Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality

Stanislav Ivanov is Professor and Vice Rector (Research) at Varna University of Management, Bulgaria. He is the Founder and Editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Tourism Research and serves in the Editorial boards of over 30 other journals. Alongside publications in multiple academic journals, such as Tourism Management and Tourism Economics, he is also the author of Hotel Revenue Management: From Theory to Practice (2014).Craig Webster is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Ball State University, USA. His research interests include the political economy of tourism, public opinion analysis, and human rights. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Tourism Today, has published in numerous international peer-reviewed journals, and is the co-editor of Future Tourism: Political, Social, and Economic Challenges (2012).

• Introduction: RAISA in future travel-related industries; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig WebsterSection 1: Theoretical Issues of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 1. Conceptual Framework of the Use of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Companies; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster 2. Economic Fundamentals of the Use of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality; Stanislav Ivanov and Craig Webster 3. Self-Service Technologies in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Sectors - Principles and Practice; Petranka Kelly, Jennifer Lawlor and Michael Mulvey 4. Customer Attitudes Towards Robots in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality - A Conceptual Framework; Velina Kazandzhieva and Hristina Filipova 5. Making Sense of Robots - Consumer Discourse on Robots in Tourism and Hospitality Service Settings; Ulrike Gretzel and Jamie Murphy 6. Chatbot Adoption in Tourism Services: A Conceptual Exploration; Dandison C. Ukpabi, Bilal Aslam and Heikki Karjaluoto7. The Impact of Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and Service Automation on Service Quality and Service Experience in Hospitality; Nikola Naumov8. Greggg - A Scalable High Performance, Low Cost Hospitality Robot; Sam R. Thangiah, MichaelKaravias, Ryan Caldwell, Matthew Wherry, Jessica Seibert, Abdullah Wahbeh, Zachariah Miller and Alexander GessingerSection 2: Application of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 9. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Hotels; Georgina Lukanova and Galina Ilieva10. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Restaurants; Katerina Berezina, Olena Cifci and Cihan Cobanoglu11. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel Agencies and Tourist Information Centres; Maya Ivanova12. Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation to the Core: Remastering Experiences at Museums; Nuria Recuero Virto and Maria Francisca Blasco Lopez13. The Role of Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Events; Alfred Ogle and David Lamb

This is the very first book that focuses on robots, artifical intelligence and automation technologies (RAISA) in tourism and does this from a social science perspective. It comprehensively covers the theoretical problems of RAISA adoption in tourism, principles of service automation, attitudes towards robots, impacts of RAISA on business processes and competitiveness, and the use of chatbots. Furthermore, it shows the practical issues that arrise from the application of RAISA technologies in various tourism sectors such as hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, tourist information centres, events and museums. What I find particularly valuable is that the book delves deep into the economic aspects of RAISA technologies in tourism - a problem which has been quite neglected in research. Numerous photographs and figures are used to visualise authors' ideas. The book is valuable for practitioners, researchers, and students.