Planning and Management of Smart

Tourism Destination (TMgt 582)

MSc in Tourism Management

By
Zemenu Bires (PhD)
Technical and Vocational Training Institute
May 2023
3.1. Introduction to Smart Tourism:
Theories, Principles, and Practices
 What is meant by Smart Destination?
 Smart destinations have been conceptualized as special cases of
smart cities that take advantage of smart technology to deliver new
forms of value to tourists.
 Smart destination refers to;
“built on an infrastructure of state-of-the-art technology guaranteeing
the sustainable development of the tourist area, accessible to
everyone, which facilitates the visitors„ interaction with and
integration into their surroundings, increases the quality of the
experience at the destination, while also improving the quality of
life of its residents”.
 Smart destinations as involving a new smart tourism economy with
new resources, new players and new exchange models based on
opportunities afforded by smart technologies .
 Smart destination…cont‟d
 The pillars of smart destinations are usually described as involving
1) technology/innovation;
2) mobility;
3) accessibility/inclusion; and,
4) Sustainability
• The primary goal of smart destinations lies in increasing the destination‟s
competitiveness through the enhancement of tourist experiences, catering
in critical ways to the needs of the creative tourist class that seeks more
personalized and extra-ordinary experiences.
• Support new opportunities for co-creation and a different kind of
relationship between the tourist and the destination.
• A Smart Tourism Destination is based on Four Main Concepts:
 Technology
 Innovation
 Accessibility
 Sustainability
 Smart…
 In general, a platform which implements information and
communication technology, such as artificial intelligence and the
Internet so that tourists can have all the necessary information and
services on their smart devices: mobile phones, computers.
 To begin with, a smart destination is a connected territory
which is supported by smart infrastructures, with ITCs, capable
of devising a new, more sustainable, competitive and efficient
model of management.
 The tourism sector has understood and incorporated the
advantages of using new technologies, but the potential of big
data is what makes this moment historic.
 This technology not only allows a territory to communicate in real-
time but also helps to understand tourists better, even before they
arrive at their destination, and offer them unique and personalised
experiences.
 Smart…
 Analysing and interpreting the traveller‟s digital footprint
allows the territory to scale the resources and touristic offer
and adapt it to the demand.
 Examples include multilingual mobile apps,
adding geolocalisation to tourism routes, including QR codes
to enhance information panels, offering free Wi-Fi, immersive
experiences with virtual reality to create expectations before
the trip, or the sensorization of objects that gather information
about traffic and the energy consumed for better environmental
management.
 If a tourist destination wants to maintain its leading position, it
must be able to anticipate what lies ahead and to do
this innovation is a must.
 …Cont‟d
• A destination can work to identify and develop new sources of
competitive advantage and turn them into impact realities.
• The number of people with some type of disability is really relevant,
as are chronic illnesses, and we‟re also faced with the progressive
ageing of the population.
• Therefore, it should emphasise that a tourist destination needs to be
concerned about the issue that any visitors can travel freely,
choose an activity and enjoy it with full autonomy, and without
barriers.
• This can be done by implementing a comprehensive urban and
tourist accessibility plan, encouraging companies to promote
accessibility, conducting awareness-raising campaigns, among many
other things.
Smart Tourism Elements
 Components of Smart Tourism
Smart tourism as an innovative tourist destination, built on an infrastructure of
state-of-the-art technology guaranteeing the sustainable development of tourist
areas, accessible to everyone, which facilitates the visitor„s interaction with and
integration into his or her surroundings, increases the quality of the experience at
the destination, and improves residents„ quality of life.
• Smart tourism is based on three basic components: business, experience and
destination.
 Benefits of transforming into Smart destination
• Transformation into a Smart Tourist Destination represents the
revaluation of that destination through innovation and technology,
leading to;
 Increased competitiveness, thanks to a better use of existing
tourism resources, and the identification and creation of new ones.
 An improvement in the efficiency of production and marketing
processes.
 A boost to the sustainable development of the destination in
environmental, economic, and socio-cultural terms.
 An improvement in quality of stay for visitors, as well as in quality
of life for local residents.
 To make the tourism strategy the basis for the economic
revitalization of the area, guaranteeing long term positive impact.
 Considerations in Smart Destination
 Ethical tourism marketing (Jamal and Lee, forthcoming)
 Co-creating ethical tourism products
 Accountability and regulation of the local-global “virtual” spaces in
which smart products circulate
 Special care with respect to technology design and use to protect
against privacy violations and algorithmic discrimination
 Consideration of the typically invisible environmental consequences
of technology use at the destination and elsewhere (e.g. energy
consumption of server farms and e-waste; potential negative
consequences of electromagnetic frequencies on humans and animals)
 Awareness of new levels and forms of dependency on non-local
technology providers
 Identification/monitoring, coordination and distribution of wealth as
well as responsibility among a dynamically emerging set of
stakeholders beyond traditional tourism realms.
 STD Eco-System
 The STD ecosystem is the most comprehensive way to describe the
foundation of smart tourism.
 The ecosystem of STD is composed of four elements: (1) digital
technology, (2) consumers (residents), (3) business (tourism business,
other business) and (4) tourism destination (DMO, government).
 The STD ecosystem uses three technological components: could
compute & Internet of Things (IoT), and the end-user Internet
services system.
 Cloud computing store tourism data on the cloud allowing access
data from the Internet in real-time.
 The Internet of Things (IoT) allows the connection of objects and to
collect, process data from the devices with the minimum human
involvement.
 Lastly, the end-user internet service system comprises all the
hardware and all application to other cloud computing and IoTs.
 STD ecosystem ...cont‟d
• The additional technologies that apply in STD including the
destination application, augmented and virtual reality, sensors,
NFC, QR code, ubiquitous connectivity through Wi-Fi, social
network and chat-bot.
• The STD provides intelligent support based on real-time and
comprehensive and grate value tourist experience and a better
quality of life for the residents in the tourist attraction area.
 Objectives of STDs

