• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.21-32
• /
• 2022

This paper shows light on the concept of smart tourism destination as a future of tourism development, especially in the context of problems associated with developing countries. This study substantiates the case of smart tourism development in mountain destinations as an affordable and needed future of the contemporary era. This conceptual study is based on secondary literature on Smart Cities, Smart Tourism Destinations, and Tourism in Himachal Pradesh. The Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has been considered as a study area to acknowledge major tourism-related challenges, especially in mountain locations. Consequently, the dots are connected between existing challenges and solutions that smart tourism holds. It turns out that for the development of mountain tourism destinations such as Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalayas, investments in smart infrastructure are required. By developing smart infrastructure, a new USP can be made, a supportive environment for new local businesses, new employment opportunities, enhanced tourist experience and an overall raised standard of living for locals. Considering all factors, it leads to a highly competitive tourism destination. All tourism destinations located in the Himalayan mountains show somewhat the same tourism challenges as Himachal Pradesh, India. Therefore, this paper brightens the path of destination planners towards the development agenda of smart tourism destinations and shows how smart tourism infrastructure can be deployed for better management of tourism destinations.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.9-17
• /
• 2021

Smart tourism research and development have mainly focused on the benefits of smart tourism technologies to certain stakeholders with transactional relationships in destinations. However, smart technologies in destinations could also cause several negative outcomes, leading to social, ethical, and moral issues. Such issues arise from the power imbalance between different stakeholders of smart tourism development. To mitigate the adverse effects of smart technologies, destinations need to enunciate the essential moral and ethical principles when developing smart tourism. Therefore, adopting descriptive and normative approaches to stakeholder theory, this paper proposes a framework to showcase several methods to address the issues.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.15-23
• /
• 2024

This study aims to present a framework involving smartness components and indicators of tourism destinations. This work had three phases. The first phase extracted the components and indicators of smartness evaluation in tourism destinations and validated them by experts' opinions. The second phase determined the effectiveness of each element of smartness using an online questionnaire tool, a survey of 320 tourism experts at the level of 12 selected urban tourism destinations, and a factor analysis method, in addition to measuring the level of their smartness. The third phase of the research analyzed the difference between the smartness of the selected urban tourism destinations using a One-Way Analysis of Variance and the Tukey Test. The results indicated six components and fifty-seven indicators. Also, a substantial difference between the smartness of urban tourism destinations was proved. This study substantially contributes to the existing body of knowledge by offering the smartness indicators within a detailed package of six components with a systemic, holistic, and integrated perspective. The results help policymakers and decision-makers evaluate and improve the smartness of tourism destinations. As a result, it is possible to achieve the goals of smartness of urban tourism destinations, including equality, livability, sustainability, and effectiveness of resource management by using different technologies, especially with the emphasis on two aspects: (1) increasing the quality of the tourism experience, and (2) improving the residents' quality of life.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2024

This study explores the nexus between governance, technology, and resilience in smart tourism destinations, elucidating how smart governance can bolster destination adaptability and resilience. Through a quantitative approach and an extensive questionnaire survey, governance and resilience dynamics, along with ICT roles, are scrutinized across Spanish tourism destinations. Results highlight the pivotal role of adaptable governance structures and strategic planning in driving successful smart initiatives. Diverse adoption patterns and varying effectiveness levels underscore the necessity for tailored approaches. By providing actionable insights, this research empowers policymakers and destination managers to enhance destination resilience and competitiveness through ICT-driven governance strategies.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2021

Smart tourism, a promising development trend for destinations, has drawn growing attention from practitioners and academics. Extant research has laid a solid theoretical foundation on the roles of technology and effects of smart tourism on tourists. However, little is known about structured and profound implications for a destination's smart tourism development. Thus, by selecting Hong Kong as a case city, this study proposes a framework of implications for smart tourism development. A qualitative approach was employed to gain insights from smart tourism stakeholders. Results shed light on nine elements that boost the smart tourism development of destinations. These nine elements serve as a significant reference for policy-making. Several theoretical and practical implications are provided for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.27-36
• /
• 2021

As a popular concept, smart tourism is widely used as a strategic tool to improve the competitiveness of world tourism destinations. Taking Macao as a case study, this research explores the relationship between government, academic research, and smart destination applications, with a view toward investigating the utilization of smart technology to achieve service innovation, effective communication with tourists, and enhance the travel experience. The study summarizes the current situation of smart tourism in Macao, finding that most of the smart services in Macao rely on users to obtain information spontaneously and do not achieve real interaction and service demand. Suggestions and advice for smart development are provided.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.35-39
• /
• 2023

This research note probes the largely ignored sphere of smart tourism curriculum as destinations and institutions seek to develop graduates ready to embrace the demands and challenges of future work environments where technology has a ubiquitous presence. This knowledge gap is somewhat surprising, even as destinations progress towards smart tourism futures, without necessarily clarifying what human resources need to possess in the coming decades. Drawing from available smart tourism curriculum across the globe, and emergent trends associated with Generation Alpha and Beta, this research note paints a timely picture of how smart tourism curriculum should be designed and developed to meet the needs of industry and consumer demands and expectations.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.255-262
• /
• 2020

Recently, medical tourism is recognized as a high value-added industry because of its longer period of stay and higher expenditure than general tourism. In particular, although the number of medical tourists visiting Korea is increasing, the perception of Korean medical services is low. The purpose of this paper is to develop the app which, based on medical tourism type, recommends tourism destinations. Additionally, this proposed app can expand general tourism as well. It can provide tourists with medical information easily by sorting types tourists. Besides, as medical tourists normally stay long, we can take the advantage of post-treatment time. This app collects medical information data and tourist destination data, and categorizes the types of medical tourists into four categories: disease medical tourism, traditional medical tourism, cosmetic medical tourism, and recreational medical tourism. It provides medical information according to each type and recommends customized tourist destinations. User-based collaborative filtering is applied for tourist destination recommendations.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 2024

This study investigates the adoption of technology in smart tourist destinations, with a focus on the Baby Boomer generation. The objective is to analyze the perceived utility, intention to use, and risk perception of this generation regarding Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of smart tourist destinations. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to elderly groups belonging to the Baby Boomer generation in two Brazilian cities. Data analysis was conducted using statistical tools such as SPSS and Microsoft Excel, with an emphasis on regression analysis with moderation. The results indicate that when Baby Boomer tourists feel insecure about technology, they tend to not perceive its utility, impacting its acceptance. On the other hand, lower risk perceptions lead to an increase in perceived utility and, consequently, a greater intention to use technology in travel planning. The moderating role of risk perception in the relationship between perceived utility and intention to use is emphasized. The findings highlight the need for managers of smart destinations to consider the risks perceived by tourists, focus on diverse age groups, and implement strategies that address digital exclusion.

• Journal of Smart Tourism
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.19-30
• /
• 2021

Smart tourism technologies are becoming ever more pervasive and an increasing number of destinations and hospitality establishments are investing in smart tourism initiatives. However, while governments and businesses around the world are aggressively pushing the smart tourism agenda forward, smart tourism research initiatives are still in their infancy and seem to not fully cover the whole spectrum of smart tourism-related issues and questions. This paper conducts a systematic review of existing smart tourism literature to determine the status quo of smart tourism research and to identify research gaps. Considering the steep growth of smart tourism initiatives starting at the beginning of this decade, this paper reviews publications on smart tourism over the last 8 years. All publications for which the keyword "smart tourism" appears in the title, keywords or abstract were included in the sample.