Industry 4.0 technologies in tourism education: Nurturing students to think with technology

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2020.100275Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A lab course on techniques, issues and methods related to the I4.0 framework has been provided to Tourism Science students.

  • The course allowed students to get conceptual and practical skills related to Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics.

  • Students applied Bigdata analytics techniques to analyse tourists’ behaviour and their favourite locations.

  • Students developed a communication system, using the collected data and Design Thinking approach.

  • A questionnaire has then been administered to understand students’ evaluation of the lab course.

Abstract

The Industry 4.0 revolution is bringing major transformations in the tourism systems design suitable for technologically oriented consumers. Indeed, methods and technologies introduced by Big Data, Automation, Virtual and augmented reality, Robotics and ICT well fit with the Tourism 4.0 paradigm. However, tourism students are not yet trained on techniques, issues and methods related to the Industry 4.0 framework.

Hence, relying on a careful examination of the literature on tourism market trends linked to the offer of innovative technological services, we identified conceptual, methodological, technological and practical skills to be developed in an academic curriculum for Tourism Science students. Learning path were focused on: i) processes of data acquisition from social media, ii) data analysis using Machine Learning techniques and iii) data design into significant elements useful to implement communication systems in the tourism field.

Results

showed that the most of participants achieved a medium-high evaluation for the implementation of the communication systems, applying appropriately techniques and tools learned along the course. Furthermore, the high percentage of students satisfaction registered in relation to the course, revealed that students enjoyed this experience. Outcomes reflects the acquisition and the awareness of those skills that will enable students to be conscious protagonists of their role in tourism 4.0.

Introduction

The evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and its integration in the manufacturing sector is changing the traditional industries, transforming the way in which goods are produced, developed and consumed, thus stimulating the development of new business models, services and behaviour in tourism field. Digitalization, automation, and human-like cognitive technologies are transforming the world we live in. The framework of the fourth industrial revolution, commonly called Industry 4.0 (I4.0), is growing at an impressive rate, producing unprecedented industrial scenarios in all over the world (Popkova, Ragulina, Bogoviz, 2019). First mentioned in 2011 at the Hannover International Fair (Kagermann, Lukas, & Wahlster, 2011; Pfeiffer, 2015), the term I4.0 identifies the use of Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) for production. In particular, the main objective is to optimize value chains through the implementation of controlled and dynamic autonomous production. Nine industrial pillars characterize I4.0: Internet of Things, Big Data and Analytics, Cloud, Simulation, Additive Production, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Systems, IT Security and Horizontal and Vertical System Integration.

Optimization of resource efficiency, eco-sustainability of the production systems, development of “smart factories” and possibility of customization of products and services are only some aspects that will improve, due to I4.0 technologies.

Furthermore, I4.0 allows new forms of interaction between humans, machines and software systems the so called Industrial Internet of Things, Services and People - IoTSP - (Bertacchini, Bilotta, & Pantano, 2017)(ABB, 2016). Recently, a lively debate concerns how CPS will change the work in the coming years (Dregger, Niehaus, Ittermann, Hirsch-Kreinsen, & ten Hompel, 2018). The integration will have effects on the planning, execution and maintenance of the working activity, considering the man at the centre of the system (Rauch, Linder & Dallasega, 2019), thus allowing workers self-development (Kaasinen et al., 2020). Consequently, it will be necessary to re-define “the requirements for Education and Qualification of People in I4.0” (Benešová & Tupa, 2017).

In the opinion of Sony and Naik (2019), the key elements to evaluate if an organization is ready to use I4.0 are as follows: the organization strategy, the level of digitization of the organization, extent of digitization of supply chain, smart products and services, employee adaptability with I4.0, top management involvement and commitment. In this scenario, disparities will become increasingly evident, for people, products, industries and training systems and the lack of work will grow, due to the automation and the use of industrial robots. Given this technological revolution, the challenge tourism industry must face concerns how to train new generations of professionals in the use of Industry 4.0 technologies. Tourism industry can have substantial benefits from the application of the I4.0 technological pillars (Ivanov & Webster, 2017, pp. 13–14; Rüßmann et al., 2015). However, the easiness with which approaches, methods and tools that Industry 4.0 allows to apply are strictly linked to Research & Development (R&D) strategies, implemented by Companies.

It follows that the tourism field increasingly needs to take into account the final skills of its employees in order to keep pace with the technological services currently in demand and available on the market. In order to prove that this can be done, we have carried out a teaching experimentation with the aim of providing knowledge, skills and tools on some of the key technologies of the I4.0, working with university students that attended the course of Tourism Science at the University of Calabria. In this way, it has been possible to think how to reformulate some tourism employees activities, with specific functions and skills related to consumer behaviour analysis. Hence, we introduced this changes in the academic course of General Psychology for Tourism students. The article is organized as follows. After the introduction, section 2 presents the reviewed literature, together with the analytical framework of this paper. Section 3 describes the adopted methodology, detailing the course contents, the method used to evaluate the final project and the student satisfaction questionnaire. Section 4 outlines results, discussing them in section 5 within some conclusions. Section 6 concludes the paper, highlighting limitations and further work.

Section snippets

Challenges for the tourism field

The actual processing of Big Data into useful information is the key to sustainable innovation within Industry 4.0. Many researches discuss the technical aspects of Industry 4.0, but they do not pay attention to managerial approaches and organizational culture that can significantly affect many aspects of the working experience, thus influencing the successful implementation of this model in industrial settings. In today's competitive business environment, companies are facing challenges in

Methodology

The methodological approach presented in this section takes advantages from the constructivist approach to learning that suggests a full and active involvement of students in the learning context. According to Ackermann (2001), the learner constructs meanings through direct experience, handling tools capable to stimulate thinking, learning and new knowledge acquisition. Hence, to plan a specific training able to meet to tourism students requirements, we first analysed the nine technological

Final project results

During the course the students worked to the assigned project, planning, designing and developing a communication system aimed at promoting a Calabrian location. Focusing their attention on the services offered by the location or on the landscape attractiveness or on the historical cultural heritage, they had to follow guidelines, methodologies and approach presented to the students during the course.

Working in groups of two, students designed and implemented fifteen communication systems

Discussion and conclusions

The aim of this study is to develop a Tourism 4.0 Curriculum for Tourism Sciences students, at the University of Calabria. As researchers previously established in tourism field (Giglio, Bertacchini, Bilotta, & Pantano, 2019a; Giglio et al., 2019b) and with a proven track record in the field of educational technologies ((Bertacchini, Bilotta, Gabriele, Pietro, & Tavernise, 2013)Cárdenas et al., 2016; Gabriele et al., 2019; Gabriele, Marocco, Bertacchini, Pantano, & Bilotta, 2017; Giglio et al.,

Limitations and future work

Nevertheless, even if empirical and still not experimental, this research should provide teachers, educators and policy makers with clear and immediately applicable indications on the effectiveness of the adopted approach, of educational techniques and programs of renewal of education systems. In other words, it will provide us with suggestions on “what works”, “under what circumstances”, “within which context”, “through which type technologies”, “what skills will be developed in the students”?

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Eleonora Bilotta: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Francesca Bertacchini: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Lorella Gabriele: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Simona Giglio: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Pietro Salvatore Pantano: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Tullio Romita: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing.

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