EOQ) and ABC analysis are explored, along with alternatives to traditional inventory management methods.

Organizing Staff

This chapter discusses techniques for scheduling and organizing staff to meet guest demands and financial obligations. Key building blocks relevant to labor management are explained, such as productivity, fixed and variable labor hours, and the development of realistic performance standards to help organizations optimize productivity. As a next step, this chapter illuminates the importance of providing management labor standards and staffing models, which are key management tools. Lodging and food and beverage labor strategies are presented. Finally, effective planning of labor scheduling is also discussed.

Managing Capacity and Waits

Service experiences and waiting lines are often – unfortunately – seen to go hand in hand. This chapter explains why this is the case. Beginning with an exploration of capacity and operating constraints, discussion then delves into both the mathematical origins and psychological implications of waiting lines. The final section offers hope to managers and guests alike, with a survey of different operations strategies and tactics that can eliminate or abate the need to wait.

Measuring Quality

This chapter covers four main concepts: service quality, quality assurance for measurement, quality assurance for management, and service failure and recovery. The first section mainly discusses the fundamentals of service quality. The service quality gap model is also highlighted to identify the gaps between customer expectations and the actual perceptions of service at different stages of service delivery. In the second section, different measurement methods for quality assurance are demonstrated. Examples of qualitative and quantitative methods are included. In the third section, the important management objectives of quality assurance, improvement, and control are covered. By using a combination of the quality assurance methods from the second section, hospitality operators can accomplish internal accountability, external accountability, performance improvement, and innovation. In the fourth and final section, causes and consequences of service failures are covered together with the service recovery paradox to express the implications of poor quality.

Improving Effectiveness and Efficiency

This chapter covers total quality management (TQM) with respect to the Lean and Six Sigma methods used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of hospitality operations. In the first section, TQM is discussed. In the second section, Lean and Six Sigma techniques are examined individually. Then, Lean and Six Sigma are connected with an example of a housekeeping case study that applies both methodologies. In the third section, business analytics are explored and statistical process control analysis is demonstrated using a hotel room cleanliness example. The fourth section summarizes the concepts of change management, which is critical for embracing the philosophies of TQM. Finally, project management is discussed in the fifth and last section.

• Peter Szende
• Alec N. Dalton
• Michelle (Myongjee) Yoo

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Integrating big data and marketing concepts into tourism, hospitality operations and strategy development

• Published: 13 June 2022
• Volume 57 , pages 1905–1922, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Chih-Hsing Liu 1 ,
• Jeou-Shyan Horng 1 ,
• Sheng-Fang Chou 1 ,
• Tai-Yi Yu 1 ,
• Yung-Chuan Huang 1 &
• Jun-You Lin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8579-4457 1  

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Big data (BD) research articles are on new issues, this study sought to fill the knowledge gap of linkage the relationships between big data and marketing strategy with comprehensive viewpoints across different research fields in tourism and hospitality literatures. Content analysis was conducted to gather materials from the particular studies. For each study, the content analysis included the title, abstract, journal, type of sample, exploration design, statistical and analytical techniques, data collection process and keywords was also conducted to confirm the main results of the criteria. The research shows that big data adds value to marketing strategies by using social media to collect information from consumers, which is complemented with appropriate evidence relevant to predicting their needs and behaviors.

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1 Introduction

The epistemology of the literature on big data in hospitality and tourism operations provides enormous opportunities and has dynamically revolutionized this discipline, attracting attention from academics Alaei et al. 2019 ; Aydin 2020 ; Leung et al., 2014; Xiang et al. 2015 ). Because of new concepts related to big data, hospitality and tourism scholars have used bibliometric analysis (Ali et al. 2019 ; Nusair et al. 2019 ) or literature reviews (Lin et al. 2020 ; Moro and Rita 2018 ) to advance insights to enrich the content of the literature. In view of emergency events, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, tourism and hospitality scholars across different disciplines have highlighted the role of big data trends in improving the quality of marketing strategies (Leung et al. 2015 ). For example, Iorio et al. ( 2020 ) asserted that big data can be a useful source of information that can not only interpret unstructured data through the knowledge discovery process but also predict tourists’ behaviour when facing requirements that are changeable. Gallego and Font ( 2020 ) asserted that managers might use big data to detect the reactivation of visitors to develop targeted marketing strategies and diminish the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, big data analysis provides a better understanding of the social change in present and future issues and value creation by comparing cross-sectional data in diverse areas (Davidson et al. 2019 ; Giacalone et al. 2021 ). Given the increasing complexity of tourism and hospitality environments, big data analysis may not only be helpful in predicting and alerting emergency event systems but also be useful in detecting individual preferences and maintaining competitive advantages through personalized customer service (Jiang and Wen 2020 ). Therefore, studies (Li et al. 2017 ; Marine-Roig and Clavé 2015 ; Samara et al. 2020 ) have provided potential avenues associated with big data for future research and empirical evidence when discussing the general situation of the hospitality and tourism industry when facing dynamic environments and unpredictable requirements for customers. In addition, following the increasing reliance on social media and the emergence of new technology in predicting consumer behaviour, there is a fundamental and critical need to assess the existing research on the influences of big data and social media networks. Social media provides participatory, interactive, and user-centric functions that not only allow users to share experience, information, ideas, knowledge, and other content (Altinay and Taheri 2019 ) but also influence customer attitudes, brand image, and behavioural intentions to spread information via electronic word of mouth (Leung et al. 2015 ). This study conducted bibliometric and social network analyses to offer comprehensive viewpoints on predicting the evaluation of big data concepts in the identified specified disciplines. In view of the increasing attention on the role of big data concepts in marketing communications and interaction, a large number of tourism and hospitality journal articles have been published and examined these issues. In particular, the integrated framework or comparison models are critical to verifying the marketing strategy, providing the contribution of academics, organizations, and institutions within a given time and comprehending the contents and extensions of this discipline (Leung et al. 2015 ).

Following the increase in big data, researchers across different disciplines have examined the newly discovered phenomena and categories in journals (Li et al. 2018 ). For example, Samara et al. ( 2020 ) highlighted the benefits of the efficiency, productivity and profitability of big data and business values in the tourism and hospitality sector. Previous studies have provided potential avenues for future research on big data in the general hospitality and tourism field (Li et al. 2017 ; Marine-Roig and Clavé 2015 ). While the use of big data technology will continue to grow, there is an essential requirement to explore the current research literature on big data and its connections to marketing strategy formulation in hospitality and tourism.

