Intersection of Data Science and Smart Destinations: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review adopts a formal and structured approach to review the intersection of data science and smart tourism destinations in terms of components found in previous research. The study period corresponds to 1995–2021 focusing the analysis mainly on the last years (2015–2021), identifying and characterizing the current trends on this research topic. The review comprises documentary research based on bibliometric and conceptual analysis, using the VOSviewer and SciMAT software to analyze articles from the Web of Science database. There is growing interest in this research topic, with more than 300 articles published annually. Data science technologies on which current smart destinations research is based include big data, smart data, data analytics, social media, cloud computing, the internet of things (IoT), smart card data, geographic information system (GIS) technologies, open data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Critical research areas for data science techniques and technologies in smart destinations are public tourism marketing, mobility-accessibility, and sustainability. Data analysis techniques and technologies face unprecedented challenges and opportunities post-coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) to build on the huge amount of data and a new tourism model that is more sustainable, smarter, and safer than those previously implemented.