The Technology Pillar of the Spanish Smart Tourism Destination (DTI) Model

Abstract

Technology is a key pillar of the strategic management model for smart tourism destinations (DTI), as it represents an essential tool for improving the innovative capacity, governance, sustainability, and accessibility of tourism destinations, and therefore their competitiveness. The chapter begins by providing a contextualization of technology applied to the tourism sector and then describes how the DTI methodology integrates it into destination management through the technology pillar. This pillar represents a weight of 22% of the DTI model and is articulated through 21 requirements and 62 indicators through which the performance of the destination is evaluated in three areas: Technologies applied to governance; Technological infrastructures and connectivity; and Technologies for smart tourism management. This chapter also details, by areas of action, the requirements, and indicators together with the main recommendations, linked to each area of the technology pillar, which are usually formulated to destinations that are implementing the DTI model in terms of technological implementation. Finally, the chapter concludes with a reflection on the main challenges currently faced by destinations in relation to their implementation.