Smart Tourism as a Strategic Response to Challenges of Tourism in the Post-COVID Era

Abstract

Many scholars have emphasised the importance of tourism for global economies. However, contemporary business paradigms in tourism have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made a tremendous negative impact on tourism hitherto and affected certain positive aspects, such as boosting digital transformation. Despite the considerable increase in the inquisitiveness to the influence of COVID-19 on different industries and digital transformation and a myriad of notable studies concerning this subject, the interdependence between the impact of the pandemic on digital transformation in tourism is understudied. Building on the previous studies, this paper aims to address this issue, narrow the existing theoretical gap, and provide how to use new technologies to strategically approach future tourism challenges. The paper particularly investigates smart tourism as a new and effective method to cope with challenges in tourism. The goal of the article is to contribute to understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises on the acceleration of digital transformation and the role of new technologies in tourism. This study sheds new light on the strategical approach to contemporary and future tourism challenges.