Sharing Economy and Tourism: Lights and Shadows

Sharing Economy is a new economic paradigm that has spread very fast in the last five years. Today’s economy is market-driven and is seeking new strategies and business models in order to adapt to the challenges present in the environment. The main market drivers are societal, economic and technological. The sharing economy has emerged as a powerful force, changing the traditional ways of doing business. Sharing economy has grown due to several factors: decreased importance of purchasing power, the increase of urbanization in most countries and sustainability aspects that resulted in stronger environmental regulations as well as a change in buyer’s habits and perceptions. One of the first industries impacted was transportation due to reduced private and public spending after the 2008 crisis and deficiencies in public infrastructures which resulted in changes in customer behavior. Thus different business models have appeared in mobility like carsharing, ridesharing and bikesharing. With different business models - B2C, P2P, non-profit cooperative - but pursuing the same philosophy: customers pay for the time the vehicles are used, the distance covered or a combination of the two. Another very impacted industry is tourism where sharing economy is changing destination choice, increase in travel frequency, length of stay and type of activities developed among others. Most previous research asserted that sharing economy could produce a big impact in tourism in the near future with huge economic, environmental and societal benefits. Thus, everything looks bright. However, some authors opine that not all is gold that is glittering. Sharing economy has also some undesirable impacts, threatening existing business models, reducing safety in travel, crowding cities and creating precarious by destroying safe employment. Therefore, this work is a thorough literature review that attempts to put on the table lights and shadows in order to make a critical analysis to identify the maximum possible advantages and positive impacts in society. Thus, researchers as well as practitioners will benefit from a complete overview on this new and demanding topic.