Innovativeness of Tourism Enterprises: Example of Poland

Abstract

The main aim of this article was to define the innovativeness of the tourism sector in cross-industry terms. The specific objectives were to identify categories of innovations implemented by tourism enterprises with division by industry branches, and to identify the differences and similarities of the innovations implemented by tourism enterprises in terms of the industry in which they operate. A conceptual framework, based on existing literature, was developed to analyze the innovation process. The research was carried out using the method of a diagnostic survey with interview elements, according to a structured research questionnaire using the telephone interview technique. The results show that tourism enterprises are characterized by average and low innovativeness. From the point of view of assessing the impact of innovation on market behavior in the tourism sector, there are no so-called disruptive innovations, which could have a decisive impact on market changes and replace the existing and constantly improved products, services, and processes. There are sustaining innovations that improve the functioning of companies, which do not affect the market changes, but do compete with the existing solutions on existing terms. However, incremental and adaptive innovations constitute an important part of innovation; this process proves the development of tourism companies and has an impact on the improvement of the situation of the entire economy.

Hospitality and tourism innovation: a systematic literature review

“…Innovation is referred to a new or improved product or service (or a combination thereof) that emerges as a result of applying knowledge as a basis for novelty, usefulness, or value, that has been adopted by the company (Panfiluk, 2021). Besides, tourism is defined as a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon characterized by the movement of people to countries or places other than their usual environment for personal or business/professional reasons.…”

Drivers and Barriers for a Circular Economy (CE) Implementation in Poland—A Case Study of Raw Materials Recovery Sector

“…It is also more and more involved in international collaboration, e.g., by participation in research and development projects (R&D) in the field of new technologies of raw material recovery and waste management (under European Institute of Innovation & Technology; EIT Raw Materials). The raw materials recovery sector has had a significant impact on the innovation (including eco-innovations) [61,62] and competitiveness of the national economy through the development and implementation of innovative technologies for waste management [63][64][65] and recovery of raw materials [66,67]. A growing level of processing of secondary raw materials with the use of more and more innovative processing technologies has been observed [68], which could contribute to the improvement of the level of innovation in the Polish economy [69], although the existing processing capacity of the infrastructure in this scope should be assessed as insufficient.…”

Modelo de capacidades de absorción enfocado a la innovación en empresas turísticas postCOVID19

“…• los criterios de medición convencionales no son del todo válidos para los servicios y menos en la actividad turística (De Lacerda et al, 2021) • la estacionalidad, lo que hace también estacional el criterio de validación de la innovación (Coria et al, 2021;Pai, Kang, Liu, y Zheng, 2021) • las dificultades en la asimilación, y sobre todo en la etapa de capacidad de absorción alcanzada, donde las empresas alcanzan bajos niveles de desempeño (Rodriguez, Baron, y Martinez, 2020;Panfiluk, 2021), • el déficit formativo para la generación de productos cada vez más pertinentes y competitivos (Navarro Celis et al, 2020; Barna y Biletska, 2021) • ausencia de políticas y estructuras de I+D, limitando la inversión en innovación, lo que provoca que se asimilen innovaciones que no corresponden con las condiciones específicas del sector (Navarro Celis et al, 2020).…”

“…• Problemas de diseño estratégico (Campbell, 2009;Liu, 2013;Navarro Celis, Almaguer Covarrubias, Velazco Fausto, y Hernández Rocha, 2020), • Deficiencias en la calidad del servicio (Machado Léo y Tello-Gamarra, 2017;Mantuano et al, 2019) • Limitado enfoque al cliente (Barna y Biletska, 2021;Panfiluk, 2021) • Deficientes propuestas de valor (John, 2012;Bezerra, González Benito, y Lannelongue Nieto, 2020;Seyitoglu y Ivanov, 2020) Las empresas del sector turístico, de las más afectadas por la crisis provocada por la COVID-19, desarrollan cambios radicales en sus prácticas habituales en busca de ingresos. Las capacidades de absorción, como principal mecanismo de aprendizaje, enfrentan ahora la falta de experiencias positivas de las que aprender a rescatar un turismo en tiempos de pandemia, cediendo terreno a la incertidumbre de soluciones arriesgadas.…”