Fourth International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies

Abstract

The sharing economy has emerged as an alternative of suppliers of goods and services traditionally provided by long-established industries and driven by the development and proliferation of platforms. Since its inception, the tourism industry has presented itself as one of the sectors that has allowed it to grow more and in which the sharing economy has had a greater impact. Thus, the objective of this work is twofold. In the first place, it explains the platform economy and the role played by the sharing economy in this network of platforms that tries to dominate the tourist market. Second, it analyzes the differences in the use of the platform economy, between the generation Y, X, Baby Boomers and the total number of tourists and how these networks differ between generations. Finally, the implications for the future of the platform economy in the tourism industry are discussed. Applying the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA), with 13,243 tourists from 19 European countries, the study provides interesting recommendations for destinations with a view to better designing marketing activities across different European countries.