Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study explores the dynamic interplay between tourism ecosystems and smart city ecosystems, focusing on their impact on urban sustainability and digital advancement in contemporary cities. Amid societal transformation, globalization, and technological evolution, cities and tourism are transitioning toward a “smart” paradigm, necessitating a nuanced understanding of their symbiotic relationship. However, despite this contemporary evolution, the dynamic and evolving nature of both ecosystems, accompanied by digital and societal changes, reveals a persistent gap between theoretical discussion and practical implementation. Applying a longitudinal empirical analysis that considers 30 Italian cities across 13 years (2010–2023), this research empirically investigates how these integrations influence digital and sustainable urban pathways. Understanding this interaction has become increasingly critical for the advancement of smart cities and tourism. Therefore, our findings aim to contribute to the academic discourse on smart cities and tourism, offering insights for policymakers and practitioners to orchestrate contemporary and future urban dynamics.

Keywords

smart city tourism ecosystem smart city ecosystem digital technology green practices tourism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abdi

Williams

L. J.

(2010). Principal component analysis. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 2(4), 433–459. https://doi.org/10.1002/wics.101

Abid

Marchesani

Ceci

Masciarelli

Ahmad

(2022). Cities trajectories in the digital era : Exploring the impact of technological advancement and institutional quality on environmental and social sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 377, 134378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134378

Agostinelli

(2002). Robust stepwise regression. Journal of Applied Statistics, 29(6), 825–840. https://doi.org/10.1080/02664760220136168

Akinwande

M. O.

Dikko

H. G.

Samson

(2015). Variance inflation factor: As a condition for the inclusion of suppressor variable(s) in regression analysis. Open Journal of Statistics, 5(7), 754–767. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojs.2015.57075

Annoni

Dijkstra

(2013). EU regional competitiveness index. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2788/61698

Bai

Wang

(2016). Econometric analysis of large factor models. Annual Review of Economics, 8, 53–80. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-080315-015356

Bassano

Barile

Piciocchi

Spohrer

J. C.

Iandolo

Fisk

(2019). Storytelling about places: Tourism marketing in the digital age. Cities, 87, 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.12.025

Benevolo

Dameri

R. P.

Auria

B. D.

(2016). Empowering organizations: Enabling platforms and artefacts. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23784-8

Berbekova

Uysal

George Assaf

(2024). Quality of life and public policy development for tourism destinations. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 65(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655231182089

10.

Boes

Buhalis

Inversini

(2015). Conceptualising smart tourism destination dimensions. In Tussyadiah

Inversini

(Eds.), Information and communication technologies in tourism 2015 (pp. 391–403). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14343-9_29

11.

Boes

Buhalis

Inversini

(2016). Smart tourism destinations: Ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 2(2), 108–124. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2015-0032

12.

Bond

(1991). Some tests of specification for panel data:monte carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277–297. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297968

13.

Buhalis

(2020). Technology in tourism-from information communication technologies to eTourism and smart tourism towards ambient intelligence tourism: A perspective article. Tourism Review, 75(1), 267–272. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-06-2019-0258

14.

Buhalis

Amaranggana

(2016). Smart tourism destinations: Ecosystems for tourism destination competitiveness. Tourism Management, 4(2), 145–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.014

15.

Buhalis

Amaranggana

(2015). Smart tourism destinations enhancing tourism experience through personalisation of services. In Tussyadiah

Inversini

(Eds.), Information and communication technologies in tourism 2015 (pp. 377–389). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14343-9_28

16.

Buhalis

O’Connor

Leung

(2023). Smart hospitality: From smart cities and smart tourism towards agile business ecosystems in networked destinations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(1), 369–393. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2022-0497

17.

Buhalis

Wagner

(2013). E-destinations: Global best practice in tourism technologies and applications. In Cantoni

Xiang

(Eds.), Information and communication technologies in tourism 2013 (pp. 119–130). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36309-2_11

18.

Capocchi

Vallone

Amaduzzi

Pierotti

(2020). Is “overtourism” a new issue in tourism development or just a new term for an already known phenomenon? Current Issues in Tourism, 23(18), 2235–2239. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1638353

19.

Capocchi

Vallone

Pierotti

Amaduzzi

(2019). Overtourism: A literature review to assess implications and future perspectives. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(12), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10023303

20.

Caragliu

del Bo

C. F

. (2019). Smart innovative cities: The impact of Smart City policies on urban innovation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 142, 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.022

21.

Caragliu

del Bo

C. F.

Nijkamp

(2011). Smart cities in Europe. Journal of Urban Technology, 18(2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2011.601117

22.

Christofi

Iaia

Marchesani

Masciarelli

(2021). Marketing innovation and internationalization in smart city development: A systematic review, framework and research agenda. International Marketing Review, 38(5), 948–984. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-01-2021-0027

23.

Coca-Stefaniak

J. A.

(2019). Marketing smart tourism cities—A strategic dilemma. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 5(4), 513–518. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-12-2019-163

24.

Coca-Stefaniak

J. A.

(2021). Beyond smart tourism cities—Towards a new generation of “wise” tourism destinations. Journal of Tourism Futures, 7(2), 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-11-2019-0130

25.

