innovation development in regional tourism enterprises zbigniew zontek univerity of bielsko-biala,...

INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT IN REGIONAL TOURISM ENTERPRISES

Zbigniew ZontekUniverity of Bielsko-Biala, Poland

ToSEE - Tourism in South East Europe 3rd International Scientific Conference Sustainable Tourism, Economic Development and Quality of LifeUniversity of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija


The core of the innovation is putting the novelty into a practice, which comes down to the offering of a new product or service on the market. Or, in relation to a new process, organization or marketing methods, to their usage in the current activity of a business. (Oslo Manual)

Innovation can be analysed from two points of view:• narrow - Innovation strictly refers to a deep change in production methods and

products, based on new, unused knowledge, and/or the first trade introduction (application) of a new product, service, process or equipment

• broad (sensu largo), corresponds to change in an organization's activity, and that means the assimilation of existed knowledge (diffusion of innovation)



There are several main types of innovation in tourism:

• product innovations - result is the rise of innovative products (tourism services),

• managerial and procedural innovations, improving of the processes of tourism services, new models of management in tourism companies and entities,

• information innovations – used in the new promotional channels, new information system within tourism region,

• institutional innovations – new forms of support of tourismm enterprises, new form of co-operation (clusters);• other forms of innovation (logistics, ecological, cultural, etc.) (A.-M. Hjalager, „A Review of Innovation Research in Tourism”, Tourism Management No. 3, 2010).



Sources of innovation can be divided into two main groups:

Internal sources (endogenous) – the origin of sources is in an organization, innovations can be a result of the research and internal knowledge.

External sources (exogenous) – sources of innovation come from the environment (e.g.: demographic factors, changes in customers perception, new standards, values, knowledge).



This primary research was conducted from November 2012 to February 2013. The winter period creates increased tourism activity in the region studied.

The area of the research was a mountain area, situated within the administrative boundaries of the Silesia Province. In other studies the area is called: the Southern Sub-region of the Silesia Province or Bielsko Sub-region.

There are concentrations of tourism enterprises and other organizations which provide tourism services, that have had an impact on the choice of the region of research.



The results are the author's own empirical research, conducted through a survey questionnaire.

The study was conducted on a random sample of tourism enterprises and entities. The representative research was based on tele - address lists, from which units were randomly selected for the research.

191 tourism subjects were involved in the survey, which represented 29.4% of the population. In the course of this research, 121 well completed questionnaires were received, that was 63.4% of the research sample.

62.8% of the researched subjects implemented innovations in the period of 3 years before the research study.



The aim of the study was to identify: - sources of innovation, - effects of the implemented innovative solutions, - directions of innovation development,- Barriers to innovation .

Research hypothesis: The possibility of creating innovation in tourism, and its implementation, is dependent on the internal preferences of companies and external factors. The relative strength of the impact of these factors varies.


Sources of innovation in researched tourism enterprises %Customers' comments, suggestions 86.8%Willingness to take advantage of external funds 68.4%Observing other domestic tourism enterprises 55.3%Cooperation with institutions supporting the raising of funds 48.7%Observing foreign tourism enterprises 39.5%Information available in scientific and sectorial studies 38.2%Comments received from inhabitants of the region 35.5%Efficient human resources management 31.6%Participation in conferences, professional meetings, fairs 31.6%Cooperation with business partners with a similar business profile 27.6%Cooperation in the local area network (clusters) 22.4%Acquisition of patents, licenses, including leasing, franchising 22.4%Cooperation with local and regional public or non-governmental institutions

21.1%

Showing best practices by tourism entities 13.2%Cooperation with the science sector 11.8%Other sources of innovation 2.6%

Effects of implemented innovations

growth of customer satisfaction

increase of opportunities for development

streamlining of labour

standing out from the competitors

increase in selling services

access to new markets

complex improvement of functioning.

growth of human resources involvement

access to international sales network

growth of the prices of services

reducing prices for services

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

94.7%

86.8%

68.4%

65.8%

64.5%

53.9%

39.5%

36.8%

35.5%

18.4%

9.2%

3.9%

13.2%

31.6%

34.2%

34.2%

30.3%

60.5%

63.2%

50.0%

80.3%

89.5%

1.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1.3%

15.8%

0.0%

0.0%

14.5%

1.3%

1.3%

Not applicable

No

Yes


9.1%

13.2%

48.8%

11.6%

8.3%

6.6%

lack of discerning benefits from in-troducing innovations

fear that other enterpriese may take advantage of my innovations

fear of financial costs of innovations

the technical barriers (limited access to new technologies, problem re-lated to the location, etc.)

lack of adequate human resources

failure in the implementation of ear-lier innovations

Internal barriers to innovation

External barriers to innovation1.7%

11.6%

23.1%

23.1%

25.6%

9.9%5.0%

lack of mechanisms for exchange of experiences

lack of cooperation with other entities of tourist services market

the mentality of entrepreneurs, which does not help the cooperation

the mentality of the representatives of local, regional, national governments, which doesn’t help the cooperation

exaggerated bureaucracy in raising funds

problems in finding investors

restrictions that resulted from environmental preservation (e.g. Nature 2000)



Conclusions:• The hypothesis established in the introduction is confirmed, subject to some

limitations.• The results show that there are many sources of innovation in tourism

enterprises, but respondents draw attention especially to the external sources.• The possibility of creating innovation in tourism is dependent on the internal pre-

dispositions of companies but managers do not fully recognize the meaning of human resources in innovation processes.

• There are many barriers to innovation. The largest of them is the fear of financial costs of innovation and the mentality that disturb cooperation processes.

Thank you for your attention!

Zbigniew ZontekUniversity of Bielsko-BialaE-mail: [email protected]

innovation development in regional tourism enterprises zbigniew zontek univerity of bielsko-biala,...

Documents

tourism management

faculty of tourism

tourism region

tourism companies

poland tosee tourism

increased tourism activity

processes of tourism

economic development