Presentation at the first scientific conference in Social Media in Tourism in Verona 2011: Tourism can be conceived of as a space-communication nexus. Tourists move to and stay in various places and thereby participate in the production and distribution of imaginative geographies associated with the visited destinations. The tourism industry, in particular destination management organizations (DMOs), are eager to strictly control the communication about specific sights, sites and services tourists are attracted to. The emergence of Web 2.0/Social Media seriously challenges this hierarchical and unidirectional tourism related communication. But Social Media is more than a technological innovation: it is a social innovation – it changes the way people and companies interact and communicate (Amersdorffer et al. 2010). Today markets are conversations (Levine et al. 2000).

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
– IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TOURISM
INDUSTRY AND FOR SOCIETY
DANIEL AMERSDORFFER, FLORIAN BAUHUBER & JENS OELLRICH
D.AMERSDORFFER@TOURISMUSZUKUNFT.DE
F.BAUHUBER@TOURISMUSZUKUNFT.DE
J.OELLRICH@TOURISMUSZUKUNFT.DE
MANAGING DIRECTORS OF TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUTE FOR ETOURISM
23.10.2011

2. OUR BLOG
2

3. OUR TEAM
3

4. OUR CLIENTS
5

5. STARTING POINT…
 Social Web (=web2.0) is quite an old term…
“Providing content via the World Wide Web has been the killer
application of the Internet in the last few years. Linking people
will be the next killer application” (Hoschka 1998).
 Current research mostly focussed onto:
Quantitative methods / descriptive research
Common hypothesis in research: innovation is based on
technology
6 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

6. NARROW PERSPECTIVE?
 “The social web is represented by a class of web sites and
applications in which user participation is the primary driver of
value” (Gruber 2008: 4).
 Small focus on the deeper meanings of social web as an
innovation influencing society, travel behaviour and tourism
industries!
7 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

7. RELATION OF
SOCIETY, THE
INTERNET AND
THE SOCIAL WEB

8. OUR METHODOLOGY
 Literature research
 Participant observation
 Qualitative interviews
 Ethnographic studies
 Webnography
9 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

9. THREE ARCHITECTURES OF THE NEW SOCIAL
WEB
 Web 2.0 classification:
2.1 Architecture of
Contribution
2.2 Architecture of
Networking
2.3 Architecture of
Communication
10 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

10. ARCHITECTURE OF CONTRIBUTION
 Web 2.0 applications enable internet users to contribute to the
internet:
by writing articles on Blogs, Social Networks or Wikis
by uploading media, such as photos, videos or similar data on
platforms like YouTube, Picasa, FlickR
11 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

11. ARCHITECTURE OF NETWORKING
 Networking means a shift from single conversations to many-to-
many conversations on the internet
 The conversations can be joined by everybody.
 The conversations mostly take place on blogs, social media
services and social networks.
12 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

12. ARCHITECTURE OF COMMUNICATION
 Internet users are able to connect and socialize with other users
 The web as a medium of networking with other individuals
 Social networking takes place through innovative technologies,
such as new interfaces and new ways of data exchange
13 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

13. DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Key results of our research…
1. Technical innovation
2. Sociocultural innovation
3. Innovation in tourists„ behaviour
4. Innovation in tourism industries
14 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

14. 1. SOCIAL WEB AS A TECHNICAL INNOVATION
 Always in touch communication
 Low technical barriers for usage
 Broadband connections
 Low financial barriers for usage
 Related to other innovations such as:
AR
Mobile communication
15 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

15. 2. SOCIAL WEB AS A SOCIOCULTURAL
INNOVATION
 Social media leads to individualization of society
 Human values are decentrally consumed and produced
 Imaginations as a social construct build from a very broadened set
of inputs
 Traditional gatekeepers and intermediaries loose their role
16 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

16. RISE OF THE
SOCIAL WEB

17. RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
© TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUT FÜR ETOURISMUS

18. RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
© TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUT FÜR ETOURISMUS

19. RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
© TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUT FÜR ETOURISMUS

20. RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
© TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUT FÜR ETOURISMUS

21. RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
© TOURISMUSZUKUNFT – INSTITUT FÜR ETOURISMUS

22. 3. SOCIAL WEB AS AN INNOVATION CHANGING
TOURISM RELATED ONLINE BEHAVIOUR
 New ways of consuming / reproducing contents
Travelling influenced by social information, by instantly
delivered information, producing content while travelling etc.
New ways to commonly construct imaginations of tourist space
„Travelling as a process of self-broadcasting“ – already while
being on a journey
23 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

23. 4. SOCIAL WEB AS AN INNOVATION IN TOURISM
INDUSTRIES
 The quality of the product and service quality becomes transparent
and thus the tourism providers are pressured into a sweeping
structural change
 Bad products with bad services will be kicked out of the market
 Marketing and Location will be less important for the success of a
tourism company
24 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

24. 4. SOCIAL WEB AS AN INNOVATION IN TOURISM
INDUSTRIES
 Destinations loose their role as content providers and website
owners – they have to redefine their business model and strategies
 Established business models of intermediaries are going to be
killed by emerging digitalization
25 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

25. 4. SOCIAL WEB AS AN INNOVATION IN TOURISM
INDUSTRIES
 Human resources need new qualifications and must be ready to
accept need for networking and communication
 Classic marketing thinking is useless – tourism industry has to
understand the changing user behaviour of customers
26 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

26. INNOVATION
DILEMMA

27. INNOVATION IS A DISRUPTIVE PROCESS
 four reasons for the insufficient handling of the new internet
technologies and innovation:
1. the difficult prediction of non-linear development,
2. status quo-preference and separation anxiety of managers
and decision makers,
3. status-pockets within industries, in which nobody listens to
opinions from outside
4. the law of the 50 year old men whereby short-term bonuses
are more important than strategically effective decisions.
28 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

28. FURTHER RESEARCH QUESTIONS & TASKS
 Indentify future business models of tour operators and
intermediaries…
 Understand the customers„ behaviour and decision making
systems
 Develop new methods and adapt existing methodologies to
understand what happens in the social web
29 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

29. Thanks a lot.
C U ON FACEBOOK?
www.facebook.com/tourismuszukunft
30 © Tourismuszukunft – Institut für eTourismus

30. FLORIAN BAUHUBER
Tel.: +49 8421 70743-16
Fax: +49 8421 70743-25
Mobil: +49 160 99189560
Email:
f.bauhuber@tourismuszukunft.de
www.tourismuszukunft.de
http://www.facebook.com/
Tourismuszukunft
31

31. TOURISMUSZUKUNFT
MARKTFORSCHUNG GMBH & CO. KG
www.facebook.com/Tourismuszukunft – www.tourismuszukunft.de
Kardinal-Preysing-Platz 14 – 85072 Eichstätt
Tel: +49 8421 70743-0
Fax: +49 8421 70743-25