Constance Mensah

Dadzie

. (2020). Application of principal component analysis on perceived barriers to youth entrepreneurship. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 9(5), 201. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20200905.13

26.

Dioko

(Don)

A. N

. (2024). The content and structure of tourism and public policies: A temporal analysis of stability and change. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 65(1), 7–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655231182086

27.

Eugenio-Martin

J. L.

Cazorla-Artiles

J. M.

González-Martel

(2019). On the determinants of Airbnb location and its spatial distribution. Tourism Economics, 25(8), 1224–1244. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816618825415

28.

Foronda-Robles

Galindo-Pérez-de-Azpillaga

Fernández-Tabales

(2020). Progress and stakes in sustainable tourism: Indicators for smart coastal destinations. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 31, 1518–1537. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1864386

29.

Giambona

Grassini

(2020). Tourism attractiveness in Italy: Regional empirical evidence using a pairwise comparisons modelling approach. International Journal of Tourism Research, 22(1), 26–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2316

30.

Giglio

Bertacchini

Bilotta

Pantano

(2019). Using social media to identify tourism attractiveness in six Italian cities. Tourism Management, 72, 306–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.12.007

31.

Glaeser

E. L.

(2000). The new economics of urban and regional growth. In G. Clark, M. Gertler & M. Feldman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography (pp. 83–98). Oxford University Press.

32.

Glaeser

E. L.

Gottlieb

J. D.

(2009). The wealth of cities: Agglomeration economies and spatial equilibrium in the United States. Journal of Economic Literature, 47(4), 983–1028. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.47.4.983

33.

Gretzel

Koo

Gretzel

(2021). Smart tourism cities: A duality of place where technology supports the convergence of touristic and residential experiences. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 26, 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2021.1897636

34.

Gretzel

Reino

Kopera

Koo

(2015). Smart tourism challenges. Journal of Tourism, 16, 41–47. https://www.academia.edu/download/40496752/Journal_of_Tourism_23-11-2015

35.

Gretzel

Sigala

Xiang

Koo

(2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8

36.

Gretzel

Werthner

Koo

Lamsfus

(2015). Conceptual foundations for understanding smart tourism ecosystems. Computers in Human Behavior, 50, 558–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.043

37.

Hooper

Coughlan

Mullen

M. R.

(2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6(1), 53–60.

38.

Hunter

W. C.

Chung

Gretzel

Koo

(2015). Constructivist research in smart tourism. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, 25(1), 105–120.

39.

Ivars-Baidal

J. A.

Vera-Rebollo

J. F.

Perles-Ribes

Femenia-Serra

Celdrán-Bernabeu

M. A.

(2021). Sustainable tourism indicators: What’s new within the smart city/destination approach? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 31, 1556–1582. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2021.1876075

40.

Jaccard

Wan

C. K.

Turrisi

(1990). The detection and interpretation of interaction effects between continuous variables in multiple regression. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25(4), 467–478. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2504_4

41.

Jacobides

M. G.

Cennamo

Gawer

(2018). Towards a theory of ecosystems. Strategic Management Journal, 39(8), 2255–2276. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2904

42.

Jeong

Shin

H. H.

(2020). Tourists’ experiences with smart tourism technology at smart destinations and their behavior intentions. Journal of Travel Research, 59(8), 1464–1477. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287519883034

43.

Kim

Duffy

L. N.

Moore

D. W.

(2020). Tourist attractiveness: Measuring residents’ perception of tourists. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(6), 898–916.

44.

Kreeger

J. C.

Smith

S. J.

(2024). Public policy challenges and the lodging shared economy. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 65(1), 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655231184476

45.

Kummitha

R. K. R.

(2018). Entrepreneurial urbanism and technological panacea: Why Smart City planning needs to go beyond corporate visioning? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137, 330–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.010

46.

Kummitha

R. K. R.

Crutzen

(2017). How do we understand smart cities? An evolutionary perspective. Cities, 67, 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.04.010

47.

Khan

M. S.

Woo

Nam

Chathoth

P. K.

(2017). Smart city and smart tourism: A case of Dubai. Sustainability, 9(12), 2279.

48.

Lee

J. W.

Brahmasrene

(2013). Investigating the influence of tourism on economic growth and carbon emissions: Evidence from panel analysis of the European Union. Tourism Management, 38, 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.02.016

49.

Levy

P. S.

Lemeshow

(2008). Sampling of populations. In Levy

P. S.

Lemeshow

Sampling of populations: Methods and applications (4th ed.). (pp. 1–614). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470374597

50.

Linde

Sjödin

Parida

Wincent

(2021). Dynamic capabilities for ecosystem orchestration A capability-based framework for smart city innovation initiatives. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 166, 120614.

51.

Mackesey

T. W.

(1963). The city’s future. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 3(4), 2–4. https://doi.org/10.1177/001088046300300402

52.

Marchesani

Masciarelli

Doan

H. Q.

(2022). Innovation in cities a driving force for knowledge flows: Exploring the relationship between high-tech firms, student mobility, and the role of youth entrepreneurship. Cities, 130, 103852.

