Is digital empowerment of tourists a “threat” or “treat” for the tourism industry? The changing role of tourists and its effect on tourism regulators and businesses in developing countries

Digital technology has revolutionised the tourism industry, empowering tourists through information and communication technologies and social media. This study employs systems theory with a technology acceptance model to investigate whether the digital empowerment of tourists serves as a “threat” or a “treat” to the tourism industry. A concurrent mixed-method strategy, including a survey and a set of in-depth interviews, is employed. The findings indicate that emergent properties of digitally empowered tourism are activating competitive dynamics to shift in control to the tourism regulators which eventually leads vulnerable bystander effect on tourism businesses. The findings deepened the understanding of the dynamics of tourists’ digital empowerment and its implications for regulators and businesses. The findings help tourists to comprehend the new concept of digital empowerment, regulators to design effective and relevant regulatory frameworks, and tourism businesses to implement novel methods that allow them to provide tourism offerings to attract modern tourists.