The evolution of urban tourism is increasingly shaped by digital technologies, with cities around the world embracing innovative models and digital transformation to enhance visitor experiences. Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technologies into all aspects of an organization’s operations, fundamentally altering how it operates and delivers value to customers (Westerman et al., 2011). In the tourism context, digital transformation encompasses the adoption of innovative technologies to enhance the tourist experience, streamline operations, and drive sustainable growth. Building upon foundational studies by scholars such as Buhalis and Amaranggana (2014) and Gretzel et al. (2015) about smart tourism platforms and destinations, this blog explores a theoretical framework for understanding the key elements of smart tourism through a digital transformation lens. The elements of connectivity, data analytics, personalization, and sustainability are drawn from the Barcelona Smart Tourism Platform, reflecting a holistic approach to digital transformation in tourism.
Connectivity serves as the backbone of the digital transformation, enabling the integration of tourists, service providers, and city authorities, which is in line with the vision outlined by Law et al. (2016). Digital connectivity is a means of creating a cohesive ecosystem where information flows freely and efficiently. This connectivity manifests through various channels, including Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile apps, and digital signage, enabling tourists to access information, make bookings, etc. Moreover, by integrating disparate systems and stakeholders, connectivity enhances collaboration and coordination, fostering a more integrated approach to destination management.
Data analytics enables the city to gain actionable insights from the massive amount of data generated by tourist interactions. Drawing on methodologies outlined by Xiang et al. (2017) and Gretzel et al. (2015), Barcelona employs advanced analytics techniques to analyse visitor behaviour, preferences, and trends. This data-driven approach empowers the city to make informed decisions thereby optimizing the tourism experience, and enables stakeholders to tailor offerings, optimize resource allocation, and anticipate demand, thereby maximizing satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Personalization allows a fit to the individual needs and preferences of tourists (Wang et al., 2017). As Gretzel et al. (2021)noted the importance of techniques, Barcelona leverages AI-driven algorithms to customize offerings and recommendations for each visitor. From personalized itineraries to targeted promotions, this personalized approach enhances visitor satisfaction and fosters deeper engagement with the destination.
Sustainability of Barcelona is in line with principles outlined by Niñerola (2019), Barcelona integrates sustainability across all aspects of the visitor experience, from transportation to accommodation to attractions. This encompasses initiatives such as promoting eco-friendly modes of transportation, reducing waste through recycling programs, and supporting local communities through responsible tourism practices.
As echoed by scholars such as Buhalis (2020) andGretzel (2021), Barcelona is creating smarter, more sustainable destinations through technology, exemplifying the potential of digital innovation in sustainable tourism by integrating connectivity, data analytics, personalization and sustainability. As cities around the world navigate the complexities of urban tourism in the digital age, the Barcelona Tourism Platform offers a good example, and a framework that others working in smart tourism can utilize.
As a fashionable and novel tourism agenda, the theory of smart tourism is still evolving but the literature brings out three perspectives. First, tourists . The primary starting point of smart tourism is to fully satisfy the tourists’ need for scenic spots and create more value for them. In this sense, smart tourism is seen as a new pattern of tourism operation, which regards the tourist as the basic service object [1][2][3]. Second, managers (e.g., in government and tourism enterprises). Smart tourism is about achieving a comprehensive and thorough system which aims to offer accurate, convenient and ubiquitous tourism information applications, as well as a range of travel services [4]. In this case, the managers refer to the local scenic area managers and staff, government officials, and the company offering the technology [5]. Third, technology. Although the main point of the smart tourism system is the service, the capabilities and foundation of smart tourism is technology[6]. This refers to the highly systematic, detailed interaction between physical tourism and information resources [7], including digital data exchange[8].
Accompanied by the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the evolution of tourism goes through three stages: traditional tourism, e-tourism and smart tourism. Traditional tourism refers to people moving to countries outside their usual environment[9]. With evolution of technology, e-tourism emerged to address users’ interactivity and web-based technology was used to enhance the tourism experience and information governance, which is considered an early step of smart tourism[10].Subsequently, e-tourism evolved into smart tourism, building on technology infrastructure and ICTs (e,g. cloud service, big data). Importantly, smart tourism emphasises explicitly the support of variously smart activities and value-addition through the dynamic interaction between different actors[11]. The difference between e-tourism and smart tourism is detailed in the table below.
