Smart Tourism: Concepts and Insights from Central Europe

Abstract

Nowadays, tourism sector needs to adapt to a very fast changing environment and stronger competitiveness. Smart tourism describes the current stage of tourism development influenced by the evolution of information technologies and is becoming a promising way how to face the new market conditions. The aim of the paper is to review the conceptual foundations of smart tourism and to analyse the development of smart tourism initiative in Central Europe, specifically in Slovakia. The paper adopts an exploratory multiple case study methodology, focusing on information technologies used by Central European tourists, willingness of data sharing and the use of the state-of-the-art technologies in tourism businesses. Moreover, the smart concept is examined based on the (SA)6 framework in three tourism destinations. The paper concludes that smart tourism should not be the ultimate goal, but with the help of technology, innovation, and cooperation, it should bring better tourist experience, wellbeing of residents, enhance effectiveness and competitiveness of businesses and destinations, and lead to overall competitive sustainability.

Smart tourism and location-based services architectural model

“…Nowadays, tourism sector adapts the fastchanging technology environment (Gajdošík, 2018); it is a rich environment for mobile application services, where smart tourism can be offered to provide the traveler with the necessary information before, during, and after the travel. As the amount of information and smart services increases, it becomes difficult for travelers to manage and find the right information at the right time (Ricci, 2010).…”

Assessment of the potential of Varna City as a smart tourist destination

“…In the scientifi c literature smart destinations are seen as a key factor for competitiveness (Küçükaltan & Pirnar, 2016;Boes, Buhalis, & Inversini, 2016). Th ey are a physical tourist places where new technologies are used as a tool for managing the tourist product and maximizing consumer satisfaction (Xiang, Tussyadiah, & Buhalis, 2015;Gajdošík, 2018). Th ere is no defi nition strictly limited to smart (intelligent) destination.…”

The Concept of Comprehensive Tracking Software to Support Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

“…The use of real-time data in models of destination systems is not common [20]. Though some destinations are somewhat ahead [25], the utilization of the available technology in visitor management is generally below its potential [26].…”

“…On closed circuits, where an audio guide device is offered to the visitors, extending or upgrading the device to perform the tracking may be economically and logistically viable. In protected areas, however, organizing distribution and collection of the tracking devices may be difficult and expensive [22], so it is being used rather seldom and for time-limited studies [20,25,42,45,47,48]. Alternatively, visitors' own mobile devices, such as cell phones, smartwatches, or other wearables, may be used for individual tracking, which is more suitable for longitudinal studies in protected areas [49].…”