Tourism and Innovation

This ground-breaking volume on the relationships between tourism and innovation provides an overview of relevant innovation theories and related literatures on entrepreneurship, productivity, regional development and competitiveness, and their significance to contemporary tourism practices.

Innovation is a key concept in business and entrepreneurial studies and the broader social sciences. Yet, despite its policy and academic importance, historically little attention has been given to the role of innovation in tourism and the corresponding contribution of tourism-related human mobility to regional, firm, and product innovation. This book emphasises that innovation in tourism is much more than a series of technological innovations, as important as they are, and instead needs to be understood in an economic, social, and political context, with particular stress being placed on the extent to which innovations are shaped by the framework of governance and regulation, as well as by institutional factors and activities of individual actors and entrepreneurs.

It is structured so as to introduce the reader to the overall significance of innovation at various levels and the role that innovation plays in firm and place competition. Supported with case studies throughout, this book is essential reading for all tourism students.

C. Michael Hall is Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Docent in Geography, University of Oulu, Finland; Visiting Professor, Linnaeus University, Kalmar; and Guest Professor, Lund University, Sweden. He has published widely on tourism, regional development, global environmental change, sustainability, food, and World Heritage.

Allan M. Williams obtained his PhD from the London School of Economics, and held posts at the Universities of Durham, Exeter, and London Metropolitan before taking up his current position as Professor of Tourism and Mobility Studies at the University of Surrey. His central research interest is the relationship between mobility and economic development, especially relating to innovation, productivity, knowledge, and risk.