Introduction. Tourism enterprises operating in a dynamic environment mitigate the erosion of competitive advantages by introducing new products, processes or marketing activities. Universities may serve as one of the essential sources of knowledge, enabling tourism enterprises to implement innovations. The article aims to identify the importance of cooperation with universities in driving innovation in tourism enterprises.
Material and methods. To achieve the aim of the paper, an empirical study was carried out on a sample of 383 hotels and tour operators.
Results. As a result, it was found that universities play a relatively minor role in innovation implementation and for inspiring innovative activity. However, the role of universities is highly diversified. For almost one-third of the entities, universities are important for innovative activities – they play a greater role in large entities, belonging to chains and operating longer on the market. It has also been identified that incremental and marketing innovations are most frequently created due to cooperation.
Conclusions. Results indicate that for increased universities’ role in innovation, companies’ resources and absorption capacity are required. The article also suggests further directions of research on relations between universities and tourism enterprises.
