Strategic Management of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Business: The Impact of Innovative and Marketing Strategies on Competitiveness

The political and economic situation in the world leads to the fact that companies operating in the hotel, restaurant and tourism business need to develop new approaches to their management in a strategic perspective, as there is an urgent need to optimise the system of ensuring competitiveness and innovative development. To optimise the strategic management process, it is essential to refine and enhance both the formulation and implementation phases of strategy development. This refinement can be achieved through the application of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which facilitates not only the selection of theoptimal strategy but also the identification of a set of criteria that determine its suitability for the business. In light of this, the primary objective of this article is to synthesise relevant theoretical frameworks and offer practical recommendations for employing contemporary tools in the development and implementation of a competitive strategy for firms in the hospitality, restaurant, and tourism sectors, with the goal of enhancing their competitive advantage. The study proves that there are asignificant number of strategies that can be chosen for modern companies in the hotel, restaurant and tourism business, but given the instability of the external environment and the market, it is worth choosing a growth strategy that would strengthen the competitive position. Furthermore, through the application of the hierarchy analysis method, it has been ascertained that the predominant strategic approach for contemporary enterprises in the hotel industry restaurant and tourism business is a strategy of concentrated growth with maximum use of opportunities to introduce innovative technologies and develop a strategy to increase competitiveness, which in the long run will ensure positive transformations in the company and will increase sales and attract new regular customers.