Abstract
As technology affects the tourism sector as it does all sectors, smart tourism has emerged. The ultimate goal of smart tourism is to improve the efficiency of resource management, maximize competitiveness, and increase sustainability through technological innovations and practices. The digital transformation of the tourism sector, especially in recent years, has greatly affected the tourist experience by completely changing the supply-demand interaction in the industry. The spread of information and communication technologies, the development of the web, and the growing technology use skills in the population, in general, have helped increase the level of self-organization of tourists and have led to smart tourists. This new tourist profile created by smart tourism technologies frequently benefits from technology before, during, and after their travels.
TopIntroduction
The Internet and other information technologies have had serious effects on consumer behavior (Huang et al., 2017). In 2021, the number of internet users reached approximately 5.1 billion in the world (Internetworldstats, 2021), 218 billion mobile applications were downloaded in 2020, and at the end of 2020, 46.45 percent of the world’s population owned a smartphone (Statista, 2021). In addition, with digitalization, many economic sectors such as energy, construction, banking, transportation, retail trade, education, health, media and security have been transformed and the social vision of the world has changed (Okhrimenko et al, 2019). As technology affects the tourism sector as it does all sectors, smart tourism has emerged. The intensive use of information and communication technologies and the adoption of new ideas and approaches to the tourism sector have allowed new services and the re-transformation of traditional services (Sigalat-Signes et al., 2020). In order to bring smartness to tourism destinations, it requires the use of a technological platform where information about local resources, tourists, activities/events and consumption habits can be gathered in a single center and presented to various stakeholders (Buonincontri & Micera, 2016).
The concept of smart tourism is defined as systems that coordinate all activities, information and services in real time with the intensive use of technology, connect all local organizations and allow to increase urban efficiency (Buhalis & Amaranggana, 2014). According to Molz (2012), smart tourism is;
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the establishment of connections via web-based applications with location features,
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the creation of shared value with tourists through the applications in the destination,
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the development of experiences through new technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality,
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connecting and interacting with local communities and other tourists at the destination,
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the development of social and environmental sustainability.
Thus, it can be said that the ultimate goal of smart tourism is to increase the efficiency of resource management, maximize competitiveness, improve the quality of life for both local people and tourists, and increase sustainability by using technological innovations and practices (Lee et al., 2018). Buhalis and Amaranggana (2015) cite the four key dimensions of smart technology that can be found in a destination as information, access, interaction and personalization. First, the environments in which the technology is placed should allow information sharing among all users (locals, previous visitors and current visitors). Second, smart technology needs to be connected to a real-time communication system that can be much more interactive among all users. Third, it is necessary to contribute to the high accessibility of information with smart devices (smartphones and portable tablets). Finally, personalized service should be provided through data from various information sources. Technologies in tourism have played a critical role not only for the competitiveness of tourism organizations, but also for the tourist experience with personalized service delivery (Huang et al., 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Tourism: It is travel for pleasure or business; also, the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.
Technology: It is the sum of any techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.
Tourist Experience: It is a set of activities in which individuals engage on their personal terms, such as pleasant and memorable places, allowing each tourist to build his or her own travel experiences so that these satisfy a wide range of personal needs, from pleasure to a search for meaning.
Smart Tourism: It is reliant on core technologies such as ICT, mobile communication, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. It supports integrated efforts at a destination to find innovative ways to collect and use data derived from physical infrastructure, social connectedness, and organizational sources (both government and non-government), and users in combination with advanced technologies to increase efficiency, sustainability, experiences.
Digitalization: It is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-readable) format.
Smart Tourist: Smart tourists are buyers and users of smart tourism destinations or services provided by tourism businesses.
Smart Destination: A smart destination is one with a strategy for technology, innovation, sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity along the entire tourism cycle: before, during and after the trip. A smart destination is also one with residents as well as tourists in mind, factoring multilingualism, cultural idiosyncrasies, and seasonality into tourism planning.