Tourism 4.0: Challenges in Marketing a Paradigm Shift

Since the early beginnings people have been traveling and tourism industry has been always adapting to the social and technological development. In the era of digitalization, it needs to adapt again. Around 1.3 billion persons are traveling yearly around the world. Thus, a small change in this sector has a huge impact on the whole society. We propose a new paradigm, Tourism 4.0, appearing with the quest to unlock the innovation potential in the whole tourism sector. This will be done with the help of key enabling technologies from the Industry 4.0, such as Internet of Things, Big Data, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. By establishing a collaborative ecosystem involving local inhabitants, local authority, tourists, service providers and government, we can co-create an enriched tourism experience in both the physical and the digital world. With this, we can shift from tourist-centered focus to a tourism-centered focus around the local community. Who is the consumer in this new paradigm of tourism and what is the role of marketing in a paradigm shift? The chapter will analyze the current development and present the main shifts due to it.