Sustainable independent tourism: the role of the information and communication technologies

¹ Management and Law Department, Labortory of Interethnic and Interconfessional Studies, Faculty of Management and Law, Volga State University of Technology, Lenin square 3, Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation
² Department of Developmental Psychology and Education, Pedagogical Institute, Mari State University, Lenin square 1, Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation
³ Department of Service and Tourism, Faculty of Social Studies, Volga State University of Technology, Lenin square 3, Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation
⁴ Department of Small and Medium Business Management, Institute of Digital Technologies, Mari State University, Lenin square 1, Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: Sutyrina.olya@yandex.ru

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the sustainable independent tourism and hospitality. Moreover, it attempts to identify emerging trends in tourism of the 21^st century. Nowadays, tourism has become more independent on large travel agencies and package tours and this transition has been caused by the development of Internet and information technologies. Most recently, the rise of the sharing economy had an array of important implications for the tourism sector with such digital platforms as Uber, Airbnb, Gett, Lyft, TripAdvisor, Expedia or Booking.com replacing the traditional ways to travel. Surely, independent tourism is not for everyone and might be restricted to small groups of people. However, it is crucial for sustainable development in tourism and hospitality sector due to the fact that it can replace massive tourism and limit the extent of overtourism in many popular destinations.