New Territories in Information Technologies and Tourism Research

The chapter presents a novel research agenda that expands the fields of technology studies and design in tourism. It does so by adopting a series of theoretical frameworks external to tourism and grounded in the fields of philosophy, digital humanities, communication, and design. The chapter suggests that the (post)positivist methodology that has dominated work in the field of tourism technology needs to be supplemented by more critical understandings. Viewed through the lens of the critical turn in tourism research, the authors propose that the increasing ubiquity of information technologies (IT) changes sociocultural practices and the way tourism can be performed and imagined. The chapter indicates three areas where an expansion of the territories of knowledge creation might benefit the development and innovation of IT in tourism.