Digital transformation in tourism: An examination of hotel managers perspectives

The aim of this study is to determine the perspectives of hotel managers on digital transformation in the tourism sector and to evaluate what activities hotel businesses carry out with digital transformation in accordance with the views of the participants. In this context, qualitative research method was used in the research and data was obtained using semi-structured interview technique. In the first part of the interview form organized within the scope of qualitative research, 11 interview questions were created, and in the Second Part A Information Form was created about applications that can be used in Hotel Enterprises. A sample of the study asked 18 hotel managers in the middle, upper and luxury segment on the interview form. Descriptive analysis method was used to analyze the data obtained from the participants as a result of the interview. As a result of the research, the managers views were that digital will make significant contributions to the tourism sector and offer new alternatives and should be considered in terms of supporting the tourism sector. They stated that there will be difficulties in transferring innovation, especially to staff and customers, during the transition to digital transformation. At the same time, participants noted that they followed robot and artificial intelligence practices but did not ignore significant threat elements such as cost increase, information theft and cyber attack. Within the scope of these ideas, proposals have been made that the information technologies that can be applied in digital tourism can be done in cooperation with experts in the field of Tourism and engineering, and that various studies can be done in the field of digital tourism by bringing together academics and managers. Keywords: Digital, Digital Transformation, Digital Tourism