Digital Technology in a Smart Tourist Destination: The Case of Porto

ABSTRACT

Given that information and communication technologies (ICT) have become increasingly integrated into the tourism industry, this article aims to emphasize the growing importance of ICT for smart tourism destinations. As a city, Porto has been consolidating its position as a smart tourism destination by emphasizing tourists’ experiences that are evaluated through innovation, communication, and interactivity with tourists/visitors. A survey of 423 tourists visiting the city provided the data for this study. The analysis focuses on the availability of ICT in Porto and its influence on tourists’ decisions to visit the city. This information helps to determine whether the application and information available on the Internet had positively contributed to tourists’ satisfaction in their visits to Porto. In particular, this article focuses on the influence of ICT accessibility on tourists’ choices of destination, their experiences, and their satisfaction. The results obtained can serve as insights for others to understand how tourists’ behavior and experiences, their planning stages and their demand for information are affected by the availability of ICT, in the context of smart tourism destinations.

KEYWORDS:

• Porto
• smart destination
• tourists
• behavior
• experience
• satisfaction
• Internet
• ICT

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Pedro Manuel da Costa Liberto is lecturer in the School of Hospitality and Tourism, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Elisa Alén-González is lecturer of marketing in the Department of Business Management & Marketing, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain.

Dália Filipa Velosa de Azevedo Liberato is lecturer of the School of Hospitality and Tourism, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal.