ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some of the key parallels between the concepts of smart cities and smart tourism destinations. It argues that smart tourism destinations are at a strategic crossroads in their development, which needs to move beyond traditionally favoured technology-focused initiatives towards a new generation of smart tourism destinations that balance often conflicting global-local trends. The chapter explores examples from practice in the management of smart tourism destinations. Smart urban tourism destinations can no longer adopt a city-centric approach to smartness. In essence, while some smart urban tourism destinations will continue to revel in their techno-centric initiatives, the more forward-looking ones will pursue instead a new paradigm: the sustainable smart tourism destination. Sandwiched between the destination management sphere and its core a key domain will continue to develop in the future and attract scrutiny in line with society’s growing awareness of environmental sustainability issues.
