Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy

We are dedicated to researching, endorsing, and advocating the power of information technology and digital media in the visitor economy.

Research aims

The Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy (DIGMY) work in collaboration with leading academic, business, public and third sector partners across a broad spectrum of disciplines to provide rigorous and critical scientific foundation to deliver value to the visitor economy of tomorrow. Driven by innovation and technological advancement to create resilience and digital inclusion, we focus on four core themes:

Digital transformation in tourism, hospitality and events; including new media and consumer behaviour, new business models and disruptive innovation, transformation in business operations and performance,
Smart systems in tourism, hospitality and events, including: artificial intelligence and robotics, sensors and internet-of-things,
Technology for social good in tourism, hospitality and events, including: technology facilitating health and wellbeing, social isolation and loneliness, inclusion and accessibility,
Data science and innovative methodologies in tourism, hospitality and events; including biometric research, data analytics and pattern recognition in big data.

Covid-19 research in hospitality and tourism

Our research aims to understand the needs and requirements of businesses and travellers to be able to return to a new normality when it comes to travelling and the prosperity of businesses.

Find out more

Research projects

Can adaptive language save lives? Improving uptake of cervical screening in ethnic minority populations

Start date: November 2022

End date: March 2023

Neighbourhood natter: Facilitating local conversations to counter loneliness and social isolation

Start date: November 2022

End date: March 2023

Campaigning to Improve the Quality of Food in Women's Prisons

Principal investigator: Dr Maria Adams

Start date: October 2022

End date: February 2023

DCD/Dyspraxia knowledge exchange day

Start date: October 2022

End date: December 2022

Intergenerational Exchanges in LGBTQ+ communities

Start date: September 2022

End date: March 2023

The effects of social media bragging on employees at workplace

Principal investigator: Dr Hongbo (Daisy) Liu

Start date: September 2021

End date: September 2022

Surrey Live Commerce

Principal investigators: Dr Bora Kim, Lorna Wang, Dr Nima Heirati , Dr Yoo Ri Kim

Start date: March 2021

End date: September 2021

Delivery resource sharing and the digital food court

Principal investigators: Dr Yoo Ri Kim, Dr Anyu Liu

Start date: March 2021

End date: September 2021

Virtual experiences in arts and heritage: Facilitating engagement with virtual solutions and exploring futures for hybrid business models

Start date: March 2021

End date: November 2021

Ready2Drive

Principal investigator: Dr Nikolas Thomopoulos

Start date: February 2021

End date: January 2022

Showering smartly – Market acceptance of sustainability-led technology to reduce water, energy, carbon emissions and cost savings in tourism accommodations

Principal investigators: Professor Xavier Font, Dr Pablo Pereira Doel

Start date: December 2020

End date: May 2021

People and nature in a pandemic: Studying nature engagement and wellbeing pre, during and post Covid-19 to support the UK (green) recovery

Start date: July 2020

End date: June 2022

The impact of Covid-19 on travel sentiment – The evidence from China

Principal investigator: Dr Anyu Liu

Start date: January 2020

End date: Ongoing

Next generation paper: connecting paper to the web

Principal investigator: Professor David Frohlich

Start date: November 2017

End date: December 2020

(Re)engaging with sport fans post-Covid

Principal investigators: Dr Yanning Li, Dr Bora Kim, Dr Shi (Tracy) Xu

Examining the resilience of hospitality companies during the Covid-19 pandemic

Principal investigators: Dr Shi (Tracy) Xu, Mark Ashton, Dr Yanning Li

Privacy-aware personal data management and value enhancement for leisure travellers (PriVELT)

Principal investigator: Professor Iis Tussyadiah

Publications

Chen, F., Naylor, M., Li, Y., Dai, S., & Ju, P. (2021). Festival or Sport? Chinese Motivations to a Modern Urban Hiking Event. SAGE Open, 11(1), 2158244020986155.

Chen, Y., Tussyadiah, I. (2021). Service Failure in Peer-to-Peer Accommodation. Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103156

Cohen, S., Liu, H., Hanna, P., Hopkins, D., Higham, J. & Gössling, S. (2021). The Rich Kids of Instagram: Luxury travel, transport modes and desire. Journal of Travel Research (accepted).

Duffy, M., Scarles, C., Edensor, T., Waitt, G. & Franklin, A. (2021). Twenty Years on: Reflections on the journeys travelled and future directions of Tourist Studies. Tourist Studies, 21(1), 3-8.

