SMART DESTINATIONS, SMARTER JOURNEYS: SCIENCE, INNOVATION, AND THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF GLOBAL TOURISM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21672131Abstract
Tourism is one of the most important sectors of human civilization. It is based on curiosity, movement, and
the desire to see how people around the world live. However, nowadays, these desires are fulfilled through science and
technology as much as through geography. This article investigates how innovations in the tourism industry are making it
more knowledge- and technology-based rather than instinctive. By carrying out a literature review and a secondary analysis
of global venture capital investment statistics from Phocuswright and Skift Research, this article identifies how investments
in travel technology related to smart tourism destinations transformed between 2019 and 2024. It concludes that although
investment in travel technology has been unstable, it has grown significantly and is now increasingly directed toward
personalized technologies based on artificial intelligence.
Keywords
tourism innovation, smart tourism, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, destination management, science and technology policy.References
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