Digitalization: An alternative method of tourism in order to reduce transportation

Abstract

This thesis deals with the topic of digitalization within the tourism sector. The main focus was on researching if a digitized approach had the possibility to satisfy travellers while reducing physical traveling. The importance of finding alternative ways of traveling stems from the unsustainable increase of emissions that traveling entails. The tourism industry accounts for 22% of transport emissions, something that is predicted to increase by 25% until 2030 and will account in the future for 21% of transport emissions. In addition, tourism plays a crucial economic role in many countries as its economic growth comes from the tourism industry. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has provided the chance to reshape the industry and provide a more responsible and sustainable future. With the help of an empirical study conducted in Sweden, we found that a digitized approach of traveling could work as an alternative but there were barriers such as the need for travellers to experiencing everything in real life rather than through a technological application and stakeholders operating within the sector wanting to take advantage of the cash flow that tourism entails. Furthermore, through an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) we 1 identified and ranked which types of tourism that are most ready for a digitized approach of tourism from the perspective of Sweden and found that the business type of tourism distinctly was the most ready type. The research is designed with literature review and interviews to conduct both qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data were to examine the readiness of the different types of tourism, whereas the qualitative data were gathered to get a better insight into tourism and find the commons and differences gathered from the literature. The quantitative data were analyzed with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) system. The findings showed that people have embraced digital and virtual forms of tourism and with the help of experts we identified three types of tourism that are more ready to turn into digitalization (business, cultural, sports). Furthermore, Sweden is ready to adopt such an alternative way of traveling from a technological perspective. 2