Analyzing the innovation indicators’ in the tourism sector at the national and regional levels (Comparison of the country with Khorasan Razavi province)

Based on the successful experience of tourism development, the activities of scholars and the use of new technologies resulting from innovations in the field of tourism had an increasing impact on attracting international tourists. There are several factors that influence the implementation of the innovation process, which leads to better management of the innovation and planning process. Therefore, in the present study, the innovation index of tourism sector at national and regional levels has been designed and measured. Also, the situation of this index in the country has been compared with Khorasan Razavi province as a province with tourism function. In this study, the Global Innovation Index (GII) was used to design and measure the tourism innovation index. They also examined the relationships between them by calculating the correlation coefficients between the internal and external dimensions of the innovation index. Data collection was done by completing a questionnaire from experts and field survey method. The statistical population of this study includes professors and researchers in the field of tourism, experts of knowledge-based companies active in the field of tourism and tourism experts in the public and private sectors, and the statistical sample size is 70 people. The results showed that the inputs of the innovation index such as skills and higher education, infrastructure, trade and market, human resources, innovation communication and knowledge absorption, have a good position to create innovation and technology in the tourism sector at national and provincial levels. This category is related to limited international relations, quality and efficiency of laws, the situation of corruption and rent-seeking, organizational and administrative processes, as well as the weakness in creating cohesion of the innovation process in the form of clusters such as creative and innovative goods production centers. Also, the calculation of the correlation coefficient between the internal and external dimensions of the innovation index showed that higher education, information and communication technology, business environment, investment and credit, research and development, manpower and communication related to innovation have a greater impact on different dimensions of the index. They are the output of innovation. In general, the country has a better status and ranking in terms of innovation in the tourism sector compared to the province.