 Increase competitive power and life quality of all stakeholders

including local people and tourists
 Can provide real-time and personal service to tourists
 Offer data that facilitates their strategic and operational
management.
 Create radical changes in tourism management and destination
marketing applications as well as in creating tourist experience
Theory and Practice of Smart Tourism
Planning, Development and
Management
 Theory & practice of smart tourism planning

• Smart tourism is the adoption of an integrated, longer term and

sustainable approach in order to plan, develop, run and market
tourism products and works.
• Smart tourism can be regarded as an extension of innovation and
technology-based e- tourism, as the consumers started to attach
more importance to information and communication technologies.
• It includes more than the e-tourism concept and supports e-
tourism with its characteristics to obtain more information, more
mobility and better decision-taking.
• Smart tourism is a social phenomenon caused by a combination of
information communication technologies with tourism
experiences.
 Cont’d
• it includes transformation of the data collected from infrastructure,
social connections, organizational resources and humans into
efficiency, sustainability and enriched experience-focused
propositions by using advanced technological systems.
• Smart tourism consists of three layers. They are: smart
information, smart change and smart operation.
 The smart information layer seeks to collect data,
 The smart change layer aims to provide inter-connection, and
 The smart operation layer intends to visualize data as well as its
integration and smart use.
 Smart Tourism Destinations take advantage of…
1. Technology embedded environments

2. Responsive processes at micro and macro levels

3. End-user devices in multiple touch-points

4. Engaged stakeholders that use the platform dynamically

as a neural system

 The ultimate aims are to enhance tourism experience, improve

the effectiveness of resource management, maximising both
destination competitiveness and demonstrate sustainability.
 Cont‟d
 3 Vital Forms of ICT for Smart Tourism Destinations include:
i. Cloud Computing
ii. Internet of Things
iii. End-User Internet Service System
 Cloud Computing services are designed to provide convenient way to
access solid web platform and data storage through certain network.
• The use of Cloud Computing is going to reduce fixed costs and shift
them into variable costs based on the necessities.
 IoT could support smart destinations in terms of providing
information and analysis as well as automation and control. For
example, chips embedded to entrance ticket to control visitor number.
 End-User Internet Service System, which refers to number of
applications at various levels supported by combination of Cloud
Computing and IoT.
 6A’s for Smart Tourism destination
(1) Attractions- which can be natural such as mountain; artificial
such as amusement parks; or cultural such as music festival;
(2) Accessibility- refers to the entire transportation system within
destination that comprise of available routes, existing terminals
and adequate public transportations;
(3) Amenities- characterize all services facilitating a convenient stay,
namely accommodation, gastronomy and leisure activities;
(4) Available Packages- refer to the availability of service bundles by
intermediaries to direct tourists‟ attention to certain unique
features of a respective destination;
(5) Activities- refer to all available activities at the destination which
mainly trigger tourists to visit the destination; and
(6) Ancillary Services- are those daily use services which are not
primarily aim for tourist such as bank, postal service and hospital
 Smart tourism development
• Smartness into Tourism Destinations requires dynamically
interconnecting stakeholders through a technological platform on
which information relating to tourism activities could be exchange
instantly.
• This integrated platform is having multiple touch points that could
be access through a variety of end-user devices which will support
the creation and facilitation of real-time tourism experiences and
improve the effectiveness of tourism resources management
throughout the destination at both the micro and macro level.
• The ultimate aim is to utilize the system to enhance tourism
experience and improve the effectiveness of resource management
towards maximizing both destination competitiveness and
consumer satisfaction while also demonstrate sustainability over
an extended timeframe
Smart Tourism Destinations take advantage of:

