Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-creation have recently gained considerable attention among academics, as well as in practice, and have become intensively researched and discussed topics. Their use has already been discussed in various fields, and the body of literature on them is growing steadily. In light of the diversity of the projects and initiatives from all over the world, these phenomena would appear to have already found their way into various areas of industry and society.

The tourism industry is one of the biggest industries and its markets are largely saturated, with constantly falling profit margins on the one hand, and with rapidly changing customer needs and demands on the other. The need for change, renewal and differentiation is based on a complex combination of forces; therefore the ability to innovate has become an essential factor in companies' continuing existence.

Especially the development of the internet and its revolutionary impact on the product and process level of companies has sparked an increase in innovation literature concerning tourism. However, it seems even more surprising that to date, little or no attention has been given to the paradigm shift in innovation management from "closed" to open innovation forced by the internet, and above all by Social Media.

The book examines the concepts of Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-creation from a holistic point of view and analyzes their suitability for the tourism industry. Methods, theories and models are discussed and examined regarding their practical applicability. The book addresses the needs of academics and practitioners in the tourism industry alike, as well as managers throughout the tourism industry, introducing them to the theoretical mechanisms and principles of Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-creation with case studies and best practice examples.

Autorentext

Professor Roman Egger attended the Tourism- and Hospitality Management School in Klessheim from 1989 until 1994. He graduated in Communications Sciences and gained his Doctorate from the University of Salzburg, where he specialized in the fields of Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism. He worked at the Tourism Board of Salzburg as a marketer. Roman is Lecturer in eTourism at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and key researcher at the department of Innovation and Management in Tourism. Roman advises a number of national and international projects in the fields of Information Technologies in Tourism and counsels eTourism-development activities in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Egypt. He has written and co-edited nine books, published a number of articles in Books and Journals and is co-editor of the scientific Journal Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft. He is a Member of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT), ÖGAF and DGT and AIEST.

Igor Gula is a graduate of a Bachelor's degree program in tourism business studies of the Management Center Innsbruck and of a Master's degree program in innovation and management in tourism of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. He completed his internship in the department of Marketing New Media at the headquarters of the Casinos Austria in Vienna. Igor wrote his Bachelor thesis about the trends of the modern ICTs and their impacts on tourism, focusing on Dynamic Packaging, mTourism and Social Semantic Web. For his Master thesis he analysed the aspects of Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing in tourism and conducted a web-based ideas competition in cooperation with the Slovak Tourist Board. Igor is currently in charge of the corporate customer service at the Hotel Zeitgeist Vienna and also studies business administration at the MODUL University in Vienna.

Prof. Dr. Dominik Walcher is the Chair of Marketing and Innovation Management at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Since March 2010 is as well a Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston. Professor Walcher also teaches at numerous universities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Finland. He is an acclaimed speaker at conferences and founder of the Institute of Market and Innovation Research. His research interests are mass customization, open innovation, sustainability marketing and branding. He has published and consulted extensively.

Zusammenfassung

This ****book examines the concepts of open innovation, crowdsourcing and co-creation from a holistic point of view and analyzes them considering their suitability to the tourism industry. Methods, theories and models are discussed and examined regarding their practical applicability in tourism. The book ****illustrates the theoretical mechanisms and principles of Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Co-creation with case studies and best practices examples. In addition to the scientific target group, the book is a useful resource for managers of the entire tourism industry.

First, the book presents the theoretical fundamentals and concepts in 11 specific chapters. This basis is then enriched by three parts with case studies, focusing on information, creation and provision respectively. Finally in a concluding part the editors sum up the book and give an outlook on the implications, learnings and future perspectives of open innovation, crowdsourcing and collaborative consumption in the tourism industry.

Inhalt
Part A: Theoretical Fundamentals and Concepts.- Part B: Case Studies - Information Level.- Part C: Case Studies - Creation Level.- Part D: Case Studies - Provision Level.- Part E: Further Open Tourism Examples and Cases.