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What is smart tourism and why is it so BIG?

Smart tourism is big business in the travel and tourism industry, but why is it so big and what does smart tourism actually do? Read on to learn more…

What is smart tourism?

A definition of smart tourism, types of smart tourism, smart tourism accessibility options, smart tourism sustainability initiatives, smart tourism information sharing, smart tourism research and management tools, smart tourist experiences, smart tourism: conclusion.

Smart tourism is defined according to the technological capabilities of a particular destination, attraction or the tourist themselves. Many destinations are now modernising to include increased use of smart technology in their operations ranging from payment methods to interactive activities.

The ultimate aim of smart tourism is to improve the efficiency of resource management, maximise competitiveness and to enhance sustainability through the use of technological innovations and practices. It is often associated with e-tourism as this will involve the use of technology.

One destination that is leading the way with their smart tourism industry is China, whereby tourists can use their phones to do simple tasks such as pay for taxis, order meals, check queue times and read information on the destination or attraction that they are visiting through a supplied QR code.

‘Smart’ has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent years.

In essence, for something to be ‘smart’ it needs to have complex technological capabilities in order to allow for the exploitation of a range of information that is then used to inform product development and operation. Whilst the average tourist may not be aware of what goes on behind the scenes, there is likely a lot of work that goes on to ensure maximum productivity and competitiveness.

Whilst the concept of ‘smart’ isn’t directly correlated with technology, in today’s world they are inevitably intertwined. In order to be ‘smart’, destinations, attractions and other tourism industry stakeholders will utilise a variety of technological innovations and practices (these are outlined shortly). As such, the use of technology is at the heart of the concept of smart tourism.

There hasn’t been a great deal of research into smart tourism to date. Most studies in the area focus instead on ‘smart cities’ or ‘smart destinations’.

Gretzel et al (2015) advocate that the notion of smart tourism is, in fact, a complex one, and that succinctly defining the term smart tourism is a difficult endeavour.

The The European Capital of Smart Tourism , define a smart destination as:

‘A destination facilitating access to tourism and hospitality products, services, spaces and experiences through ICT-based tools. It is a healthy social and cultural environment, which can be found through a focus on the city´s social and human capital. It also implements innovative, intelligent solutions and fosters the development of entrepreneurial businesses and their interconnectedness.’

To further elaborate, Buhalis and Amaranggana explain that:

‘Smart Tourism Destinations take advantage of: (1) Technology embedded environments; (2) Responsive processes at micro and macro levels (3) End-user devices in multiple touch-points; and (4) Engaged stakeholders that use the platform dynamically as a neural system.’

Taking into account the available literature at the time of writing, I have provided my own definition of smart tourism below.

‘Smart tourism is the act of tourism agents utilising innovative technologies and practices to enhance resource management and sustainability, whilst increasing the businesses overall competitiveness’.

resource management, maximise competitiveness and to enhance sustainability through the use of technological innovations and practices.

At the heart of smart tourism is technology, that much is clear. But the key is how this technology is used to make the tourism agent (destination management organisation , tourist attraction, hotel, restaurant etc) operate more effectively.

Below you will find five of the most common methods of implementing smart tourism.

Ways to implement smart tourism

Smart tourism can be implemented in any number of different ways, providing it achieves the outcomes of enhanced resource management, sustainability and competitiveness. There are five main ways to do this, although this list is, of course, not exhaustive. These five methods include; smart accessibility options, smart sustainability initiatives, smart information sharing, smart research and management tools and smart tourist experiences.

In order to a tourism agent to identify as smart tourism initiative, they must demonstrate that they are accessible to all, both in a physical and a digital sense. This means that everyone has access to the tourism provider, regardless of age, gender, religion, race, sexuality or disability.

A smart tourism attraction or destination should have a well development transport infrastructure that enables all types of people to travel (i.e. there is wheelchair access and lifts for parents with prams etc). This should also include reasonably priced transport options, which will usually be public transport.

At the attraction or destination itself, there should be opportunities for everybody to access all areas. This may include lifts and ramps for disabled people.

Smart tourism accessibility also includes language communications. This is something that I have personally grappled with a lot since moving to China . Many Chinese attractions do not provide information for non-Chinese speaking tourists. Others provide translation for only some selected information (this works both ways too- I have translated museum scripts to find that the English version provides comprehensive details, but the Chinese version omits certain facts or remarks).

There are some great examples of smart tourism accessibility implemented around the world. I personally like the wheelchair accessibility that is promoted in Malaga and the personal city helpers scheme in Helsinki .

Sustainable tourism is at the forefront of many tourism agent’s plans and operations nowadays, and for good reason. As I explained in my post ‘ Sustainable tourism explained ‘, such practices not only help to provide a good image for the organisation, but also help to combat the negative social , environmental and economic impacts of tourism.

An important arm of smart tourism is the sustainability sector. Tourism agents which operate successful smart tourism initiatives should have a considerable focus on sustainability; reducing their carbon footprint, adopting environmentally friendly approaches and taking into account the host communities and their needs.

There are many ways that organisations can use mart technology to improve their sustainability practices.

Helsinki demonstrated their commitment to sustainable tourism during their Sustainable Flow Festival and Estonia have their Green Key initiative. At a more local level, there are many eco hotels and resorts around the world as well as socially beneficial tourism forms such as volunteer tourism .

Of course, having sustainable practices alone doesn’t qualify a tourism agent as a smart tourism provider. These practices need to be underpinned by technologies, such as the use of solar panel lighting for example, that enable said practices to be achieved.

One of the key advancements enabling smart tourism to occur in recent years is the growth of information sharing platforms. The digitalisation of modern day society has opened up a wealth of opportunities for tourism providers to share information to a wide range of tourist types .

The growth of social media, QR codes and mini-programmes has provided tourism agents with opportunities that were not previously available.

Tourism organisations can now use these new opportunities to provide information prior, during and after the tourists’ visit. They can also utilise more efficient promotional methods and marketing on these online platforms.

Complex algorithms, cookies and other digital monitoring methods can help organisations to be more and more in tune with their consumers or potential consumers. This allows them to develop more suitable and targeted products.

Organisations have been capitalising on the new possibilities of smart tourism information sharing by adopting electronic means of sharing information, for example in a museum or exhibit, encouraging the use of particular social media hashtags and geotagging and developing custom made apps.

Whilst many organisations around the world have turned to smart tourism information sharing practices, China is leading the way in this domain. Chinese tourism attractions are abundant with QR codes and their social media sharing platform, WeChat, enables tourism providers to develop their own mini-programmes- kind of like apps, but less extensive and without the need to download anything.

Nowadays there are many methods of obtaining and monitoring information. Organisations now have a wealth of data at their fingertips.

Adopting smart tourism research and management tools, such as designing a custom-made tourism flow monitor or developing a tailor-made CRM programme, can dramatically improve business outcomes.

A good example of a destination that has implemented smart tourism research and management tools in this way is Malaga, where they have introduced a parking app to help travellers park more effectively and reduce congestion.

Perhaps the most obvious type of smart tourism (for the tourist at least), is the smart tourist experience.

Destinations, attractions and other tourism providers are now adopting innovative technological approaches to develop and enhance the tourism experience that they offer. This ranges from augmented reality applications to gaming and virtual reality. This article on the top 20 augmented reality travel apps show a few examples of how this works in practice.

In the UK, The Hub Hotel from Premier Inn has made augmented reality compatible with the wall maps in the hotel rooms. When these maps are viewed through a smart device the wall maps present additional information about some of the local places of interest.

On my recent trip to Qiandao Lake in China, I saw a virtual reality hot air ballon. Here tourists would wear a mask which would make them feel like they would be lifted to a height inside the hot air ballon, where they could appreciate the lake view around them. In reality, their feet would never leave the ground!

Is smart tourism the future of tourism? I would say so, yes. There are some brilliant examples of smart tourism initiatives around the world and countries like China are leading the way. Despite the evident growth in smart tourism, however, there is a dearth of information on the subject, most notably in the academic field.

Personally, I am excited to see the developments in the tourism industry in this regard over the coming years! What do you think?

Smart tourism: where digitalization meets sustainability

Yes, traveling is a wonderful thing. But so is protecting the environment! Our  our Master’s student writes about his world trip and what sustainable choices are possible. His goal on his trip was clear: How can we combine the two? How can we travel more sustainably? Can we use smart technologies for our adventures around the world? A trip around the world was the experience of a lifetime. His 2019 journey around the globe started in beautiful Bern and took him on an adventure across six continents. For him, traveling and interacting with other cultures has always been a great passion and at the same time an eye-opener in terms of sustainability.

Today, more people than ever could afford to travel. But how can you travel smart? How can you help preserve the environment and sights and not inconvenience locals? Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was booming like never before. According to the United Nations UNCTAD early indicators show that traveling and tourism is one of the most affected sectors by the pandemic. Their studies show that even with the introduction of vaccination, it will take a longer time for travel to return to pre-pandemic levels. So, it’s time to take advantage of this social pause in travel and look back at where smart technologies within travel have led to more sustainability. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) calculated that 1.4 billion people traveled internationally in 2018, half of them in Europe.

But tourism doesn’t just bring good profits to a region or city. Places like Dubrovnik, Amsterdam, or Venice  struggle to cope with the massive influx of tourists . Some say apps like Airbnb or Booking.com are displacing local residents and turning entire cities into giant hotels. In addition, social media providers like Instagram are adding to our desire to visit remote and culturally rich sites and take home the best photos of them.

Fig. 1: Overtourism in Venice, Italy.

When there are more tourists than a particular place or landscape can handle, we talk about overtourism , which has negatively impacted the sustainability and environmental protection of travel again in recent years.

Are smart technologies the solution?

Can cutting-edge technology help make travel friendlier for visitors and locals? Lisa Kinne, smart travel expert from the German digital association Bitkom , says: Yes!

When it comes to tourism, digitalization has great potential to improve sustainability according the Bitkom studies . If it’s first about making information easily accessible, such as real-time data on tourist numbers, tourist flows in popular localities can be regulated more sustainably. Which would mean less overtourism. Another option is to link smart travel options together. This allows us to get from A to B more efficiently. With more and simpler travel information, tourists can consciously choose more sustainable travel solutions.

This is what makes tourism smarter these days. To me, this means taking advantage of the opportunities that digitalization offers us to minimize risks as much as possible and support sustainability.

Practical examples and hacks of smart traveling

For example, how to get to a destination. Services like www.ecopassenger.org help travelers compare different itineraries in terms of CO2 emissions. We also often used the train for our travels, and we were helped by the famous “man from seat 61” who runs an online blog about sustainable train travel on www.seat61.com .

Fig. 2: Ecopassenger.org supports the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Websites like www.myclimate.org calculate the environmental carbon footprint of our trip and convert it into the required CO2 offset of a flight. For instance, when we flew from São Paulo to Johannesburg, we were able to donate to a climate protection project in developing and emerging countries by compensating about 70 additional swiss francs.

The latter mentioned case of our trip shows that sustainability is not only an issue about emissions, but also about social sustainability – such as reforestation or education – which should be considered while traveling. For social sustainability, to give an instance, we traveled to Arequipa in Peru, to help within a social education project. The digital platform www.socialbnb.org , a useful example from the sharing economy, made this possible. Similarly exciting here is the provider www.fairbnb.coop , which uses commission money to support local projects.

The power of data, AI, and machine learning for more sustainable travels

It would be great if we could expand existing data networks and share more data regarding more sustainable travel with society. As travelers, we have the technologies at our fingertips to collect data and make it available to the travel community. As an illustration, let’s say we didn’t feel a travel deal was very sustainable. So, we can suggest a different offer to the community online and end up doing good by collecting data on more sustainable offers on an ongoing basis.

Through smart tourism, we can contribute further to science by providing data. Vacation snapshots taken can become part of a smart tourism data pool. Travelers can upload their photos online through a project of the Citizen Science Center at the University of Zurich and collect valuable data for research on coasts and animals. You wonder how it works?

Are you traveling to a coast or a beach and taking some snapshots of it? Travelers can nowadays upload their coastal photos on Coastwards or via coastwards app without login and provide the exact location of it. These images go into a global database and help scientists to better understand the risks of rising sea levels through artificial intelligence and machine learning models.

During our South Africa safaris, we got to observe one of the rarest and most endangered species in the wild: the wild dog. While there, we learned about the digital solution Wild Me. WildMe develops open software and artificial intelligence to support wildlife conservation. They use machine learning in the fight against the extinction of endangered species . This smart technology documents wildlife migration routes and trails.

Fig. 3: How Wild Me works through Microsoft Azure.

An animal with unique patterns like the South African wild dog is photographed by a traveler. The images are then posted to the cloud by users or through social media scans. Computer vision models use pattern recognition to identify the species and individual animals. Users can then track their favorite animals in a wildbook (gamification possible through a collaboration with Microsoft). The data collected helps scientists monitor endangered populations, animal interactions, and individual movements for the benefit of wildlife conservation.

Fig. 4: Wild Me AI technology combined with machine learning to protect South African wildlife.

Scientists aren’t the only ones who can benefit from this Big Data generation. Travelers like us do too. Tourists in the city of Hangzhou (China), for instance, are tracked via geo-tracking so that the city can inform visitors how crowded a place or attraction is, and this is possible about 2 hours in advance using predictive analysis.

Our trip around the world showed us impressively through these examples and digital hacks that digitalization is revolutionizing tourism and travel and that automated innovations can contribute to more sustainability.

Smart traveling – in a European role model

The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) claims that smart cities are the best prepared  for reconciling sustainability and travel . In recent years, two cities have been named European smart tourism capitals for the first time. Lyon and Helsinki. The example of Helsinki (Finland) shows what smart traveling and, consequently, a Smart City can look like. You can start your trip to Helsinki completely digitally! In fact, anyone can visit and explore Helsinki virtually through VR technology and a VR headset .

In the future, it might even be possible to attend concerts and exhibitions virtually or go shopping in Helsinki virtually. Not everyone can afford to travel, or the pandemic situation currently prevents it. Through Helsinki’s VR technology, these hurdles can be overcome, and it offers the possibility to explore the city and various sights without flying or physically traveling . VR saves travel time and the associated CO2 emissions.

Those who still travel to Helsinki in person can filter the most sustainable food and exploration options via Myhelsinki . And then there’s the question of how to get from A to B sustainably in Helsinki? By metro or light rail, or by bike, or by taking the nearest ride-share? The app Whim (also available in Switzerland) allows you to search, book and pay for the different means of transport available in Helsinki. Within the app, the most sustainable route can be determined directly using the appropriate mode of transport. This makes the city much cleaner, more convenient and increases the quality of life for residents.

Fig. 5: Virtual Helsinki: a completely digital visit to Finland through VR.

Many of these initiatives are supported by the municipality to implement a better and more sustainable future, making Helsinki an example of a smart city for smart travelers.

This blog ends with the same statement it started: Yes, traveling is a wonderful thing. But so is protecting the environment! It will remain a big challenge for travelers, for cities or countries, and for society to make travel more sustainable. However, the digital solutions of our time and the associated power of data can help us promote sustainability during our travels. The associated community on more sustainable travel will grow, and at the same time more cities will be digitized into smart cities. The potential to travel more sustainably is great, and the next time we travel, digitalization will surely already be providing new opportunities.

So, let’s all take advantage of the technological developments of our time in travel, so that future generations can also explore and travel our planet in a sustainable state and its full beauty.

