Social computing in travel, tourism and hospitality

Recent advances and applications in social software, Web 2.0, open source and social network analysis are giving rise to what is widely referred nowadays as social computing. Social computing supports any sort of social behaviour in or through computational information systems, such as blogs, wikis and social bookmarking. In a stronger sense, social computing has to do with supporting ‘‘computations’’ that are carried out of people such as collaborative filtering, prediction markets, reputation systems, online auctions and tagging. Irrespective of the conceptualisation of social computing, social computing exploits software and technology for creating or recreating social conventions and social contexts. As information and social interactions are the lifeblood of the travel and tourism sectors, social computing finds a wide application in travel, tourism and hospitality sectors affecting both tourism demand and supply. Social computing applications significantly influence travellers’ behaviour, perceptions and experiences at tourism destinations. Similarly, social computing can critically enrich and informate the management decisions and processes of tourism enterprises, so that firms can become reactive rather than proactive in managing their operations and formulating their strategies. In addition, social computing transforms the ways in which the various tourism stakeholders and travellers interact and collaborate together. For example, the provision of tourism and hospitality experiences requires and entails the development of numerous social interactions and communication amongst travellers, suppliers and many other stakeholders. Social computing is used for enhancing, informating and empowering the role of each actor in such interactions as well as for facilitating and supporting remote interactions when tourists and suppliers are geographically dispersed. Overall, the wide use and implications of social computing in the travel industry are clearly evident when considering several issues such as: the impact of user-generated-content on travellers’ consumer behaviour, the role of online reputation systems for online distribution and marketing, crowdsourcing applications for new service development and crisis management in tourism. Given the wide diffusion of social computing in tourism, publications discussing its varied applications in tourism have been mushrooming during the last decade. However, further and more specific research is required in order to not only describe but also investigate in depth the critical factors and the specific issues that may influence the design, impacts and effectiveness of such applications on tourism demand and supply. The findings of such research can also provide valuable and practical guidance on how to better develop, implement and manage social applications in the tourism industry. In this vein, this special issue aimed to consolidate and publish leading-edge research investigating the role, use and implications of social computing on the behaviour and management practices