Femenia-Serra, F., Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I. (2021). Is Smart Scary? A mixed-methods study on privacy in smart tourism. Current Issues in Tourism. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1987399

Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I. (2021). Privacy and Surveillance Attitudes During Health Crisis: Acceptance of Surveillance and Privacy Protection Behaviours. Technology in Society. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101774

Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I., Marshan, A. (2021). Dispositional mindfulness as an antecedent of privacy concerns: A protection motivation theory perspective. Psychology & Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21529

Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I., Miller, G., Li, S., Weick, M. (2021). Privacy nudges for disclosure of personal information: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0256822

Qiu, R. T., Liu, A., Stienmetz, J. L., & Yu, Y. (2021). Timing matters: crisis severity and occupancy rate forecasts in social unrest periods. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2020-0629

Li, S., Saayman, A., Stienmetz, J., Tussyadiah, I. (2021). Framing Effects of Messages and Images on the Willingness to Pay for Pro-Poor Tourism Products. Journal of Travel Research. doi:10.1177/00472875211042672

Ling, E.C., Tussyadiah, I., Tuomi, A., Stienmetz, J., Ioannou, A. (2021). Factors Influencing Users' Adoption and Use of Conversational Agents: A Systematic Review. Psychology & Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21491

Liu, A., Kim, Y. R. and O’Connell, J. F. (2021) ‘COVID-19 and the aviation industry, Annals of Tourism Research. (Accepted).

Sharma, A., Shin, H. S., Santa-María, M. J., & Nicolau, J. L. (2021). Hotels’ COVID-19 Innovation and Performance. Annals of Tourism Research. 103180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103180

Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I., Hanna, P. (2021). Spicing Up Hospitality Service Encounters: The Case of Pepper™. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2020-0739

Tuomi A., Tussyadiah I., Ashton M. (2021) Covid-19 and Instagram: Digital Service Innovation in Top Restaurants. In: Wörndl W., Koo C., Stienmetz J.L. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65785-7_45

Tussyadiah, I., Tuomi, A., Ling, E.C., Miller, G., Lee, G. (2021). Drivers of organzational adoption of automation. Annals of Tourism Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2021.103308

Xu, S. (2021). Will digital nature engagement positively impact our wellbeing? Blog retrieved from DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Government department) website: https://people-and-nature-survey-defra.hub.arcgis.com/pages/blog#tracy-blog

Van Nuenen, T. & Scarles, C. (2021). Advancements in technology and digital media in tourism. Tourist Studies, 21(1), 119-132.

White, E. V., Gatersleben, B., Wyles, K. J., Murrell, G., Golding, S. E., Scarles, C., & Xu, S. (2021). Gardens and wellbeing during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown (Research Report No. 1). Report retrieved from www.surrey.ac.uk/garden-report.pdf

Berridge, G. (2020) Chapter 21 Designing Event Experiences in Page, Stephen J., and Joanne Connell, eds. The Routledge handbook of events. 2^nd ed. Routledge, 2020. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Events/Page-Connell/p/book/9780367236489

Benítez-Aurioles, B., Tussyadiah, I. (2020). What Airbnb does to the housing market. Annals of Tourism Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103108

Choi, A., Berridge, G. and Kim, C., 2020. The Urban Museum as a Creative Tourism Attraction: London Museum Lates Visitor Motivation. Sustainability, 12(22), p.9382.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9382

Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I., Miller, G. (2020). That's private! Understanding travelers' privacy concerns and online data disclosure. Journal of Travel Research. DOI: 10.1177/0047287520951642

Ioannou, A., Tussyadiah, I., Lu, Y. (2020). Privacy concerns and disclosure of biometric and behavioral data for travel. International Journal of Information Management, 54, 102122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102122

Li, H., Liu, H., Zhang, Z. (2020). Online persuasion of review emotional intensity: A text mining analysis of restaurant reviews. International Journal of Hospitality Management (Accepted).

Loureiro, S., Guerreiro, J., Tussyadiah, I. (2020). Artificial Intelligence in Business: State of the Art and Future Research Agenda. Journal of Business Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.001

Park, S., & Stangl, B. (2020). Augmented reality experiences and sensation seeking. Tourism Management, 77, 104023.

