Innovative Approaches for the Digitalization of Tourism Businesses

Over the last few decades, tourism has changed profoundly, and at the same time, both the types of travel and the profiles of travelers have changed. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was one of the sectors that paid the highest price in economic terms, not only in the lockdown period but also in the following months in which, in correspondence with the first reopening, consumers associated a high perception of risk to travel, many giving up planning their own departures. The entire supply chain of the tourism industry has been affected, from the hoteliers of the largest and most renowned structures to small Bed & Breakfasts, from guest houses to hostels, from restaurateurs to suppliers, and from operators to tour guides and museums. This work aims to investigate new dimensions of post-COVID-19 tourism by including some innovation factors, such as the alternatives offered by smart working to tourists and to the citizens of large cities in which many hotels are placed. The research work highlights how the digitalization of tourism services has thus far changed the information-decision-making process that leads to the choice of travel, its experiential and post-experiential phases, and how in the new post-pandemic normal, it can change the way of living the vacation, traveling, and ancillary services connected to them.