Smart Tourism As A Driver For Culture And Sustainability

This book explores the latest developments in the field of smart tourism, focusing in particular on the important cultural and sustainability synergies that have emerged during the digital era. The aim is to elucidate how ICTs can promote innovation and creativity in the tourism and leisure sector in ways that take into account cultural and social responsibilities, foster sustainable tourism management, and enhance cultural tourism, cultural heritage, and sustainable development. The book is based on the proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT), attended by academics and industry practitioners from cultural, heritage, communication, and innovational tourism backgrounds, and is edited in collaboration with IACuDiT. It will have broad appeal to professionals from academia, industry, government, and other organizations who wish to learn about novel perspectives in the fields of tourism, travel, hospitality, culture and heritage, leisure, and sports within the context of a knowledge society and smart economy in which sustainability is becoming ever more important.

This book combines research on technology-driven and social-driven innovation in tourism destinations and the multifaceted concept of sustainability, providing an integrative understanding of the nexus between smartness and sustainability within destinations. It engages theoretically and empirically with the research question of how, and to what extent, smart technologies drive tourism innovation focussed on sustainability. Although innovation and technology are widely considered the way to sustainable tourism growth, further studies need to size the role of technology and critically address modalities, challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of technology deployment in rebalancing tourism disequilibria within local systems. Local, national, and supranational policymakers’ attention to technology investments, the widening technological frontiers, and the enthusiasm for new technological opportunities to build, manage, and market destinations suggest the relevance of this research agenda. This book provides scholars, postgraduate students, and practitioners with conceptual and empirical insights into smart solutions and innovative destination models for multi-stakeholder engagement to manage and address tourism impacts and imbalances. The book outlines scenarios of sustainability-oriented innovation, encompassing and intertwining technological, social, human, and cultural co-drivers as the necessary conditions for smart technologies to enhance sustainable destinations effectively and improve human wellbeing and societal development.

This book features the second volume of the proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT). Held at the Syros Island in Greece in September 2022, the conference's lead theme was ‘Tourism, Travel, and Hospitality in a Smart and Sustainable World’. With a full appreciation of the contributions made by numerous writers toward the progress in tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse on sustainable practices in a smart tourism context, stimulating future debates and advancing knowledge and understanding in this critical area of knowledge. It also puts emphasis on the knowledge economy and smart destinations notion. It enacts new modes of tourism management and development and presents chapters on emerging technologies, such as location-based services, Internet of Things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality

Tourism entrepreneurship is a social and economic process that is encouraged by national systems. Entrepreneurs must be able to act strategically and develop competencies to handle procedures as well as ensure their communication with customers and partners is appropriate. The implementation of automated services and web technologies in tourism is also an issue that small firms must consider in relation to large enterprises. Further study on the best practices for entrepreneurs in the tourism sector is required. Sustainable Growth Strategies for Entrepreneurial Venture Tourism and Regional Development considers current trends in tourism entrepreneurship from different countries all over the world and considers how entrepreneurship functions in varying countries. The book also defines the concept of entrepreneur tourism and sustainable growth. Covering topics such as consumer behavior, hospitality, social media, and tourism management, this reference work is ideal for entrepreneurs, business owners, industry professionals, managers, administrators, policymakers, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

This book gathers the proceedings of the 7th International Conference, with the theme “Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized and Sustainable World,” held on Hydra Island, Greece, on June 17–19, 2020, published with the support of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism. Highlighting the contributions made by numerous writers to the advancement of tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse on sustainable practices in the smart tourism context, improving readers’ understanding of, and stimulating future debates in, this critical area. In addition to the knowledge economy and the concept of smart destinations, the book addresses new modes of tourism management and development, as well as emerging technologies, including location-based services, the Internet of things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality.

It is an undisputed reality that the tourism industry in Asia is getting exposed to more innovative technologies than ever before. This proposed book provides the latest research in the application of innovative technology to the tourism industry, covering the perspectives, innovativeness, theories, issues, complexities, opportunities and challenges. This book, a blend of comprehensive and extensive effort by the contributors and editors, is designed to cover the application and practice of technology in tourism, including the relevant niches. This book focuses on the importance of technology in tourism. This also highlights, in a comprehensive manner, specific technologies that are impacting the tourism industry in Asia, as well as the constraints the industry is facing. The contents of this book deal with distinct topics, such as mobile computing, new product designs, innovative technology usages in tourism promotion, technology-driven sustainable tourism development, location-based apps, mobility, accessibility and so on. A good number of research studies have conducted outlining the contributions and importance of technologies in tourism, in general. However, the tourism industry of Asia so far has attracted very few researchers. Some contributions have been made but not sufficient. Considering the ongoing trend of technology application in the tourism industry in Asia, very few research attempts have been made aiming to explore diverse aspects. Tourism is expanding enormously across the world. which actually creates more demands for effective technologies. This book will be a reading companion, especially for tourism students in higher academic institutions. This book will also be read by the relevant policy planners and industry professionals. Apart from them, this book will be appreciated by expatriate researchers and researchers having keen interest in the Asian tourism industry.

Drawing upon empirical research and critical literature review, Smart Tourism Destination Governance: Technology and Design-Based Approach provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of smart tourism destination governance and its related challenges. Building on the author’s extensive research background in tourism destinations and information technologies, the book provides a quantitative approach to the phenomenon, using cluster and network analysis. It uses design thinking to provide solutions on how to overcome the challenges faced within the context of tourism destination governance, with a detailed discussion of the contribution of the smart approach to overcoming such challenges. The book is presented in three parts as follows: Part 1: The Need for a New Form of Tourism Destination Governance Part 2: The Contribution of Smart Approach to Overcoming the Challenges of Tourism Destination Governance Part 3: Designing Smart Tourism Destination Governance Towards Sustainability, Competitiveness and Resilience This work will be of great interest to both tourism scholars and decision-makers within the field of tourism, aiming to provide a detailed overview of and broaden the reader’s horizons in regards to the possibilities of the smart approach to tourism destination governance.