Innovativeness of Tourism Enterprises: Example of Poland

Abstract

The main aim of this article was to define the innovativeness of the tourism sector in cross-industry terms. The specific objectives were to identify categories of innovations implemented by tourism enterprises with division by industry branches, and to identify the differences and similarities of the innovations implemented by tourism enterprises in terms of the industry in which they operate. A conceptual framework, based on existing literature, was developed to analyze the innovation process. The research was carried out using the method of a diagnostic survey with interview elements, according to a structured research questionnaire using the telephone interview technique. The results show that tourism enterprises are characterized by average and low innovativeness. From the point of view of assessing the impact of innovation on market behavior in the tourism sector, there are no so-called disruptive innovations, which could have a decisive impact on market changes and replace the existing and constantly improved products, services, and processes. There are sustaining innovations that improve the functioning of companies, which do not affect the market changes, but do compete with the existing solutions on existing terms. However, incremental and adaptive innovations constitute an important part of innovation; this process proves the development of tourism companies and has an impact on the improvement of the situation of the entire economy.