Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness
Abstract
Purpose
Grounded in service-dominant (S-D) logic, the purpose of this paper is to explore the core components of smartness to present a framework for the development of the smart tourism destination.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the core components of smartness through case study analysis of well-established smart cities.
Findings
The paper conceptualises smartness and argues ICT, leadership, innovation and social capital supported by human capital are core components of smartness. Although ICT is a critical enabler for smart tourism destinations, it is insufficient on its own to introduce smartness. The combination of hard and soft smartness components within a S-D logic ecosystem structure holds the potential for sustained competitive advantage and enhancement of quality of life of both residents and tourists in smart tourism destinations.
Originality/value
The paper extends the application of S-D logic to the context of smart tourism destinations, specifically to examine the smartness concept as a means for competitiveness in tourism destinations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
© International Tourism Studies Association
Citation
Boes, K., Buhalis, D. and Inversini, A. (2016), "Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness", International Journal of Tourism Cities, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 108-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2015-0032
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited