ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the impact of smart tourism ecosystem on tourism destinations will be examined. A smart tourism ecosystem (STE) has been defined as “a tourism system that takes advantage of smart technology in creating, managing and delivering intelligent tourist services/experiences and is characterized by intensive information sharing and value co-creation”. Rather than being a tourism business-centric ecosystem, the STE includes a variety of “species” such as tourist and residential consumers, tourism suppliers, tourism intermediaries, support services, platforms and media, regulatory bodies and NGOs, transportation carriers, travel technology and data companies, consulting services, tourist and residential infrastructure and companies typically assigned to other industries. The rapid development of smart technology applications provides a global tourism ecosystem by creating a holistic service approach in tourist destination infrastructure. Wearable technologies, augmented reality, intelligent agents and similar applications have a remarkable impact in terms of tourist experience based on destination. This effect is further enhanced by the interaction of smart tourism destinations within the STE. Smart technologies, such as wearable technologies and apps, have positive effects for smart tourism destinations such as accessibility, ease of use, speed and cost. On the other hand, the use of smart technologies such as increased reality and haptic technologies in smart tourism destinations provides the digital restructuring of tourist attractions. In addition, international smart technology-based projects such as citySDK and Cordis are accelerating the development of smart tourism destinations. Smart technologies offer opportunities such as optimizing tourist services and attractiveness and increasing competitiveness for smart tourism destinations.