• COVID-19 and Tourism – An Update . United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2021. https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcinf2021d3_en_0.pdf
• International Tourist Arrivals Reach 1.4 Billion Two Years Ahead Of Forecasts. World Tourism Organization UNWTO, 2019. https://www.unwto.org/global/press-release/2019-01-21/international-tourist-arrivals-reach-14-billion-two-years-ahead-forecasts
• “Tourists Go Home!” – Tourism Overcrowding And “Tourismophobia” In European Cities (Can Tourists And Residents Still Co-Habitate In The City?) , Egresi, I., 2018. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327883652_Tourists_go_home_-_Tourism_overcrowding_and_tourismophobia_in_European_cities_Can_tourists_and_residents_still_co-habitate_in_the_city
• Nationale Tourismusstrategie digital denken – Bitkom-Handlungsempfehlungen für den Tourismusstandort Deutschland. Kinne, L., 2020. https://www.bitkom.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/20200504_bitkom_positionspapier_nationale-tourismusstrategie-digital-denken.pdf
• Digitaler Tourismus 2020: So smart reisen die Deutschen. Paulsen, N., 2020. https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Digitaler-Tourismus-2020-So-smart-reisen-die-Deutschen
• The Amazing Ways Wild Me Uses Artificial Intelligence And Citizen Scientists To Help With Conservation . Marr, B., 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/01/29/the-amazing-ways-wild-me-uses-artificial-intelligence-and-citizen-scientists-to-help-with-conservation/?sh=449b4152dcdc
• Stadtentwicklung: Mit der App “Smart Cities» in die Zukunft. Euronews, 2019. https://de.euronews.com/next/2019/10/17/stadtentwicklung-mit-der-app-smart-cities-in-die-zukunft
• Helsinki’s huge VR gig hints at the potential of virtual tourism. Baxter, S., 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/may/05/helsinki-huge-vr-virtual-reality-gig-potential-virtual-tourism

About the Master Digital Administration

This article was written as part of the Master’s programme in Digital Business Administration at BFH Wirtschaft. The programme provides the relevant skills to help shape the digital future of business and society. Thanks to current live cases from companies in the digital transformation, the study programme is strongly practice-oriented and provides hands-on experience in the use of current and emerging digital technologies.

You can find more information here.

AUTHOR: Paulo Cabral

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Smart Tourism: The Future of the Sector is Technological

What is smart tourism, smart cities and tourism, artificial intelligence and tourism, smart tourism and 5g, examples of smart tourism, smart tourism applications.

Smart cities are booming and are positioned as the perfect option for future processes of massive urbanization and sustainable models that companies and government agencies are currently pursuing.

This new paradigm offers the tourism sector a wide range of business opportunities and new ways of creating value to its offer. We tell you what it consists of, what the role of technology will be, and its future forecasts.

Smart tourism is defined as the dynamic connection of human experiences with smart technologies. It is closely linked to the development of Smart Cities and goes hand in hand with improvements in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT , Big Data, or 5G.

The goal of smart tourism is to improve the efficiency of resource management, maximize competitiveness and enhance sustainability through the use of innovative technologies. Therefore, more and more destinations are joining this modernization of their operations, from payment methods to various interactive activities.

The Smart Cities boom is impacting many industries, and one of them is tourism, which is increasingly moving towards a smart destination model.

As I said above, the development of smart tourism goes hand in hand with the growth of Smart Cities. These cities aim to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants, in addition to creating more sustainable places. Therefore, smart tourism also follows these initiatives through richer and more environmentally friendly experiences.

Due to the importance of tourism as a strategic economic activity in many countries, this new way of traveling through cities is emerging. Some key points for the consolidation of smart tourism in a smart city are:

• State-of-the-art infrastructure guarantees sustainable development and promotes equitable accessibility.
• Access to free wifi in the street and public places.
• Electric mobility as an alternative to traditional transport.
• Promotion of more sustainable tourism.
• Real-time information such as traffic flow or incidents in public transport.
• Cultural and interactive activities.

Artificial Intelligence has numerous applications in the tourism sector, both from the consumer and business perspective. In the first case, it helps users find the most relevant information more quickly, gives them greater mobility, improves their decision-making and provides them with a better tourism experience.

For entrepreneurs, AI helps to manage resources, especially in promotion and productivity, and also to create a more sustainable model. Some of the most common examples are:

• Recommendation systems and personalization techniques: AI makes available to users the alternatives that suit them best, with personalized suggestions for each case and reducing the infinite number of options that do not always fit. Thanks to the information made available to companies, they can build precise profiles and tailor their experiences to each case.
• Conversational systems such as chatbots and voice assistants: These systems employ technologies such as NLP and speech recognition and are very useful because users can access them at any time through a closer experience that mimics the human one. In addition, with the use of chatbots, company workers no longer have to waste time on these types of tasks and can dedicate themselves to other more important ones.
• Forecasting tools: using historical and contextual data, future estimates are made to make better decisions. In the tourism sector, it is used to understand the tourist demand of each period and place, in order to develop marketing strategies, financial management, and allocation of human resources, detect scams or support the management of facilities.
• Translation applications: one of the bases of tourism is contact with different cultures and languages. However, it is also one of the biggest barriers for tourists when choosing a destination and avoiding sources of discomfort. Machine translation makes it easier for users to navigate each destination, allowing them to explore and participate in all kinds of activities.

Thanks to the development of 5G networks, new applications based on faster communication between devices will emerge.

When applied to tourism, we are referring to solutions that can be used by travel companies or cities to attract visitors through a more attractive experience.

Changes in this sector will focus on greater personalization of services, better access to information and content, quality entertainment, and optimized operations.

On the other hand, a fast internet connection can be a key factor in whether or not a guest returns to accommodation, especially when it is a business trip. 5G solves these problems, in addition to contributing to the implementation of smart features such as lights and thermostats that are controlled from a mobile device.

It is also a fundamental technology for the proper functioning of other technologies such as augmented reality. Many museums have already included experiences with tablets or glasses that gamify the traditional experience or live tours.

In fact, it will be a fundamental factor in airports, as this technology will be very present in passenger management or aircraft maintenance. Even solutions in which artificial intelligence plays a leading role, such as assisted vision, will also enter the market.

There are more and more examples of smart tourism destinations that we can find anywhere in the world. In fact, initiatives such as the European Capital of Smart Tourism have emerged, which aims to raise awareness of smart tourism tools, measures and projects implemented in cities in four categories: sustainability, digitization and cultural heritage, accessibility, and creativity.

We have compiled some of the most striking cases, but there are many more:

• El Hierro , in Spain, has become the first smart island in the world to achieve energy self-sufficiency, in addition to reducing its pollution levels thanks to the generation of electricity from garbage, or the replacement of brick with volcanic stone in the construction sector.
• Tequila , in the Mexican state of Jalisco, offers free wifi in its historic center, has an app containing information on products and services in the area, and has a data system that informs travelers in real time about traffic and commercial activities.
• The Swedish city of Gothenburg has implemented measures to ensure the well-being of future generations. It has published a smart map that encourages citizen participation to exchange, share or rent in the city. It also has a 3D model to conduct public consultations, anticipate the impact of future development and make improved decisions. On the other hand, 60% of its district heating is based on waste or recycled heat, making it one of the most sustainable European capitals.
• Malaga is the Spanish city that stands out most in terms of accessibility. It has installed LED street lighting and has created numerous kilometers of bicycle lanes, along with several rental stations. It has also installed smart irrigation systems in parks and gardens to save water and has implemented a plan to reduce air pollution, control pollen levels, and reduce noise.
• Ljubljana , the capital of Slovenia, has placed special emphasis on sustainability, and 20% of its territory is made up of protected natural areas, with a focus on converting degraded sites into public spaces. It has also promoted the purchase of local products in hotels and restaurants, in addition to creating a tourism website with a wide variety of content and applications focused on responsible tourism.
• Helsinki , the capital of Finland, has designed an intelligent public transport system that has received high praise. An “Uber boat” system is now being considered and driverless buses are being tested. In addition, multilingual workers can be found stationed at the city’s main attractions, offering assistance to visitors. It has also put a focus on electric transport and aims to become carbon neutral by 2035.
• Copenhagen , the Danish capital, has made great strides in digitalization. It has launched a visitor service, where tourists can see everything the city has to offer through moving billboards, robotics or virtual reality.
• Singapore is another example of digitalization, as it has implemented solutions that encourage the development of innovative communities. There, tourists have apps that inform them about crime rates in each specific area and receive notifications about missing persons and emergency institutions or information based on their geopositioning.

Smart tourism plays a crucial role in the development of smart cities, as its initiatives to attract tourists can cause a significant increase in people and vehicles. This affects traffic, in its congestion or in the difficulty of finding parking. This is why tourism and cities must work hand in hand to remedy these problems and provide a better experience for tourists and residents.

Dubai is another city that wanted to create an improved model for its inhabitants and offer a unique experience to its visitors. Therefore, it commissioned us to develop a project aimed at developing a totally innovative digital experience for the city.

We created a tool with which to manage high-resolution panoramic photos and videos, providing an automated processing and uploading system, in order to be available for viewing on a web application. You can discover all the details of Dubai 360 here.

On the other hand, with a special focus on sustainability, we created a solution for Trasmediterránea that reinforces passenger security, guarantees identity control, and increases the company’s environmental commitment by eliminating the need to print more than 5 million tickets per year.

We are specialists in creating innovative developments that transform the tourism sector towards a digitalized and interactive model. If you want to know how do not hesitate to contact us!

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Smart tourism leverages technology and data to enhance visitor experiences, promote sustainable travel practices, and create a more connected and personalized tourism ecosystem. Here are key aspects of smart tourism:

Digital Destination Information: Smart tourism provides visitors with digital platforms and mobile applications that offer comprehensive and up-to-date information about destinations, attractions, accommodations, and local services. These platforms can include interactive maps, augmented reality guides, and personalized recommendations based on individual preferences, enhancing the visitor’s understanding of the destination and enabling them to make informed decisions.

Smart Transportation and Mobility: Smart tourism integrates transportation services and mobility solutions to improve the efficiency and sustainability of travel. This includes real-time transportation information, digital ticketing, and integrated multi-modal transportation options. Smart cities leverage technologies like GPS tracking, ride-sharing platforms, and electric vehicle infrastructure to provide convenient, eco-friendly, and seamless transportation experiences for tourists.

Personalized Experiences through Data Analytics: Smart tourism utilizes data analytics to understand visitor preferences, behaviors, and interests. By analyzing data from various sources, such as social media, mobile apps, and sensors, tourism stakeholders can personalize experiences and offer targeted recommendations to visitors. This can include personalized itineraries, tailored recommendations for attractions and activities, and customized offers from local businesses.

Sustainable Tourism Practices: Smart tourism promotes sustainable travel practices by providing information and incentives for eco-friendly activities, responsible accommodation options, and local sustainable initiatives. This includes promoting responsible tourism behavior, minimizing the environmental impact of tourism activities, and supporting local communities through initiatives such as community-based tourism and fair-trade practices.

Smart Visitor Management: Smart tourism employs visitor management systems to efficiently manage visitor flows and enhance the overall visitor experience. This includes technologies like digital ticketing, crowd monitoring, and queue management systems. By optimizing visitor flows, destinations can reduce congestion, ensure visitor safety, and improve the overall quality of the tourist experience.

Smart Hospitality Services: Smart tourism enhances hospitality services by integrating technology into accommodations. This includes features like smart room controls, mobile check-ins, personalized recommendations, and in-room connectivity. Smart hotels leverage Internet of Things (IoT) devices and data analytics to provide a seamless and personalized experience for guests.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Experiences: Smart tourism incorporates augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to create immersive and interactive experiences for tourists. AR and VR applications can offer virtual tours of attractions, historical sites, or museums, providing a unique and engaging way to explore and learn about a destination.

Real-time Communication and Safety: Smart tourism enables real-time communication between tourists and tourism stakeholders. This includes instant messaging platforms, chatbots, and emergency communication channels. By providing easy access to information and assistance, smart tourism enhances visitor safety and ensures a seamless experience even in unexpected situations.

Smart tourism leverages technology, data analytics, and sustainable practices to enhance visitor experiences, promote responsible travel, and foster economic growth in tourism destinations. By embracing smart tourism initiatives, destinations can provide personalized and sustainable travel experiences while preserving their cultural and natural assets for future generations.

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Smart tourism: foundations and developments

• Position Paper
• Open access
• Published: 01 August 2015
• Volume 25 , pages 179–188, ( 2015 )

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• Ulrike Gretzel 1 ,
• Marianna Sigala 2 ,
• Zheng Xiang 3 &
• Chulmo Koo 4  

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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.

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“Smart” 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. Höjer 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, smart card, smart TV, etc.), it describes multi-functionality and high levels of connectivity. In the context of markets/economies (smart economy), it refers to technologies supporting new forms of collaboration and value creation that lead to innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness.

In the context of tourism, smart is used to describe a complex amalgam of all of the above. There is incredible institutional support and in some instances even pressure to realize smart tourism. Especially in Asia, there have been concerted efforts to drive the smart tourism agenda forward. Governments in China and South Korea are heavily funding initiatives mostly focused on building the technological infrastructure that supports smart tourism (Hwang et al. 2015 ). In Europe, many of the smart tourism initiatives were born out of smart city projects and, as a consequence, smart tourism destinations are increasingly making an appearance in the European tourism landscape. The focus in Europe, however, is more on innovation and competitiveness and developing smart end-user applications that support enriched tourism experiences using already existing data combined and processed in new ways (Lamsfus et al. 2015 ; Boes et al. 2015a , b ). In Australia, the emphasis is on smart governance and specifically open data. What governments universally recognize is the transformative power of smart technologies not only in terms of the economic potential but also the social and experiential dimensions.

Yet in practice “smart” has become a very fuzzy concept often used to drive specific political agendas and to sell technological solutions. This is especially true in the case of “smart tourism”, where it is frequently used in the context of open data initiatives or for rather trivial projects such as promoting free wi-fi or the development of mobile applications. While these technologies and new approaches to data collection, management and sharing are important stepping stones in implementing smart tourism, they do not provide the full picture of what smart tourism encompasses. There is also a lack of definitional clarity: suddenly everything is smart. Further, as far as smart tourism is concerned, theory seems to lag behind the many government and industry-led projects. Academic work is largely focused on describing the phenomenon in the form of case studies (e.g., Boes et al. 2015a , b ; Bakıcı et al. 2013 ; Wang et al. 2013 ) or on discussing isolated technological developments (e.g., Huang and Chen 2015 ; Boes et al. 2015a , b ) rather than on laying the theoretical foundations for its advancement and/or critique. It is therefore the aim of this paper to provide insights regarding our current understanding of what smart tourism is, and what it is not. In addition, it outlines research needs to be met in order to inform the future development of smart tourism.

Defining smart tourism

According to the UNWTO ( 2015 ), tourism is “a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes”. Given the information-intensity of tourism and the resulting high dependence on information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Law et al. 2014 ; Koo et al. 2015 ; Werthner and Klein 1999 ; Benckendorff et al. 2014 ), it is not surprising to see the concept of “smart” being applied to phenomena that encompass tourism. In many ways, smart tourism can be seen as a logical progression from traditional tourism and more recently e-tourism in that the groundwork for the innovations and the technological orientation of the industry and the consumers were laid early with the extensive adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in tourism, for instance in the form of global distribution and central reservation systems, the integration of Web-based technologies that led to the emergence of e-Tourism (Buhalis 2003 ; Werthner and Ricci 2004 ). This developmental trajectory continued with the widespread adoption of social media (Sigala et al. 2012 ), and a move towards realizing mobile tourism in recognition of the high mobility of tourism information and of tourism consumers (Buhalis and Law 2008 ; Wang et al. 2012 ). However, smart tourism is certainly a distinct step in the evolution of ICT in tourism in that the physical and governance dimensions of tourism are entering the digital playing field, new levels of intelligence are achieved in tourism systems (Gretzel 2011 ), the fabric of the industry is yet again changed and the ways in which tourism experiences are created, exchanged, consumed and shared are fundamentally different.

Smart tourism involves multiple components and layers of smart that are supported by ICTs (Fig.  1 ). On one hand, it refers to Smart Destinations , which are special cases of smart cities: they apply smart city principles to urban or rural areas and not only consider residents but also tourists in their efforts to support mobility, resource availability and allocation, sustainability and quality of life/visits. Lopez de Avila ( 2015 , n.p.) defines the smart tourism destination as:

Components and layers of smart tourism

an innovative tourist destination, built on an infrastructure of state-of-the-art technology guaranteeing the sustainable development of tourist areas, accessible to everyone, which facilitates the visitor’s interaction with and integration into his or her surroundings, increases the quality of the experience at the destination, and improves residents’ quality of life.

