Purpose
This paper aims to contrast the expectations placed on the smart destination as a theoretical management approach with the reality of emergent tech-savvy tourism demand by examining the ...response of this segment to three critical dimensions of technology use in the context of smart destinations. Tech-savvy tourists are here represented by highly educated Spanish millennial tourists.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained through an online survey and analysed through descriptive techniques and exploratory factor analysis using SPSS. Literature review was critical for setting the foundations of the research in this novel context.
Findings
Results suggest the existence of a gap between the smart destination theoretical expectations and created hype and the real response of the examined demand in the three main scopes for this tourist-smart destination technology-based relationship, namely, mobile technology use, data sharing for personalised experiences and smart technologies for enhanced experiences.
Research limitations/implications
Convenience sampling was used, and the results of the study cannot be generalised to all millennial tourists. The research is a first approximation to the interrelationship between tourists and smart destinations.
Practical/implications
Tourists’ role and experiences mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) are decisive in smart destinations. Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), through their policies and actions, ought to take into account the limited predisposition of tourists in using mobile devices, sharing data and using smart technologies for their experiences. Privacy concerns appear to have special relevance for tourists and, therefore, for the future of smart destinations.
Originality/value
The findings offer relevant insights for smart destinations from a neglected angle hitherto, as they introduce several interesting nuances which do not match entirely the fast track taken by institutions, media and academia. This is critical for better understanding tourists in the current panorama, for DMOs and for the theoretical foundations of smart tourism. Besides, the exploratory data analysis reveals potential dimensions of millennials’ behaviour, which can be useful for further investigations.
The impact of technology on tourist cities and destinations has led to the emergence of renewed management approaches that seek to adapt the planning processes to new challenges and opportunities ...derived from the smart scenario. The smart city and smart tourist destination approaches are aimed at improving efficiency in management, the quality of life of the residents and the tourist experiences. However, little is known about how these ideas are being translated into real policies and whether they are having a real impact. The objective of this paper is to understand how the smart approach is being deployed in the planning processes of Spanish tourist cities and destinations, and its implications in terms of the governance, sustainability and data-driven public management. The planning instruments that guide the smart strategies of different Spanish cities are identified and analysed. This is complemented with a questionnaire administered among managers of the smart city and smart destination initiatives. The findings reveal the diversity of smart initiatives, their benefits and limitations. The results contribute to generating a necessary debate on the implications of the smart discourse for urban and tourism planning and enrich the international debate around this approach.
•Contrasts the theoretical and international smart discourse with practical application in Spanish cities•Critically analyses smart city and smart destination plans, identifying categories•Surveys smart city and destination managers to unveil their perception of impacts•Contributes to overcome the insufficient consideration of tourism within the analysis and development of smart cities•Identifies implications for global urban and tourism planning of the uneven development of the smart approach
This paper aims at developing and applying an indicators system for smart tourism destinations in order to better understand the current situation of a set of destinations which are developing smart ...tourism policies. The indicators were developed by adapting existing indicators in tourism destination management and smart cities literature, creating a new system based on a smart destination theoretical model that establishes three interrelated levels in which smart destinations are grounded: strategic-relational, instrumental and applied levels. Within these levels, nine different dimensions to be measured were identified. The indicators were constructed in collaboration with a public organisation (INVAT.TUR) devoted to providing technical assistance to smart destinations and were pre-tested, readjusted and then applied to a set of destinations of the Region of Valencia (Spain). Obtained findings reveal an uneven performance of destinations in the different dimensions of the three levels. A notable performance is observed in indicators for connectivity and online marketing, while more efforts need to be done in accessibility and sustainability initiatives. However, disparities are evident between different indicators and destinations. These results are discussed and framed within the relevant literature on smart destinations while providing information for destination managers and policy makers to adapt and replicate these indicators in their own territories. This paper is a first attempt to develop and apply indicators to measure smart destinations progress in literature and therefore constitutes an important precedent for future studies.
•Develops an indicator system to measure the progress of smart tourism destinations.•Applies the indicators to a set of smart destinations.•Uneven performance and high dispersion observed in different dimensions.•Higher scores in technological initiatives than sustainability and accessibility.•Indicators replicable in other destinations. Useful for DMOs and policy makers.
Despite the importance of collaborative accommodation in practically every tourist destination, to date the majority of studies have focused on large cities and urban destinations. This article ...distinguishes the factors that explain the added value of Airbnb properties, differentiating between urban and sun-and-beach holiday destinations. To do this, nine destinations from one of the most important European tourism regions have been studied using a hedonic pricing model that includes some variables related to the characteristics of the properties and others that define the online reputation of the hosts and properties and the tourism environment. The results reveal that the sharing economy fosters the emergence of private rentals, expanding the overall size of the accommodation market with some clear differences between the two types of tourist destinations, which emphasize the idea that the decisions made by stakeholders should be considered from a local perspective.
•Studies nine destinations using a hedonic pricing model.•Distinguishes factors explaining the added value of Airbnb properties.•Tourist experience has a greater influence on pricing in urban destinations.•Finds differences between urban and sun and beach holiday destinations.•Tourism decisions should be considering from a local perspective.
This study investigates the relationship between tourism destination competitiveness and the competitiveness of international hotel firms using an integrated approach based on Porter (1990). A ...mediation model is employed to link destination competitiveness, efficiency and firm competitiveness. Global technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are estimated through data envelopment analysis techniques. The results confirm a positive relationship between destination competitiveness and firm competitiveness, but efficiency does not play a mediating role linking both.
This study establishes a classification of the tourist destinations of the Region of Valencia in Spain. A cluster analysis has been conducted on a wide range of indicators related to the tourism ...activity of the destinations, which has then been applied a set of 60 coastal destinations and 482 inland municipalities in the region. Spatial reference frameworks are essential for applying and developing tourism planning and promotion policies. The results obtained reveal their sensitivity to the configurations generated by these data analysis techniques, the variables used in the analysis and the group of destinations taken as a reference for the classification. They also confirm the exceptionality of the case of Benidorm and the existence of tourism dynamics and processes that are manifested unequally across the territory. The latest advances within this technique are applied which will improve the robustness of the results.
Butler's TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle Model) is a descriptive model that has become one of the most influential and widely referenced approaches in the analysis of tourism area development. However, ...from an empirical point of view, and despite many attempts, the model encounters difficulties when making it operational. This article advocates the use of statistical confidence intervals as a useful tool for determining the various stages through which destinations evolve.
This paper analyses the international growth of the global air transport sector to identify factors that determine the emergence of transnational companies and different forms of international ...expansion in the airline industry. An analysis of the market structure is conducted to understand why traditional, full service airlines have adopted alliances and code sharing to internationalise their business, while low-cost carriers prefer more direct methods to enter new foreign markets.
►The paper examines the factors that are leading to the increased internationalisation of airlines. ►The study applies Porter’s five forces framework to demonstrate the various factors leading to different approaches to the internationalisation of approaches of low cost and traditional airlines. ►An explanation of why there has, until recently, been very little foreign direct investment in the international airline sector is developed.
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