Tourism and Hospitality

Operational research (OR) has long been recognised as a valuable tool within the field of tourism and hospitality. As early as 1978, Swart et al. underscored the methodological significance of OR in the study of tourism problems. They also argued that tourism may serve as a “fertile field of application for Operations Research methodologies” (p. 425). With the advent of big data and the growing complexity of the tourism system over the past decade, the role of OR has become even more pronounced, and synergies between the two areas are even more fruitful.

The Tourism and Hospitality Stream welcomes abstracts and presentations employing quantitative and/or qualitative OR methods (see Petropoulos et al., 2023), focusing on tourism destinations, hospitality businesses, tourist attractions, tour operators and tourism distribution channels. Abstract and presentations can have a focus on (but ae not limited to) the following aspects:

• Forecasting tourism demand
• Predicting tourists’ behaviour and preferences
• Clustering and market segmentation of tourists
• Developing efficient routing
• Flow management
• AI and machine learning
• Assessing the environmental and social sustainability of tourism operations
• Evaluating the impact of external factors on tourism destinations, and tourism and hospitality businesses
• Smart destinations and smart accommodation
• Optimisation of spaces to enhance guest experience and operational efficiency
• Optimising resource allocation, staff scheduling, inventory management of tourism and hospitality businesses
• Pricing strategies in tourism and hospitality

Swart, W.W., Var, T. and Gearing, C.E., 1978. Operations research applications to tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 5(4), pp.414-428.

Petropoulos, F., Laporte, G., Aktas, E., Alumur, S.A., Archetti, C., Ayhan, H., Battarra, M., Bennell, J.A., Bourjolly, J.M., Boylan, J.E. and Breton, M., 2023. Operational Research: methods and applications. Journal of the Operational Research Society, pp.1-195.

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