Exploring the Dynamics of Digital Applications in Icelandic Tourism: Insights from Stakeholders

Digitalisation in tourism increasingly influences entrepreneurial activities and plays a key role in fostering sustainability. A specific example of digital innovation in tourism is the growing significance of digital applications (apps), which have been proven to enhance communication with tourists. This trend aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 9, which targets resilient and sustainable industry, innovation, and infrastructure. The current chapter focuses on the value that representatives of the tourism support system attribute to digital innovation. Potential obstacles that could impede the successful implementation of entrepreneurial endeavours of digital solutions in the Icelandic tourism industry are discussed, and three examples of digital innovation in Iceland are examined: an entrepreneurial app; a digital platform initiated by destination marketing organisations; and the development of an Iceland-specific app that could foster tourism sustainability by providing targeted information to manage the flow of visitors to popular attractions. These three examples demonstrate how the success of digital solutions depends on gathering significant market awareness and creating a large user pool. Due to their focus often being limited to a specific locale, these applications frequently fail to achieve sufficient user downloads to cover the development costs, scale up, add value, and become effective tools for tourism development in Iceland. This chapter reveals that while the tourism support system recognises the value of digital solutions, the widespread implementation of successful tourism apps at the national level is lacking. The reasons for this phenomenon and the potential effects on entrepreneurial endeavours are discussed.