The key aspect of smart destinations is the integration of ICTs into physical infrastructure. Barcelona, for instance offers travellers interactive bus shelters that not only provide touristic information and bus arrival times but also USB ports for charging mobile devices. In addition, it makes bicycles available throughout the city and travellers can check their locations via a smartphone app, thereby fostering environmentally friendly transportation around the city ( http://smartcity.bcn.cat/en/bicing.html ). The city of Brisbane has recently mounted over 100 beacons onto points of interest to communicate information to tourists via a mobile app if they are within a certain radius of the location ( http://goo.gl/QidSOC ). Amsterdam uses beacons to let tourist signs translate themselves into different languages and the Amsterdam ArenA is testing sensors for better crowd management ( http://amsterdamsmartcity.com/ ). Seoul invests heavily in providing free wi-fi as well as smart phones to tourists ( http://www.visitseoul.net ), Jeju Island in South Korea has just declared itself as a smart tourism hub that will use innovative technology for content delivery to tourists ( https://youtu.be/d3C7vS-IbAY ) and Sunmoon Lake in Taiwan provides location-based information on its tourist bus shuttles. Importantly, all these efforts are pieces of larger, coordinated efforts and strategic investments to foster innovation, quality of life and sustainability through enriching physical infrastructure with data within the context of specific destinations.

In addition to including a destination component, smart tourism is a social phenomenon arising from the convergence of ICTs with the tourism experience (Hunter et al. 2015 ). The smart experience component specifically focuses on technology-mediated tourism experiences and their enhancement through personalization, context-awareness and real-time monitoring (Buhalis and Amaranggana 2015 ). Neuhofer et al. ( 2015 ) identify information aggregation, ubiquitous connectedness and real-time synchronization as the major drivers of such smart tourism experiences. The smart tourism experience is efficient and rich in meaning. Tourists are active participants in its creation. They not only consume but also create, annotate or otherwise enhance data that constitutes the basis of the experience (e.g., by uploading photos to Instagram with destination-related hashtags or helping map toilets at destinations - http://www.nyrestroom.com/ ). The smart tourists and their digital selves (or data bodies) use smartphones to tap into information infrastructures provided at the destination or virtually in order to add value to their experiences.

The third component, Smart Business , refers to the complex business ecosystem that creates and supports the exchange of touristic resources and the co-creation of the tourism experience. Buhalis and Amaranggana ( 2014 ) describe the business component of smart tourism as being characterized by dynamically interconnected stakeholders, the digitalization of core business processes, and organizational agility. A distinct aspect of this smart business component is that it includes public-private collaboration to an extent that is unusual and results from governments becoming more open and technology-focused as providers of infrastructure and data. In addition, smart tourism recognizes that consumers can also create and offer value as well as monitor and therefore take on business or governance roles.

Importantly, smart tourism spans three layers across these three components: a smart information layer that aims at collecting data; a smart exchange layer that supports interconnectivity; and, a smart processing layer that is responsible for the analysis, visualization, integration and intelligent use of data (Tu and Liu 2014 ).

Based on these considerations, smart tourism is defined as tourism supported by integrated efforts at a destination to collect and aggregate/harness data derived from physical infrastructure, social connections, government/organizational sources and human bodies/minds in combination with the use of advanced technologies to transform that data into on-site experiences and business value-propositions with a clear focus on efficiency, sustainability and experience enrichment . Its main differences from e-tourism following the above descriptions and definition are further elaborated in Table  1 .

Technological foundations of smart tourism

ICT is, undoubtedly, key to the conceptualization as well as development of smart tourism. While the notion of smart tourism became popular only recently among academics and practitioners, ICT with the ability to support tourism in an intelligent way has been discussed, developed, and envisioned for quite a long time (Gretzel 2011 ). Smart ICT is expected to be able to comprehend, to profit from experience, to acquire and retain knowledge, and to respond quickly and successfully to a new situation (Rudas and Fodor 2008 ). Within a smart tourism setting, this kind of technology is the key component of information systems that promise to supply tourism consumers and service providers with more relevant information, better decision support, greater mobility, and, ultimately, more enjoyable tourism experiences (Gretzel 2011 ; Werthner 2003 ; Sigala and Chalkiti 2014 ). These smart systems include a wide range of technologies in direct support of tourism such as decision support systems and the more recent recommender systems, context-aware systems, autonomous agents searching and mining Web sources, ambient intelligence, as well as systems that create augmented realities (Fesenmaier et al. 2006 ; Lamsfus et al. 2014 ; Venturini and Ricci 2006 ).

With the focus on the traveler as the user of these systems, these systems aim to support travelers by: 1) anticipating user needs based upon a variety of factors, and making recommendations with respect to the choice of context-specific consumption activities such as points of interest, dining and recreation; 2) enhancing travelers’ on-site experiences by offering rich information, location-based and customized, interactive services; and 3) enabling travelers to share their travel experiences so that they help other travelers in their decision making process, revive and reinforce their travel experiences as well as construct their self-image and status on social networks. From the industry perspective, the emphasis is on the potential contributions of these smart systems in terms of process automation, efficiency gains, new product development, demand forecasting, crisis management, and value co-creation (Werthner 2003 ; Wöber 2003 ; Sigala 2012a and b ; Yoo et al. 2015 ). Although these systems can be characterized as heterogeneous, distributed, and sometimes even fragmented, the overarching goal of developing these systems should be open, scalable, and cooperative, enabling full autonomy of the respective participants of the industry as well as supporting the entire tourist experience and all business phases (Staab and Werthner 2002 ).

In smart tourism, technology is seen as an infrastructure, rather than as individual information systems, and encompasses a variety of smart computing technologies that integrate hardware, software, and network technologies to provide real-time awareness of the real world and advanced analytics to help people make more intelligent decisions about alternatives, as well as actions that will optimize business processes and business performances (Washburn et al. 2010 ). Today, the widespread use of mobile devices, especially of the smartphone and its numerous apps, signifies an era of unprecedented connectivity and ubiquitous access to the Internet (Wang and Xiang 2012 ). Many technological developments that support mobile access, such as Cloud Computing and End-User Internet Service Systems are thus instrumental to facilitating smart tourism goals.

As indicated in Table  1 , bridging the physical world with the digital realm is a central concern for smart tourism development. The increasing use of iBeacon technology in tourism ensures a first step in this direction in that it allows smart phones to react to signals from the physical world in order to support ambient context identification (see www.ibeaconinsider.com for an elaboration). However, ultimately, realizing the Internet of Things (IoT) will be crucial for creating the desired pervasive, “smart” technological environment that encompasses connected physical and digital infrastructures. Remaining largely a vision at this stage, the Internet of Things has the potential to rapidly become a new reality as a technological infrastructure (Atzori et al. 2010 ). It has been identified as an important foundation for the services to be provided by smart tourism cities (Guo et al. 2014 ; Perera et al. 2014 ). The basic idea of the IoT is the pervasive presence around us of a variety of objects such as Radio-Frequency-Identification (RFID) tags, sensors, actuators, mobile devices, etc., which are able to interact with each other and cooperate with their neighboring objects to achieve common goals (Want et al. 2015 ). These objects are connected to the Internet which consequently bridges the gap between the real world and the digital realm. Hence, the IoT enables the development of various platforms able to transmit a wide range and various types of data using participatory sensing systems (Gutiérrez, et al. 2013 ). Importantly, the emergence of the IoT will provide a shift in service provision, moving from the current vision of always-on services, typical in the Web era, to always-responsive situated services, built and composed at run-time to respond to a specific need and able to account for the user’s context. Thus, it is predicted that the Internet will soon realize the vision long dreamed of - a seamless fabric of classic networks and networked objects which can be identified, located, monitored, and managed anytime and anyplace. Content and services will all be around us, persistently available, creating conditions for new applications and enabling new ways of working, interacting, entertainment, and living (Miorandi et al. 2012 ).

The innovations driven by the IoT have important implications for tourism development because travel involves movement through time and space and this “smart” environment will grow to be aware of, and be able to address, the traveler’s contextual needs in a pervasive yet non-intrusive way. For example, sensors embedded in tourist attractions will enable tourism service providers to track tourists’ locations and their consumption behavior so that location-based services could be offered. Wearable technologies such as smart watches play an important role in this as well as they not only collect data through their sensors and cameras but also communicate with the network and potentially the IoT and support high levels of connectivity without interfering with the experience. At the management level, this type of system can be employed to control visitor numbers within specific tourism sites by using a variety of sensors with each site’s carrying capacity as a benchmark. The social dimensions also have to be recognized as smart objects embedded in the environment may automatically trigger the transmission of messages to family and friends to enable them to know what we are doing or what we have done in the past, such as moving from one site to another or meeting some common friends. Within a social setting we may think of the IoT as a platform that generates information about ‘events’ of people and places which is gathered and uploaded to provide information about travelers within their social networking sites. As such, the technological factor of smart tourism is multidimensional consisting of the ubiquitous infrastructure, more mobile and context-aware information systems, and the increasingly complex and dynamic connectivity that supports real-time interactions not only with one’s physical environment but also the community and society at large, directly or indirectly related to the traveler.

Smart tourism also clearly rests on the ability to not only collect enormous amounts of data but to intelligently store, process, combine, analyze and use big data to inform business innovation, operations and services. Numerous technologies support big data creation and, in the context of smart tourism, they are often the ones put into the limelight. However, a lot of innovation is also happening in the other big data areas with the ultimate goal of deriving intelligence from massive amounts of data, which is what is at the core of smart tourism initiatives.

Business foundations of smart tourism

ICT tools and applications have enabled tourism firms to become ‘smarter’ in how to increase their performance and competitiveness by (hyper)-automating, informating and transforming their business functions and processes such as marketing, procurement/supply chain management, human resource management, and customer service and management (Sigala and Marinidis 2012 ). However, the business impact of ICT is not limited to solely functional effects. ICT have also an instrumental role in driving institutional and structural market changes in the tourism industry. To survive, traditional tourism firms have to redefine their business model and the way they propose to create customer value. Indeed, the numerous definitions of a business model converge to reflect “the design or architecture of the value creation, delivery and capture mechanisms” (Teece 2010 : 191). By introducing new business models, firms develop new markets (Callon and Muniesa 2005 ; MacKenzie and Millo 2003 ; Pollock and Williams 2009 ; Inversini and Masiero 2014 ; Storbacka and Nenonen 2011 ). Sigala ( 2015 ) describes smart tourism as changing all or some of the following five market elements: exchange object, market actors, market structure, market institutions, and market practices. Morabito ( 2015 ) suggests that operating in a big data driven, smart environment affects all nine elements of business models in fundamental ways: 1) customer segments; 2) value propositions; 3) channels; 4) customer relationships; 5) revenue streams; 6) key resources; 7) key activities; 8) key partnerships; and, 9) cost structure. To define their business model, firms should therefore determine the following design elements: customer value creation, the actor’s earnings logic, value network of the actor, resources and capabilities that the actor has, and strategic decisions that the actor makes (Nenonen and Storbacka 2010 ). However, what the actual smart tourism business models are has yet to be determined. Most smart tourism initiatives are currently in development and heavily subsidized by government. Indeed, while new governance models for public services in smart cities have been presented in the literature (Anttiroiko et al. 2014 ), theoretical development of business models suitable for smart tourism is lacking. Morabito ( 2015 ) goes as far as suggesting that smart tourism might mean profoundly questioning the way we think about business models and their importance for strategy. Literature in the fields of open innovation, service-dominant-logic (SDL) and service science provides the theoretical underpinnings for management approaches that firms can adopt to identify, address and exploit the opportunities, challenges and affordances of smart tourism and to re-define their business models and sustain competitiveness (Schmidt_Rauch and Schwabe 2014 ).

Open innovation is based on the assumption that an organisation cannot just rely on its own resources, but has to engage with partners in order to innovate (Dahlander and Gann 2010 ; West and Gallagher 2006 ). To that end, tourism firms have to collaborate with stakeholders beyond their organizational borders in order to source and exchange resources for value co-creation.

According to service science and SDL, value co-creation takes place inside wider service ecosystems (Anttiroiko et al. 2014 ). However, although a functioning service ecosystem is seen as a major prerequisite for enabling the co-creation of customer experiences (Vargo and Lusch 2014 ), little is still known about how firms can actually construct and continuously manage such service ecosystems. Vargo et al. ( 2008 ) and Spohrer et al. ( 2007 ) described a service ecosystem as a spontaneously sensing and responding spatial and temporal structure of largely loosely-coupled value-proposing social and economic actors interacting through institutions and technology, to: (1) co-produce service offerings, (2) exchange service offerings and resources (3) co-create value. This corresponds to Buhalis and Amaranggana’s ( 2014 ) notion of dynamically interconnected smart tourism stakeholders and Van Heck and Vervest’s ( 2007 ) definition of smart business networks that allow for “plug and play” scenarios to seize emerging value creation opportunities. Social media and internet tools are instrumental in enabling firms to develop such dynamic connections, as technologies enable them to network with others and to seamlessly exchange resources. Schmidt-Rauch and Schwabe ( 2014 ) discuss the importance of mobile technology for co-creation in the smart tourism ecosystem, proposing that it opens up communication channels and allows for a shared representation of the solution space in situ. Resources that actors may possess and exchange in a smart tourism ecosystem can relate to the following types: tangible or intangible resources (e.g., tools, software, and information); human resources (e.g., skills, knowledge, and virtual communities); and relational ones (e.g., relations to partners and suppliers, and network membership). In a smart service ecosystem, any stakeholder is an actor aiming to interact and exchange resources with other actors for value co-creation. In this vein, labels and roles assigned to players like travelers, firms and intermediaries are not valid anymore (Vargo and Lusch 2008 ). In a smart tourism ecosystem, any type of stakeholder can become a producer, consumer, intermediary etc. depending on resources and connections rather than pre-defined roles (Gretzel et al. 2015 ). This means producer-client relationships have to be redefined and new approaches to cooperation in production, delivery and consumption of services have to be developed (Anttiroiko et al. 2014 ).

Yoo et al. ( 2015 ) described the ways and strategies adopted by TripAdvisor for constructing its service ecosystem by identifying its various stakeholders, the types of resources that are being exchanged and the type of value that is co-created from these interactions. The paper highlights the need of tourism firms to adopt open information systems and business models, as they enable them to manage their smart tourism ecosystems in a dynamic way and support ‘plugging and playing’ stakeholders ad hoc depending on what resources need to be exchanged. This is the case because open business ecosystems enable actors to co-create ‘value-in-context’ by accessing, mixing and matching, exchanging, adapting and integrating resources in many different and flexible ways depending on the consumption situation.

In smart tourism, business builds on an extensive “info-structure” and the big data that sustains it is to a large extent either actively (e.g., uploaded onto social media) or implicitly (through sensors on mobile or wearable devices) provided by consumers. Indeed the very concept of smart tourism is very much based on the assumption that data is willingly shared by these consumers. Smart tourism business relies on an abundance of free information and on access to open technological platforms to be transformed into value propositions. At the same time, smart tourism infostructure can lead to new information asymmetries that can be commercially exploited (Tachizawa et al. 2015 ). Economic power in smart tourism is without doubt derived from control over information sources and flows. It is also important to recognize that value not only emerges from ownership but increasingly from access to infrastructure or data. Therefore, beyond traditional notions of value creation, businesses seeking to operate within smart tourism environments have to consider “value-in-use” (Bick et al. 2012 ), referring to value creation through use of data/technology/infrastructure rather than ownership and beyond individual exchanges.

Anttiroiko et al. ( 2014 ) argue that smart service ecosystems require new alliances to share risk, circulate knowledge, and extend or reformulate value chains/neworks and that they constitute an environment in which there is great competitive pressure to be cost-effective and innovative in (re)configuring services. Tachizawa et al. ( 2015 ) present possible implications of smart cities on business network structures and governance mechanisms, suggesting that the resulting smart ecosystems are complex with high transaction costs that probably favor informal governance. Similarly, Anttiroiko et al ( 2014 ) describe the necessary creative mutuality and cooperation in these systems as more difficult to manage than traditional competitive rivalry. On the other hand, greater complexity in network structures might open up structural holes that can be exploited by businesses. These assumptions need to be further explored/validated to build solid foundations for striving smart tourism businesses.

