The Tourism Industry Amid Global Crises: Exploring the Role of Sustainability and Innovation

Identifier:  TDX:4545

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4545

Authors:  Yang, Luqi

Abstract:
This doctoral thesis focuses on tourism recovery, sustainability and future development under the influence of global industry crisis. Part I provides the introduction. Part II introduces the conceptual framework of three published theoretical papers. The first paper focuses on bibliometric studies of tourism and COVID-19 topics. The current state of the art reveals interdisciplinary research interests on crisis management, tourism sustainability and stakeholder collaborations. It also identifies underexplored topics on the social, environmental, cultural and governance dimensions of sustainable tourism and stresses the function of technology and innovation in helping sustainable governance and protocols. The second paper focuses on the thematic analysis of tourism sustainability and COVID-19 and highlights new growth potentials in high technologies utilization, strategic planning and management. The third paper focuses on the thematic analysis of China’s tourism recovery and resilience strategies. Measures related to tourism industrial reemployment, digitalization, nature, cultural heritages and dark tourism became important factors in the future development of China’s tourism. Part III introduces two empirical studies, with the fourth paper – panel data analysis upon cross-sectional sustainable performances of tourism and hospitality companies, in discovering their relationships with corporate financial performances when moderated by global industrial crises. It contributes to advancing our comprehension of the determinants influencing sustainability in the hospitality sector, with a nuanced understanding of how global industrial crises moderate these dynamics. The fifth paper was an empirical study on tourism sustainability and innovation – in finding the relationships between environmental innovation and tourism sustainable performances, financial performances, and how the relationships would be influenced under the global crisis lens. It has highlighted environmental innovation as a potential worthy investment and green transition opportunity, in dealing with global climate change, innovative capabilities in environmental management, and fulfillment of stakeholder social commitment. Part IV demonstrates the conclusions, implications, limitations and future research.