Building a digital trust ecosystem for innovative learning: the formation of complex educational tourism products in Europe

The relevance of educational tourism has been growing in recent years, driven by factors such as globalisation, an increasing interest in immersive learning experiences, and the integration of technology. This growth has opened new opportunities for innovative learning within educational tourism. This multinational study investigates digital trust theory, focusing on how educational tourism products are formed through online services provided by language schools. To achieve this, qualitative data were collected using web-scraping techniques from 563 language schools across several countries, including the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, and France. This process helped gauge the growth rate of online services offered by language schools during one academic year. Additionally, surveys and the 'secret client' method were employed to understand how these schools hybridise their online services with educational tourism offerings. Educational tourism managers can utilise the findings from this research to enhance customer loyalty and trust while gaining insights into how online services are utilised during the three phases of tourist product formation: before the trip, during the studies, and afterwards. The results demonstrate practical implementations of online service formats that can serve as a foundation for the innovative formation of educational tourism products.