Tourism in Knowledge Economy and Innovation

Tourism is a multi-faceted set of activities, which are not carried out in a decisive extent on the basis of highly qualified inputs, expert knowledge and progressive technologies. The development of the knowledge economy and the economy, however, affects all spheres of life of society. Characteristics of the demand are changing; a competitive supply Is able to respond. The pre-requisite is the ability to identify and absorb new knowledge and their transformation into efficient solutions - innovations. Innovations play a significant role in processes of increasing competitiveness and economic growth of producers of tourism services. The paper deals with relevant reasons for putting through the principles of the knowledge economy in tourism and identifies the innovation activities of tourism enterprises in the Slovak Republic by means of presenting results of primary research. The aim of the paper Is to find out if the innovation activities of tourism entities support the competitiveness of these entities.