List Story > NEWS > Detail
[Resources] Changes in Shared Economy and Tourism

Why is it that tourism-related shared activities spread rapidly among shared economic activities? That's because tourism best reflects the features it has and changing consumer trends. Then, what changes did shared economic activities bring to the tourism experience?

The first has expanded the area scope of services or tourism infrastructure that tourists can receive. A trip to a tourist destination is necessary to get a tour service. Because tourism is temporarily moved out of daily life and is provided with services, necessary services or facilities will be purchased in the form of temporary rental. Therefore, the concept of sharing (give-and-share) the extra resources of an individual, such as objects, knowledge, space and experience, with others online is a great opportunity for tourists. Sharing things online has allowed us to share more facilities or places, thus diversifying our options. If it was only possible to purchase existing car rentals or hotels at certain points, hotel services can be provided even in areas without hotels in the shared economy. Rather than building hotels in all areas, they can reduce costs by utilizing existing facilities. The hotel is a high-risk business with clear peak and off-season, high initial investment costs. In a shared economy, the use of existing facilities as lodging facilities can reduce non-use. Likewise, cars can be rented even in areas without rental car companies, and tourist information services can be received through the shared economy for small or lesser-known areas where tour packages are not organized, which could further expand the scope of areas provided by tourism services.


관광 공유경제 이미지 검색결과"
[Source: Korean Economy]

The second provides economic benefits to service providers (resource holders) or users (resource owners). Tourists can reduce travel costs, and service providers can earn extra income economically by utilizing idle resources. Recently, a growing number of smart tourists are putting importance on practicality. The growth of a shared economy allows tourists to receive reasonable services anytime, anywhere at low cost. The reduction in transportation and accommodation costs, which account for the largest portion of travel costs by sharing idle resources, is an attractive factor. In particular, overseas travel costs a little more time and money, so the use of shared companies can allow them to enjoy accommodation and travel at lower prices and provide more travel opportunities. In terms of providing services, there are benefits that can be provided to those who need it by utilizing a spare room. Taking advantage of empty rooms for married children, for example, can be an old couple's small income source and a pleasure to meet new people. Or my knowledge of local culture, which I know only by living in one area for a long time, is good for outsiders.


로컬문화 이미지 검색결과"
<Examples of Local Culture: Ganghwado>

The third is that I can have my own experience of local culture, and I can get the special service I want more easily. Tourists' use of shared companies is not just a cost-cutting issue. A shared economy can provide tourists with an extremely local travel experience. With more travel experience and more diverse needs, people want local odors. Local culture can be further understood through tourist information owned by locals that cannot be obtained from the mass-market products offered by the travel agency. It is also possible to find affordable and affordable accommodations through a shared economy, but you may also get a chance to form new social relationships with actual owners. In addition, it is possible in a shared economy to rent very unique and special facilities such as high-end homes and villas on the beach.

The shared economy has also changed the characteristics of the components of tourism. The components of tourism are divided into 1 tourist entity (tourist), 2 tourist destination (tourist resources and tourist attractions), and 3 tourism media tour agencies (tourism businesses such as hotels and travel agencies). In the tourism component in the shared economy, the online platform infrastructure is added. A shared economy is formed on the basis of an online shared platform (i.e., shared enterprises) and serves as a central medium for connecting components. In the existing tourism component, if direct money transactions between the components were formed, cooperation and sharing between each other in the shared economy would be traded together through an online shared platform. In a shared economy, monetary transactions are also made, but mutual cooperation and sharing are more important, and everyone who does so can benefit. In a shared economy, tourism media also have the right to reject transactions, and there may be no financial transactions.


공유경제 관광주체 이미지 검색결과"
<Tourism and Shared Economy Co-existence with Local People>

The biggest change in tourism components in the shared economy is tourism players. In a shared economy, tourists can become a pro-sumer who provides tour packages at the same time as a consumer. In a shared economy, tourists can act as service providers and users at the same time. In other words, sometimes you can rent an extra room you own to a tourist, but on the contrary, you can go on a trip and use someone else's room. The change in tourist attractions (tourism target) has expanded the scope of tourism resources so that tourist attractions that were not only marginalized but also tourist resources that were only known by the local people could be targeted. For example, the unique cultural experience of overseas remote villages can be known to tourists from other regions through online platforms without having to go through travel agencies. The shared economy can be reborn as a new tourism product through local people's experiences, moving away from the conventional one-sided sightings of tourists.

For tourism media, the range of services offered is much wider because transactions are made on an online platform. As discussed earlier, although the scope of areas where services are available is not limited to urban centers or certain tourist attractions, services that can be offered in a shared manner are also becoming more diverse. The type-of-type services currently available are those that share or jointly use assets or objects owned by individuals or the public, such as accommodation, transportation such as automobiles and bicycles, and sharing of travel items. Intangible services are services that provide services to people who want to use mainly based on information, knowledge or experience owned by individuals, such as tour guides, sharing travel information, and providing food/dinner services. However, many shared economy-related tour packages may come out as services are becoming more available.