In recent days, the tourism supply chain has been hardly impacted by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is present worldwide since February 2020. The spread of the virus has hit almost all the industries, and the tourism has not been excluded, instead it is one of the most affected by this crisis. This situation has led the tourism players to find an obstacle in running their business in the traditional way, changing the balance among their relationships. The aim of the research is to analyse the tourism distribution chain, considering the state of the art and its evolution also due to COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the changes of tourism players’ business model. In order to analyse these topics, first of all a literature review was carried out, with the aim of examining how the whole tourism supply chain was before the pandemic, and also highlighting what were the most discussed trends and the issues. After this detailed analysis, 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted, over a two months period between September and November 2020, with the aim of understanding how the players are reacting to the crisis, and what are their strategies in order to survive and continue their businesses. The results of this work firstly show a detailed representation of the leisure tourism supply chain, describing all the players involved and focusing mainly on accommodation facilities, ground transportation, air transportation and tour operators’ points of view. At a later time, the study shifts its focus to the post COVID-19 situation, considering first which new customers’ needs have arisen and consequently, how the offer is changing. Furthermore, the trends emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic are highlighted, finding in last-minute trend the most spread. Since the crisis started, most companies have been forced to stop their usual businesses. They exploit this period to accelerate the innovations and think about new ways to reinvent themselves. Distribution channels were heavily impacted, mainly for accommodation facilities, which have seen a growth in the demand on their direct channels, both traditional and online. This was not reflected in a disintermediation, rather intermediaries are still considered fundamental in the distribution chain, especially after the pandemic, thanks to new customers’ needs for higher guarantees during their bookings. Tour operators are the tourism distributors who have suffered the most because they mainly sell long haul packages. Moreover, despite the serious suffered losses and the resulting unnecessary costs’ cut, investments in technological innovations are now considered more fundamental than ever by almost all the players. Finally, it is important to consider some limitations, since the focus was on the leisure Italian market and the analysed tourism supply chain does not include all the players. Moreover, considering the actual dynamic situation and the current presence of COVID-19, that is changing the world day-by-day, a future analysis to verify if the results of this study are still valid is recommended.
Attualmente, la filiera turistica è stata duramente colpita dall'avvento della pandemia COVID-19, presente in tutto il mondo da Febbraio 2020. La diffusione del virus ha colpito quasi tutti i settori, e il turismo non solo non è stato escluso, ma anzi è uno dei più colpiti da questa crisi. Questo ha portato gli attori del turismo a dover affrontare un grosso ostacolo per poter continuare a condurre la propria attività in modo consueto, modificando gli equilibri nelle loro relazioni. Lo scopo di questo studio è analizzare la filiera del turismo, considerando lo stato dell'arte e la sua evoluzione anche a causa della pandemia COVID-19, concentrandosi sui cambiamenti del modello di business dei diversi attori coinvolti. Per analizzare questi temi è stata effettuata dapprima una revisione della letteratura, con l'obiettivo di esaminare l'intera filiera della distribuzione turistica prima della pandemia, e anche quali sono stati i trend e le tematiche più discusse. Dopo questa approfondita analisi, sono state condotte 37 interviste semi-strutturate, nell'arco di due mesi, tra Settembre e Novembre 2020, con l'obiettivo di comprendere come i players stanno reagendo alla crisi e quali sono le loro strategie per sopravvivere e continuare la loro attività. I risultati di questo lavoro mostrano in primo luogo una rappresentazione dettagliata della filiera del turismo leisure, descrivendo tutti gli attori coinvolti e concentrandosi principalmente sul punto di vista delle strutture ricettive, del trasporto di terra, aereo e dei tour operator. In un secondo momento, si sposta la sua attenzione sulla situazione post COVID-19, considerando dapprima quali sono le nuove esigenze dei clienti e di conseguenza, come sta cambiando l'offerta. Si evidenziano inoltre i trends emersi a causa della pandemia, riscontrando