Digital transformation in tourism: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Digital transformation and the concept of industry 4.0 has revolutionized the tourism industry in recent decades and has become an important aspect for tourism enterprise competitiveness, growth and sustainability. Digitalisation and technological development are changing people’s lives, habits, work, behaviour, perceptions and decision making, and have opened new opportunities for travel enterprises to be competitive in the global market. This article provides an analysis of the most recent literature focused on digital transformation in tourism, concept of tourism 4.0 and digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, big data, the Internet of Things, blockchain, mobile technologies, cloud computing, robotics and social media in tourism. The article discusses the main opportunities that affect the digital transformation in tourism. Digitalisation adds value to tourism products and experiences, provides many new opportunities for businesses and helps achieve long-term competitive advantage and customer satisfaction. Innovation and the creation of new technological solutions are highly recommended for tourism enterprises that want to compete, grow and increase productivity and management. The current study also identifies the challenges of digital transformation in tourism and proposes areas for future research.