Fonte: ROTUR. Revista de Ocio y Turismo; Vol. 1 No. 1 (2008); 65-86
Palavras-chave:
Resumo: Within a global framework of increasing economic weight of the tourism industry, the data show that the evolution of the tourism industry in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi follows a path of sustained growth, which, nevertheless, is marked by a progressive change in the structure of demand and by an increasingly competitive environment. Adaptation of the system to this new reality and, consequently, to the new needs, is a major challenge from the standpoint of tourism management and requires improving the competitiveness of Basque tourism. On the other hand, the major role of innovation in a country’s different economic processes and improved competitiveness is irrefutable and, furthermore, there is evidence that innovation is the dominant factor in international competitiveness and, therefore, in national economic growth. Ultimately, in the new competitive environment in which world tourism activity takes place, it seems that the adoption and strategic use of ICT may help companies to improve their efficiency and become more competitive, essentially through the channels opened by innovative dynamism. In this study, we analyse this Basque reality in order to better understand how the Basque tourism industry is located within this new competitive environment; that is, to better understand how the strategic adoption of innovation and ICT is being carried out, while also attempting to identify the main barriers to the adoption of innovation, which irrefutably affect the competitiveness of the Basque tourism industry.
