Towards a concept of innovation in tourism

Abstract

Assuming that definitions constitute the essential starting point of the methodological basis for apprehending and evaluating phenomena, this theoretical-empirical article aims to discuss the evolution of the concept of innovation in the literature and associate it with the dynamics of tourism companies, represented by the conceptions of their managers. To achieve our purpose, we first develop a conceptual framework for innovation from a literature review. Then, we define tourism and the business activities that comprise it (based on the Tourism Satellite Account-CST). In order to compare this information, we conducted 35 semi-structured interviews (recorded) with directors of tourism companies in Cidade do Natal-Brazil. The prior and subsequent monitoring of the companies took place from 2019 to 2022. The content of the interviews was transcribed and processed with the support of the Iramuteq and SPSS 25 softwares. Word clouds and frequency tables were created. We found that the concept of innovation in tourism, not unlike other sectors, is linked to the idea of renewal, significant improvements, reconfigurations (physical, relational or virtual), personal and organizational interactions, acquired, shared or imitated knowledge, isolated perceptions and strategies or together, problem solving, adding value and satisfying consumer needs (potential or real).