Number of Publications and trends of used the concepts of big data into tourism and hospitality studies

Unlike other literature review articles published on big data, the current study seeks to take a more holistic approach by discovering the influences of academic findings as empirical evidence. Therefore, this study is (1) to illustrate the epistemological foundations of the content analysis of marketing strategy and big data concepts and (2) to draw, from proposed foundations, integrate the new trends of marketing strategy rules concerning the choice of content-analytic tactics in the tourism and hospitality field. The scaffolding of rationality and systems in content analysis should provide us with another way of thinking about new trends in industrial evaluation (Aaldering and Vliegenthart 2016 ; Hogenraad et al. 2003 ) and further enhance our understanding and improve the capabilities of evaluating content-analytic findings with respect to the generation of new social knowledge (Zapata-Sepúlveda et al. 2012 ). Additionally, this paper aimed to highlight the usefulness of big data analytics to support tourism and hospitality operations by studying thirteen well-known, international big data journals and analyzing the results of more than 43,000 relevant articles from the last ten years. Figure  1 shows the 62 most appropriate articles, which were chosen by carefully selecting emerging topics from thirteen well-known journals. The previous analysis of big data has been incomplete as it has focused on only a few of the well-recognized journals over short time spans and without a structural framework for a comprehensive literature review (Ali et al. 2019 ). As far as we know, the current sample synthesizes the largest collection of content analyses of big data and hospitality and tourism marketing articles published in international journals that have not been analyzed in previous studies. In addition, discovering the prevalent studies on big data and marketing strategy acts as another contribution of this study to the tourism and hospitality literatures. Overall, this paper extends the existing literature and sheds light on the present trends in big data issues, antecedents and consequences, thereby showing where the field is heading. A comprehensive review of the big data studies in hospitality and tourism gives us the foundational thinking and creates an avenue to guide academics in their future research. Specifically, following the additional literature review and to address any questions, the purposes of this study are provided as follows:

A synthesized analysis of journal articles that made significant contributions to the existing literature (Nusair et al. 2019 ). The first purpose was to perform a retrospective systematic literature review of big data and marketing strategy studies using bibliometric and social network analyses;

With the increasing development of the hospitality industry, academic journals have provided knowledge for authors, assessors, publishing supervisors and practitioners (Ali et al. 2019 ). The second purpose was to explore and track international scientific publications on key issues related to big data that applied to the marketing strategy literature in the tourism and hospitality field. Khaldi and Prado-Gascó ( 2021 ) asserted that coword network structure and content analysis are the best ways of catching the trends and presenting directions for further academic studies. The current study used a similar analysis to use and analyse the concept of big data in tourism and hospitality studies to identify the influence of publications and trends.

Despite the growing importance of social media and big data, the existing studies were limited to either a few of the cited journals and/or investigations within a restricted time span (Nusair 2020 ). Using tourism and hospitality journals over a wide time span revealed a new trend of social media and big data and, as a primary research orientation of prevalent research orientations, made significant contributions to the existing literature (Kim and Therefore, 2022 ). Therefore, the third purpose was to analyse the evolution and trend research of tourism and hospitality academic journals to highlight the relationships between big data, social media and marketing strategy literature through the keyword, citation and content analysis of big data and marketing analysis in the tourism and hospitality fields of the selected articles.

Transaction cost theory proposes the need to investigate strategic frameworks to identify future opportunities and implications for hospitality and tourism studies (Altinay and Taheri 2019 ). Through the systematic scientific mapping of tourism and hospitality literature on collaboration, cocitation, or coword analysis on knowledge structures, the current study provides a new integrated picture for investigating the benefits of using big data, and the fourth purpose is to present the structural and conceptual structural aspects of transaction cost, efficiency, customization and customer relationship management (CRM); and.

Although the 4 P (e.g., product, price, place and promotion) model is also widely used to help businesses solve marketing strategy issues regarding segmentation, positioning and differentiation, comprehensive and detailed extension work is needed following the changeable customer requirements and dynamic industrial environment (Kwok et al. 2020 ). Therefore, the fifth purpose was to integrate the concepts of big data into a mixed tourism and hospitality marketing strategy of (a) P roduct, (b) P rocess, (c) P eople, (d) P romotion, (e) P hysical evidence, (f) P lace and (g) P rice.

2 Literature review

The concept of big data (BD) originated in computer science studies in relation to scientific visualization (Cox and Ellsworth, 1997 ). Although the concept of BD has been increasingly applied in various industrial applications, the first definition of big data was given by Laney ( 2001 ) who defined three foundational attributes of BD with three characteristics: volume (e.g., depth/breadth of data and amount of data), velocity (e.g., speed, consequence, generation, interaction and updating of data), and variety (e.g., incompatibility, nonaligned data structure and inconsistent data semantics). Based on the characteristics of BD, the requirement for effective data management, which transforms the data into useful information to improve the decision-making quality, arises (Mariani 2019 ).

