Innovation in tourism distribution ecosystemsthe role of intermediaries and new agents

Abstract

Tourism distribution faces new challenges characterized by the acceleration of innovation cycles, digital transformation and increasingly deep technical knowledge, which offer organizations new opportunities to expand their capabilities and be more competitive. Our goal is to achieve a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of current research approaches on innovation in tourism distribution ecosystems and offer proposals for future research. This is one of the first thematic reviews to focus on how the tourism distribution ecosystem can be comprehensively understood through the application of the 6Cs framework. The study reviews 53 selected articles obtained from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, between January 2001 and August 2023. In business ecosystems, advances in ICT have triggered radical innovations in tourism distribution with the emergence of actors with new business models. Thus, traditional agents must innovate to remain competitive. New digital players lead product innovation, while traditional intermediaries rely more on process innovation. Organizational innovation has proven necessary for both.