Exploring Digital Innovation Issues in Luxury Hospitality Enterprises Towards EU Funding Status

The current study explores the trends of the technological advancements with regard to digital tools utilised by 4&5-star hotels, in order to identify how the relevant Cypriot market is in alignment with such innovative practices, leading oftentimes to improved entrepreneurial growth. Additionally, it emphasizes whether such enterprises are willing to implement such advanced instruments in order to ensure higher productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. More specifically, this primary research strives to examine the strategic role of managerial decisions in applying cutting-edge technological tools and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their operations in order to achieve sustainability and deploy innovation as well as ensure organisational resilience supported by EU funds. Empirically, qualitative study was conducted by tracing the views and experiences of 12 business executives within the Cypriot hospitality sector. Convenience sampling was employed by the research team to recruit potential participants before semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out in the field, respectively. Moreover, through the perspectives of interviewees, the research offers insights of Cyprus' market reality, by taking into account that tourism constitutes the flagship of the country’s economy. Findings indicate that digital innovation applications play a pivotal role in the ongoing digital transformation of the examined luxury tourism enterprises whilst they are prevalent used in certain internal and external functions ensuring enhanced organisational resilience and entrepreneurial competitiveness. Additionally, the support EU programmes, derived from the Green Deal, appear to be impactful on the establishment of the aforementioned digital equipment. Furthermore, conclusions, and recommendations provide a basis for future research on the specific topic, especially regarding certain EU policies contributed to enterprises' resilience process. Lastly, study's evidence could be useful to European and National institutions that deal with challenges towards digital transformation and formulate relevant policies as well as potential and active entrepreneurs in the field.