Emmanouil Ziniatis

• M. ARGYROPOULOU
• N. KORFIATIS
• V. VRANA

This dissertation investigates the adoption and use of emerging technologies and digital marketing by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in both the hospitality sector and the broader tourism industry. The research identifies the distinctive characteristics and determinants that constitute critical success factors for small and medium-sized hotels and other tourism enterprises when leveraging new technologies and digital marketing tools. Furthermore, it examines how these businesses are transforming, restructuring, and innovating as genuine drivers of tourism development.
The global digital and technological evolution, acting as a catalyst for the global economy, has created numerous challenges for Greece's tourism sector, particularly for its private enterprises. Digital marketing refers to marketing strategies, plans, and actions implemented by businesses that utilize new technology and digital marketing media to communicate dynamically with potential customers, thereby creating new value .
Tourism enterprises are facing multiple pressures from both international competition and rising operational costs. Globally, tourism businesses are implementing strategies and practices to leverage and integrate new technologies and digital marketing media (Fedoryshyna et al., 2021). In Greece, large tourism enterprises have made significant progress toward digital transformation. However, small and medium-sized hotels and other tourism businesses have demonstrated low levels of technology adoption and digital media utilization. Both the need for research in this field and the lack of existing scientific inquiry, combined with the significant interest in the critical role of small—often family-owned and operated—tourism enterprises, make this dissertation distinctive. This research addresses this gap by advancing scholarly understanding in the field, investigating and highlighting the most successful strategies and best practices for new technology and digital marketing adoption among small and medium-sized tourism enterprises on an international scale.
The empirical application will be  implemented in the Ionian Islands Region, where tourism constitutes a substantial economic and social parameter of local development. The research is being conducted in Zakynthos, Kefalonia, Ithaca, Lefkada, Paxos, and Corfu, with particular emphasis on Corfu. The current situation in the Ionian Islands—including the interconnection and synergy among enterprises, regional cooperation, and collaboration of tourism businesses at the local and regional level—is being analyzed and interpreted. Evidence-based and scientifically grounded initiatives and actions are being developed to support the integration of the digital economy into business processes as one of the fundamental components for developing and strengthening the Ionian tourism product.
The empirical application is extending internationally with the aim of conducting interdisciplinary and comparative case study presentations. In the empirical field specifically, collaboration has been established with small and medium-sized tourism enterprises.