Keywords analysis of big data concepts used in tourism and hospitality studies

With the benefits of BD, academics are progressively willing to utilize large volumes of data to advance our understanding of complex tourism and hospitality industry and dynamic environmental phenomena, as observed by a number of articles explicitly adopting BD concepts and analytics (Mariani et al. 2018 ). Figure  2 shows the integrated concepts of the progressively embedded mixed methods. In the green parts of the word clouds, regarding research on how BD influences tourism and hospitality, it seems that online reviews, social media, intelligence, and analytics are the most common methods for forecasting customer demand and values. Nusair et al. ( 2019 ) asserted that although the concepts of integrated sources of data of online reviews into useful information are critical issues for decision-making. However, how social media generate information and how it influences BD are still in the early stages of development, and there are an increasing number of articles published on this emerging topic, which represent the new focus on understanding the new growth trends of this discipline. In the recent studies on BD, Li et al. ( 2018 ) used 144 journal articles that were published in leading journals including Tourism Management , the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , the Journal of Travel Research , the International Journal of Hospitality Management , the Annals of Tourism Research and Tourism Geographies to highlight the importance of big UGC data (generated by users) generated through social media. Leung et al. ( 2015 ) provided a retrospective analysis of social interaction, decision making, guests’ demands and marketing communications from Current Issues in Tourism , the Journal of Travel Research , the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology , the International Journal of Hospitality Management , the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research , the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , the Annals of Tourism Research , the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Tourism Management, Tourism Review and the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing. They discovered that information communication technologies (ICTs) have grown into a critical trend and the mainstream of marketing interaction, and the topic is rapidly changing the operations of the hospitality and tourism industry in the new generation of e-marketing and e-strategic management. Additionally, Ranjbari et al. ( 2020 ) analyzed 112,138 online review comments to provide empirical evidence on predicting customer demand and behavior in the general hospitality and tourism field. Cheng and Edwards ( 2019 ) followed the four steps of conducting automated content analysis (ACA) of tourism academic journal contents and highlighted different data sources, such as social media, intelligence, and analytics, that would advance the understanding of the critical methodological literature concerning sources of BD. Through content analysis, Aydin ( 2020 ) asserted that big data from social networks, online reviews and social media that collect information instantly through interactions can be used to arrive at cognitive, affective and behavioral insights that offer superior value and superior experiences to customers and provide a competitive edge in digital marketing. The overcrowding of widespread social media platforms and the appearance of marketing communications have become new trends of business operations, allow one to obtain insights into environment requirements and have led to a rapid increase in the amount of content available to improve marketing decisions (Alaei et al. 2019 ). Consequently, BD analysis can identify the critical attributes attracting users’ attention and has becoming easier as the amount of collected information increases and analysis tools are easier to use. This study integrated the above viewpoints on providing the foundational attributes of BD. In Fig.  3 , the brown part shows that marketing strategies act as roots and sources in supporting eWOM, information generation, and technology development to anticipate customers’ behaviors and satisfaction.

Keyword analysis of big data concepts and highly correlated keywords used in tourism and hospitality studies

To advance the analysis of BD applications, social network analysis was also applied to select the most relevant topics, as shown in the results in Fig.  3 . Centobelli and Ndou ( 2019 ) used social network analysis to advance the exploitation of big data analytics, develop systems to predict customer behavior and thus provide the best marketing strategy regarding how to deliver the appropriate service in the right place at the right time. As far as the research streams are concerned, it seems that social media, online reviews and user-generated content are the sources of BD and that marketing strategies improve service quality through technology, intelligence and smart learning functions; can change consumers’ evaluations and satisfaction (Buhalis and Sinarta 2019 ; Rahimi et al. 2017 ); and have the power to increasingly focus on reciprocal value for firms and customers (Line et al. 2020 ).

3 Methodology

3.1 data collection.

Several steps were used to collect the data for analysis. First, after reviewing articles from hospitality and tourism journals and assessing the trends of hospitality and tourism studies, this study follows previous studies and uses hospitality and tourism journals from the Social Sciences Citation Index ( SSCI ) but excludes sports and psychological journals as areas of focus. The research was conducted to better understand the evolution of research trends and offers more current literature (Ali et al. 2019 ; Altinay and Taheri 2019 ; Cheng and Edwards 2019 ; Lai et al. 2018 ). Table  1 shows the SSCI hospitality and tourism journals and impact factors over six years (e.g., 2014–2019) for each journal. The journals represent the new research trends for tourism and hospitality literatures. We observed that journals with higher impact factors have also increasingly focused on BD, and a number of studies have focused on the relationship between BD and marketing strategy.

Second, this study also ranks the impacts and identifies the five tourism and hospitality journals with the five highest scores: Tourism Management , the Journal of Travel Research , the Annals of Tourism Research , the International Journal of Hospitality Management , and the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management . Third, considering the topics of big data and social media and marketing strategy, through content analysis, thirteen journals were included in this study, including the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Tourism Review, Tourism Management , the Journal of Travel Research , the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing , the Journal of Destination Marketing & Management , the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology , the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Current Issues in Tourism , the International Journal of Hospitality Management , and Annals of Tourism Research .

To emphasize the research topic of big data and how it correlates with marketing strategy, keywords or headings that were considered relevant in the selection process were retained and those that did not mention or emphasize a marketing strategy were removed. Only those articles most correlated with the topic or keywords, such as big data, social media, marketing, behaviour, among others, are shown in Fig.  4 of the search scope in tourism and hospitality journals, which were involved in the present study’s analysis. Furthermore, this study also excluded research notes, book chapters, meetings, book comments and editorial suggestions and removed them when conducting searches on Google Scholar. In the initial search, 43,000 relevant articles from the last ten years appeared in the results. In summarizing the 62 selected articles, the most appropriate articles followed the requirements of focusing on big data and social media and marketing strategy, were listed in the SSCI articles on tourism and hospitality in well-known international journals and matched the headings or keywords on such topics. We noticed that although the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology was a new journal listed in the SSCI, the journal may have been focused on technology application; therefore, the journal received high scores in this study. Li and Liu ( 2018 ) asserted that studies on tourism and hospitality in well-known international journals listed in the SSCI that identify research trends and new industrial phenomena provide important implications for academia and practical managers. The previous tourism and hospitality literature also used similar terms and requirements for discussing specific topics and provided meaningful findings for tourism and hospitality studies (Ali et al. 2019 ; Altinay and Taheri 2019 ; Cheng and Edwards 2019 ; Lai et al. 2018 ). The selected journals and number of journals are as shown in Fig.  1 .

