ABSTRACT
Innovation has been surprisingly neglected in tourism research given that it is pervasive in both the small and dramatic changes that characterise the evolution of the sector. The first major challenge for researchers is the definition of innovation, and three main approaches can be recognised based on degree of newness, focus, and characteristics. The distinctions between radical versus incremental innovations are particularly important, as are those between product, process, management, institutional and marketing innovations. Although research in this area is limited, it has identified four main features of tourism innovation, which are shared with the broader service sector: the co-terminality of production and consumption, information intensity and IT, quality of experience and the role of human resources, and organisational changes. Additionally, tourism innovation is shaped by a number of distinctive characteristics of the sector: the complex nature of the total tourism experience, the challenges of the temporality and spatiality of demand and production, the embeddedness of tourism in wider communities, as well as in the natural environment. Finally, the main drivers of innovation are identified.