Discussion and implications for research

Research in the area of smart tourism remains very limited and mostly provides case studies of existing initiatives. It also largely focuses on the consumer-perspective and has adopted a very optimistic and uncritical stance. The following discussion points out several key research areas that have to be addressed in order to ensure the successful realization of smart tourism goals.

Data lies at the core of all smart tourism activities. Privacy is therefore an obvious concern in the context of smart tourism. Especially location-based services, while extremely useful for tourists, also make consumers vulnerable. Privacy in tourism is a special case as relationships with providers and therefore their apps/services are typically short-lived, which limits trust-building. Also, the need for information is so great, that tourists might be easily persuaded to forego privacy (Anuar and Gretzel 2011 ). The digital footprint of a smart tourist is huge and opportunities for mining the digital traces left while on vacation or traveling for business are manifold. Smart tourism is becoming a big contributor to and benefactor of the “sensor society” (Andrejevic and Burdon 2015 ) that is characterized by ubiquitous, always-on data capture. With it come concerns of being able to identify individuals out of large collections of supposedly anonymous data, automatic capture of data for no concrete purpose, and surveillance under the disguise of service provision. Smart tourism raises big issues with respect to information governance (Tallon 2013 ) and correctly deriving the value of information. The current assumption is that all information is extremely valuable to businesses and will be freely provided by the smart tourists who seek enriched tourism experiences. Data is mindlessly captured and storage/retrieval/information management costs are not calculated. While smart city concept implementations have forced governments to carefully think about what data they have and in what way it could be made useful, such efforts are not necessarily taking place in businesses. Therefore, a major area of research necessary in the context of smart tourism is information governance and privacy, with particular questions relating to determining the value of information and ensuring safety and security in rather open and ubiquitous info-structures.

Another issue increasingly discussed in the context of smart tourism is the extreme technology-dependence. This has clear implications in terms of a widening digital divide (Minghetti and Buhalis 2010 ) for those without smartphones and destinations that cannot afford to build smart tourism infostructures. But the problem is not only access or affordability: recent developments in the smartwatch market suggest that consumers are only reluctantly adopting this wearable technology (Forbes 2015 ). Also, when inspected, this ICT dependence reveals other issues, namely information overload, lack of serendipity that is often essential to meaningful tourism experiences, and an increasing desire to at least escape technology when on vacation (Gretzel 2010 ). While research is already being conducted on how technology enhances tourism experiences, there is a clear lack of research focusing on potential drawbacks of too much mediation. What is clearly needed is a more critical perspective on smart tourism experiences, more information on psychological and health risks of constant bombardment with data by context-aware systems and insights regarding consumer attitudes towards the various aspects of smart tourism, including their willingness to co-create and their enjoyment of such processes and the actual dimensions of “value-in-use” derived by consumers.

Needing to unlock the power of big data for translation into smart tourism services also raises the issue of human and artificial intelligence necessary to do so. Tourism is not currently a sector that attracts a lot of knowledge workers. It also struggles notoriously with innovation deficiencies despite its strong reliance on ICT (Hjalager 2002 ). Human resources issues with respect to smart tourism are not typically discussed. Further, smart tourism has a very utopian view of happy collaboration among various actors and a self-regulating ecosystem in which value will be sustainably produced. In addition, as mentioned above, what business models can and should be adopted in this context remains a mystery. Therefore, more research from an organizational and management perspective is needed, as well has conceptual and empirical investigations into the economics of smart tourism.

Despite these concerns, smart tourism is an incredibly promising scenario that results in more convenient, safe, exciting and sustainable living spaces for both residents and tourists, more personalized and therefore more relevant tourism experiences, and even greater opportunities for new services, business models and markets to emerge as a result of more flexible structures and different perspectives on value creation. Werthner et al. ( 2015 ) have recently published a research manifesto that outlines the many layers on which tourism and ICT-related research needs to make significant contributions. From looking at human-computer interaction issues to social dynamics, market structures and industry value chains to informing policy and governance, smart tourism-related research has to fill many gaps to be able to critically inform smart tourism initiatives. Research in connection with design science is further needed to explore the new value creation opportunities supplied by smart tourism and translate them into working ICTs. Many of the pillars of the emerging smart tourism economy like Uber or AirBnB are based on simple technological platforms that take advantage of existing technologies to exploit a distinct market niche. These technology-market combinations need to be systematically explored and mapped to support innovation activities. It also becomes very clear that advances in semantic technologies and artificial intelligence are needed to really exploit the various data layers. Since sustainability is a major concern, the true costs of smart tourism (e.g., energy consumption, e-waste, etc.) have to be estimated. Finally, whether smart tourists are actually having better experiences has yet to be empirically investigated. Table  2 summarizes the main research areas identified.

This paper attempted to provide definitional clarity and an overview of the basic assumptions underlying the smart tourism concept. It identified smart destinations, smart business ecosystems and smart experiences as the three basic components supported by layers of data creation, processing and exchange. In doing so it established smart tourism as distinct from general e-tourism not only in the core technologies of which it takes advantage but also in the approaches to creating enhanced at-destination experiences. The paper highlighted the strong practical and theoretical grounding in smart city-related conceptualizations and the resulting focus on public service models at the expense of comprehensive and systematic exploration of its business opportunities and implications. It also revealed a lack of critical literature that scrutinizes smart tourism assumptions and questioned its feasibility and positive experiential, economic and societal impacts. The paper proposed a research agenda, which is far from being comprehensive; rather, it sought to emphasize the currently most overlooked gaps in understanding the potential of smart tourism and its possible drawbacks.

Smart tourism development is already under way. In many ways it naturally evolves from the extensive uptake of technology in tourism. However, the systematic and widespread coordination and sharing as well as exploitation of touristic data for value creation is still in its infancy. Smart tourism initiatives around the world are seeking to build viable smart tourism ecosystems (Gretzel et al. 2015 ) but the complexity of the sector makes it extremely difficult to go beyond very specific platform-, technology- or service-specific innovations. Yet, the technology push in the direction of smart tourism is immense and it is expected that tourism will provide the backdrop for pioneering many of these smart technologies.

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This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A3A2043345).

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Smart Tourism Technologies’ Ambidexterity: Balancing Tourist’s Worries and Novelty Seeking for Travel Satisfaction

1 College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL USA

C. Derrick Huang

Chul woo yoo.

2 College of Hotel & Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea

Tourists deal with two intrinsic, uncertainty-driven attributes of travel, tourist worries and novelty seeking, that simultaneously affect their transaction and travel experience satisfaction. Rapid technological advances coupled with uncertainties caused by momentous events such as COVID-19 highlight the increasing significance of smart technologies in the tourism industry. This study explores the relationships between novelty and worries and travel satisfaction, as well as examines how tourists enhance their quality of trips with the use of smart tourism technologies. We find the tourists’ novelty seeking would enhance the trip experience, leading to overall travel satisfaction. In contrast, tourist worries, particularly in trip planning, would negatively affect tourists’ transaction satisfaction, which in turn impacts the overall travel experience satisfaction. As a moderator in its ambidextrous role, smart tourism technologies help tourists to develop a sense of novelty when planning and visiting a destination and mitigate the worries emanated from the uncertainty of transaction made during the pre-trip planning. Insights and implications of such findings are discussed for both theory and practice.

Introduction

Travel involves the notion of “departure,” where people leave their normal place of work and residence for short periods of time for a limited breaking with established routines and practices of everyday life and allowing one’s senses to engage with a set of stimuli that contrast with the everyday and the mundane (Urry, 1990 ). The fact of departure from the relatively certain routine practices to an unfamiliar situation inevitably brings aspects of abnormal, uncertain environment which might otherwise remain opaque. Such uncertainties simultaneously give rise to an intriguing tension between novelty and worry in travel. On one hand, consuming travel goods and services would supposedly generate pleasurable experiences that are different from those typically encountered in everyday life. It speaks to us in ways that we look at the environment with interest and curiosity when we go away or at least as we anticipate doing so. On the other hand, travel, being the departure from familiarity and routines, inevitably causes tourists to worry (Jin et al., 2016 ; Larsen et al., 2009 ). In order for travel to happen, for example, purchasing and consumption of goods (e.g., luggage, travel gears and apparels, etc.) and services (flights, hotels, meals, admission tickets, etc.) is necessary. Such transactions are less certain than what people make on a daily basis and represent risks to tourists in the form of potential overpayment, incorrect purchases, ineffective arrangements, and so on. Advancing this view, we posit that travel by nature inevitably puts tourists in a situation where they simultaneously deal with worries and novelty seeking. In other words, while tourists would be worried about uncertainties in trip planning and booking, some level of “unknown” can be interesting for novelty seekers (Kim & Kim, 2015 ; Larsen et al., 2009 ) as it enriches their travel experience and satisfaction (Prebensen & Xie, 2017 ).

The literature has long identified and confirmed that these two uncertainty-related issues—tourist worries (Baron et al., 2000 ; Jin et al., 2016 ; Larsen et al., 2009 ) and novelty seeking (Assaker & Hallak, 2013 ; Jang & Feng, 2007 ; Kim & Kim, 2015 ; Toyama & Yamada, 2012 )—significantly affect tourists’ travel experience and satisfaction. The effort required to balance these two conflicting issues may discount the value of travel experience, as both cognitive and emotional control constitutes subjective costs, biasing choices away from effortful actions (Jin et al., 2016 ; Larsen et al., 2009 ). Literature in individual psychology also suggest that facing such conflicting expectations is considered aversive, since recruiting cognitive control to resolve conflict is effortful (cf., Freeston et al., 1994 ). Therefore, it is important to identify ways tourists can simultaneously address these two intrinsically conflicting, uncertainty-driven attributes of travel, and we posit that information technologies could be used in the contexts of cognitive effort involved in resolving such conflicts. Rapid technological advances coupled with uncertainties caused by momentous events such as COVID-19 highlight the increasing significance of smart technologies in the tourism industry. However, while smart tourism technologies (STT) have served as a key mechanism for managing against risks (Huang et al., 2017 ; Yoo et al., 2017 ) and enhancing tourists’ experience and satisfaction (Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2019 ; Narangajavana et al., 2017 ), the specific ways and mechanisms of STT tourists use to cope with these two uncertainty-driven factors simultaneously have not been empirically studied.

To bridge this critical gap, this current study sets out novelty seeking (defined as the individual’s drive to explore contrast between present perception and past experience ) and tourist worries (defined as the individual’s attempt to engage in mental problem-solving regarding tourist trip-related issues where outcomes are thought to be uncertain and contain possibilities for negative results ) as distinct concepts and explicitly explores the relationships between them and travel satisfaction. Specifically, the current study raises the question if the tourists’ novelty seeking enhance the trip experience and the travel satisfaction while at the same time tourist worries negatively affect tourists’ the overall travel experience and satisfaction.

Furthermore, this study attempts to investigate the facilitating role of smart tourism technologies as travelers deal with worries and novelty simultaneously. To this end, we intend to examine how tourists enhances the travel experience with the STT’s ambidexterity, defined as STT’s ability to mitigate worries from uncertainty when arranging and purchasing travel products/services while simultaneously allowing tourists to seek novelty in the trips . We examine how the STT’s ambidexterity takes place in trip satisfaction, how STT usage can mitigate worries during trip planning online (transaction satisfaction), and how it can encourage tourists to expand the expectations and experiences by seeking novelty and variety (Assaker & Hallak, 2013 ; Kahn, 1995 ; Kim & Kim, 2015 ). To empirically investigate STT’s ambidexterity in enriching travel experience and satisfaction, we model STT as a moderator in the relationships between tourists’ worries in the travel planning and their travel experiences and between tourists’ novelty seeking and their travel experiences.

Using the survey data collected from a travel club in South Korea, we conduct an individual-level study that offers important contributions to the current literature on smart tourism. First, we theorize and empirically confirm that there exists tension between positive and negative concerns in travel emanating from the uncertainty in tourists’ interactions with travel goods and services. Tourists attempt to address these uncertainty-driven concerns by using STT in pursuit of their travel satisfaction. This theoretical perspective is particularly appropriate in the era of smart tourism because STT are considered to be a means of facilitating tourist-information interactions (Gretzel et al., 2015 ; Ho et al., 2015 ; Werthner & Klein, 1999 ; Yuan et al., 2019 ). Second, we specify and examine the moderating roles of STT, yielding insights into potential ambidextrous effects of STT on two uncertainty-driven factors that directly affect individual tourists’ travel transaction and travel experience satisfaction. Given that prior research has primarily used the technology adoption perspective to examine the direct influence of STT on travel satisfaction (e.g., Chen & Chou, 2019 ; Huang et al., 2017 ; Prebensen & Xie, 2017 ; Ukpabi & Karjaluoto, 2017 ), our work contributes to the literature by deepening the understanding of situations under which the STT’s ambidexterity process takes place and offers actionable and prescriptive advice to travel agencies and providers regarding the management of tourists’ uncertainty with travel.

Research Background

Travel satisfaction and smart tourism technologies.

Smart tourism technologies, or STT, in this study refer to any forms of technologies that are associated with interconnection, synchronization, and concerted use for travel (Gretzel et al., 2015 ) and can include smartphone apps, websites of online travel agencies, destination smart infrastructure, to name a few. Literature suggests that STT aggregate and harness data derived from physical infrastructure, social connections, government/organizational sources, and human bodies/minds in combination with the use of advanced technologies to transform tourist’s travel experiences. Consistent with the conceptualization by Huang et al. ( 2017 ) and Yoo et al. ( 2017 ), we view that STT constitute four key attributes—informativeness, accessibility, interactivity and personalization—which tourists leverage for information search, transaction, communication, and content generation so as to enhance the usability and perceived usefulness of the technologies. Studies in smart tourism generally recognize that STT support the travel planning process by providing relevant information and services to users in an interactive manner, thereby facilitating tourist’s informed decision that can lead to the enhanced travel satisfaction.

Satisfaction is judgement that a user or consumer makes whether a product or service, in this case a tourism product/service attribute and/or entire trip, offers a reasonable level of fulfillment when consumed (Oliver, 1993 ). Satisfaction involves a continuing evaluation of a product, service, or an experience, based on the difference between the expected level and the actual level of performance of the product/service/experience (Oliver, 1997 ). In forming the decision on satisfaction, both cognitions (expectations and performance) and emotions can play a significant role (del Bosque & San Martín, 2008 ; Oliver, 1993 ). Extending this concept to the context of this research, we regard travel satisfaction as the perception affected by fulfilling the gap between the expected performance of travel products and services and what a tourist actually experiences on the trip.

Research has found that smart tourism technologies play an important role in travel planning and tourism experience (Gretzel et al., 2015 ; Koo et al., 2017 ; Lee et al., 2015 ). One stream of such research focuses on the influence of STT, which include all forms of online tourism applications, information sources (e.g., online travel agents, personal blogs, public websites, company websites, social media, smartphone apps) and other smart technologies (i.e., artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and Internet of Things), on different aspects of travel such as pre-travel planning, decisions, and purchasing of trips (Jeong & Shin, 2020 ; Kim et al., 2011 ; Yoo et al., 2017 ; Yoo et al., 2009 ), the expressing of loyalty (Wang et al., 2019 ), the triggering of electronic work-of-mouth (eWOM) (Luo & Zhong, 2015 ), customer engagement (Lee et al., 2021 ), and attitudinal factors (Gretzel et al., 2006 ; Huang et al., 2017 ). Recently, smart tourism studies have turned the attention to examining the STT’s role in tourists’ travel experiences. For example, various studies focus on discovering the relationship between STT and trip expectation (Narangajavana et al., 2017 ), place experience (Azis et al., 2020 ; Chung et al., 2017 ; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009 ), and tourist satisfaction (Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2019 ). In the planning phase, it is theorized that four attributes of online tourism information sources—accessibility, information reliability, interaction, and personalization—are key to planning a trip (No & Kim, 2015 ). Travelers have found the Internet to be useful for all categories of travel decisions such as the destinations to visit, the locations to stay, and the activities to take on (Xiang et al., 2014 ). And new media such as social networks and smartphones help travelers to extend the focus of information search for travel decisions from travel products and services to information to improve travel experience (Chung & Koo, 2015 ; Wang et al., 2012 ; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010 ; Xiang et al., 2014 ).

