Smart cities aim to improve the lives of their citizens, but what about visitors? The majority of today's smart cities are also important tourist destinations.. There is great business opportunities in the operation of technological services dedicated to tourists the use of ICTs applied to tourism (what we know as "ICT for tourism"). Smart Tourism) promotes ecological, sustainable and, moreover, more attractive tourism.
The use of technologies should also help the tourism sector to undergo its own digital transformation, in a context in which leading companies are transforming the way we travel and enjoy accommodation and leisure in a foreign city. Therefore, Smart cities and Smart Tourism must go hand in hand, Both have the well-being of people and the use of technology as the cornerstone of their operation.
The keys to a Smart City for a smart tourist
- Accessible: It allows people with reduced mobility or visual impairment to enjoy the city without problems. One of the most important elements for an accessible city is the Smart transportation, which is also suitable for all types of users.
- Sustainable: One of the missions of any smart city is to reduce the city's impact on the environment. Green cities attract more visitors and, moreover, those that are Smart have advanced systems for waste management or keeping beaches cleaner, for example.
- Mobile: the tourist Smart needs more than just access to Wi-Fi, so it demands access to apps that help it get around the city, get information on the best places to go, and receive alerts if a location is down or inaccessible.
The use that tourists make of the Smart City can be used to improve it. With the data collected from their mobile devices, for example, measures can be taken to improve the city for all citizens. In this way, tourists are also integrated into the active improvement of the city.
Through the devices, the use of IoT and other advanced tools of Smart Cities, it is possible to elaborate predictions of tourist behavior and thus guide their experience. This option can be very interesting for combating tourist overcrowding and gentrification in cities. For example, this would make it possible to promote little-known tourist sites according to the preferences and tastes of visitors and, thus, decongest the best-known monuments without sacrificing quality tourism. For example, New York City increased visitation to Central Park by developing a series of QR codes where users could view scenes from popular movies filmed there.
Tourism Management in a Smart City: the example of Barcelona
As an example of smart tourism management, we talk about Barcelona, one of the Spanish Smart Cities of reference. In the area of tourism, and taking advantage of the tools of the Smart cities, have created or will create the following proposals:
- Tourism Observatory: through Big Data, and using data collected in recent years, will study tourism at three scales: at the district, neighborhood and regional levels. The aim is to address mass tourism by promoting the city environment and not only the most common neurological points.
- Start-up of the Tourism Intelligence System through which visitor experience data can be obtained, as well as a census of their activity and their use of local businesses through the use of Smart cities.
- Think Pool: a space where citizens will be able to contribute ideas and opinions within the tourism observatory. Therefore, the observatory will work with open data.
The Zemsania group has extensive experience in Smart Cities solutions.