Sharing Economy Perspectives in the Tourism Accommodation Sector

Abstract

Tourism stakeholders of both the demand and supply side have found themselves involved in a furious debate about the present and future shape of the new provocative and hybrid economic activity of the sharing economy, and its counterpart in the tourism sector, where sharing economy has managed to bypass the established distribution channels and disrupt the traditional structure of the tourism business. This work attempts to: elaborate on the types and presence of the sharing economy in the tourism accommodation sector, and the disruptive innovation nature of it; analyse developments with regards to the sharing economy framework in the Greek tourism industry; and elaborate on the potential impacts of shared economy in tourism, while also discussing potential future implications of this trends.