53.

Marchesani

(2023). Exploring the relationship between digital services advance and smart tourism in cities: Empirical evidence from Italy. Current Issues in Tourism, 26(24), 3973–3984. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2022.2153652

54.

Marchesani

Masciarelli

Bikfalvi

(2023a). Smart city as a hub for talent and innovative companies: Exploring the (dis) advantages of digital technology implementation in cities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 193, 122636.

55.

Marchesani

(2024). Digital implementation in the smart city ecosystem. Emerald Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-575-420231002

56.

Marchesani

Masciarelli

(2023). Does tourism flow in cities drive green practices in the current smart city trajectories? Empirical evidence from Italy. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 9, 559–571. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-04-2023-0071

57.

Marchesani

Masciarelli

Bikfalvi

(2023). Cities (r)evolution in the smart era: Smart mobility practices as a driving force for tourism flow and the moderating role of airports in cities. International Journal of Tourism Cities, 9(4), 1025–1045. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-05-2023-0104

58.

Marchesani

Masciarelli

Ceci

(2024). Digital trajectories in contemporary cities: Exploring the interplay between digital technology implementation, the amplitude of social media platforms, and tourists inflow in cities. Cities, 146, 104749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104749

59.

Marsal-Llacuna

M. L.

Colomer-Llinàs

Meléndez-Frigola

(2015). Lessons in urban monitoring taken from sustainable and livable cities to better address the Smart Cities initiative. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 90(Pt. B), 611–622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2014.01.012

60.

Matos

Pinto

Barros

Martins

Au-Yong-Oliveira

(2019). Smart cities and smart tourism: What future do they bring? Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 932, 358–370. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16187-3_35

61.

Morinière

(2012). Environmentally influenced urbanisation: Footprints bound for town? Urban Studies, 49(2), 435–450. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098011402233

62.

Nilsson

J. H.

(2019). Urban bicycle tourism: Path dependencies and innovation in Greater Copenhagen. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 27(11), 1648–1662. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2019.1650749

63.

Ooms

Caniëls

M. C. J.

Roijakkers

Cobben

(2020). Ecosystems for smart cities: Tracing the evolution of governance structures in a Dutch smart city initiative. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 16(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-020-00640-7

64.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2008). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: Methodology and user guide. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264043466-en

65.

Park

Zhang

Liu

(2023). Analyzing travel mobility patterns in city destinations: Implications for destination design. Tourism Management, 96, 104718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104718

66.

Rahmadian

Feitosa

Zwitter

(2022). A systematic literature review on the use of big data for sustainable tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 25, 1711–1730. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1974358

67.

Robertico

Parsa

H. G.

Paraskevas

(2024). The criticality of public policy in hospitality and tourism research. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 65(1), 4–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/19389655231210049

68.

Romão

Kourtit

Neuts

Nijkamp

(2018). The smart city as a common place for tourists and residents: A structural analysis of the determinants of urban attractiveness. Cities, 78, 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.11.007

69.

Roodman

(2009). How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata. The Stata Journal: Promoting Communications on Statistics and Stata, 9(1), 86–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X0900900106

70.

Rucci

A. C.

Moreno-Izquierdo

Perles-Ribes

J. F.

Porto

(2022). Smart or partly smart? Accessibility and innovation policies to assess smartness and competitiveness of destinations. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(8), 1270–1288. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1914005

71.

Sakamoto

Ishiguro

Kitagawa

(1987). Akaike information criterion statistics. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 29(5), 452. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-4754(87)90094-2

72.

Shafiee

Rajabzadeh Ghatari

Hasanzadeh

Jahanyan

(2021). Smart tourism destinations: A systematic review. Tourism Review, 76(3), 505–528. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-06-2019-0235

73.

Silva

B. N.

Khan

Han

(2018a). Towards sustainable smart cities: A review of trends, architectures, components, and open challenges in smart cities. Sustainable Cities and Society, 38, 697–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.01.053

74.

Soares

J. C.

Domareski Ruiz

T. C.

Ivars Baidal

J. A.

(2021). Smart destinations: A new planning and management approach? Current Issues in Tourism, 25, 2717. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2021.1991897

75.

Son

Park

Y. E.

(2023). Predicting user engagement with textual, visual, and social media features for online travel agencies’ Instagram post: Evidence from machine learning. Current Issues in Tourism, 27, 3608–3622. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2278087

76.

Chung

(2021). Does smart tourism technology matter? Lessons from three smart tourism cities in South Korea. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 26(4), 396–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2019.1595691

77.

Vanolo

(2014). Smartmentality: The smart city as disciplinary strategy. Urban Studies, 51(5), 883–898. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013494427

78.

Visnjic

Neely

Cennamo

Visnjic

(2016). Governing the city: Unleashing value from the business ecosystem. California Management Review, 59(1), 109–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125616683955

79.

Windmeijer

(2005). A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators. Journal of Econometrics, 126(1), 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2004.02.005

Toward Integrating Tourism and Smart City Ecosystems: Synergies for Urban Digital Technologies and Sustainability in Italy

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References