The integrated concepts of big data to tourism and hospitality operation

Content analysis refers to the analysis and explanation of the meanings that the text contains, which is one of the more popular qualitative analyses of social phenomena (Oh et al. 2004 ; Oleinik et al. 2014 ) and has been widely used in previous studies of longitudinal observations to highlight the critical issues of both the present and upcoming trends (Opperhuizen and Schouten 2021 ; Piwowar-Sulej et al. 2021 ) asserted that content analysis represents the bibliometric characteristics of articles related to specific issues that not only allow researchers to identify the main trends in scientific production but also present directions for further academic studies through science mapping (Khaldi and Prado-Gascó 2021 ). For the marketing strategy and big data study, the content analysis included the title, abstract, journal, sample type, exploration design, statistical and analytical techniques, data collection process and keywords to catch the weight and ranking of customers’ sentiment (emotion) of the text (Zapata-Sepúlveda et al. 2012 ). The current study analysed the selected articles and used word clouds and Ucinet 6.0 software to analyse the title, abstract, contents and keywords to demonstrate what elements are meaningful according to the information sources, which could be seen as an advance analysis by extending the traditional methods of content analysis (Rani and Shokeen 2021 ). The study calculates subjectivity and polarity measurements of title, abstract, contents and keywords; a greater value for the polarity score indicates a more important demonstration of the critical issues (Hogenraad et al. 2003 ; Zhao et al. 2019 ). The purpose of grouping selected studies and calculations was to preserve the reliability after the comprehensive integration of the above information on the topics of big data and marketing strategy followed by an evaluation of previous tourism and hospitality studies (Dinçer and Alrawadieh 2017 ). Additionally, multiple keywords or subjects that were selected and appeared in a study would offer information to potential customers and shape tourists’ perceptions, which can provide a deep understanding of the tourism and hospitality service entity regarding what improvements can be made to improve decision quality (Yu 2020 ). With regards to data classification, data collection methods, analytical perspectives and statistical techniques, when different methods or techniques were used in the same study, all of them were included. Therefore, the current measurement is consistent and extended with those of previous studies (e.g., Oh et al. 2004 ; Oleinik et al. 2014 ; Opperhuizen and Schouten 2021 ) that used content analysis to measure selected articles.

3.2 Data analysis

The following steps were adopted to analyze the collected data. First, foundational attributes and descriptive indicators for each selected journal and studies were formed to show the basic statistics of the BD studies published in these thirteen well-known hospitality and tourism journals. Second, since BD research articles are on new issues, the existing literature widely uses the literature review and content analysis to address these critical issues (Mariani and Baggio, 2021; Mariani et al. 2018 ). Therefore, constraining the new issues and without widespread literature, this study limited the time span for our selected articles to 2014–2020. Oleinik ( 2021 ) asserted that selected long-term observations were used to better understand the evolution of current and future trends, which provides more meaningful information to the existing literature. The observation times were categorically based on the BD issues that were observed in each year and depended on researchers’ subjective evaluation. BD issues were employed to discover the substantial influences of mixed marketing strategy studies across the observed stages. Third, following the first steps of selected journals and second steps of key issues of big data that selected articles across widespread literature. The third applied content analysis concepts to judge and evaluate research objects and categorical characteristics simultaneously based on selected and nominal data (Lai et al. 2018 ). In this study, we integrated the different concepts of big data, social media and marketing, which generate perceptual guidelines in which a set of items and features of big data are vividly presented in a combined appearance grounded on the linked substances and critical characteristics. Overall, the above steps display close proximity when the research objects of big data, social media and marketing strategy have a high association.

With the above analysis on BD research, we observed that marketing strategies were concentrated on the influence of BD on tourism and hospitality operations. Figure  4 integrates various sources and BD concepts. Following the original concepts of Laney ( 2001 ), the current study divided BD concepts into two aspects. First, “big” refers to encompassing new social media sources, such as Facebook, WeChat, Twitter, and QQ, to track the target customers’ past trips, interactions, etc. to generate original data. In the analysis of the sources of BD and social media, it was found that Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Weibo are widely used to generate big social network data because users use social networking sites to share life activities with friends (Leung et al. 2018 ; Zhao et al. 2018 ) asserted that the user-generated content (UGC) platforms of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WeChat provide users conscious choices and constructive processes to influence their friends and others. Therefore, following the technology evaluation, ‘social sensing’ concepts provide large quantities of information that can overcome data shortages and advance tourist behavioral predictions through big data analysis that provides more actual behavior predictions than traditional tourism research (Zhang 2018 ). Second, “data” refers to using those data to systematically analyze customers’ leisure activities, hobbies, etc. to generate useful information through an effective data management process and develop a marketing strategy. As Line et al. ( 2020 ) asserted, BD provides tourism and hospitality organizations with powerful tools to form marketing strategies to ensure that the right marketing message is sent to the right persons (and on the right channel or device) at the right time, which is a value cocreation catalyst in four ways: it improves search efficiency, it allows for customer relationship management (CRM), it reduces transaction costs, and it allows for service customization.

As shown in Fig.  5 , when considering tourism and hospitality organizations and customer-level data benefits, a systematic typological structure emerges that can be categorized into seven new concepts of marketing strategy with reciprocal big data value creation. First, this study concluded that applying BD can promote transaction cost reductions, searching efficiency, customization and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). In the previous literature, transaction cost theory proposed that in the tourism and hospitality fields, the costs should consider the costs of how to provide the appropriate tourism products/services through the market rather than what products/services can be provided by a tourism and hospitality firm (Altinay and Taheri 2019 ). BD analysis not only can reduce the search, transaction and coordination costs, but it also can improve the quality of marketing decision making to provide the appropriate tourism products/services to target customers (Calveras and Orfila-Sintes 2019 ). Further, big data is a critical component of tourism marketing strategy since it can contribute to collecting valuable data more efficiently, enhance the data search efficiency, improve the decision-making quality and offer tourists unforgettable travel experiences (Nusair et al. 2019 ). Additionally, big data provides tourism and hospitality managers with a better understanding of customer tourism requests, new tourism evaluation trends, and other tourism issues, thus helping them to design customized projects in order to attract tourists (Fuchs et al. 2014 ). Furthermore, although BD was used to address customer relationship management (CRM) systems, it is still in its early stages, and increasing studies have asserted that BD plays a central role in providing better quality services (Sigala 2018 ), keeping good relationships with customers(Rahimi et al. 2017 ), and formulating marketing strategies and approaches(Talón-Ballestero et al. 2018 ). Second, BD concepts have been integrated into tourism and hospitality mixed marketing strategies. Traditionally, a marketing strategy based on the 4 Ps (product, price, place and promotion) might have some limitations in an actual competitive scenario and may not suitable for new industrial evaluation analysis (Labanauskaitė et al. 2020 ). Therefore, in recent decades, three supplementary attributes of Ps, people, physical evidence and processes, which seek to include interactive tourism and hospitality marketing strategy dimensions, have been added and transferred into a new mixed marketing model, which is called the 7 Ps (Loo and Leung 2018 ; Pantano et al. 2019 ) asserted that BD is a part of mixed marketing strategies; thus, a firm’s active use of social media for communication and interaction with customers should be considered as a new industrial phenomena and new trend, which may transform the traditional mixed marketing model into efficient market sizing and sensing. Furthermore, using this systematic typological structure, the nature of integrating the concepts of big data and marketing strategy is described as products, processes, people, promotion, physical evidence, places and prices. Under such an evaluation, as the most desirable systematic typological structure of reciprocal value creation, BD technology might translate into developments of effective marketing strategies to support marketing strategy in improving service quality, decision making and business innovation.

