Working strategically with Big Data in the tourism sector: a qualitative study of twelve European destination management organisations

Abstract

This article presents the results of 12 semi-structured in-depth interviews with data experts from destination management organisations across Europe. The analysis revealed three overarching themes concerning the use of Big Data in the tourism sector: (1) size matters when it comes to utilising the information from Big Data sources–bigger is not perhaps better, but larger companies are more capable of harvesting the full potentials of the information; (2) companies lack the required competencies to work with Big Data strategically; and (3) one of the proposed solutions from the respondents was surprisingly a desire to share their data with the competitors thereby gaining a competitive leverage. Concluding on the above we suggest further areas for potential research: clarification of relevant competencies when working with Big Data, furthering collaboration between tourism companies to maximise the potential of sharing, and research into the effect on COVID-19 on Big Data and strategy.