(1) Technology embedded environments;

(2) Responsive processes at micro and macro levels

(3) End-user devices in multiple touch-points; and

(4) Engaged stakeholders that use the platform dynamically as a

neural system.
 Elements of a Tourism Destination Plan
➢ Tourism Demand Analysis- examines the existing and intended
visitor markets for the destination
➢ Tourism Supply Analysis- Supply analysis examines the
destination itself including its attractions, accommodations, and
facilities.
➢ Tourism Impact Analysis- Two of the most important impacts in
a tourism plan are the environmental impacts and the socio-cultural
impacts of development.
➢ Economic and Financial Analysis- benefit to the local economy,
creating spending and employment while increasing the standard of
living of the local population.
➢ Action Plan and Recommendations– The action plan is the final
product of the planning process and will depend on the goals of the
plan.
 Creating smart destination
 Creating Smart Tourism Destinations from scratch requires leader
to constructively engage with local to ensure community
participation and also regularly monitor the plan.
 The flagship of the transformation to Smart Tourism Destinations
is destination-wide access to real-time information.
 To achieve this, destinations must undertake open access through
integrated public controlled operating systems to offer unrestricted
data to all citizens and avoid vendor monopolies
 Tourism authorities should ensure that any information generate
from every development of new application should be made
openly available subject to their commercial and legal agreement
without unreasonable additional cost
 There are two main information sources:
1) Information coming from the city resulting from
sensors, city elements and Open Data; and
2) Information coming from the citizens and visitors as
digital footprint from their social media activities.
 Users could use this information to identify problems as
well as customized potential solutions to overcome
those problems.
 Cont‟d
• Smart Tourism Destinations cored in massive tourism resource data
centre, supported by Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, focused
on enhancing tourists experience through intelligent identification and
monitoring.
• The real sense of Smart Tourism Destinations is to focus on tourists‟
needs by combining the ICT with casual culture and tourist innovation
industry in order to promote tourism service quality, improve tourism
management and enlarge industry scale to a broader extent.
• Smart Tourism Destinations cored in massive tourism resource data
centre, supported by Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, focused
on enhancing tourists experience through intelligent identification and
monitoring.
• The real sense of Smart Tourism Destinations is to focus on tourists‟
needs by combining the ICT with casual culture and tourist innovation
industry in order to promote tourism service quality, improve tourism
management and enlarge industry scale to a broader extent.
 The priorities of Smart Tourism Destinations construction are;

 To enhance tourists‟ travel experience;

 To provide more intelligent platform both to gather and distribute
information within destinations;
 To facilitate efficient allocation of tourism resources; and
 To integrates tourism suppliers at both micro and macro level
aiming to ensure that benefit from this sector is well distributed to
local society
Reasons why destination should invest in smart tourism

 It increases the destination competitiveness.

