https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9238-2792
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Abstract
Indicators are a fundamental tool for destinations in their progress towards a more sustainable tourism development. However, the lack of real progress and the accelerated technological change are obliging policy makers to rethink the existing indicator systems. This paper examines the relationship between smart cities and destinations and sustainable tourism indicators by analyzing proposals at different scales. It provides a critical review of international smart city standards and the role that sustainability indicators play within them. Then, it conducts a content analysis of planning instruments applied in smart strategies in Spain, focusing on how sustainability indicators are considered under the smart paradigm. At the regional-local scale, this research compares two sets of indicators and tests the scientific validity of one of them for addressing the imbalance suffered by many indicators between their usefulness for policy makers and their academic rigor. The results show that little progress has been achieved despite the appropriation of the sustainability discourse by smart city and smart destination promoters. These findings reveal the (limited) real contribution made by smart cities/destinations to sustainable tourism development and contribute to identifying weaknesses and opportunities so as to redirect smart policies and projects. A final discussion contextualizes the findings within the novel framework of smart sustainability and highlights the need to reinforce public governance of urban and tourist spaces.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Josep A. Ivars-Baidal
Dr Josep Ivars-Baidal is a Professor in Geography and Tourism at the University of Alicante (Spain). His research interests include tourism policy, planning and management of tourism destinations, as well as sustainability and innovation in the field of tourism. Along with his academic activities, he has also been involved in planning projects and has held different positions in public bodies devoted to tourism management.
J. Fernando Vera-Rebollo
Dr J. Fernando Vera-Rebollo is a Professor in Geography at the University of Alicante and for three decades has devoted himself to research and education in tourism development and planning and land management, especially in coastal areas. He is the director of the PhD programme in Tourism offered at the Universities of Alicante, Málaga, Sevilla and Rey Juan Carlos.
José Perles-Ribes
Dr José F. Perles-Ribes is a researcher focused on tourism services, destination competitiveness as well as residential tourism. He has published several articles in prestigious international journals such as Tourism Management, Tourism Economics and Current Issues in Tourism. He collaborates with the Tourism Research Institute and the Department of Applied Economic Analysis, University of Alicante.
Francisco Femenia-Serra
Dr Francisco Femenia-Serra is a Lecturer at the Department of Tourism, Antonio de Nebrija University (Madrid, Spain), and a member of the research centre Smarttour-INN. His research focuses on smart tourism and destinations planning, management and marketing as well as on the intersection between digital technologies, human behavior and experiences in tourism destinations.
Marco A. Celdrán-Bernabeu
Dr Marco A. Celdrán Bernabeu is a Research Assistant at the Tourism Research Institute (University of Alicante), a tourism multidisciplinary research centre where he works on projects associated with the Spanish National R&D&I Plan. Marco's current research focuses on smart tourism, smart destinations and technology influence on tourism. He combines his research activity with teaching tasks at the Department of Regional Geography (UA).