Smart tourist destination: a literature review and future agenda

Purpose The aim of this paper is to conduct a literature review of research on smart destinations, to establish the state of the knowledge, identify research gaps and propose a future agenda. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric review, based on analytical tools, provides an overview of the state of the knowledge. From the perspectives of smart cities and service ecosystems, the theoretical background enabled us to identify 15 research areas within the smart destination domain that integrate existing research and highlight gaps. Findings The results show that publications have increased significantly since 2014. Systematic analysis uses the service ecosystem and smart city perspectives as the theoretical background to conduct a micro, meso and macro analysis of the fields of smart experience, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart sustainability and smart life. The most studied areas are identified and the research gaps are pinpointed for future research. Practical implications Firstly, destination management organizations must coordinate with smart city management entities. The smart tourist destination (STD) and smart city models should not evolve in isolation from one another, without a unified vision of the territory and integrative governance. Smart technology must be used to address the areas of smart people, smart governance, smart mobility, smart sustainability and smart life. Secondly, while smart technology is important, it is not the goal of STD. As a service ecosystem, its purpose is to create value throughout the tourist journey, by operating at micro, meso and macro levels. Technology should be incorporated as the final step in a process of identifying needs and defining a strategy centred on the co-creation of value. Originality/value Unlike other systematic reviews of STDs, this study uses a dual theoretical framework (service ecosystem and smart city) to provide a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. This approach enables us to establish the state of the art and identify research gaps more systematically than other literature reviews have done to date.