Identifying innovation in tourism as innovation in services
Innovation in tourism services: what are the unique features?
Identifying the nature of innovation in tourism entails looking for features that are either shared with or distinct from those of innovations in other service industries, but it also entails comparisons with the more general models found in manufacturing. In addition, issues arising in agriculture may shed some light as well.
− Comparisons of the approach to innovation in tourism and in other service industries: retailing, banking, recreation, etc.
Tourism products are “experience goods” par excellence, validated ex post facto by consumers, who commit their experience to memory and build upon it. This feature seems consistent with the trend towards “customisation”—i.e., “mass production of the made-to-measure”3. In addition, tourism activity is deeply rooted spatially, the stage being set by the surrounding heritage, attractions and lodging facilities. Consumption also has a sequential dimension that affects the quality of the tourist’s overall experience. As a result, reference to the model for retailing can shed light on the manner in which tourism products are distributed and consumed. The tourism industry also involves activities that feature proximity to leisure industries: cultural, sporting and recreational pursuits. Since both are affected by industrialisation approaches, the development of short-term practices, the influence of innovations in urban tourism on the supply of leisure activities (casinos, museums, special events, etc.) accentuate the convergence to the point where it becomes difficult to establish a clear boundary between them.
− Unique features of services as compared to industrial models: marketing of services, the role of R&D, lack of patentability, attitude towards markets (tendency towards responsiveness), low degree of technology culture, etc. Services cannot be analysed exactly with the same analytical categories as are used to understand innovation in manufacturing industries. Taking an evolutionist approach, the taxonomy of Keith Pavitt classifies service firms, and especially those performing services for individuals, as “supplier-dominated”, being essentially users of technologies developed in the realm of manufacturing. The emphasis is on non-technological forms of innovation, such as professional know-how, brands and design, which then play a major role.
− Non-unique features: a blurry boundary between industry and services: the industrialisation of tourist services and the shock of NICT are making tourism more innovative. Services are becoming more active in innovation by adopting NICT, as highlighted by the preponderance of tourism services in the development of electronic commerce.
− Classifications of innovations in tourism.
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Technological and non-technological innovations.
Classification according to the nature of the innovation: product or process innovation, organisational or market innovation, or “ad hoc” innovation.
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Innovation and intensity of discontinuity: radical, incremental or architectural innovation.
Based on the Schumpeterian idea of “creative destruction”, the Abernathy-Clark model classifies innovations in two dimensions: intensity of obsolescence of knowledge subsequent to an innovation, and intensity of changes in industrial linkages prompted by the innovations. The application to the tourism industry is attributable to Anne-Mette Hjalager (2002)4. It is noteworthy that certain concepts do not have the same meaning for all authors, reflecting the fact that research in this field is not yet mature.