Confirmation and validation of smart tourism technology attributes: The case study of city of Tshwane

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has resulted in the proliferation of the word 'smart'. The continued use and adoption of smart tourism technologies by tourists is creating a new form of tourist consumption behaviour that is influenced by smart tourism technologies. The notion of smart cities has also emerged. The city of Tshwane has been making strides to become a world class African smart city and such offers the city of Tshwane an opportunity to position itself as a smart tourism destination. Prior to such positioning, it is critical that a research aimed at investigating digital behaviour of tourists visiting the city be conducted. The objective of the current study was to identify and validate the attributes (factors) of the smart tourism technologies that influence a tourist's destination choice. The study was quantitative in nature. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire with 29 seven-point Likert-scale items. A total of 208 questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to reduce and validate the factors (Attributes). The study identified seven smart tourism technology attributes that influence destination choice, such factors should therefore be considered when designing smart tourism tools aimed to supporting tourist decision making.