Opportunities to minimise the risks of innovation tourism

Abstract

The innovation journey of tourism entrepreneurs: evidence from Spain and the UK and policy implications-INNOVATE is a research project that aims to deepen understanding of the different stages of the innovation journey followed by entrepreneurs in tourism to contribute to the design of more effective innovation policies. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement Nº 700893.This 2 year project included an analysis of the innovation pathways of 70 entrepreneurs (both successful and unsuccessful). Critical factors for success or failure were identified from the innovators’ narratives and were discussed with policymakers in Spain. The results of this discussion was the co-production of an online survey allowing the potential policy measures and issues to be discussed with a wider sample of innovative entrepreneurs. The survey was completed by 269 tourism innovators both in Spain and the UK. The policy recommendations included in this report are informed by the views of all the participants at different methodological stages.