“Platformization” as a management tool of digital transformation in the sphere of tourism

Digital economy is a natural stage of development of economic system, in which the main values of economic actors consist in the knowledge and nonmaterial production. Within scientific literature prevail research of the impact of separate aspects of digital transformation upon the activity of tourism agencies and development of vacation destinations, namely the use of digital booking platforms, augmented reality in museums and exhibitions, as well as the Internet of things. However, interrelation of these vectors of development in the process of digital transformation, as well as the mechanisms of its management applicable to the sphere of tourism and Russian economy are studied insufficiently. The subject of this research is the economy and management of a separate tourism agency and the entire industry. The goal of this work consists in conducting a comprehensive research of Russian and foreign literature on the topic of methodology for managing digital transformation in different economic sectors; as well as determination of distinct characteristic of managing digital transformations in tourism sphere and the factors affecting this process. The author applies comparative analysis of literary sources and experience of managing digital transformation through implementation of digital platforms. The introduction of platform approach in management of digital transformation substantiated the transition towards network service interaction (versus traditional cooperation) as the backbone of the economy. Digital transformation of the entire economic sector requires close collaboration of economic actors within the framework of a region or a country. A conclusion is made the most appropriate model of the development of tourism sector of the economy is the ecosystem of digital platforms. Due to its peculiarities, tourism sphere can become a favorable platform for approbation of management techniques of digital transformation, functionality of regional digital platforms and system integrators.