 It improves the travel accessibility.
 Smart destinations manage better their resources.
 It helps the development of local tourism ecosystem.
 It helps destinations to plan better actions to stimulate tourism.
 It improves the quality of the experiences for visitors and the
quality of life for locals.
 Innovative solutions used by smart destinations
1. Travel Marketplace: Digitalizing the entire tourism offer is
perhaps the first step in becoming a smart destination.
 A travel marketplace is a platform that gathers all the points of
interest, tours, attractions, activities and experiences a
destination has. The idea is to connect visitors directly with
providers.
 It should offer a smooth user experience and allow direct
bookings to services and attractions.
 This not only makes the booking journey easier but also gives
visibility to less known locations, helping in distributing tourists
and revenue within a destination.
 Building this innovative solution from scratch is costly and time-
demanding for a DMO alone. Not for nothing Orioly offers this
service for destinations around the world.
 2. Self-guided Itineraries
 These are usually mobile apps built to guide travelers through a
location or attraction. They work as a regular tour, but they offer
a high-personalized experience.
 Tourists who opt for a self-guided tour can choose from different
languages and departure times, also customize the itinerary
according to their interests.
 All this flexibility attracts travelers looking for a customized
experience at an affordable price.
 Destinations with their own city app can partner with tour
operators to create self-guided itineraries. This is a great way to
help local businesses in generating extra revenue.
 3. Augmented Reality
• Augmented reality sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie but
it has been around for some time now.
• Basically, this technology changes a person’s perception of the
physical surroundings when viewed through a particular device,
such as a smart phone.
• The magic happens by adding a layer of information to reality.
• It uses AR to place little monsters around the player that just can be
seen on the mobile screen.
• This technology offers a huge potential for smart destinations.
• They can use it to enhance travelers’ experience while visiting a
location.
• It fits perfectly with self-guided tours. You can turn a city walk into
an exciting game experience by adding virtual elements such as
historic figures and objects.
 Augmented ...
• Tourism boards can also use it to place useful
information around the destination.
• Imagine just pointing your smart phone to a restaurant or
hotel to see its reviews, or, to a historic landmark to read
interesting information about it.
 4. Chatbots
 A chatbot is nothing more than an automated messaging software
that uses AI to converse with people.
 In other words, it interacts with the user without the need for
human supervision.
 Cities with their own portal or app can implement this solution in
order to improve customer service and access to information by
tourists.
 You can program a chatbot to answer frequently asked questions
regarding the destination, sights and attractions.
 Also, it can help travelers panning their trip and even booking
rooms, flights and experiences.
 5. Big Data
• All this volume of data generated daily on the Internet is the basis of
big data. But not only big techs like Facebook and Google can use it
in their favor.
• Nowadays this technology is accessible to small travel companies and
destinations.
• Data can be collected when someone books a hotel room, a tour,
watch a video, or simply visits a website.
• By combining internal and external data sets, decision-makers
can predict travel demand and behaviors in order to act more
efficiently.
• DMOs can use big data to attract the right people at the right time and
in the right way.
• Also, authorities can use big data to understand how tourists behave
once they arrive at a destination in order to improve services and offer
a better experience.
 6. Virtual Reality
• This technology is also used to enhance travelers‟ experience
before and after arriving at the destination.
• Unlike AR, users need to wear a special device called VR
headset to be immersed in a completely digital environment.
• This unveils a new world of possibilities for DMOs. Basically, VR
brings the “try before you buy” concept to the travel industry.
• This aspect of VR turns it into a great marketing tool for DMOs.
They can use interactive videos and 360° images of popular
landmarks to give a taste of the destination to travelers.
• This type of promotion reduces the uncertainty of buying an
experience and shortens the travelers‟ buying journey.
• Smart destinations can go beyond marketing and use VR to create
a seamless booking experience for travelers.
• While virtually exploring the destination a tourist can make a
reservation of a hotel room or restaurant for example.
 7. Internet of Things
• This emerging technology has gained a lot of attention since the
announcement of the 5G network.
• Internet of things, or just IoT, refers to devices that are connected to
the internet and are capable send and receive data in order to
perform actions automatically.
• Destinations with a fast internet connection are great candidates to
implement the IoT for tourism.
• From smart energy meters to autonomous cars, they can bring
travelers‟ experience to another level.
• Just to illustrate the potential of this technology let‟s imagine a tourist
walking in the historic center of a certain destination.
• As they approach a famous attraction a notification is sent to their
smart phone with its working hours and the number of people inside it.
• This not only optimizes travelers‟ time but also distributes better
tourists around a destination.
 8. Artificial Intelligence
• This is probably the most complex solution on this list.
• Artificial intelligence refers to computers and programs that are
able to learn patterns, make decisions, recognize and interpret sets
of data without human interference.
• One of its main characteristics is the fast response to complex
problems and the low rate of errors compared to humans.
• AI has become more advanced and reliable, making it a great
option for improving administrative and customer service tasks.
• Due to its capability of learning patterns, travel services can use
this technology to study tourists‟ behavior and offer a strong
personalized experience even before being requested it.
• Another use of AI in tourism is in assisting crowd management.
Authorities can use it to redistribute tourists in a certain location
before a place gets too crowded.
Thank you so much