Tourism and Innovation

Tourism Management 31 (2010) 1–12

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Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Progress in Tourism Management

A review of innovation research in tourism
Anne-Mette Hjalager
University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrsvej 9-10, DK-6700 Esbjerg, Denmark

article info

abstract

Article history:
Received 27 January 2009
Accepted 31 August 2009

Over the past two decades, there has been increasing focus on the topic of innovation in tourism. This article reviews the research contributions. Various categories of innovation – product, process, managerial, marketing and institutional – are addressed. Important determinants of innovation are acknowledged, including the role of entrepreneurship, technology push and the existence of territorial industry clusters. Representation of knowledge is also identified as a critical factor for both the occurrence and nature of innovations. The review reveals that there is still only limited systematic and comparable empirical evidence of the level of innovative activities and their impacts and wider implications for destinations and national economies. An agenda for future research is emerging, suggesting that there is quest for both formal quantification and for qualitative studies of the foundations, processes, implications and policies of innovation in tourism.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Innovation
Innovation systems
Knowledge
Clusters
Policy

1. Introduction
Throughout history, tourism has been a phenomenon characterized by immense innovativeness. Books and articles have drawn attention to particularly distinctive individuals and enterprises, and their achievements have been analysed and assessed from all angles. Thomas Cook, for example, broke with the conventional thinking of his time and created – in congruence with the emerging rail infrastructure – a comprehensive concept that included the

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