The integrated concepts of big data into tourism and hospitality marketing mix strategy

5 Conclusions and discussion

In conclusion, there is a growing scholarly awareness of the increasing complexity of the tourism and hospitality industry that requires well-known BD concepts to establish effective marketing strategies. The research shows that BD adds value to marketing strategies by using social media to collect information from consumers, which is complemented with appropriate evidence relevant to predicting their needs and behaviors. Consumers’ extraordinarily generated feedback information and the continuous altering of their requirements for customized service have serious influences on the traditional operating methods. Furthermore, consumers send feedback and experience via social media engagement with the entire tourism and hospitality service through numerous platforms, and mass media may also provide useful information to help organizations adjust their marketing strategies based on intelligence and contextual data.

5.1 Implications

This paper also offers practical contributions by providing integrated concepts to the extensive tourism and hospitality industry operational environment and destination evaluations to conduct integrated and effective procedures for value cocreation and marketing strategy formation. First, by extending this research to other service fields, the results can provide another perspective on the deployment of BD technology and show how BD can be applied in operations, provide critical mechanisms for tourism and hospitality organizations to develop sensitive digital environment engagement to conform with consumer requirements and suggest integrated and context-based attributes through the systematic analysis of well-recognized journals. This implies that BD analysis can be utilized by all firms, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of tourism and hospitality industries. For example, Fuchs et al. ( 2014 ) asserted that BD includes a huge amount of data on customer requirements and attitudes, which may provide valuable knowledge on behaviour intention prediction and destination promotion. For instance, the results of this study also suggested that managers may develop specific 7 Ps marketing and promotion strategies through social media, thereby allowing them to differentiate customers’ needs by emphasizing one or two aspects of the marketing mix elements (Kwok et al. 2020 ). Through a systematic analysis of the literature, we also found that social media may build a bridge between hospitality firms and customers (Aydin 2020 ). Thus, investments in digital marketing plans may lead to higher levels of communication and interaction with customers and relatively low expenditures compared with traditional marketing channels; thus, they deserve more attention from policymakers (Mariani 2019 ).

Second, BD analysis is mostly beneficial in helping tourism and hospitality industries develop the optimal mixed marketing strategy to achieve cost reductions, market differentiation, and CRM (Labanauskaitė et al. 2020 ). This study used empirical evidence on BD from tourism and hospitality industrial environment analyses, which may provide managers with a strategy marketing mindset, and benefits from a comprehensive exploration of new insights. For example, given changeable customer requirements, tourism and hospitality managers may make greater efforts to collect customer feedback from UGC (Zeng and Gerritsen 2014 ), which provides foundational guidelines to help them to design attractive websites and implement an appropriate marketing strategy. These guidelines can include easy-to-use functions or immediate feedback and helping customers to assess a tourism and hospitality service or product free and quickly, and they can be accomplished through a thoughtful website design and a step–by-step revision process to the set the standards outlined on a business’s website. Our analytical procedure, such as analyzing the sources and contents of BD and correlating the findings with the 7 Ps mixed marketing segments, and our findings also provide useful insights. These findings allow practitioners to consider Porter’s ( 1981 ) competitive strategy of cost reduction and differentiation and focus on specific customers though analyzing the tourism and hospitality industry, the economy, technical opportunities, and threats to discover the organization’s strengths and weakness to develop marketing strategies that improve their industrial positioning (Okumus et al. 2017 ). Furthermore, tourism and hospitality managers are greatly encouraged to assess the consequences reported in Figs.  4 and 5 carefully. With better knowledge of how customers evaluate their products or services using the data offered by UGC (Zeng and Gerritsen 2014 ), customers’ feedback and comments can mirror what the tourism and hospitality organization provides pertaining to the 7 P attributes, and businesses can adjust their offerings according to customers’ opinions. The feedback from UGC becomes critical for tourism and hospitality managers to discover the best ways to communicate more with potential customers and improve their satisfaction, such as providing a brief service or product introduction to attract visitors.

Third, the previous study asserted that the Marketing Mix debate is on theoretical rather than empirical evidence, which requires more data about the exact effects of Ps and its applications (Constantinides 2006 ). The results were based on a comprehensive theoretical and empirical review and provided information for tourism and hospitality managers facing dynamic environments or struggling to improve the quality of their marketing strategies to moderate threats from the industrial environment or unpredictable issues (e.g., COVID-19, SARS, and MERS) so that they can adjust the 7 Ps marketing mix of their current services or products. By comparing what tourism and hospitality services offer and what unpredictable changes can occur in how they conduct the future services introduced using the 7 Ps mixed marketing framework, managers are highly encouraged to use BD analysis well for attainment of clearer pictures of existing services or products so that they can satisfy customer needs or determine what they did poorly and need to adjust. Through the analysis, managers are likely to be able to determine precise marketing and managerial strategies to cater to the market demand, leading them to adjust their current operational ways.

Fourth and finally, social media facilities and improves organic post effectiveness for hospitality organization operations (Aydin 2020 ). This study advises that policymakers pay attention to social media technology development because it may provide new paths and identify new market opportunities that may extend hospitality services to future markets (e.g., Aydin 2020 ; Centobelli and Ndou 2019 ; Labanauskaitė et al. 2020 ). Social media messages and BD analysis have provided valuable perspectives and gained many operational suggestions to help policymakers determine market trends and customer requirements, thus creating competitive advantages over their competitors because they normally follow traditional operating methods. Furthermore, previous studies discovered that using BD analysis could gain substantially more benefits than those obtained by traditional tourism and hospitality organizations (e.g., Leung et al. 2018 ; Xiang et al. 2015 ). Our findings also suggest that social media could act as another powerful marketing tool for discovering new market opportunities and identifying threats compared to traditional operating methods used by tourism and hospitality organizations.

