Digital Economy: Information Technology and Trends in Tourism

Abstract

This study provides an overview of the state of tourism development over the past twenty years in the field of information technology. It is argued that the knowledge created over the past two decades can be characterized as two distinct epochs - digitalization, which reflected a common understanding of how technology has changed our society and economy, and innovation, which implies the introduction and use of new technologies to develop the industry. Knowledge development in each of these periods, the authors describe the technological environment, the dominant paradigm, major research issues, and influential disciplines and research approaches. In particular, we recognize the transfer of our view of research in the field of information technology in tourism from a predominantly marketing tool for knowledge creation due to new technological conditions such as a smartphone, unmanned aerial vehicle, wearable devices, new connectivity and large volumes of data. Finally, this study discusses possible challenges and our current views on the relationship between information technology and tourism.