Scarles, C., Treharne, H., Casey, M., & Zainal Abidin, H. (2020). Micro-mobilities in curated spaces: agency, autonomy and dwelling in visitor experiences of augmented reality in arts and heritage. Mobilities, 15(6), 776-791, DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2020.1816439

Shin, H. S., & Kang, J. H. (2020). Reducing perceived health risk to attract hotel customers in the COVID-19 pandemic era: Focused on technology innovation for social distancing and cleanliness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102664. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102664

Stangl, B., Ukpabi, D. C., & Park, S. (2020). Augmented Reality Applications: The Impact of Usability and Emotional Perceptions on Tourists’ App Experiences. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2020 (pp. 181-191). Springer, Cham.

Stangl, B., Prayag, G., & Polster, L. (2020). Segmenting visitors’ motivation, price perceptions, willingness to pay and price sensitivity in a collaborative destination marketing effort. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(21), 2666-2682.

Stienmetz, J., Liu, A., Tussyadiah, I. (2020). Impact of perceived peer-to-peer accommodation development on community residents’ well-being. Current Issues in Tourism. DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2020.1797644

Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I.P. (2020). Building the sociomateriality of food service. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 89, 102553. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102553

Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I.P., Stienmetz, J. (2020). Applications and implications of service robots in hospitality. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520923961

Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I., Ling, E.C., Miller, G., Lee, G. (2020). x=(tourism work) y=(sdg8) while y=true: automate(x). Annals of Tourism Research, 84, 102978. DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2020.102978

Tussyadiah, I. (2020). A review of research into automation in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102883

Tussyadiah, I.P., Zach, F.J., Wang, J. (2020). Do travelers trust intelligent service robots? Annals of Tourism Research, 81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102886

Xu, S., Martinez, L. R., & Smith, N. (2020). The effects of attractiveness, gender and self-esteem in service jobs. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32, 249-266.

Xu, S., Stienmetz, J., & Ashton, M. (Accepted). How will robots redefine leadership in hotel management? A Delphi approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. Featured in SurreyNews, ScienceDaily, Hospitality&CateringNews,Metro, Guildford Dragon, AzoRobotics, NewsWise, Gadget, News8Plus.

Wu, S., Li, Y., Wood, E., Senaux, B. & Dai, G. (2020) Liminality and festivals—Insights from the East. Annals of Tourism Research, 80, 102810.

Yu, Y., Xu, S., Li, G, & Kong, H. (Accepted). Systematic review of research on abusive supervision in hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Zou, S., Tan K. P. S., Liu, H. & Li, X. (2020). Mobile versus PC: Does device type affect online survey response quality in tourism research? Current Issues of Tourism(Accepted).

Abidin, H.Z., Scarles, C. & Lundberg, C. (2019). Digital Collaboration: A Solution for Destinations, e-Review of Tourism Research.

Corrigan-Kavanagh, E., Scarles, C., Frohlich, D., Revill, G., Beynon, M., Van Duppen, J. (2019). Explorations on the future of the book from the Next Generation Paper Project. Publishing History.

Corrigan-Kavanagh, E., Scarles, C., Revill, G. (2019). Augmenting Travel Guides for Enriching Travel Experiences. e-Review of Tourism Research. 17, 344-348, Texas A&M Agrilife.

Frohlich, D., Corrigan-Kavanagh, E., Bober, M., Yuan, H., Sporea, R., Le Borgne, D., Scarles, C., Revill, G., van Duppen, J., Brown, A.W. & Beynon, M. (2019). The Cornwall a-book: An Augmented Travel Guide Using Next Generation Paper, Journal of Electronic Publishing, Vol.22(1), online:http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0022.101.

Kastner, M., Stangl, B., & Schmidinger, G. (2019). Combining Data Sources and Capitalizing on Collaborations With Industry Partners to Investigate the Appropriateness of “Pay What You Want” for Heterogeneous Customer Groups. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Lund, F., Scarles, C. & Cohen, S. (2019). The brand value continuum: Countering co-destruction of destination branding in social media through storytelling. ,Journal of Travel Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0047287519887234.

Park, S., Tussyadiah, I. (2019). How guests develop trust in hosts: An investigation of trust formation in P2P accommodation. Journal of Travel Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519884654.

Siegel, L., Tussyadiah, I., Scarles, C. (2019). Does Social Media Help or Hurt Destinations? A Qualitative Case Study. e-Review of Tourism Research.

