Tourism Trends: Current Challenges for Tourism Destinations Management

This introductory chapter presents and discusses some of the salient challenges and trends (i.e., climate change, overtourism, threats to diversity, security, technology, labour issues, and competitiveness) that the tourism sector is facing and that must be addressed by any government and manager who has the ambition to lead a responsible, sustainable, and competitive destination. The chapter proposes to consider tourism from a different and more holistic perspective: Tourism should not be viewed only as an economic engine that sells services, but as an activity that is part of a global natural and socio-cultural system which is impacted by tourism (both positively and negatively) and that should also contribute to improvement and sustainability. It discusses how smart destinations require innovative development, management, and marketing solutions to address those challenges and trends to meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). Finally, the chapter introduces and proposes the model of the Spanish Secretariat of State for Tourism, developed by SEGITTUR, for the Smart Tourism Management.