Conceptualizing Smart Tourism

Although “smart tourism” has become a catchphrase, multiple interpretations and understandings exist, making it more of a nebulous term than a field with firm foundations. Aiming to contribute to the smart tourism literature, we have located, selected, categorised, and evaluated recent articles in computer science journals, proceedings, and conference papers authored by important academics in the field after years of intensive research. In addition to academic research articles, “grey literature” was unearthed, analysed, and ultimately contributed to the generation of fundamental scientific knowledge. Our contribution in this chapter is a complete and formal conceptualization of the so-called smart tourism sector, which could pave the way for its development and the eventual emergence of a Smart Tourism Culture. In addition, we discuss and analyse the identified concepts/approaches to expand comprehension and knowledge of them and, more importantly, to determine their applicability and role in smart tourism. Thus, the groundwork for future research in each approach is set, impediments and areas requiring greater study are recognised, and places where no further advance can be achieved, are exposed. In particular, the following approaches and concepts recognised in the smart tourism realm are discussed: Theoretical approaches, Privacy and Data Protection, Context Awareness, Cultural Heritage, Recommender Systems, Social Media, Internet of Things, User Experience, Real-Time, User Modelling, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Cyber Tourism. After identifying and assessing the aforementioned key topics, we discovered gaps in current knowledge/systems and which were the inspiration to work toward building a series of frameworks that lead to a smart tourist experience. By locating habits, tools and cutting-edge technologies, we were able to formulate our research topics and contribute to the field with the frameworks and applications demonstrated in the subsequent chapters.