e-Tourism
Smart Tourism
Sphere
digital
bridging digital & physical
Core technology
websites
sensors & smartphones
Travel phase
pre-& post-travel
during trip
Lifeblood
information
big data
Paradigm
interactivity
technology-mediated co-creation
Structure
value chain / intermediaries
ecosystem
Exchange
B2B, B2C, C2C
public-private-consumer collaboration
Table 1 Comparison of e-tourism and smart tourism [12]
Smart tourism systems
Based on the development of ICTs, the smart tourism system (STS) is regarded as a complex system based on a digital service platform to support smart tourism, which addresses the innovation service provided to different stakeholders[7][9]. Specifically, it emphasizes the actors’ intelligent demands of value-added through information service creation, delivery and exchange[13]. Thereby, the STS is characterized by value co-creation through the integration of sources into both micro and macro levels[3][8]. The table below presents the established system in China based on literature and reality [14][15].
Scenic spot interpreterPersonalized tours route E/Robot tour map
Mobile app Electronic map Voice navigation
Smart recommend system
Scenic spot recommendation Recommended route
QR codeMobile app
Table 2 Smart tourism systems in China
Figure 1 demonstrates the conceptual model of a non-profit smart tourism system, which is summarized from the current literature[15].The objective is that the STS provides service to government, enterprise, tourists, and residents [16]. Importantly, these applications are not isolated and individual but also service the interaction requirements. For example, from the perspective of tourism, the STS faces the tourist (T), the connection between tourists (T2T), and the interaction needs between the tourist and government (T2G).
Figure 1 A conceptual model of structuring STS adapted from [15]
Smart tourism ecosystem (STE)
When linking the ecosystem with the smart tourism system, an STE can be established, which contains the characteristic of both the smart tourism system and wider ecosystem components. An STE consists of two layers. The information ecology layer emphasizes the interaction between humans, firms, technology and their environment[9].This indicates the importance of the different actors related to information behaviour and information systems. The service system layer emphasizes the interactions through institutions and technologies to provide services to the beneficiaries, to exchange resources, and to co-create value [12].
Gretzel and Werthner defined the STE as “a tourism system that uses smart technology to create, manage, and provide smart tourism services/ experiences”[17].It is characterized by intensive information sharing and value co-creation. Buhalis and Amaranggana indicated that an STE aims to provide sustainable, enhanced/rich, valuable travel service and experience [6].To reach this, digital ecosystems that provide technical resources and facilitate interactions within and between stakeholders form the core of STE[17]. In other words, the generation of tourism experiences always requires extensive coordination and cooperation between different industry stakeholders and government players [18].
As shown in Figure 2, Gretzel & Werthner proposed a schematic representation of an STE [17].Their study describes an STE as an interactive space supported by a digital ecosystem and containing various types of actors, which are distinguished as tourism consumers (TC), residential consumers (RC), tourism suppliers (TS), other industry suppliers (OS), government agencies, destination marketing organizations (DMO) and intermediaries. These actors are not necessarily discrete, as a single player can play multiple roles. Moreover, this model is also adopted by other researchers like Brandt et al, who proposed an social media analytics (SMA)-enabled STE model, which also indicated the RC, TC, TS and government as vital actors [19]. The tourism consumers (TCs) have resources and, because they have access to the digital ecosystem, can be organized among themselves or mixed with closely related residential consumers (RCs) and act as producers. Through smart technology, tourism providers (TS) or other business-focused groups can connect and create new service offerings. In an ecosystem, the main source of ‘food’ for a ‘species’ is data/information, and the effective conversion of this food into rich tourism experiences can lead to a longer life for the ‘species’. Telecom companies and banking/payment support service providers representing other industry providers (OS) are vital ‘predators’ in the ecosystem and provide essential information to the system. Destination marketing organizations (DMOs) perform traditional information brokering, marketing, and quality control functions, while various intermediaries facilitate transactions through innovative data and devices [9]. Government utilization of social media in the STE could enhance the development and the value co-creation of local tourism [12].
To conclude, STE studies regard the STE as a complex information and service ecosystem, which involves multiple actors like government, tourists, platform providers, residents etc. The main characteristics of STE are 1) the dynamic interactions between multiple actors; 2) the value co-creation during the actors’ interactions; 2) sustainable development; 4) the creation and exchange of tourism resources; 5) the innovation service. Thus, STEs could facilitate the interaction between actors, the exchange and creation of tourism resources, and value creation. This could further improve the tourism experiences and enhance the sustainable development of smart tourism.
References
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