Helen Soldatou

The hospitality industry is an increasingly developed sector in the international economy, and innovation and its results are relatively new subject of research. The purpose of this study is to identify the innovation initiatives that have been implemented in a particular sector, especially in the last decade, as well as those strategies and practices, which help to innovate in this sector worldwide. Based on an Online Desk Research, information was collected from some sources, i.e. electronic databases, business press and hospitality industry. The authors found out that these innovative activities include technological and non-technological activities that enterprises of the industry try to exploit and gain a competitive advantage in the market. A significant part of sector-specific innovation involves innovation implemented more on procedures and management than on the product itself. Technological or non-technological innovations have been used over the last decade by the hospitality sector enterprises to improve their ranking in competition. Operating several innovative activities of this kind should support businesses in the industry to gain one or more competitive advantages in the hospitality market, and the enterprises which are trying to innovate in this sector should implement a business growth strategy, but all of these activities need to be included in an integrated and appropriate business model.