An Exploration of Smart Tourism Ecosystem from the Value Co-Creation Lens A Case Study in China

With the development of smart tourism, more cities are starting to make investment and construction regarding smart tourism. Yet despite the advanced technologies that cities are adopting, the tourist experience remains paramount. Therefore, this paper adopts the perspective of value co-creation theory to study the smart tourism ecosystem to emphasise innovation service and tourist experience for the sustainable development of the industry. This paper derives a framework for smart tourism ecosystems through a case study in Yunnan Province, China. It also explores in depth how different players, namely tourists, government and service providers, can engage in value co-creation in commanding the tourism ecosystem. Finally, the paper proposes a model that can be applied to the platform ecosystem that includes value proposition, value-in-exchange, and value-in-use with smart tourism actors.