In addition to the actual experience, travel satisfaction can be influenced by initial expectation and online searching and the arrangements and purchases of travel products and services such as flight, hotels, tours, tickets, etc. when travelers use STT for trip planning (Constantin, 2012 ; Filieri et al., 2015 ; Tseng, 2017 ). Such transactions are a significant part of travelers’ engagement in STT as an e-commerce platform for travel products and services, and, as such, we also separately examine “transaction satisfaction” as part of the overall travel experience satisfaction. To define transaction satisfaction in smart tourism, the current study refers to Buhalis’s notion of e-tourism that “reflects the digitalization of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries” ( 2003 , p. 6). Based on this notion, forming satisfaction judgment for using STT for travel planning and transactions involves not only the purchasing and browsing experience on the e-tourism sites at the time of transactions but also the stages preceding and following the purchases. Thus, the current study defines the transaction satisfaction based on the comparison between pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase performance of the travel-related products/services, as well as the consumer online purchasing experience of the products/services.

Tourist Worries

To consume tourism products and services, travelers must leave their home location and move to a geographical different place and engage in activities different from their routines, bringing about some degree of uncertainty and unpredictability, especially at the stage of planning a trip. This leads to tourist worry, defined as “the individual’s attempt to engage in mental problem-solving regarding tourist trip-related issues where outcomes are thought to be uncertain and contain possibilities for negative results” (Larsen et al., 2009 , 261). Worry is different from risk; while risk measures the potential impact of certain adverse events (as the product of the probability of such events happening and the magnitude of their consequences), worry is a relatively uncontrollable chain of thought as a function of uncertainty concerning possible negative future events (Borkovec, 1994 ; Freeston et al., 1994 ). Tourist worries emanate from the uncertainty that tourists face when they cannot foresee the consequences of their purchase decisions (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2000 ). Perception of travel risk generates a feeling of anxiety (Reisinger and Mavondo 2005) and fear of unknown consequences (Dowling and Staelin 1994), which leads to tourist worries.

There are many worry-inducing factors, such as health and safety during a trip, financial costs associated with package tours, flights, accommodation, attractions, and activities, ability to complete the trip as planned, and so on. In particular, people tend to worry mostly about whether reservations and tickets may contain mistakes as compared to dangerous hazard, and the level of worry tend to be higher during trip planning than traveling in situ (Larsen et al., 2009 ). This study focuses on tourist worry also because it has positive effects in helping people finding better ways of doing things and determining priorities relative to the different strategies for reducing uncertainty (Baron et al., 2000 ).

Because tourism is an experiential good, travelers cannot try out or even perceive the quality of a trip in advance. Such uncertainty at the planning stage naturally leads tourists to worry about purchasing tourism products/services, because decisions can only made based on descriptions available (Werthner & Klein, 1999 ), and that it is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate the value for money before the actual experience (Quintal et al., 2010 ). Worries can arise in the service process of travel bookings, be it through travel agencies, websites, or other intermediaries. For instance, when using an online booking service, travelers need to be presented with necessary information (e.g., user instructions and status updates) to accomplish service tasks (e.g., reservation for local events) and keep track of the service workflow (e.g., checking refund status). If information provided is incomplete or even incorrect, travelers may worry about if the desired services are booked correctly and if they will receive the service accordingly. Worries can also arise from the service-delivery channels themselves, such as the reliability of the service providers or the vulnerability associated with online transactions (e.g., technical problems and security risks). Taken together, tourist worries are likely to have a significant impact on travelers’ satisfaction towards travel-related transactions.

We can further examine the role of tourist worries through the lens of the uncertainty reduction theory (Berger, 1986 ; Berger & Calabrese, 1974 ), which posits that individuals employ three general categories of information-seeking strategies—passive, active, and interactive—to reduce uncertainty and increase the other party’s predictability. Passive strategies involve unobtrusive observations of target individuals to obtain information about them. Active strategies involve seeking information from third parties or through manipulation of the target person’s environment. Interactive strategies involve obtaining information directly from the target person through such communication methods as interrogation and self-disclosure. Although the concept of uncertainty reduction originates in interpersonal communication, it is also applicable to consumer service (e.g., Choudhury et al., 1998 ; Murray, 1991 ; Siehl et al., 1992 ), which is often characterized by incomplete and ambiguous information or evidence that consumers must use in evaluating the service (Siehl et al., 1992 ). In this sense, travelers worried about uncertainty in trip planning and travel transactions would attempt to determine the priorities and strategies of uncertainty reduction leading to an increase in predictability of the behavior of the other party (e.g. travel agents, tour providers, online reservation systems, etc.), which in turn decreases one’s worries of the interaction (Baron et al., 2000 ).

Because purchasing of travel products and services is considered risky (Huang et al., 2010 ), an active uncertainty strategy such as extensive information search can reduce worry about the risks associated with travel and thus enhance the quality of experience (Money & Crotts, 2003 ). Based on the conceptualization of tourist worries and the uncertainty reduction theory, we identify smart tourism technological attributes—i.e., informativeness, accessibility, interactivity, and personalization—that contribute to the means of tourist worry reduction. Use of, for instance, review sites such as TripAdvisor and virtual product experience in travel-related websites can help increase predictability of actual experiences from pre-travel arrangements as a major coping means of tourist worries. This need is in sync with the trend that STT play an increasingly important role in all phases of travel planning, such as pre-travel planning and decisions (Gretzel & Yoo, 2008 ; Yoo et al., 2017 ) and the final destination choices (Luo & Zhong, 2015 ).

Novelty Seeking in Travel

The notion of uncertainty often has negative connotations, but in the case of travel, uncertainty can bring about positive impact. A critical aspect of tourism and travel is that “they supposedly generate pleasurable experience which are different from those typically encountered in everyday life…When we go away, we look at the environment with interest and curiosity” (Urry, 1990 , p.1). In other words, travelers look for “novelty,” which is generally defined as the degree of contrast between perception at present and experience in the past (Pearson, 1970 ). The six dimensions of the novelty construct of a tourist (Lee & Crompton, 1992 ) —change from routine, escape, thrill, adventure, surprise, and boredom alleviation—are all associated, albeit with varying degrees, with the uncertainty nature of travel. Many tourists actively take advantage of such uncertainties and seek novelty in their choices to travel through, for instance, enjoyment in meeting people from other cultures and unexpected types of facilities and attractions of interest; they may purposely engage in “adventure tourism,” in which they step away from their usual, comfortable settings and explore the unique features of the local culture and environment. From a consumer marketing perspective, consumers have a desire for novelty or complexity in making choices (Kahn, 1995 ). In this study, we adopt the definition of novelty seeking as the individual’s drive to explore contrast between present perception and past experience (Cohen, 1979 ; Jang & Feng, 2007 ; Pearson, 1970 ).

It is widely acknowledged that novelty seeking is a central component of travel motivation and, therefore, influences tourists’ decision-making process (Assaker & Hallak, 2013 ; Kim & Kim, 2015 ; Toyama & Yamada, 2012 ). Prior research has shown that the travel experience meeting or exceeding the expectations for novelty can positively impact a tourist travel satisfaction. Perhaps the most direct support comes from a study by Toyama and Yamada ( 2012 ), in which it is found that novelty plays an important role in tourists’ perception and contributes to overall satisfaction. At a deeper level, emotional arousal and sensing seeking, both related to novelty of a destination, are found to positive influence a tourist’s liminal experience (Zhang & Xu, 2019 ), and a perceived “coolness” of a destination is positively related to traveler satisfaction (Chen & Chou, 2019 ). As a result, novelty seeking positively influences a traveler’s intention to revisit a destination (Jang & Feng, 2007 ).

The use of smart tourism technologies is related to novelty seeking in several ways. Conceptually, the inherent novelty seeking desire and behavior are indistinguishable from inherent innovativeness (Hirschman, 1980 ), paving ways for new and different planning and consumption patterns such as STT. As argued by Jansson ( 2002 ), tourism gaze has become increasingly associated with the use of media images, and, as such, STT allow for consumer-governed arrangements more suitable to traveler demands (Kim et al., 2017 ; Volchek et al., 2020 ). This may be because individuals often seek to experience a “reality” (thus travel satisfaction) that they already have imagined in their search (use of STT for novel destinations/activities) (Urry, 1990 ). It is noted that social media and travel reviews play an important role prior to travel by offering ideas and making it easier to visualize the destination (Gretzel & Yoo, 2008 ) and thus often make travel planning more enjoyable and exciting (Amaro et al., 2016 ). Further, individuals motivated by novelty are likely to seek out new and potentially discrepant information (Hirschman, 1980 ). For instance, sensation-seeking travelers are more likely to obtain information via the Internet and purchase travel products online (Park & Stangl, 2020 ; Pizam et al., 2004 ), and those who prefer serendipitous travel are more likely to use on-the-fly, real-time information sources such as mobile phones (Huang et al., 2014 ). As a result, the use of STT can enhance travelers’ novelty seeking experience or activities, which can lead to higher level of satisfaction.

Research Model and Hypothesis

This current study views novelty seeking and tourist worries, both related to uncertainty, as distinct concepts and sets out to explicitly explore the relationships between these and travel satisfaction. In this context, smart tourism technologies play an ambidextrous role for travelers to develop and discover novel destinations and activities when planning a trip, while helping them mitigate the transaction worries emanated from uncertainty of booking and purchasing decisions made for a trip. Our research model is depicted in Fig.  1 .

Research model

Tourists worry about trip-related issues with potentially negative outcomes such as crimes in the destinations and whether reservations may contain mistakes (Larsen et al., 2009 ). At the core of worry is an intolerance of uncertainty about future events, which is a common characteristic of travel products and services since they are intangible in nature and cannot be seen or inspected prior to purchase (Holloway, 2004 ; Huang et al., 2010 ; Lui, 2019 ). When tourists worry about the decisions that they have made for travel-related purchases (for instance, when a traveler reports that “I don’t feel comfortable with the reservations that I have just made.”), they experience the post-purchase cognitive dissonance as a result of apprehension of possible undesirable outcomes (Cooper & Fazio, 1984 ; Oliver, 1997 ; Tseng, 2017 ). And such post-purchase cognitive dissonance has been shown to increase consumer anxiety and, in turn, may reduce their satisfaction towards purchase decisions (Hofstede, 2001 ; Jin et al., 2008 ; Tseng, 2017 ). Therefore, we argue that,

• H1a: Tourist worries is negatively related to transaction satisfaction.

Many risk factors, such as hazards related to political instability of the destination, strange food, culture barriers, and crime, can induce tourist worries (Lepp & Gibson, 2003 ). In addition to prompting travelers to take on uncertainty reduction strategies, worry, as a cognitive state of mind, causes anxiety toward travel that leads to preoccupation with precautionary behavior and may limit the traveler’s satisfaction of the activities at the destination (Abubakar & Mavondo, 2014 ). For instance, in a study of Chinese tourists to Australia, it is found that the more tourists worry, the more they need to cope emotionally (Wu et al., 2020 ). We thus posit that tourist worries contribute to limiting the enjoyment of the travel experience and overall satisfaction.

• H1b: Tourist worries is negatively related to travel experience satisfaction.

Novelty Seeking

Seeking variety, complexity, and novelty is a common consumer behavior that lead to consumption stimulation, and the resulting emotional arousal is a key determinant for achieving recreation satisfaction (Floyd, 1997 ). Despite the intrinsic uncertainty of travel due to the departure from familiarity of home location and/or daily activities, travelers seek novelty in a trip to alleviate boredom, change from routines, and escape from reality (Lee & Crompton, 1992 ). This is a particularly important aspect in certain styles of travels. For instance, the positive arousal felt by amusement theme park visitors leads to pleasure and satisfaction (Bigné et al., 2005 ), and the perceived “coolness” positively impacts Generation Y’s place attachment and satisfaction towards particular destinations (Chen & Chou, 2019 ). Although the explorer- and drifter-type travelers may be the most willing to forego the comfort of familiarity and seek out novel experience (Basala & Klenosky, 2001 ), novelty seeking in general has been found to be a direct, positive antecedent of the mid-term intention to revisit a destination (Jang & Feng, 2007 ) and has a positive effect on overall satisfaction (Toyama & Yamada, 2012 ). Therefore, we posit that,

• H2: Novelty seeking is positively related to travel experience satisfaction.

Smart Tourism Technologies’ Ambidexterity

Smart tourism technologies play an ambidextrous role for tourists to mitigate the worries emanated from uncertainty of decisions and purchases made during the pre-trip planning, w hile enhancing their novelty seeking experience. One of important attributes of STT is informativeness. The use of STT for the evaluation and purchase of travel products and services—a significant improvement over the traditional processes of searching and booking with travel agents—counters tourist worries as it acts as the most important information source as well as the most convenient channel for booking transactions. Because tourism goods and services are difficult to physically inspect prior to the purchase, travelers look for other indicators to help them evaluate their values (Korgaonkar and Karson, 2007) and search for and read online comments to seek support for their decision (Fan and Zhang, 2015). In addition, with their accessibility, interactivity, and personalization, STT provide personalized recommendations, evaluations, and reviews from others who have already consumed the same or similar products or services to help travelers find those that meet their specific needs (Zhou and Yang, 2019; Chen and Xie, 2008). STT can also alleviate worries about reliability and performance, as consumers respond strongly to the perceived trust when making online purchase decisions (Kim et al., 2012 ). As a result, travel-related goods and services have been a leading application of e-commerce (Werthner & Ricci, 2004 ), and STT have become an essential tool for all phases of travel bookings, from selecting destinations, searching for vendors, comparing prices, to completing transactions (Xiang et al., 2014 ; Yoo et al., 2017 ). As evidenced in past studies, using STT in travel planning may thus help tame tourist worries about travel booking and reservations by mitigating the uncertainty and anxiety of tourists (Pana et al., 2021 ); as such, the negative impact of worries on transaction satisfaction will be weaker as the degree of STT use increases. Therefore, we argue that,

• H3a: STT positively moderates the relationship between tourist worries and transaction satisfaction.

STT allow travelers to find the places to visit and prepare for the experience via personal commentaries, content sharing, and other forms of communications (Chung et al., 2017 ; Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2019 ; Narangajavana et al., 2017 ). STT such as social media enable travelers to obtain relevant, personalized information about a trip and even consult with those who have already experienced that destination (Huang et al., 2017 ). For example, using smart tourism apps and services in the destinations can save tourists from worrying about safety (Pai et al., 2021 ). Because tourists can obtain useful information to counter their worries in the destination and make informed decisions in pre-trip planning, it is likely that they are more satisfied with the whole trip experience. Such acts can significantly reduce a traveler’s doubts and worries about a trip so that the negative impact of tourist worries on travel experience satisfaction will be weaker as the degree of STT use increases. We therefore posit that STT plays a moderating role in the relationship between tourist worries and travel experience satisfaction.

• H3b: STT positively moderates the relationship between tourist worries and travel experience satisfaction.

Beyond using STT for travel transactions, tourists’ level of satisfaction when it comes novelty seeking can be amplified because STT can enhance their experience in both pre-trip searches of and actual encounters with novel locations and activities. For example, travelers increasingly use the Internet to search for destination activities such as hidden attractions and shopping detours to enhance the trip experience (Xiang et al., 2015 ). Social media allow for a richer, deeper, and more interactive research on various aspects of a trip, create expectations for a destination, and make travelers more excited about a trip (Gretzel et al., 2015 ; Narangajavana et al., 2017 ). Smartphones increase the value of the trip, let users “imagine” and plan for new and novel activities, and greatly enable serendipitous travel (Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2019 ; Narangajavana et al., 2017 ). And online shared photos and videos mediate tourist experience by stimulating fantasies and providing pleasurable memories (Bradley et al., 1992 ; Narangajavana Kaosiri et al., 2019 ; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009 ). The use of STT in pursuit of novelty also leads to tourist happiness resulting in travel satisfaction (Shin et al., 2021 ) and thus destination revisit intention (Pai et al., 2020 ). All such uses of STT can lead to an exotic location, an on-the-go schedule, or an off-the-beaten-path activity, all of which can enhance the overall travel experience in a novel way so that the positive impact of novelty seeking on travel experience satisfaction will be strengthened as the degree of STT use increases. We therefore hypothesize:

• H3c: STT positively moderates the relationship between novelty seeking and travel experience satisfaction.