il last-minute come quello più diffuso. Dall'inizio della crisi, la maggior parte delle aziende è stata costretta a interrompere la propria attività abituale; gli attori stanno quindi sfruttando questo periodo per accelerare le innovazioni e pensare a nuovi modi per potersi reinventare. Fortemente impattati sono stati i canali distributivi, principalmente per le strutture ricettive, che hanno visto crescere la domanda sui propri canali diretti, sia tradizionali che online. Ciò non si è riflesso in una disintermediazione, anzi gli intermediari sono ancora considerati fondamentali nella catena di distribuzione, soprattutto in seguito alle nuove esigenze dei clienti nate in seguito alla pandemia, come la necessità di maggiori garanzie per le loro prenotazioni. I tour operator sono i distributori turistici che hanno sofferto di più, vendono principalmente pacchetti a lungo raggio. In conclusione, nonostante le gravi perdite subite e il conseguente taglio di costi, gli investimenti in innovazioni tecnologiche sono considerati da tutti gli attori più che mai fondamentali. Infine, è importante considerare alcune limitazioni della ricerca, poiché il focus è sul mercato italiano del turismo leisure, e la filiera turistica analizzata non ha incluso tutti gli attori. Inoltre, considerando la situazione dinamica attuale e la continua presenza del COVID-19, che sta cambiando il mondo giorno per giorno, si consiglia un'analisi futura per verificare se i risultati di questo studio siano ancora validi.
Travel distribution system : an empirical analysis of the pre and post COVID-19 situation
RIZZI, CARLOTTA PAOLINA;Ziliani, Sara
2019/2020
Abstract
In recent days, the tourism supply chain has been hardly impacted by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is present worldwide since February 2020. The spread of the virus has hit almost all the industries, and the tourism has not been excluded, instead it is one of the most affected by this crisis. This situation has led the tourism players to find an obstacle in running their business in the traditional way, changing the balance among their relationships. The aim of the research is to analyse the tourism distribution chain, considering the state of the art and its evolution also due to COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the changes of tourism players’ business model. In order to analyse these topics, first of all a literature review was carried out, with the aim of examining how the whole tourism supply chain was before the pandemic, and also highlighting what were the most discussed trends and the issues. After this detailed analysis, 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted, over a two months period between September and November 2020, with the aim of understanding how the players are reacting to the crisis, and what are their strategies in order to survive and continue their businesses. The results of this work firstly show a detailed representation of the leisure tourism supply chain, describing all the players involved and focusing mainly on accommodation facilities, ground transportation, air transportation and tour operators’ points of view. At a later time, the study shifts its focus to the post COVID-19 situation, considering first which new customers’ needs have arisen and consequently, how the offer is changing. Furthermore, the trends emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic are highlighted, finding in last-minute trend the most spread. Since the crisis started, most companies have been forced to stop their usual businesses. They exploit this period to accelerate the innovations and think about new ways to reinvent themselves. Distribution channels were heavily impacted, mainly for accommodation facilities, which have seen a growth in the demand on their direct channels, both traditional and online. This was not reflected in a disintermediation, rather intermediaries are still considered fundamental in the distribution chain, especially after the pandemic, thanks to new customers’ needs for higher guarantees during their bookings. Tour operators are the tourism distributors who have suffered the most because they mainly sell long haul packages. Moreover, despite the serious suffered losses and the resulting unnecessary costs’ cut, investments in technological innovations are now considered more fundamental than ever by almost all the players. Finally, it is important to consider some limitations, since the focus was on the leisure Italian market and the analysed tourism supply chain does not include all the players. Moreover, considering the actual dynamic situation and the current presence of COVID-19, that is changing the world day-by-day, a future analysis to verify if the results of this study are still valid is recommended.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2020_12_Rizzi_Ziliani.pdf
Open Access dal 01/12/2021
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/175438