CAN ANTHROPOMORPHISM BE A NEW TOOL FOR ATTRACTING NEW CUSTOMERS IN THE HOSPITALITY & TOURISM INDUSTRY?
The employment of anthropomorphism in promotion has witnessed a notable surge in recent times, surpassing previous levels in the hospitality and tourism sectors. The long-term viability of the organizations in the hospitality and tourism industry is threatened by fierce brand concurrence.
Keeping up with the growing number of comparable offerings requires comprehensive brand communications and marketing campaigns with appropriate communication channels. Compared to other industries, the hospitality sector spends more on brand communication, approximately $1.15 billion in 2022.
Brand communication is essential for increasing consumer experience, positive reviews, re-visit intentions, and revenue generation. Humanizing the brand through anthropomorphism is a novel approach to attracting consumers’ awareness and attention.
The concept of anthropomorphism in marketing is poorly understood, even though people’s anthropomorphic inclination has increased with time. This increasing inclination toward anthropomorphism stems from people’s innate urge to personify. Marketers have used anthropomorphism for brand communication in a limited way.
Experiences are the cornerstone of the tourism industry, playing a crucial role in customer retention. The impact of technological progress on enhancing these experiences is widely acknowledged. Anthropomorphism, which involves attributing human traits, behavior, or form to nonhuman entities, has become increasingly significant in this context.
Anthropomorphism serves as a cognitive strategy, enabling individuals to apply their understanding of human characteristics to non-human elements for more effective decision-making. This concept has gained importance in virtual tourism, where anthropomorphic designs contribute to more compelling online advertising and destination marketing. Following COVID-19, brand marketers, particularly in hospitality and tourism, have been refining their communication strategies to adapt to changing consumer expectations.
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Anthropomorphism can serve as an appealing idea in the realm of virtual tourism, offering an added advantage to individuals seeking to virtually visit and explore locations that are otherwise inaccessible to them. The results of the current study highlight that anthropomorphism’s growing importance and contribution, particularly during the last four years, was significant.
The concept was introduced in advanced and developed countries such as the UK and USA, which explains the early prominence of articles written by academicians connected to universities in this region and later expanded to developing nations such as China, India, Canada, etc.
The internationally renowned research community embraced and supported the publication, which helped it achieve a global audience, usage, influence, and appeal. The current generation, say the Alpha generation- is a widely discussed and growing niche; increasing citation performance is a testament to this.
Additionally, more and more academicians, such as from developing nations like India, from internationally renowned academic networks are contributing to anthropomorphism. Even yet, the hotspot of research publications lies in the UK and USA.
Findings from the above analysis about the thematic evolution of anthropomorphism research papers confirm this varied, expanding, modern, yet concurrently focused attention on traditional concerns such as sustainability. As a result, anthropomorphism in the hospitality and tourism industry has continually been diverse, multidisciplinary, and welcoming to established and emerging research topics, methodologies, and trends.
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Full research paper can be accessed here: Rehan Husain, Vir Ved Ratna & Anupam Saxena (2023) Past, present, and future of anthropomorphism in hospitality & tourism: conceptualization and systematic review. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. DOI: 10.1080/19368623.2023.2232382
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