The Contribution of Digital Technologies to Improving the Competitiveness of the Tourism Sector in European Union Countries

Digitalization is one of the key phenomena shaping the modern world, and its impact on various sectors of the economy is increasingly important. The development of the tourism sector is inextricably linked to the development of digital technologies. This study investigates the relationship between the level of digitization and the competitiveness of the tourism sector across European Union countries. Drawing on the literature review, the research hypothesis posits a significant association between these two variables. Using the statistics obtained from Eurostat on digitization, the synthetic Hellwig measure was calculated to create a ranking of the level of digitization of EU countries. Then, the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated; that is, the relationship between the ranking of digitization and the ranking according to the synthetic Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 (TTDI) was examined. The study shows a positive correlation between the level of digitization and the competitiveness of the tourism sector in European Union countries. Countries with higher levels of digitization tend to perform better in the TTDI rankings. The study contributes to the academic discussion focusing on building competitive and resilient tourist destinations.