Luxury and innovation: Towards an evaluative framework

Abstract

This conceptual paper uses a historical and psychological analysis of luxury to argue that it is has been, and continues to be, a driver of innovation in the tourism and hospitality industries. In examining the relationship between creativity and innovation, the paper identifies four paradoxes which, it argues, are embedded in the decision-making processes that create new objects and services. The paper argues that, if innovation and creativity are separated from the hegemony of change, then it is possible to devise a set of criteria as to what may be judged to be innovative. A set of seven criteria are postulated.