Chapter Preparing tourism businesses for the digital future Abstract
Table 2.1 Taxonomy of selected sectors by digital-intensity, 2013-15
|
ISIC Rev.4 industry denomination |
Quartile intensity |
|
Advertising and other business services |
High |
|
Administrative and support services |
High |
|
Telecommunications |
High |
|
Wholesale and retail trade, repair |
Medium-high |
|
Arts, entertainment and recreation |
Medium-high |
|
Human health activities |
Medium-low |
|
Transport and storage |
Low |
|
Accommodation and food service activities |
Low |
|
Real estate |
Low |
|
Note: Calculations are based upon businesses with 10 or more employees | |
|
Source: OECD, 2019, adapted from Calvino et al. (2018) | |
Unlocking the potential of the digital transformation for tourism SMEs
Some of the most innovative and high-value digital businesses operate in the tourism sector although most have considered themselves tech start-ups, not tourism businesses (Airbnb, Uber, Booking.com, HomeAway etc.). These digital giants are tech-driven, have global scaling capabilities, can attract venture capital, and therefore differ significantly from traditional tourism SMEs in terms of their growth trajectory. They operate alongside a ‘long tail’ of existing tourism businesses with complex challenges in their digitalisation journey (OECD, 2019; PATA, 2018), which in turn gives rise to different rates of innovation and competitive advantage. For example, accommodation-sharing platforms can use technologies to efficiently scale at marginal cost and gain a market advantage to quickly become dominant players in the accommodation sector.
Unlocking the potential of digital technologies and digitalisation in tourism therefore requires a nuanced approach that responds to the unique challenges experienced in different parts of the tourism sector, and in different types of tourism businesses. Addressing the challenges that tourism businesses face in their digitalisation journey can vary significantly depending on:
Type, size and characteristics of the tourism business, and the subsector they belong to (e.g. transport, accommodation, personal services) (Calvino et al., 2018; OECD, 2019).
Access to technologies, information, expertise, advice, mentoring and other resources and support (European Commission, 2017).
Management and strategy-making capabilities, which shape the extent to which business owners sense opportunity, perceive risk and are motivated to seize opportunities (Rachinger et al., 2018).
Location of the business, the social and economic context, and the access and availability of digital technologies (Dredge et al., 2018).
Country inputs to the survey undertaken to support this chapter reveal the challenges to digitalisation of tourism SMEs. These along with corresponding policy initiatives are clustered in five interrelated categories, with survey results summarised in Table 2.2:
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