In Portugal, are considered low density territories: “ All cities with a density population of less than 25 inhabitants/km2” ( ANMP, 2014 ). In low density territories tourism is emerging as an excellent opportunity to promote innovative dynamics, to lure investment, and to attract new people. These territories represent an economic challenge, especially because most of them are home to an increasingly aging population unable to pursue economic development. However, in these territories it is important to promote sustainable tourism, which preserves the environment and communities’ quality of life ( Marques et al., 2021 ).
Published in Chapter:
Smart Cities: How Can Low-Density Territory Populations Be Smart Tourist Destinations? The Case of Guarda
André Alves Toste (Higher Institute of Business and Tourism, Portugal), Dulcineia Catarina Moura Catarina Moura (Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal), and Lídia Aguiar (Higher Institute of Business and Tourism, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 26
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-5538-8.ch011
Abstract
The use of technology has been making territories smarter. This fact allows policymakers and stakeholders to develop cities in a smart, sustainable way and provide more quality of life to those who live there. Tourism destinations are beginning to be able to anticipate behaviour and customize their offer, thus becoming intelligent tourist destinations. However, it has been the large cities that have been on this journey. The qualitative methodology was used, and five structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders to understand the ability of a low-density territory, using the municipality of Guarda as the object of study. Through the identification of the essential infrastructures, the importance is given by policymakers to the theme and understanding the perception of those who influence the destination, and a proposal for a model for low-density smart tourism destinations was developed. It is concluded that low-density territories must satisfy all the associated dimensions and conceive a collective thinking that makes this goal possible: intelligent tourism destinations.