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Cities and tourism entities invest massive resources into smart system initiatives as information technologies are a key factor for a city’s destination competitiveness. Moreover cities around the world are increasingly recognizing the smart tourism city concept and related strategies as means of optimizing sustainable environments. Particularly for cities facing emerging issues of residents’ negative perceptions towards tourism, smart tourism city empowers a city to rise to this challenge by creating urban spaces that residents and visitors can enjoy together. However, smart tourism city research initiatives still fail to address the full spectrum of related and potential developments. This study presents a conceptual approach to defining smart tourism city: the smart city and its components are defined and contrasted with smart tourism and its components. The resulting convergence—smart tourism city—is then examined in light of a number of pioneering examples of smart tourism cities and its vital roles in the age of sustainable development. The main purpose of this study is to show the interests of locals and tourists context and the roles of ‘smart’ government leadership to researchers and practitioners.

Tourists deal with two intrinsic, uncertainty-driven attributes of travel, tourist worries and novelty seeking, that simultaneously affect their transaction and travel experience satisfaction. Rapid technological advances coupled with uncertainties caused by momentous events such as COVID-19 highlight the increasing significance of smart technologies in the tourism industry. This study explores the relationships between novelty and worries and travel satisfaction, as well as examines how tourists enhance their quality of trips with the use of smart tourism technologies. We find the tourists’ novelty seeking would enhance the trip experience, leading to overall travel satisfaction. In contrast, tourist worries, particularly in trip planning, would negatively affect tourists’ transaction satisfaction, which in turn impacts the overall travel experience satisfaction. As a moderator in its ambidextrous role, smart tourism technologies help tourists to develop a sense of novelty when planning and visiting a destination and mitigate the worries emanated from the uncertainty of transaction made during the pre-trip planning. Insights and implications of such findings are discussed for both theory and practice.

«Smart tourism» has gained momentum in research fostered by the revolution of the latest generation of information and communication technologies and has rapidly become a leading stream of literature. The concept has permeated governments and the business sphere and has been accompanied by the quest for developing smart devices, services and tourist destinations. However, experiences as the main focus of smartness development in tourism and destinations have received comparably little attention in the smart discourse. Smart destinations, as new ecosystems backed by concrete geographical contexts, facilitate the co-creation of a rich, technology-based, smart tourism experience (STE). Yet, a clear definition and examination of the dimensions of what constitutes a smart tourism experience is still to be developed. This paper aims to discuss the main core precedent constructs of STEs, namely: a) technology enhanced experiences and b) smart destinations, to underpin a holistic definition of a smart tourism experience. Based on an in-depth literature review, a novel conceptual model for this concept is developed and an agenda for further research is proposed drawing on the identified key themes and dimensions of this construct. By mapping out smart tourism experiences and providing real examples, this research contributes to the theoretical foundations of smart tourism and tourist experiences.

Purpose This paper aims to contrast the expectations placed on the smart destination as a theoretical management approach with the reality of emergent tech-savvy tourism demand by examining the response of this segment to three critical dimensions of technology use in the context of smart destinations. Tech-savvy tourists are here represented by highly educated Spanish millennial tourists. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained through an online survey and analysed through descriptive techniques and exploratory factor analysis using SPSS. Literature review was critical for setting the foundations of the research in this novel context. Findings Results suggest the existence of a gap between the smart destination theoretical expectations and created hype and the real response of the examined demand in the three main scopes for this tourist-smart destination technology-based relationship, namely, mobile technology use, data sharing for personalised experiences and smart technologies for enhanced experiences. Research limitations/implications Convenience sampling was used, and the results of the study cannot be generalised to all millennial tourists. The research is a first approximation to the interrelationship between tourists and smart destinations. Practical/implications Tourists’ role and experiences mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) are decisive in smart destinations. Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), through their policies and actions, ought to take into account the limited predisposition of tourists in using mobile devices, sharing data and using smart technologies for their experiences. Privacy concerns appear to have special relevance for tourists and, therefore, for the future of smart destinations. Originality/value The findings offer relevant insights for smart destinations from a neglected angle hitherto, as they introduce several interesting nuances which do not match entirely the fast track taken by institutions, media and academia. This is critical for better understanding tourists in the current panorama, for DMOs and for the theoretical foundations of smart tourism. Besides, the exploratory data analysis reveals potential dimensions of millennials’ behaviour, which can be useful for further investigations.

This conceptual paper discusses the potential of blockchain technology for Smart Tourism Destinations. The main focus is placed on Smart Tourism Destinations’ four major goals that can be achieved by using blockchain technology, namely: enhancing tourism experience, rewarding sustainable behaviour, ensuring benefits for local communities, and reducing privacy concerns. The paper also outlines the major challenges that need to be overcome to successfully implement this innovative technology. This paper attempts to further advance the current knowledge about the possible implications of blockchain technology within the smart tourism domain, and especially Smart Tourism Destinations.

