Content area
Full Text
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = Electron Markets (2015) 25:179188 DOI 10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8&domain=pdf
Web End = POSITION PAPER
Smart tourism: foundations and developments
Ulrike Gretzel1 & Marianna Sigala2 & Zheng Xiang3 & Chulmo Koo4
Received: 1 June 2015 /Accepted: 9 July 2015 /Published online: 1 August 2015 # Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen 2015
Abstract Smart tourism is a new buzzword applied to describe the increasing reliance of tourism destinations, their industries and their tourists on emerging forms of ICT that allow for massive amounts of data to be transformed into value propositions. However, it remains ill-defined as a concept, which hinders its theoretical development. The paper defines smart tourism, sheds light on current smart tourism trends, and then lays out its technological and business foundations. This is followed by a brief discussion on the prospects and drawbacks of smart tourism. The paper further draws attention to the great need for research to inform smart tourism development and management.
Keywords Smart tourism . Smart technology . Smart business ecosystems . Business models . Open innovation . Big data . Internet of things
BSmart^ has become a new buzzword to describe technological, economic and social developments fuelled by technologies that rely on sensors, big data, open data, new ways of connectivity and exchange of information (e.g., Internet of Things, RFID, and NFC) as well as abilities to infer and reason. Hjer and Wangel (2015) argue that it is not so much the individual technological advances but rather the interconnection, synchronization and concerted use of different technologies that constitutes smartness. Harrison et al. (2010) conceptualize smart as exploiting operational, near-real-time real-world data, integrating and sharing data, and using complex analytics, modelling, optimization and visualization to make better operational decisions. The term has been added to cities (smart city) to describe efforts aimed at using technologies innovatively to achieve resource optimization, effective and fair governance, sustainability and quality of life. In connection with physical infrastructure (e.g., smart home, smart factory), the focus is on blurring the lines between the physical and the digital and on fostering technology integration. Added to technologies (smart phone,...