5.1.1 Limitations and Future Research

Despite the contributions of this study, some limitations also should be addressed and should be followed up by future studies. First, although this study’s system comprehensively reviews renown international tourism and hospitality journals on the new issues of BD and marketing strategies, we also recognized that BD has already been an area of attention in the field of business management and marketing (Buhalis and Volchek 2021 ; Lin et al. 2020 ) asserted that the analysis of BD use for marketing provides meaningful information for tourism and hospitality industry development. However, these issues have only recently been studied for tourism and hospitality, and because of sample limitations, the current discoveries may not be suitable and generalizable to other industrial fields. Moreover, this integrated analysis only focused on conceptual and empirical studies in English and on specific topics. Future studies should translate current comprehensive reviews into different languages and perform comparisons, such as analysing the application of BD in China’s tourism and hospitality industry, (Zhang et al. 2017 ). Extending the literature review beyond the Social Sciences Citation Index ( SSCI ) list or eliminating the requirement for English language journals would provide more meaningful literature contributions (Kwok et al. 2020 ).

Second, though machine learning approaches may speed up the analysis, a problem appears that no automatic analysis is free of errors and human work is needed to improve the quality of results (Kwok et al. 2020 ). Furthermore, previous studies state that statistics only provide analytical tools and no single method is perfect, depending on the situation and industrial environment. Even though this study conducted multiple analyses, this study also recognized that some errors may also appear in the current analysis and explanations. As this study adjusted the formulation of the essential 7 Ps explicitly for the literatures published and integrated from the BD analysis to avoid a focus on one or two marketing perspectives in our analysis, extra caution regarding critical attributes should be given when interpreting the outcomes that are not error-free. Hence, new or integrated methods or examinations under altered theoretical backgrounds are highly encouraged in forthcoming tourism and hospitality research because studies that integrate various theoretical frameworks through different viewpoints are likely to provide new perceptions to advance our understanding of a complex industrial phenomenon (Rahimi et al. 2017 ).

Third, the current valuation focuses on integrated BD concepts and their application to formulating the marketing mix. Future studies can join the different discussion and comparison methods. For example, future studies can combine interviews and questionnaires to analyze consumer behavior when reading the comments on sharing websites. Fourth, this study investigated the results during the COVID-19 pandemic period. In this period, we also observed that people pay more attention to BD and show increasing interest in the coronavirus transmission routes or how BD may influence the hygiene standards of a facility’s space. Therefore, consumers’ emphasis on the 7 P attributes could be altered. Future studies are highly encouraged to examine how consumers’ awareness of the 7 Ps strategy has changed in the post − COVID-19 era. Fifth and finally, tourism and hospitality organizations can consider how to use social media well or even build individual websites to communicate and interact with consumers to collect useful feedback from online reviews and social media. Future investigations can use the best operations benchmark regarding the marketing strategy and conceptualize how this will revolutionize commercial and network competitiveness under the digital industrial environment.

6 Conclusions

This study used empirical evidence on big data from tourism and hospitality industrial environment analyses. Hanssens et al. ( 2014 ) asserted that firms’ marketing action may potentially influence customers’ attitudes and then the firm’s performance. Managers can use BD to conduct a detailed analysis of customers’ feedback to manage customer relationships (Grönroos 2006 ), which may include the message, execution, communication channel, timing, etc. In contrast, increases in tourism and hospitality service advertising generate positive feedback that converts into revisits. Hence, BD provides an “effective marketing lever” for marketing strategies to change customers’ attitudes and eventually provide for long-term relationship maintenance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of Quality & Quantity, Professor Han Woo Park and the three anonymous reviewers whose constructive criticism led to significant improvements in the paper. Financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C. (MOST 109-2511-H-992-004-MY3) is highly appreciated.

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Liu, CH., Horng, JS., Chou, SF. et al. Integrating big data and marketing concepts into tourism, hospitality operations and strategy development. Qual Quant 57 , 1905–1922 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01426-5

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01426-5

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Chapter Name

Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research

The Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research Event requires the preparation of a detailed written strategic plan and presentation based on the results of a research study for a company providing products and services related to event management, lodging, restaurant management and travel and tourism industries. Examples may include: hotels, lodging services, convention services, food and beverage services, restaurants, museums, amusement parks, zoos and other tourism-related businesses.

Career Opportunities

Rebuilding Customer Loyalty and Spending

Boomers Parks is a national chain of entertainment centers with eight locations in California, New Jersey and Florida. Established in 1994, the parks strive to provide a fun experience with an exciting atmosphere where people of all ages can enjoy. Participants collaborated with the local business or organization to analyze the current state of business operations as a result of business disruption and develop a strategic plan to rebuild customer loyalty and spending.

Sample Exams

Exam blueprint.

The chart below shows the number of items per instructional area for the 2023-2024 exams used at the district level, chartered association level and the International Career Development Conference.

EXAM STRATEGIES

The exam blueprint is your best friend.

Use the exam blueprint to focus your preparation efforts. You may prioritize studying instructional areas with the higher number of questions listed the blueprint.

Keep Expanding Your Knowledge

As you advance in competition, exam items become more specialized to the Career Cluster. Therefore, you should start with an understanding of general business concepts in the Business Administration Core and build on the knowledge within the Career Cluster of your competitive event.

Review Your Work

Don’t just take the exam! After you take the exam, compare your answers to the exam’s key. If you incorrectly answer a question, re-read the question, note the correct answer, and then read the descriptive key. The descriptive key explains the correct answer and why the other answers are incorrect. This will also help you understand the performance indicator addressed in the exam question.

Focus Your Efforts Where They Need To Be

Each exam question is linked to an instructional area. For each incorrect answer, tally the instructional area it matches. If you are noticing a pattern of incorrectly answering questions within particular instructional areas, spend more time learning the knowledge and skills within those instructional areas. Spend more time reviewing the performance indicators under those instructional areas.

Form Study Groups

Because there are only seven DECA exams, chances are high that some of your fellow chapters are taking the same exam as you, even if they are in a different competitive event. Use this opportunity to form study groups. You could consider taking the exam together and discussing the questions and answers. You could even divide and conquer to prepare study materials to help understand performance indicators.