PurposeThis research aims to reveal the role of sustainability in tourism in terms of smart technologies by addressing the relationship between smart tourism and sustainability through a thematic literature analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on examining the role of smart tourism in terms of sustainability within the studies in the literature.FindingsTourism is a mass-movement industry that uses natural and artificial resources intensively. For this reason, intensive studies are carried out on this industry in sustainable studies. Based on smart cities, smart destinations have started to be created to focus on specific tourism activities, balance the use of resources in this field, ensure the welfare of tourists and local people, and, most importantly, create sustainable activities. These technology-based cities can save many resources that people need to consider. In addition, thanks to its integration with technological devices, it enables people to be much more effective in social and business life and to act more practically in terms of time, distance, and communication. Besides the stakeholders within the destination, tourists visiting the destination can have a more comfortable and resource-efficient holiday experience thanks to the technological applications and systems created here.Originality/valueThe research presents a thematic literature review on the importance of sustainability in the sector within the framework of smart tourism practices.

This study examines the influence of the various attributes of smart tourism technologies (STTs) on tourists’ intentions to revisit locations and engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) activities regarding emerging and smart rural tourist destinations in Iran. A sample of 590 tourists who visited these destinations following the COVID-19 pandemic participated in the study. The findings reveal that three attributes of STTs, namely, informativeness, accessibility, and interactivity, positively contribute to tourists’ memorable experiences (ME). Furthermore, ME, satisfaction, and the willingness to engage in WOM recommendations are identified as predictors of tourists’ intention to revisit rural destinations. The study also reveals that user competence serves as a mediator between the attributes of STTs (informativeness, accessibility, and interactivity) and the tourists’ ME. Specifically, tourists with greater skills and knowledge of using STTs tend to have more memorable experiences in these emerging and smart rural destinations. The study discusses both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

PurposeSmart tourist destinations (STDs) make use of new technologies to facilitate and improve the experience of tourists. So why not use these technologies to efficiently manage the destination? The aim of this work is to define and implement a methodology that provides value to STDs by defining their most important characteristics to monitor and quantify them automatically in real time.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a conceptual framework to the smart tourism approach presented in previous studies, the latest technologies and the application of the smart tourism system (STS). Based on the focus group method with stakeholders from the tourism industry of the Spanish tourist municipality of Puerto de la Cruz, they defined the main KPIs for a municipal STD. Likewise, the authors specified the necessary technologies to obtain, manage and represent the data, and the method for quantifying the quality of the STD by using the AHP method. Lastly, they implemented the framework for the aforementioned municipality.FindingsThe implementation in a real context of the STS proposed for Puerto de la Cruz demonstrates its validity and the possibility of adapting it to any other municipal destination. In addition, the authors corroborate how this STS improves on other versions.Originality/valueThis paper provides a theoretical methodology to improve STD management and implements it. Other studies have focused only on the theoretical aspect. Moreover, automated management tools are emerging for STDs, but they lack the quality provided by the scientific approach employed herein.

With the development of sustainable technology and the continuous innovation of people’s travel styles, smart tourism technology (STT) is widely used in various tourism fields. STT has changed the traditional travel experience while enhancing destination competitiveness. This study examines the relationships between perceived STT experience, travel experience, and revisit intention. A total of 312 valid questionnaires were collected from tourists who had the experience of using local STT in Macau. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed model, and the results showed that perceived STT experience had a significant influence on the travel experience, and travel experience had a significant influence on revisit intention. The results of the research have provided valuable information for managers who are concerned about the development of STT. In addition, when designing and developing STT websites or programs, it provides effective references and suggestions for merchants or related developers of tourism destinations to formulate scientific strategies to deal with market competition, thereby enhancing the destination’s own competitiveness.

PurposeThis study aims to describe the concept of smart tourism, placing emphasis on the smart tourism ecosystem and value co-creation concept within the system at a destination level. The work also summarizes the key challenges associated with smart tourism implementation and development.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted as a critical literature review, discussing the outcomes of a wide range and scope of relevant academic literature on the chosen concepts.FindingsSmart tourism can be described as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) technologies to facilitate and enrich tourism products, services and experiences. Within the smart tourism ecosystem, all stakeholders – customers, suppliers, intermediates, the public sector, service providers, destination management organizations and others –participate in the synergies and value co-creation, also share the benefits from it. The ultimate aim of a smart tourism ecosystem is to create sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits for all and promote destination competitiveness. Smart tourism implementation is also associated with several challenges, of which the most important are participation, an overwhelming amount of data, data privacy and technology adoption.Originality/valueThe paper provides a critical review of the recent and relevant literature in order to define and discuss the mechanisms of value co-creation in a smart tourism ecosystem and the challenges associated with it.