Aforementioned studies suggest that STT have a positive impact on various phases of travel. It is done through both the exploitation and exploration use of the smart tourism technologies (Huang et al., 2017 ). The key attributes of STT—informativeness, accessibility, interactivity, and personalization—allow travelers to efficiently and effectively search tourism products and services and complete transactions, as well as plan for and manage trip itinerary. We therefore posit the explicit relationships between STT and the travel satisfactions:

• H4a: STT is positively related to transaction satisfaction.
• H4b: STT is positively related to travel experience satisfaction.

Transaction and Travel Experience Satisfaction

Among the most important task in the trip planning stage is to search for and complete reservations and bookings for travel products and services. As the service literature indicates, service quality is critical to the satisfaction of the service, which in turn leads to the satisfaction of the overall experience when the service is performed (Baker & Crompton, 2000 ; Neal et al., 1999 ; Otto & Ritchie, 1996 ). In the context of tourism, it is also found that satisfaction with travel/tourism experience is a positive function of satisfaction with pre-trip (and other) services (Neal et al. ( 1999 ). Therefore, we argue that a better experience in travel transactions would lead to a better experience of the whole trip:

• H5: Transaction satisfaction is positively related to travel experience satisfaction.

Research Methods

Data collection.

Data was collected through a survey conducted on the members of one of the largest online travel clubs in Korea, which served as our sampling frame that allowed us to gain access to a large group of people who may hold diverse interests, attitudes, beliefs, and values regarding the travel. While convenient and cost effective, such sampling frame approach may concern with random sampling and nonresponse rate tracking due to the anonymous nature of the Internet. We followed Andrews et al.’s ( 2003 ) approach to overcome this issue and used sample and participant selection quality criteria to maintain the random sampling process within artificially defined sampling frame. Specifically, we first of all came up a list of travel clubs as the result of the key word search with “travel club” from one of the most widely used search engines in Korea. We adopted this list as our sampling frame for the study. Then, we applied the criteria of access (i.e., open access for public participation), size (i.e., the highest number of registered members), and activity (i.e., the most active in terms of the highest number of posts within the past 30 days) to further define the sampling population, from which the travel club was selected for this study. We followed this elaborated process to ensure that the selected travel club appropriately reflected the sampling population that fitted well with the current study context of smart tourism.

Next, with the support of the club administrator, an invitation to participation in the survey was posted in the general notice section. After the definition of STT provided in the survey questionnaire, we asked respondents to choose one STT to complete the survey. With two “reminder” posts in one week apart, we received a total of 325 responses, of which 319 responses were valid without missing values and thus used for the further analysis. The demographics of 319 responses are summarized in Table  1 . Overall, the demographic characteristics of respondents in the data indicated a good representation of STT user community and deemed appropriate for the further analysis.

Demographic characteristics of respondents (N = 319)

Operationalization of Constructs

All latent constructs in this research were measured using multi-items adapted from prior studies. We used seven-point Likert rating systems, from 1 being strongly disagree to 7 being strongly agree. Appendix A provides the specific items used in the survey.

Consistent with the tourism literature (cf., Lieber & Fesenmaier, 1985 ; Neal et al., 1999 ; Swan & Combs, 1976 ), our model of travel satisfaction discerns between the transaction satisfaction and the experience satisfaction. We used five items to measure travel experience satisfaction and four items to measure travel transaction satisfaction (Neal et al., 1999 ). To properly respond to the criticism of inefficacy of using the psychometric measure for capturing the degree of satisfaction in travel (c.f., Brown et al., 1993 ; Cronbach & Furby, 1970 ; Lord, 1963 ; Teas, 1993 ), we followed Baker and Crompton ( 2000 ) and Huang et al. ( 2017 ) by employing a subjective disconfirmation measure for both transaction and travel experience satisfaction. Specifically, respondents were asked to record a single score from their own evaluation of satisfaction directly against their desired satisfaction level.

Tourists’ worries should vary as a function of situational factors and depend on the individuals’ expectations and experiences of such factors. Three items were adopted from Larsen et al. ( 2009 ) to capture individual’s state of being a tourist that pertains to the various uncertainties when travelling, as opposed to a personal disposition or a trait, as measured in generalized worry. We adopted three items from Kim and Kim ( 2015 ) to substantively capture various dimensions of novelty seeking (cf., Lee & Crompton, 1992 ) involving an altered routine as well as new experience and discovery by pleasant surprises.

Consistent with Huang et al. ( 2017 ) and Yoo et al. ( 2017 ), we measured smart tourism technologies as a second order construct consisting of four first order constructs, namely i) personalization, ii) informativeness, iii) interactivity, and iv) accessibility. They represent four distinct aspects of the smart tourism technologies while grouped under a single multidimensional construct (Law & Wong, 1999 ). We implemented the second-order factor as formative construct by aggregating in appropriate combinations to form a super-ordinate second-order construct STT because multiple first-order constructs and their measurement items are necessary in order to fully capture the entire domain of the STT construct; we do not anticipate the elements of a particular attribute to be necessarily correlated with each other.

Three items were used to measure the personalization aspect of STT, capturing the perception of travelers (respondents) if STT meet their specific needs or information. Three items were used to measure the informativeness aspect of STT. They captured how much travelers (respondents) perceive information obtained through STT as useful or relevant. We used three items to measure travelers’ (respondents’) perception about the interactivity aspect of STT, which aided real-time communication and information sharing among users. Three measures were used to capture how easy travelers (respondents) could access and use STT.

We included two control variables—years of experience in and self-efficacy of smart tourism technologies—in our model to control for possible influence on the travel transaction satisfaction. The number of trips and the length of trip were also included in the model to control their possible influence on the travel experience satisfaction.

Results and Analysis

We adopted Partial Least Squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method with the SmartPLS package (Ringle et al., 2005 ) for testing both the measurement model and the structural model. We chose the PLS techniques because the current study is more prediction-oriented by exploring the relationships among these uncertainty-driven constructs and the moderation effects in a unique setting of smart tourism than validating the nomological network of the model using the covariance-based SEM (Fornell & Bookstein, 1982 ). For that, SmartPLS provides the ability to model latent constructs even under conditions of non-normality and small- to medium-size samples (Ringle et al., 2005 ). Additionally, PLS is appropriate in this study because of its effectiveness of testing the model with a small sample size (Chin, 1998a ). The conservative sample size requirements for PLS models is 10 times either (a) the largest number of formative indicators in a block or (b) the largest number of independent variables impacting a dependent variable, whichever is greater (Chin, 1998b ). Our sample size of 319 exceeds the recommended minimum of 50 for adequate model testing. In addition, the PLS technique allows for our second order STT construct to be modeled as formative with four first-order constructs in the structural model.

Measurement Model

A thorough assessment of the measurement model was performed. First, both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed and confirmed nine factors with high loadings of 0.7 and above, supporting the unidimensionality of the scales (see Table  2 ). Cronbach’s alpha of all constructs employed in this study were higher than 0.74, showing strong reliability of latent constructs (Nunnally, 1978 ). Next, the convergent validity of the measurement model was tested using composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) (Johnson & Wichern, 2007 ). Table  2 shows that composite reliability values are greater than the lowest of 0.76 and AVE ranged from 0.54 to 0.86, confirming the convergent validity of the measurement model (Fornell & Larcker, 1981 ).

Table 2

Factor and cross loadings (N = 319)

The results provided in Tables  2 and ​ and3 3 confirm the discriminant validity of the measurement model: 1) correlation between pairs of constructs is below the recommended threshold (Hair et al., 2009 ), 2) cross-loadings of all items have a higher value in the corresponding construct than in any other constructs, and 3) the square root of AVE for each construct is greater than its correlation level.

Table 3

Construct correlations

Bolded diagonal elements are the square root of average variance extracted (AVE)

Common Method Bias

We followed the suggestion by Podsakoff et al. ( 2003 ) to adequately address the possible common method bias. First, two different response formats were employed for independent variables and dependent variables to control the possible methodological artifact in the response process (Podsakoff et al., 2003 ). For example, we use seven-point Likert scale to measure predictor and moderator variables, whereas the subjective disconfirmation measure is used for both dependent variables of travel transaction and travel experience satisfaction. Second, Harman’s one-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003 ) and Lindell and Whitney’s ( 2001 ) marker variable test were conducted to gauge the threat of common methods bias. The results of the Harman’s one-factor test showed no dominating single factor with the first factor accounted for only 22.15% of the total 78.44% variance. In addition, using a three-item latent construct, need for cognition (α = 0.78), for which there exists little theoretical basis for a relationship with our research variables, we performed the Lindell and Whitney ( 2001 ) marker variable test. The results showed that the maker variable’s average correlation with the research variables in the model was low ( r  = 0.08) and insignificant. Taken together, we conclude that common method bias is not a serious threat in this study (Podsakoff et al., 2003 ).

Structural Model

The assessment and estimation of the structural model was conducted using SmartPLS (Ringle et al., 2005 ). A bootstrapping procedure with resampling of 500 subsamples was conducted to determine the statistical significance of the parameter estimates. Based on the results of this procedure, the precision of the magnitude, statistical significance of the path coefficients, and R 2 in the structural model were assessed. Overall, the results suggest a satisfactory fit of the model to the data with the R 2 values of the two dependent variables: 0.49 and 0.74 for travel transaction satisfaction and travel experience satisfaction, respectively. The results of the PLS analysis are provided in Fig.  2 .

We first note that the results of tourist worries were mixed. It was significantly and negatively associated with travel transaction satisfaction (β = −0.335, p < 0.01), supporting H1a. However, the relationship with travel experience satisfaction, albeit a negative association, showed statistically insignificant. Thus, H1b was not supported. The interpretation of these interesting results is discussed in the next section. Novelty seeking was significantly and positively related to travel experience satisfaction (β = 0.261, p < 0.05), supporting H2. Consistent with the literature, the relationship between travel transaction satisfaction and travel experience satisfaction was strongly significant and positive (β = 0.585, p < 0.001), supporting H5. Overall, the results confirm our view that the tourists’ novelty seeking would enhance the trip experience, leading to the tourists’ overall travel satisfaction. In contrast, tourist worries would negatively affect tourists’ travel transaction satisfaction.

Second, the STT’s ambidexterity in moderating the relationships between two intrinsic, uncertainty-driven attributes of travel—tourist worries and novelty seeking—and the travel transaction satisfaction as well as travel experience satisfaction panned out well as hypothesized. Our interaction terms are modeled with the STT acting as “quasi” moderators (Carte & Russell, 2003 ; Sharma & James, 1981 ), because the STT is also hypothesized to directly impact both travel transaction satisfaction and travel experience satisfaction. In other words, our interaction terms take the form y  =  x  +  z  +  x * z , where y is travel transaction satisfaction or travel experience satisfaction, x is two intrinsic, uncertainty driven variables (tourist worries and novelty seeking), and z is STT. The moderation effect of STT on the negative relationship between tourist worries and travel transaction satisfaction was significant and positive (β = 0.352, p < 0.001), in addition to its significant and positive direct effect on travel transaction satisfaction (β = 0.393, p < 0.001), supporting H3a and H4a. This indicates that STT positively affect the tourist’s travel transaction satisfaction by mitigating worries emanated from the uncertainty of transaction (during pre-trip planning or in situ). However, the role of STT on travel experience satisfaction was mixed. The moderation effect of STT on the insignificant negative relationship between tourist worries and travel experience satisfaction also turned out to be insignificant, not supporting H3b. However, the moderation effect of STT on the positive relationship between novelty seeking and travel experience satisfaction was significant and positive (β = 0.395, p < 0.05), in addition to its significant and positive direct effect on travel experience satisfaction (β = 0.378, p < 0.05), supporting H3c and H4b. This indicates that STT positively affect tourists’ travel experience satisfaction by allowing and enabling them to seek and explore variety and excitement on their trips. Lastly, all the control variables turned out to be insignificant.

The current study conceptualized the tourist uncertainty with two constructs, tourist worries and novelty seeking, since reducing worries and promoting novel expectations about travel destinations or overall travel experience have been core parts of planning and preparing the travels (Cohen, 1972 ; Fennell, 2017 ; Huang et al., 2010 ). We explicitly explored their relationship with travel satisfaction and examined how the attributes and the ambidextrous role of smart tourism technologies play in forming tourists’ transaction and travel experience satisfaction. The research model is extensively supported with the empirical analysis, and our findings yield a rich set of critical insights and important contributions to theory development in the use of smart technologies in tourism.

First, we reframed the travel uncertainty with two different and opposing aspects of the tourists. More often than not, uncertainty is associated with negative expectations, such as an important antecedent of risk (Fennell, 2017 ; Williams & Baláž, 2015 ). However, we noticed that in the domain of tourism, uncertainty due to departure from routine and familiarity also plays a positive role in promoting travel satisfaction by encouraging and enabling the various tourist gazes with curiosity and new discovery through ways of encountering or experiencing the novelty in the tour destinations (Chen & Chiou-Wei, 2009 ; Chen & Chou, 2019 ; Pizam et al., 2004 ; Urry, 1990 ; Williams & Baláž, 2015 ). Advancing this view, this study theorized two constructs (i.e., tourist worries and novelty seeking) in the uncertainty framework and empirically demonstrated that they both significantly and simultaneously influence transaction satisfaction and travel experience satisfaction. Specifically, tourist worries negatively influence transaction satisfaction (cf., Borkovec, 1994 ; Jin et al., 2016 ; Larsen et al., 2009 ), whereas tourists’ novelty seeking positively impacts travel experience satisfaction (cf., Assaker & Hallak, 2013 ; Jang & Feng, 2007 ; Kim & Kim, 2015 ; Toyama & Yamada, 2012 ). This unique theoretical frame that identified and confirmed two intrinsic, uncertainty-induced factors co-existing and impacting travel satisfaction in opposite ways not only extends the extant tourism literature on uncertainty associated with travel but also offers additional research opportunities to the future studies in this domain.

Second, this theoretical frame about travel uncertainty also prompted us to explore tourist behaviors to counter worries—the negative side of tourist uncertainty—while seeking novelty—the positive side of tourist uncertainty—in order to increase travel satisfaction. We examined this possibility extensively with the role of smart tourism technologies, as the spread of STT has critically changed the landscape of tourism by providing accessible and personalized information in interactive platforms (Gretzel et al., 2015 ; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010 ; Xiang et al., 2015 ). Our study examined the direct relationship between STT and travel transaction and experience satisfaction, and our findings were consistent with the extant literature (e.g., Huang et al., 2017 ; Koo et al., 2015 ; Neuhofer et al., 2015 ; Wang et al., 2012 ; Yoo et al., 2017 ). More important, this study provided a nuanced picture of how STT interact with the tourist’s efforts in managing worries and seeking novelty to enhance travel satisfaction. Our findings show that STT attributes significantly moderate the relationships between tourist worries and transaction satisfaction and between novelty seeking and travel experience satisfaction. Figure  3 shows the interaction plots as to how the travel satisfaction, given tourist worries and novelty seeking, changes at different levels of correspondents’ STT use.

Interaction plots

Our post hoc analysis clearly shows that the respondent groups of high- and low-level use of STT have different slopes in two interaction plots. Specifically, the degree of travel transaction satisfaction (TTSAT) drops drastically in the respondent group with low STT use as tourist worries creep in. However, even with growing tourist worries, the travel transaction satisfaction of the group with the high STT use shows a flattening pattern (albeit still decreasing slightly). This indicates the mitigating impact of STT on tourist worries, especially for those tourists with high level of worries. The plot of novelty seeking shows that the travel experience satisfaction goes upward as tourist’s novelty seeking increases. In particular, the travel experience satisfaction of the group with high level of STT use increases more quickly than that of the group with low use of STT. This result indicates that even though novelty seeking in general increases overall travel experience for all, the group with high-level use of STT seems to be able to enhance their trip experience through excitement and variety more than those with low-level of STT use. This finding not only asserts the importance of using STT in travel planning, consistent with literature (Steinbauer & Werthner, 2007 ), but also provides insight into the mechanism of how such impact takes place.