Stangl, B., Prayag, G., & Polster, L. (2019). Segmenting visitors’ motivation, price perceptions, willingness to pay and price sensitivity in a collaborative destination marketing effort. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-17.

Sun, H., Wu, S., Li, Y. & Dai, G. (2019). Tourist-to-tourist interaction at festivals: A grounded theory approach. Sustainability, 11(15), 4030. doi:10.3390/su11154030

Tussyadiah, I., Miller, G. (2019). Nudged by a robot: Responses to agency and feedback, Annals of Tourism Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102752.

Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I.P., Stienmetz, J. (2019). Leveraging LEGO® Serious Play® to embrace AI and robots in tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.06.003.

Wong, I., Xu, S., Chan, G., & He, M. (2019). A cross-level investigation of the role of human resources practices: Does brand equity matter? Tourism Management, 75, 418-426.

Xu, S., & Cao, Z. (2019). Antecedents and outcomes of work-nonwork conflict in hospitality: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31, 3919-3942.

Xu, S. & Wang, J. (2019). Still waters stay put: Uncovering the effects of emotional variability using experience sampling methodology. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 19, 317-332.

Partners

We have extensive industry links across the hospitality, tourism and events sectors. Partners have included organisations specialising in digital media and technology, as well as a range of other prestigious organisations.

Events

On campus

A group of students and their parents at the Open day

Sat 07 Oct 2023, 8.45AM - 4PM

Undergraduate open day

On campus

Sat 14 Oct 2023, 8.45AM - 4PM

Undergraduate open day

On campus

People sat in lecture theatre listening to open days talk

Sat 04 Nov 2023, 8.45AM - 4PM

Undergraduate open day

Recent events

Technology enhanced future of work in the visitor economy

This webinar delved into exploring ideas and solutions to support tourism, hospitality and event leaders to address how technology can help them solve the tough questions they are facing. Industry and academic speakers talked about how employers tackle the war on talent, how employee apps will evolve to become more engaged, and how artificial intelligence and robotics can be applied while considering mindfulness in technology-enhanced future of work.

Welcome and introduction by Brigitte Stangl (Acting Director of the Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy, SHTM, University of Surrey): https://youtu.be/KcHp7W5m2sM

Michael Easton (EVP CitizenM rollout) on "Hyper Growth during Hyper Uncertainty": https://youtu.be/sykQP400rqw
Tim P. Brown (Vice President, Global F&B Solution Engineering at Oracle) on "Point of Sale becomes Employee Point of Service": https://youtu.be/GlqcWzGWEzo
Tracy Xu (Senior Lecturer, SHTM, University of Surrey) on "How will service robots redefine leadership in hotel management?": https://youtu.be/qRwWgav8nwk
Emily (Jintao) Ma (Professor, SHTM, University of Surrey) on "Working with service robots, implications in job design": https://youtu.be/fyS27EinZe0
Erin Ling (Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Work in the Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI and SHTM, University of Surrey) on "How will artificial intelligence impact the future of work?": https://youtu.be/o8YbQ7AHAiA
Yao-Chin Wang (Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at the University of Florida) on "Mindfulness in Technology-Enhanced Future of Work": https://youtu.be/UpuxqCfrc2U.

Q&A chaired by Iis Tussyadiah (Head of School, SHTM, University of Surrey): https://youtu.be/yeaCnqBX944.

The future of destinations online forum

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to have devastating impacts on destinations, governments and destinations have taken action to restore and invigorate the sector. This seminar drawing upon industry and academic insights aimed to consider what the impacts of the pandemic have been and how destinations are able to reposition visitor experiences during times of continued uncertainty whilst planning for the future.

Our panel of distinguished industry speakers included:

Susan Deer, Director of Industry Relations, ABTA
Richard Veal, MD, SimpleView
Will Wright, co-founder, Destination Core

Our panel of Surrey academic speakers included:

Facilities

Our research group is equipped with a world-class biometric research laboratory to facilitate various consumer behaviour studies using psycho-physiological measurements. The digital lab is outfitted with an integrated system of biometric sensor equipment including remote and mobile eye-tracking, facial expression, galvanic skin response (GSR), optical heart rate, etc.

Using various biometric sensors in addition to other methodologies such as interviews and surveys, researchers are able to combine and synchronise data to enhance our investigations. Our lab allows us to experiment with the latest technology applications in tourism, hospitality, and events, such as virtual reality and social robots.