Get In The Mode

Recreate the testing scene. Find out from your chapter advisor the setting for your exam during competition. Will you be taking the exam online through an electronic device prior to the competition, or  using pencil and paper on-site during the competition? Find out how long you will have to take the test. Then try to replicate the setting using a practice test and using the same time frame you are given in competition.

Develop a Study Schedule

Make sure to study and prepare on a regular basis. Plan a study schedule and calendar leading up to your competition. Do not study right before you take the test. Instead, concentrate on being calm and confident in yourself when taking the exam.

Test Taking Techniques

When taking the exam, use these general test taking techniques:

• Familiarize yourself with the format.
• Read the question. Think about the answer.
• Read all choices before choosing your answer.
• Eliminate choices you know aren't correct.
• If you get stuck, circle and come back.
• Always take an educated guess.
• If time allows, review your work. ‍

Remain Positive!

Be confident. Refrain from engaging in negative discussions with other members prior to the exam, such as “I’m so nervous – I don’t know if I studied enough.”

Sample Role-Plays

Instructional areas.

Each role-play focuses on a primary instructional area. For each role-play, a majority of its performance indicators will focus on that primary instructional area. The following instructional areas may be used in this event's role-plays.

ROLE-PLAY STRATEGIES

Key elements.

The following key elements are always a part of each role-play scenario. Understanding the format and style of the role-play will help you become familiar, feel comfortable and easily identify the key elements so you can maximize your time developing your solution.

• Participant Role
• Company and Brief Description
• Deliverable
• Instructional Area

Performance Indicators

• Meeting Location

The performance indicators are your guide to a focused presentation! Apply them to the situation because they are always based on a real-life situation. Use industry knowledge that you have researched before competition to supplement what you know about your performance indicators. This helps demonstrate your proficiency.

What's the Ask?

At the end of any role-play situation, you are presented with what the judge is looking for from you. Make sure you address what the judge is asking while incorporating the performance indicators. You will want to wow your judge with your solution while explaining it by incorporating the performance indicators.

Communication is Key

Speak clearly so that the judge can understand what you are sharing with him/her. You have time to talk about your performance indicators within the situation—don’t rush and take the chance a judge didn’t hear you talking about something. Be natural and comfortable in your role in the situation. Nonverbal communication can be just as important as verbal communication. Smile and be confident to help demonstrate your professionalism.

Be Creative and Stand Out

Be calm, be professional and be enthusiastic. Don’t be scared of your competition. There are many creative ways to approach a role-play, and no one way is necessarily right, so focus on adding your own creative twist to what you do. Don’t just have a “Plan A”; exceed expectations by having options for your judge to select from if the situation calls for it. Setting yourself apart through innovation, creativity and quality ideas is the key way to stay in a judge’s mind long after all the competitors have finished presenting. What can you bring to the presentation that no other competitor will show your judge?

Connect with the Judge

Take time to make sure your judge is following your thoughts. You can ask your judge questions to make sure he or she has understood what you have shared. Near the end of the role-play, the judge will likely ask you questions. When you are preparing your presentation for the role-play, you may anticipate what questions the judge may ask. However, if you need a minute to consider the questions before answering, say so in a professional manner. This reflects your respect of his or her position and your desire to share an informed answer.

Speak the Language

When speaking with the judge, be as professional as possible, while still being personable and accessible. This means using accurate industry terminology when the situation calls for it. Do not be afraid to use sophisticated or rich vocabulary—with­out sounding like you’re just trying too hard to impress, because, of course, you still want to be relatable, friendly, and down-to-earth.

Make a Good Impression

Be friendly, make eye contact and give a firm handshake when you first meet your judge. Do not wait for them to introduce themselves; rather, take the initiative. While you might be nervous and feel awkward, taking initiative shows that you truly are mature, confident and comfort­able. Also, adhere to the dress code, because you come across as much more professional if you really do look like a business executive. You may also consider the career area in which you are competing. For example, as a competitor in Apparel and Accessories Marketing, you may want to wear something that will reflect an interest in fashion or a more creative point-of-view, without being outrageous. You want to leave a good impression with the judge, and of course, be rememberable.

WRITE IT LIKE  YOU MEAN IT

The 2023-2024 topic for each career category is the development of a strategy to combat the talent challenge. Businesses today are facing labor shortages across all industries. Participants will collaborate with a local business or organization to analyze the current process for recruiting, hiring, onboarding and retaining employees. Participants will then create and present a strategic plan to attract and retain employees.

WRITTEN ENTRY GUIDELINES

The written entry must follow the specifications provided in the Written Entry Guidelines section of the DECA Guide for the competitive event. In addition to the Written Entry Guidelines, participants must observe all of the standards on the Penalty Point Checklist. These standards are designed to make competition as fair as possible. Additionally, the Written Event Statement of Assurances and Academic Integrity Form must be signed and submitted with the entry.

Sample Written ENTRY

Written entry strategies, content is king.

The written entry is the foundation of your competitive event. It's your outline for your project or plan, and represents your process to achieving your outcome. Choosing the right written event and the right company, event, idea, product or topic is so important, because you want to be passionate about the work you will endeavor in this process. Be thoughtful when making your decisions using some of these key considerations:

• Is there enough data accessible?
• Can I get information I need from the company or about the product, event or idea?
• Are there real people I can engage with or enlist the help and expertise of?
• Is this cutting edge or has the potential to be?

First, But Last

The executive summary is one of the most important parts of your written entry. Not only is it likely to be one of the first parts of your entry the judge reviews, it also provides an overall summary of your entry. It should be dynamic, concise and effectively highlight the main points of your written entry all while including a call to action. Often, it is best to write the executive summary last so that you can identify the most relevant components to include. Some tips for an effective executive summary include:

• Start with a bang.
• Identify the problem solution and opportunity.
• Focus on what makes you stand out.
• Sell don't just tell.
• Include data and finances.
• Use graphics and formatting as appropriate.
• Imagine this is the only thing someone would read.

