Value evaluation of the smart tourism city project using the choice experiment method : Focusing on the four key attributes of smart tourism city project

As the tourism industry has been increasingly digitalized, mainly due to the rise of Fourth Industrial Revolution and contactless economy, the importance of data-driven personalized information and smart tourism services has also become more substantial. Consequently, developing local tourism content and fostering smart tourism ecosystems are essential to achieving balanced regional tourism development. Against this backdrop, the Korea Tourism Organization's Smart Tourism City Development Project aims to leverage cutting-edge digital technologies to reinvent tourist experiences and maximize urban operational efficiency. This study evaluated the economic value of the Smart Tourism City Project using the choice experiment method. For the smart experience attribute, marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) was estimated to be 6,845 KRW for AR/VR experiences and 1,219 KRW for event-based experiences, highlighting the importance of diverse tourism experiences. For the smart convenience attribute, MWTP was 5,430 KRW for smart reservation and payment systems, but additional services were not preferred. For the smart accessibility attribute, MWTP was 4,125 KRW for integrated transport services and 2,235 KRW for smart parking improvements, emphasizing the need to enhance both physical and digital accessibility. For the smart platform attribute, MWTP for an integrated mobile platform was 3,712 KRW, but overly complex features were not preferred. The total value of an optimized Smart Tourism City Project was estimated to be 23,566 KRW. This study expands the theoretical foundation of smart tourism research by quantitatively evaluating the economic value of each attribute of the Smart Tourism City Project. Particularly, the application of the choice experiment method to analyze the economic value of each smart tourism project attribute holds academic significance. Furthermore, the findings highlight that practical and intuitive service delivery is critical to the success of the Smart Tourism City Project, emphasizing the necessity of user-friendly approaches.