It is interesting to further examine STT’s ambidexterity that mitigates the negative side (i.e., tourist worries) while enhancing the positive impact (i.e., novelty seeking) of travel uncertainty with respect to existing literature. Given that most of recent studies explore the theoretical aspects or the simple relationship between STT and satisfaction (Ahani et al., 2019 ; Kirova & Thanh, 2019 ), this study tests the moderating role of STT empirically to uncover how STT interact with other existing variables to produce satisfaction as outcomes. Interestingly, travelers often cope with considerable uncertainty in pre-trip decisions, caused not by the lack of information but by cognitive overload from too much information, as it is difficult, if not impossible, to navigate and examine numerous alternative products and services as well as a variety of promotional deals (Xu & Schrier, 2019 ). Well-designed STT with pictorial metaphor and virtual product experience in travel-related websites such as TripAdvisor and Airbnb, for example, can help reduce the traveler’s cognitive effort and induce a simple and effective decision (Hopf et al., 2020 ; Mirsarraf et al., 2018 ; Steinmann et al., 2014 ), as well as minimizing undesirable outcomes or post-purchase regret (Riquelme & Kegeng, 2004 ; Román, 2010 ). Our study also confirms the findings in the information systems (IS) literature, suggesting that IS plays an important role in addressing uncertainty issues. For example, IS has been found to critically reduced the uncertainty in e-commerce, an important factor that hinders transactions (Pavlou et al., 2007 ). At the same time, IS also provides playfulness and hedonic values to users (Lowry et al., 2013 ). STT, as an advanced form of IS, can be a game changer in dealing with both positive and negative aspects of travel uncertainty simultaneously (cf., Werthner et al., 2015 ).

Conclusion and Future Research Direction

With the clear evidence that travelers’ use of smart tourism technologies enriches their travel experience and satisfaction by reducing worries and facilitating novelty seeking, especially in the travel planning stage, our study not only advances theory development in smart tourism but also offers important implications to the tourism providers and promoters. Except for the more complicated products and services (such as cruises or tours), travel transactions have largely moved online. In addition to being more convenient and efficient than the traditional face-to-face meetings or phone calls with travel agents, use of STT in completing transactions also alleviates tourist worries, leading to higher level of transaction satisfaction. Based on the findings of this study, travel vendors can expect more positive reactions from travelers by taking on measures to further ease their worries about bookings and reservations. As an example of such worry-reduction applications, United Airlines specifically prints “Book without worry; Cancel for free within 24 hours of booking” right below the “Confirm” or “Continue” button on the reservation page to encourage immediate booking.

The findings of this study also imply that travel bureaus and tour promoters can take measures to call upon travelers’ intention to seek novelty in trips through STT by increasing the exploration and uniqueness aspect of a tour or destination on the promotional websites, social media pages, and apps (Assaker & Hallak, 2013 ; Jang & Feng, 2007 ; Toyama & Yamada, 2012 ). As Urry ( 1990 ) suggested, the tourist gaze is structured by culturally specific notions of what is extraordinary and therefore worth viewing. On the travel destination page, for instance, in addition to the usual topics such as “where to eat,” “where to stay,” and “what to do,” focused coverage of a few unusual activities and unique spots with photos and videos shared by previous travelers can stimulate daydreaming and anticipation for travelers seeking escape from familiarity and routines with personalized itineraries (Neuhofer et al., 2015 ; Volchek et al., 2019 ). Such practices offer opportunities for novelty-minder travelers to explore destinations, gaze at particular objects, in the company of various types of people.

COVID-19 has significantly increased the travel risk perception to the extent that negatively impacts the intention to travel (Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2021 ), and the STT’s ambidexterity may have even greater implications in the post-pandemic era. On the one hand, the use of STT can help alleviate such uncertainties: It is found, for instance, that COVID-9 has caused tourists to increase their intention to use smartphones, especially to when making payments for purchases (García-Milon et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, STT allow travelers to engage in novel-seeking activities via “virtual travel” before or even in lieu of actual physical trips (Atsiz, 2021 ; Zhang et al., 2022 ). Applying and extending the findings of the current study on STT’s role in travelers’ perceptions, behaviors, and satisfactions amid uncertainty can significantly contribute to tourism research and practice after COVID-19.

Although this study was conducted based on sound theories and valid methodologies, it is not without limitations. First, we collected data from tourists in South Korea. Therefore, we can assume that the results of the study reflect the sample group. Tourists with different nationality or ethnicity may have different travel motivations, gazes, and travel planning (Kozak, 2002 ), thus leading to different types of satisfaction (Lee et al., 2004 ). Therefore, to generalize the findings of the study, future studies can be done with data from other countries and various backgrounds. Second, we designed a second-order construct, STT attributes, with four formative first-order constructs, informativeness, accessibility, interactivity, and personalization in the study. Although this design shows significant results, other facets of STT can be also considered. In addition, we used STT as an umbrella term. It is possible that if the STT is defined in a narrow scope (such as mobile apps or payment systems only), different aspects of STT can be studied individually. Future studies can take that approach to extend the understanding STT attributes. Third, the current research explores the STT’s ambidexterity by taking a snapshot of the informants who already completed the trips. However, STT may work differently in different phases of travel. For example, travel satisfaction may change weeks or even months after the completion of a trip through sharing pictures and dialogues with friends and family. As such, different attributes of STT may impact travel satisfaction at different phases of travel. Therefore, we believe that dividing travel phases further with multiple data collections will provide more complete picture of STT and travel experience in future research. Lastly, this study examines the role of STT from a single traveler’s perspective. When there is more than one person planning the trip, such as in the case of a couple or a travel group, the balance between tourist worries and novelty seeking could be determined by the difference in personalities, and the moderating role of STT can therefore be different. Examining the STT’s ambidexterity in the existence of multiple decision makers in travel planning is an interesting and useful extension of the current study.

Survey Items

Note: * Seven-point Likert scale (1 being strongly disagree and 7 being strongly agree)

Declarations

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Publisher’s Note

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Contributor Information

Jahyun Goo, Email: ude.uaf@oogj .

C. Derrick Huang, Email: ude.uaf@gnauhd .

Chul Woo Yoo, Email: ude.uaf@cooy .

Chulmo Koo, Email: rk.ca.uhk@ugtemleh .

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Travel and Hospitality How to Build the Right Business Model for Smart Tourism

Finding efficiencies across the destination to drive down costs while helping to boost visitor spending is a winning strategy for the long-term

As more destinations seek to create smart tourism experiences , they’ll have to be both environmentally and economically sustainable – one can’t exist without the other to truly be considered smart.

More governments like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are turning to tourism to help diversify their economies as they consider how to balance sustainability with the economic viability of new destinations in development. The goal is to attract high net worth, luxury-focused travelers who increasingly value smart tourism – where automation and sustainable and luxury products combine to offer a human-centric experience – and are willing to spend more to have these types of getaways.

About 44 percent of respondents to a recent Altiant survey of Asia, Europe and North America luxury travelers said they’re willing to spend 10 percent more on travel to visit destinations that are supporting sustainability. In a Virtuoso survey, 82 percent of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic has made them want to travel more responsibly and 70 percent said sustainability enhances the vacation experience.

But the caveat to this growing desire to have both low-impact and exclusive vacations is that visitation has to be managed and strategically planned. Even with destinations powered by renewable energy and water conservation technology, millions of guests per year would likely negate many sustainability efforts and be harmful to the environment. Barcelona, Venice and Phuket are a few of the most prominent examples of what can happen when visitation is left unchecked and quality of life for local people and animals declines.

That’s why the solution to long-term growth is to use data and technology to 1) get a smaller number of guests to spend more and 2) identify operational efficiencies so that every aspect of experience adds value for each guest. To achieve this, destinations need to create a growth cycle by making these four considerations:

• Smart destinations need to be self-sustaining -- governments can’t subsidize them forever.
• Using data, it’s possible to manage costs while also taking a human-centric approach that can significantly increase returns.
• Ground-up builds have the advantage to build new digital infrastructure – if they’re bold enough.
• The experience can eventually be scaled to other regions and other age groups and segments.

Without a solid business model for smart destination investments to enable sustainability while continuing to grow revenues, governments and sovereign funds risk subsidizing these efforts for an extended period of time which could lead to project failure. Destinations that will be successful will use data that comes from and is processed through technologies such as 5G, AI, edge devices, cloud and a high number of sensors in places like airports, hotels and shops. Ground-up builds such as Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea project designed with these technologies in mind while anticipating future innovations will be even further ahead of competition.

First Step: Capitalize on Operational Efficiencies

Data has to be accessible and utilized by every staff member if guests’ end-to-end experiences will truly be sustainable and personalized, while simultaneously helping drive down costs. Traditionally siloed departments should instead work together using the same core data hub that prevents duplication of work and enables the entire guest experience to seamlessly connect. Doing so can accurately predict work volume requiring human intervention and optimize labor costs. This approach can also be a selling point to guests for why they should visit: staff have more time and capabilities to provide an automated bespoke experience, or one that uses data and AI to ensure a guest’s stay is completely unique, luxuriously personalized and memorable.

Destinations should also identify areas where they can remove humans from processes that don’t add value to the overall experience. This includes using technology to automate labor intensive activities such as sensors that replace manual maintenance checks. And innovations such as smart thermostats in each guest room could save energy while smart roofs could generate solar power and also collect rain water that could be reused in hotels.

Next: Maximize Guest Spending

Simply trying to upsell guests add-ons or upgrades isn’t always the best plan to boost revenues. Instead, destinations must use data to anticipate and fulfill guests’ needs before they even know they have them. How can you reach them before they need something so that when they’re ready to buy, they already know the best option for them?

Data from sensors throughout the destination, guest devices and digital transactions all help indicate consumer behavior and intent and allow destinations to offer the right products and services at the right place and the right time. Albeit, while ground-up builds have advantages by building these sensors into infrastructure from the beginning, older destinations are also stepping up to the challenge.

Dublin, for example, recently hired its first Smart Tourism Manager who’s tasked with using digital technologies and data to create a more sustainable, accessible and equitable destination. One of the position’s priorities is using the city’s open data sets, which include data like pedestrian traffic and noise levels in different neighborhoods, and aggregated, real-time consumer credit card spending data to help local businesses better understand consumer behavior and prevent things like congestion that inhibit sustainability. Although the goal of Dublin’s work isn’t to offer automated bespoke experiences to luxury travelers – at least not yet – it’s an example of how making data accessible could allow destination decision-making and design to be more aligned to luxury customers’ expectations.

Shopping is another area where accessible data is an imperative. The process needs to be centralized and connected to guests’ accounts to keep them within the destinations’ all-in-one information hub. Guests’ time is precious and they don’t want to spend hours shopping and picking up their orders, and by creating an ecommerce engine within the guest hub the destination would know activity schedules and bookings and determine the best time and place to deliver an order. Heathrow Airport, for example, offers a service that lets travelers buy products from terminal shops online and pick-up and pay before their flights. Smart destinations could offer a similar service to show guests that they understand shopping has to be convenient and on their terms.

Scaling the Experience to New Audiences

Ultimately, each destination needs to assess the return on investment for building automation technologies into their infrastructure based on their unique circumstances. But it’s clear that planning ahead, modeling scenarios and understanding the assumptions and limitations of these technologies is a must for any destination serious about attracting this expanding luxury segment. 

To make long-term growth possible, new segments must also be brought in once the experience is tested on luxury travelers who can afford automated bespoke hospitality. Think of Formula 1, which was originally an exclusive European event that eventually expanded internationally and now attracts a much broader audience. Altiant’s data also show people under 40 (millennials and Gen Z) are more likely than older travelers to be willing to spend more than 10 percent extra on travel to ensure it’s sustainable (44 percent versus 35 percent, respectively). American Express card data for millennials and Gen Z card holders also show that spending for these groups in 2021 is 125 percent higher than 2019 levels. Having a business model that’s based on a data-driven, human-centric approach will help show digitally native younger travelers that a destination is worth their time and money.

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The Absolute Best Travel YouTube Channels

Are you looking for the best travel YouTube channels to follow? Don’t miss our list of the top travel vloggers!

YouTube travel vlogs are an obsession for millions of would-be travelers all over the globe. There is something about a life of full-time travel that captivates our imaginations. We use travel vlogs to find all the details we need to know before taking a trip, to see places we have always dreamed of, or just to get away from our real life for 30 mins.  Our favorite travel vloggers introduce us to the best street food in Japan, the most beautiful beaches in the Philippines, backpacking in Thailand, and the active volcanoes of Iceland. 

Their carefree and fearless lifestyle urges us all to live a little freer and chase our dreams of adventure. These successful vloggers have captivated us with their footage and made us feel like family with their loveable personalities.  We look forward to their next trip and wait anxiously for the video notification to arrive.  Each is different in their video style, editing, and filming techniques, personality, goals, and niche, but they all have our watch-time!  Here are our votes for the best travel YouTube channels to watch right now!

Sometimes you just need to see it in writing.  Along with this list of the best vloggers, also check out our list of  The Best Travel Blogs of 2021!

The Best Travel Youtube Channels

Kara and nate, who are they:  .

Kara and Nate are travel vloggers that are just good wholesome fun.  They set out from Nashville Tennesee to travel the world about 5 years ago.  Soon after, they made a bucket list goal to visit 100 countries by 2020.  They met their 100-country goal, and by that time, YouTube was a steady career for them.  Kara and Nate are truly addicted to international travel, but COVID changed that game for the couple.  Having no quit in them, they found a way to travel safely and returned to the United States.  They converted a Sprinter van and have set a new goal to visit all 50 states.  Kara and Nate are one of the largest travel channels and have now put out more than 800 videos, so you better get started!

What Makes Kara and Nate Special:  

Kara is a joyful soul. Her big smile and contagious laugh keep you smiling the whole episode.  Plus, she is always ready to laugh at herself and just seems like an all-around nice person.  Nate is so driven and incredibly smart.  Their channel not only provides solid entertainment but great travel hacks and tips from Nate.  Nate has an online course on credit card travel hacks, while Kara sells courses on editing.

Kara and Nate don’t just randomly vlog, they focus on finding the absolute best and most unique experiences and accommodations in their travels.  On top of all that, their filming and editing skills are above and beyond most in the travel vlog world.  They have taken this venture as a business from early on in the process, and it shows.  They are some of the best travel vloggers in the world!

Flying the Nest

Stephen and Jess are an Australian couple who have been traveling the world for years!  We have watched them grow up, get married, and start a family on YouTube.  Currently, they are traveling Australia in their brand new converted van, “Cooper The Van.”  Stephen and Jess show us the best places to eat, unique places to stay, and how to still have adventure even when the kiddos come along.

What Makes Flying the Nest Special:  

Jess is possibly the most down-to-earth beauty out there.  Nothing seems to ruffle her feathers, and she is just a calming force to watch.  Stephen is quirky and so funny.  He is a dork, and he knows it, and he owns it!  Their love for each other is evident, and it’s just a feel-good watch.  Plus, now they have the addition of beautiful baby Hunter, the most chill travel baby ever! 

Hunter has added a whole new level of cute to the series, and the whole audience feels like proud parents watching their own child experience her first Aussie beach sunset.  They are a beautiful family, with a beautiful story.  In addition to all this, Stephen’s camera work and elegant editing style are all his own.  His work is distinguishable and excellent!  We think Flying the Nest is one of the best travel youtube channels out there!

Who Are They :

There is nothing more fun on the planet than watching these two crazy Welsh kids tackle the world! Their accents are hilarious.  They are hilarious.  Craig and Aimee have been together for a very long time, and their relationship has been strengthened by a near-death experience by each of them!  When they met, Aimee had just received a cancer diagnosis, and the road was long and hard.  Then, Craig challenged their relationship some more with a broken neck from an adventure sports accident. 

