The use of data-driven technologies in tourism marketing

Abstract

Smart technologies are shifting how tourism and hospitality businesses capture, analyse and distribute data from the individual users’ online activity. This contribution critically reviews the latest developments on big data analytics and programmatic advertising. Moreover, the research also sheds light on the use of blockchain’s distributed ledger technology as it can be used to facilitate secure, verified transactions among marketplace stakeholders. The findings suggest that tourism service providers are increasingly utilising tracking, geolocation technologies as well as programmatic advertising tools to target and re-target individuals online. However, individuals and organisations are becoming increasingly aware of data protection issues, and they often block marketers from tracking them, and serving them ads. In conclusion, this research implies that data-driven technologies facilitate the businesses’ customer-centric marketing.