Review, Edit, Proofread

Once you have completed your written entry, review it against the written entry guidelines and written entry evaluation form to ensure you have addressed each item. If you believe items are missing or need improvement, revisit your written entry and improve those areas. You may also wish to ask consultants to read your written entry against the criteria and provide feedback. Often, that is the best way to determine if your written entry is clearly understood by someone other than you as the project creator(s). In addition, you should edit and revise your written work so that it is well-organized, professional, logical and error free.

Avoid Penalty Points

Penalty points can cause you to lose your chance for advancement quickly! Many times, they can easily be avoided. Some of the most common reasons for penalty points include:

• Not using the current year’s event guidelines.
• All participants or advisor not signing the Statement of Assurances.
• Leaving out sections in the body of the written entry.
• Having too many pages. Double check the number of pages allowed in your written entry.

Give your entry to a trusted advisor or peer to review against the Penalty Point Checklist.

PRESENT WITH PIZZAZZ

The participants have assumed the roles of hired consultants. The judge is to assume the role of the business’s/organization’s owner/manager. The participants will present the plan to the judge in a 15-minute presentation worth 40 points. The presentation begins immediately after the introduction of the participants to the judge by the adult assistant. Each participant must take part in the presentation.

PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

Each participant may bring a copy of the written entry or note cards pertaining to the written entry to use as reference during the presentation. Only visual aids that can be easily hand carried to the presentation by the actual participant(s)will be permitted. The participants themselves must set up the visuals. Wheeled carts, moving straps or similar items may not be used to bring visuals into the area. Set up time is included in the total presentation time. Participants must furnish their own materials and equipment. No electrical power or internet connection will be supplied. Alternate power sources such as small generators are not allowed. Sound may be used, as long as the volume is kept at a conversational level. Materials appropriate to the situation may be handed to or left with judges in all competitive events. Items of monetary value may be handed to but may not be left with judges. Items such as flyers, brochures, pamphlets and business cards may be handed to or left with the judge. No food or drinks allowed. If any of these rules are violated, the adult assistant must be notified by the judge.  

Presentation Strategies

First things first.

Consider your presentation your time to highlight the most important parts of your competitive event. In every case, you're trying to sell the judge that your idea, concept or plan is the best. Start with that in mind, and develop an outline for your presentation. Your ultimate goal is for the judge to choose your presentation. Consult the presentation evaluation rubric in the DECA Guide to ensure that your presentation includes information for all of the scoring criteria. You may also consider visual aids and if you'll use technology — but make sure they are relevant and meaningful to your presentation.

Brand Yourself A Winner

When creating your project and delivering your presentation, you are essentially developing a brand for yourself and your ideas. Make your presentation’s brand attractive and easy for your judge to remember by wrapping it in a strong visual package. Tie together all the elements of your project, from the charts and graphs of your written document, to your slide backgrounds, to the shirt you wear with a signature element, such as a particular color palette or pattern.

Stop, Look, Listen

A great portion of your presentation’s success isn’t dependent on what you say, but how you say it. Like any good speech, the judge may not recall every statistic, market segment or promotional idea that you deliver, but they will remember how you made them feel. That’s where confidence in your delivery comes in. Being excited, nervous and anxious about your presentation can cause your rate of speech to increase rapidly, making your words fly by in a blur. Always remember the power of pause. When practicing your presentation, incorporate pauses into your phrases. This will create a dramatic, ear-catching effect to keep your judge attentive to your presentation, plus it will emphasize important points and information. 

Eye contact is another way to connect with your judge. Locking eyes shows confidence in the points you’re delivering and is another way to keep your judge engaged in your delivery.

A memorable part of your delivery that will greatly affect how your judge feels is your tone of voice. Your tone should vary depending on the subjects you’re covering in your presentation. For example, presenting a charity that your Community Giving Project supports may be most effective with a serious, earnest tone, yet in sharing your creative marketing  ideas for an Integrated Marketing Campaign event, an excitable, vibrant tone would be great for expressing your creativity. No matter what tone you use, make sure you vary your expression. Nothing will lose a judge’s attention more than a flat, boring delivery that gives them no feeling about your topic. 

While relying on your innate ability to “wing it” is never recommended for competition, writing down paragraphs of perfect phrases, word-for-word, doesn’t guarantee that your presentation will turn out trophies either. Note cards are a handy tool to remember specific numerical data and exact quotes, but using them as a crutch for your memory could reduce your confident delivery, especially in form of eye contact with your judges. Instead, commit your presentation to memory as best as possible. If you thought it, developed it and wrote about it, you should be able, with a bit of practice, to present it well. Use your visual aid to help guide your talking points, with illustrations, diagrams or other images to help cue your words. 

Just because you reach your last slide doesn’t mean it’s time to thank your judge, shake hands and flee the room. The time after your formal presentation is crucial for further interaction with your judge. Take this opportunity to clarify parts of your presentation, show more of your personality and impress your judge with an ability to provide thorough answers to any questions they may have. The best way to flawlessly answer these questions is to prepare for them in advance. Use your advisors and peers as practice judges for your presentation, and request that they each ask you at least three follow-up questions to your presentation. You begin to become more confident delivering answers off-the-cuff and will begin to learn the most commonly asked questions of your presentation. Should your judge not immediately ask any questions, ask for them! 

To leave even more of an impact on your judge, provide them with a handout before you walk out the door, such as a brochure or outline. Use this strategy to highlight important takeaway points from your presentation, further brand yourself and your ideas, and keep a presence in front of your judge, even long after your final handshake. Make sure to have a final statement or call to action to show your judge that you’re interested in following through.

INSIGHTS INTO THE INDUSTRY

Industry trends are patterns or current happenings that occur within a specific industry. Keeping up with the industry helps give you a pulse on issues and trends that are affecting the industry. This knowledge can help you develop creative, relevant and timely solutions for your competitive event.

4 Employee Retention Strategies For The Hospitality Industry

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Not only do these interactive competition preparation tools help you expand your industry terminology, understand performance indicators and check your comprehension through exam items, they also help you prepare for DECA competition!

Expand your vocabulary

Broaden your knowledge

Check your comprehension

DECA Direct Online is your source for competition tips and career insights. Check out these articles and more on DECA Direct Online as you prepare for competition.

3 Written Event Competition Tips To Consider

3 tips to consider for your written event project, 4 things you must remember while public speaking, the ultimate written event guide.

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