Big data in tourism. A look at the literature

In the era of digitalization and of Industry 4.0, the rise and development of big data represents a strong opportunity for decision makers. This constitutes a remarkable opportunity also for service firms, especially in the fields strongly driven by the market. In recent years, scholars grasped the importance of the phenomenon and begun to wonder what functions could be performed by big data, and how firms and destinations could benefit from them. This paper aims at making order in the scientific production on big data in tourism, identifying the main topics characterizing these studies, in order also to understand their actual weight and their evolutionary trends. In order to reconstruct literature on the topic, we used the Scopus database, and focused on journals ranked “A” in the Italian ANVUR list of management journals. We looked for the following words in the title, abstract and keywords: “big data” and “tourism”. The research led us to identify 46 papers. After an appropriate skimming, we performed a qualitative analysis of the papers, which allowed us to intercept the most relevant functions of big data and the trajectories characterizing the evolution of the studies. The results confirm the newness of the topic and highlight a growing interest of scholars around it. Moreover, its spread on an increasing number of journals testifies a now generalized acceptance by scholars. We identified some main functions performed by big data and we analyzed them in depth. The analysis of big data is considered a tool for forecasting demand, providing preconditions for its management. Big data are also considered a tool to create value as well as the image of firms and destinations based on user choices and experience. In addition to these, other functions can be found which especially emphasize the spatial dimension often with a technical point of view. In this way, we offer scholars the opportunity of better understanding and interpreting the topic, emphasizing the real dimension of the phenomenon and the articulation of the literature. Practitioners can also benefit from this paper, understanding the real opportunities offered by big data and the ways in which they can exploit them.