Guest editorial: Competitive productivity (CP) as competitive strategy for hospitality, tourism and airline businesses

Industry 4.0 is bringing about profound change in all business sectors. Traditional industries are faced with nontraditional competitive environments, and the force of the challenge from the new startups are strong and fast. It is not an exaggeration to say that the tourism, hospitality and airline industries are perhaps some of the fiercest competitive battlegrounds where the consequences of Industry 4.0 are being felt. Traditional travel agencies are having a tough time competing with online travel portals as tour companies across the globe continue to lose market share to the likes of Expedia.com, Kayak.com and Kiwi.com. Similar challenges have been felt in the hospitality industry, where rising surplus of vacant rooms provided by room sharing apps are lowering prices and occupancy rates in many tourist destinations. Another change in the hospitality industry is the rising importance of Social Networking Services in consumers’ choice of hotels. Now more than ever, getting good reviews and recommendations by consumers and influencers is becoming a key competitive advantage. In the airline industry, full-service carriers (FSC) and low-cost carriers (LCC) traditionally catered to different customer segments. However, as LCCs matured and labor rates increased, their cost advantage began to erode. On the other hand, FSCs became more profitable by charging for ancillaries much like their LCC counterparts. As a result, the two business models are converging, leading to intensified competition across airline types.