These two events, in a short span of time, convinced this crazy pair to chase after an unconventional life, and to live every moment to its fullest! Through it all, they have kept their joy and their sense of spontaneity.  Their motto is to “Rule Your Own World,” and they certainly do.  They have spent the last couple of years renovating a Mercedes Vario Bus into their new home.  Custard the Bus is a beauty, and her European adventures are just beginning. They have 500 travel videos for you to binge!  We think they are one of the best travel channels on YouTube and terribly underrated. 

What Makes Kinging It Special:

Craig and Aimee are absolutely hilarious.  They will have you wetting yourself, every episode!  Plus, they take on the wildest challenges.  They have completed the massive and absurd Mongol Rally, a competition that travels all through Europe and Asia, usually ending somewhere in Eastern Russia.  The car must be a clunker and have under a 1L engine, and chaos is highly encouraged!  Craig and Aimee’s Mongol Rally Series will have you rolling. Then these crazy kids bought their own rickshaw and proceeded to drive it from across India from North to South.  It was a wild ride.  Craig and Aimee are two personalities that you won’t soon forget, and their wild abandon, hilarious travel stories, and zest for life will make you want to live a little more freely, and “Rule your own world!”

Raya and Louis

Who are they:.

Raya and Louis are fairly new to the Travel YouTube scene as a couple, but Louis Cole has been in the biz for a long time.  His original channel, FunForLouis has over 2Million Subs, and it’s easy to see why.  Louis is just likable with his laidback vibe and a head full of dreadlocks. He’s an easy-going and loveable dude.  He and Raya are currently traveling through Europe in a rented van visiting family and taking holiday, but soon they will head back to their main mission.  They have about 50 videos out, so you can still easily catch up with the adventure.

What Makes Raya and Louis Special: 

Raya and Louis are into deep convos.  They have spilled the beans about the hard parts of their relationships and mental health issues, and there is just something about that level of vulnerability that makes you want to watch. They are also very eco-conscious and give great tips on how to travel in an eco-friendly way.  They have recently purchased land in Costa Rica to build a tree-house jungle community.  Like with everyone else, COVID changed their plans a bit, but soon, they will be making their way down to Costa Rica in their converted school bus to start a new life!  We can’t wait to see the community they build. 

Endless Adventure

Eric and Allison are the most charming couple from Missouri.  They’re sometimes Southern twang and complete and utter talent to be their quirky selves is both endearing and super funny.  Eric is a computer geek and a total self-proclaimed nerd.  Allison is red-headed beauty with the best big awkward laugh.  These two specialize in unique accommodations and lots of food! They always show us the best places to eat, and exactly what weird foods to try. 

Their lighthearted personalities and willingness to just be their nerdy selves make you instantly love them!  They have currently begun a tiny home renovation too, but not any old sprinter van would fit these two.  They have bought a completely run-down 1970s RV, and they are taking on the renovation completely by themselves!  Clementine  is going to be a beauty, and it has been an awesome journey to watch.  They have  737  videos for you to catch up on!

What Makes Endless Adventure Special:  

They make great videos.  They cover great content, but Allison and Eric are people you could watch read the phone book and be happy.  They are really enjoyable to watch, no matter what they are doing.  They obviously love one another. They love good beer and whiskey in equal measure, and they love a challenge.  They are awkward, funny, quirky, and absolutely adorable!  Keep it coming Eric and Allison. We love it all!

Who Is He:  

“Food is the reason you should travel.”  Well, Mark, we agree!  After University, Mark Wiens set out to find the world’s best street food.  He has traveled the markets of Southeast Asia, stalls of Japan, and he recently spent 16 days with the street vendors of Pakistan.  Mark’s channel is absolutely huge!  With over 8 million viewers, it’s obvious that we YouTube viewers really love food…and Mark.  Mark is an unassuming and charming guy. His great big smile, love for food, and humble demeanor are endearing.  Between his YouTube personality and his incredibly informative blog, Migrationology,  it’s no wonder he has so many faithful followers.  Mark has found a beautiful wife in Thailand and settled with his new family in Bangkok, but they still travel frequently in the hunt for the best street foods in the world!

What Makes Mark Special: 

Honestly, we all wish we knew Mark’s secret!  We think the secret to Mark’s success, aside from some great business savvy, is his magnetic personality.  Mark is one of the most positive personas online.  Even after over 1,100 videos on food, he still seems just as excited as he did with the first one!  Mark greets every new place and every new food adventure with gusto and genuine excitement.  Mark loves food, and we love Mark!

Travel Beans

Alex and Emma are a pair of Brits out traveling the world and documenting their “Tipsy Beans” moments.  They may or may not have a tendency to get a little inebriated while filming.  Alex is witty and his sarcasm comes at the most unexpected moments.  Emma is a doll and has been very prominent in the push for better mental health advocacy.  Emma has struggled with some depression issues, which they have well-documented in a two-part series on their channel.  Thankfully, she has received the help she needed and has come out on the other side.  She now uses their channel on occasion to express the importance of finding life and health in this world, and doing what makes you happy! They have recently started a van conversion as well, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with!

What Makes Travel Beans Special:  

Alex and Emma are truly authentic.  What you see is what you get: drunk, depressed, happy, angry, sarcastic, whatever is going on, you get the true and unfiltered version from them.  They are very funny, and who doesn’t love that perfect British accent? If sarcastic and loveable Brits adventuring is your thing, Alex and Emma have 485 videos just waiting for you!

Who Is She: 

Nadine is one of the oldest and best in the game.  For almost 10 years she has been traveling the globe, first as a solo traveler, then-wife, and now mother.  Nadine has been to almost 60 countries and is the travel tips queen!  She’s always got the best advice and little tricks to make your trip smoother.  Plus, she’s really funny.  Her vlog has transitioned a lot since becoming a new mother.  She posts much more of the daily grind and general lifestyle hacks, but we still can’t take our eyes off her.  Nadine has represented every big brand in the business, spoken at every travel conference, and landed all the awards.  She is the best, and yet she is humble and down to earth. We’ll watch you mom any day Nadine!

What Make Hey Nadine Special:  

Nadine has been in the wanderlust business a long time, and she just knows how to be in front of the camera.  She presents great info in a funny way, and she is joyful and energetic.  She is just fun to watch.

Lexi Limitless

Lexi is a new kid on the scene who has made a huge splash!! That’s all because she has the unique distinction of holding a Guinness World Record.  Lexie was the youngest person ever to travel to all 196 countries of the world.  She accomplished this feat before her 21st birthday!  Lexi is a remarkable young woman, and that level of travel has made her wise and mature beyond her years.

What Makes Lexi Limitless Special:   

This solo female traveler has literally experienced every culture on earth.  She has lived with remote African tribes and tried the world’s most nasty foods.  She is a lovely girl, with a great series of travel vlogs that cover a wide range of topics, obviously!  Her footage is surprisingly well-shot and well-edited. Lexie is just starting to roll out the videos from her years of travel, so go check her out now!

Alexander Ayling

Alex and Marko Ayling made YouTube travel content for years as the Vagabrothers.  They have now slowed on that, but Alexander is taking on a brand new adventure.  He has moved to New Zealand and bought a homestead with his wife Carrie. After a long hunt for the perfect property, they have finally found it, and the renovations have begun.  Alex and Carrie have big plans, and we can’t wait to see how it turns out!

What Makes Alexander Ayling Special:  

Alex is a filmmaker at heart.  His footage is perfect. Always.  Not to mention that Alex has a very distinct narrative style to his videos.  He wants his channel to feel like a place where you come to have a good chat with an old friend.  He truly lets you in on his life and leaves you wanting more!   Catch up on Alex and Carrie’s Renovation Dream here!

Wolter’s World

Wolter’s World has carved out his own nitch in the travel world.  Unlike the rest of the famous travel bloggers, Wolter doesn’t tell you what to do in a famous destination.  He tells you what not to do!  Brilliant.  Every great traveler wants to blend in and look like a local if possible, or at least not do anything too stupid!  Wolter helps us out in this realm.  He makes sure we know the “Top Ten Things NOT to do in El Salvador,” and everywhere else!  Wolter’s World has been in the game almost 10 years too, and his video collection is extensive.  If you want to make sure you don’t have massive culture shock, have all the do’s and dont’s, and know the down and dirty for your destination, Wolter is your guy!

What Makes Wolter’s World Special:  

Wolter has a special way of being able to present the good, the bad, and the ugly about a destination, in a respectful and culturally appropriate way.  He is not afraid to state the bad stuff, and we appreciate it.  Let’s be real. Every destination has its goods and bads, and any experienced traveler wants to know the less than glossy stuff before we arrive. So, we appreciate you, Wolter, keep it up!

Expert Vagabond

Matthew Karstan is a true vagabond.  His channel focuses on hiking and camping adventures and budget travel advice in some incredible and off-the-tourist-track places.  Matt has worked with everyone from Lonely Planet, to National Geographic, and Go Pro.  He excels as a travel blogger and photographer,  in print and social media. His travel blog tells exceptional stories of life on the road as a digital nomad. However, his YouTube channel is a fabulous collection of his adventures in true old-school vlogger fashion. He is genuine, experienced, and gives fantastic advice.

What Makes Expert Vagabond Special: 

Matthew is just a normal guy who loves nature and loves to travel the world.  He isn’t especially eloquent, and his videos aren’t overproduced.  He just gives great footage, great advice, and especially great travel experiences, from an expert traveler who has seen it all!

Eamon and Bec

Eamon and Bec are the quintessential van-lifers… or they were.  They were traveling in Morocco when COVID hit, and they had to abandon their van  Trinity  there.  Though they did get a new van and do a few trips, COVID made life tough for these Canadians.  They soon abandoned the van in favor of a cabin in the Canadian wilderness.  They are quite the DIYers and have entertained us thoroughly with their renovation successes and disasters!  Eamon is always on the move to the next crazy antic and Bec is just along for the ride.  Her great big laugh and gentle spirit make everyone love her.  Their next adventure is to buy another Canadian property to run as an Airbnb.

What Makes Eamon and Bec Special: 

E and B are another great couple that has proved during this pandemic that they could sit and do absolutely nothing, and we would still tune in every Sunday to get our fix!  We have watched them tackle everything from van conversions to home conversion, dog fostering, and more. And, we still can’t get enough. This delightful pair has over 300 vids for you to veg out on, and we know you’re gonna love them.

Rick Steves

Rick Steves is the king of all things travel-related. Period.  There are no better travel guide books on the planet! His fabulously detailed books and ridiculously nerdy audio guides have been leading us through Europe and making us snort-laugh for years! But, the YouTube videos he produces are just as good.  Rick isn’t really a vlogger in the traditional sense.  His videos are definitely professionally researched, written, filmed, and produced by a talented professional team.  They are just the right mix of fun and informative, with all the necessary information on tourist sites and local must-do items. 

What Makes Rick Steves Special:

In short, the experience.  Rick has traveled Europe extensively, with multiple visits to each country.  His team of local guides, researchers, and destination experts put for the most up-to-date and interesting information and leave out the fluff!  With well over 1800 videos to peruse, there really is no better place to get all your necessary trip information. 

Sailing la Vagabonde

Riley and Elayna have the world’s largest sailing YouTube channel.  These two Aussies are going through a transition though.  They recently had their second baby and sailed their last sail.  So, what is up for the crazy foursome now?  We don’t really know, but we know it will be fun!

What Makes Saling La Vagabonde Special: 

We have watched their whole relationship unfold from newly-mets who had never sailed, to season professionals with two beautiful kiddos. We don’t know what is in store, but we are guaranteed to stay tuned to see! 

New Travel YouTube Channels to Keep an Eye On

While we have focused most of this article on the oldies but goodies, there are some truly great channels that are just getting their start on YouTube.  For a few fresh faces in the travel industry, we suggest you subscribe to one of these awesome newcomers!

Jits into the Sunset

Tania and Adam are an Irish and English couple traveling the UK with their Sprinter van  Jitters.  They are different in the YouTube crowd.  They make travel vlogs, yes, but not all that often.  They are self-proclaimed slow travelers, who put out new videos whenever they feel like it. However, they are full of travel inspiration and well worth the wait.  

What Makes Jits Special:  

Adam and Tania do life van life their own way, and they don’t seem to get caught up in the travel YouTube channel game.  They make vlogs, but it doesn’t seem to rule their life.  They live on their own plane and do things in true freedom, and that’s an admirable way to live!

Lost Among Locals

Who are they: .

Ryan and Abby are a married couple from Arkansas.  They left their jobs and sold it all in early 2020: the big house, the cars, all of it! Little did they know COVID was coming. Like everyone on this list,  it changed their plans a bit, but they managed to Central America and start their world tour.  Ryan is quiet, slightly awkward, and you can tell he is the world’s nicest person.  Abby is sassy, funny, and you never know what might come out of her mouth!  

Ryan and Abby are culture vultures who genuinely love to learn about history, cultural oddities, and all the things that make different people groups unique.  They are full-time travelers and digital nomads, so their version of slow travel and international living is refreshing to watch. 

What Makes Lost Among Locals Special:  

They traveled internationally for 12 years before leaving for full-time travel and had already experienced several amazing destinations as a pair.  So, they bring a unique blend of touristy sites juxtaposed with everyday local life and budget travel tips.  They dance with Albanians at a baby’s birthday party, play street games with old Turkish men, and score the best local foods in every destination.  COVID definitely made local interaction harder for them, as they regrettably express, but we look forward to seeing more of their off-the-beaten-path lifestyle in the future!  Keep up the good work guys!

The Vandersons

Emily and Danny feel like instant friends.  They are just so likable.  Danny and Emily set out in their van, with their cat Graham and dog Sombrita right after they got married.  They have since been traveling through Central America with their nomad pet family! Their goal is to make the full journey from Seattle to Argentina in their tiny, colorful van.  Though they are new to video making, their vlogs are heartfelt and laidback.  Danny is a lifelong BMX biker and app developer, with a surfer boy vibe and Emily is the sweetest soul. If easy-going is the vibe you are after, these two have the vids for you! 

What Makes The Vandersons Special:  

Emily has a narrating voice that is absolute perfection. Their footage is good, but the real perk to watching the Vandersons is that they tackle destinations you have never heard of.  Because they travel full-time, at their own pace, they get to some truly off-the-beaten-path gems that you don’t get to see in many other travel vlogs. Plus, their delightful pet-filled family is just heartwarming, and it’s awesome to see a young couple so happy, living a crazy unconventional life to the fullest!  

That’s it, guys!  These are the best travel bloggers out there right now!  You have lots of new videos to binge, so you better get busy! Let us know in the comments, which of these bloggers is your favorite.

Wanna know what it truly takes to break into this industry? Here’s our guide to  How to Become a Travel Blogger  to help you get a great start!

Frequently Asked Questions

Solo female travel is a specialty all its own, with specific needs and difficulties.  Check out channels like Be My Travel Muse, Lexie Limitless, and Cup of TJ for advice on female travel.

There are so many YouTube couples in the travel world. Some of the best Youtube travel channels for couples are Kara and Nate, Endless Adventure, and Flying the Nest.

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

British tourist drowns during scuba dive off popular beach

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A British scuba diver has died off the coast of Lanzarote .

The 59-year-old got into difficulty at a small sandy cove called Playa Chica in the tourist resort of Puerto del Carmen.

Emergency medical responders tried to revive him after he was pulled out of the water and they discovered he had gone into cardiac arrest.

They were unable to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim has not yet been named publicly.

The alarm was raised just after 12.30pm yesterday at Playa Chica, the most southerly beach in Puerto del Carmen which is famed for its amazing snorkelling.

A spokesman for a regional government-run emergency response coordination centre said overnight: ‘A 59-year-old scuba diver has died following an incident at Playa Chica in the municipality of Tias.

‘The callers said a scuba diver who was unconscious and needed emergency medical assistance had been pulled from the water.

‘Emergency responders discovered he was in cardiac arrest when they arrived at the scene and practiced CPR on him without obtaining positive results.

‘He was pronounced dead at the scene.

‘The Civil Guard is preparing a report on the incident. Local police and firefighters were also mobilised.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .

For more stories like this, check our news page .

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