Tourism revisited : The influence of digitalisation on tourism concepts

Summary, in Swedish

Information and communication technology (ICT) is ubiquitous in tourism and this changes not only tourists’ immediate behaviour, but also what tourism is. In this way, digitalisation is shifting perceptions of when tourism starts and ends, and how we can understand the term in principal ways. The aim of this working paper is to contribute to the debate about the consequences of today´s fast digitalisation on tourism concepts. It does so by producing arguments on the concepts of the (extra)ordinariness of tourism, travel information search, social media, tourist behaviour, tourist experiences, and the definition of tourism. In this way, the paper is based on observations from a wide range of perspectives. It also entails a short empirical study on digitalisation within regional destination organisations. In conclusion, the paper argues that we see a distinct conceptual shift away from parallel perceptions of everyday and tourism. Digitalisation is one major driver of this shift, as it is blurring the lines between dichotomies such as home and destination, everyday and holiday. The paper ends with comments on the importance of these insights for research, society, and industry, as well as for the transfer of knowledge between these areas.