Page 6 - Smart tourism: A path to more secure and resilient destinations

Executive Summary

Digital advances are transforming how the world connects and impacts how data is shared
between ecosystems, affecting behavioural patterns, and encouraging innovation and sustainable,
responsible growth strategies. Societies are becoming increasingly connected and interdependent
with digital technology, changing how we interact with people and places. The sheer size of global
tourism and its impact on many other sectors puts it at the forefront of environmental, social and
economic development agenda. Tourism is one of the sectors to digitize business processes on a
global scale, by providing a number of tourist services online. Notably, flight and hotel bookings
led the path for tourist services being available online. This transition to the online arena has now
become an integral part of the tourist experience provided by any given destination. Digitization
is expected to continue enhancing the travel experience on its trajectory toward the global goals.
With the onset of the COVID pandemic, the ecosystem of digital services has expanded within the
tourism sector to include into facilitated check-in into hotels, generation of QR codes for restaurants,
along with enhanced virtual reality (VR) experience for specific destinations during the lockdown
etc.

The tourism sector when properly managed, serves a key driver of economic growth, employment
and social and cultural development. Harnessing innovation and digital technology provide tourism
opportunities to improve inclusiveness, local community empowerment and efficient resource
management, amongst other objectives. Smart tourism is a proven tool for measuring and
managing tourism, promoting evidence-based decision making on key issues such as infrastructure,
carrying capacity, housing, transport and mobility, management of natural and cultural resources
and community engagement in tourism.

Technologies along with digital platforms are disrupting the way that tourism is run from end to end,
impacting the way destinations facilitate tourism, develop products, gather data, access markets
and attract visitors. However, with technological advancements come risks such as cyberattacks,
resource scarcity stress on biodiversity, cultural heritage, and local communities that can have an
increasing impact on the tourism sector in the upcoming years. Tourism industry should be planned
and managed in an integrated manner for residents and visitors alike, leaving no one behind. In
this regard, this Report is oriented towards demonstrating how technologies and the process
of digitization are powerful tools for moving towards a tourism industry capable of ensuring its
resilience, competitiveness, and sustainability in any scenario.

Furthermore, this document on Smart Tourism will provide practical recommendations for
establishing a destination framework which will support cities in developing smart tourism
destination platforms. It also highlights practical solutions and use cases for smart tourism.

iv Smart tourism: A path to more secure and resilient destinations