Effects of ICTs in mega events on national image formation: the case of PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea

Purpose Among a wide array of information and communication technologies (ICTs) used to directly or indirectly support the mega events are reality boosting technologies and smart tourism technologies. Building upon the halo effect, this study aims to explain the connection between satisfaction with ICTs used in mega event, national image and event participants’ future behavior. Design/methodology/approach The analyzed data included survey responses from 246 foreigners who visited PyeongChang as a visitor for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Findings The results showed that both reality boosting technologies and smart tourism technologies directly or indirectly influence overall experience satisfaction by way of transaction satisfaction. Furthermore, the two types of satisfaction were found to positively influence the national image of the host country, which consequently has a positive effect on visitors’ future behavior. Originality/value This study aimed to explore two different roles of ICTs in mega events by focusing more on the visitors who came to PyeongChang for the Olympics. The originality of this study lies in its attempt to examine the mechanisms in which visitors’ satisfaction from ICT-based experiences in mega events contributes to forming a positive image toward the host country.

Unfolding visual characteristics of social media communication: reflections of smart tourism destinations

Purpose This study aims to explore the visual social media (SM) (Instagram) communication and the visual characteristics of smart tourism destination (STD) communication from destination marketing/management organizations (DMOs) and user-generated content (UGC) perspectives, which refer to projected image and perceived image, respectively. Design/methodology/approach Three DMO official accounts of STDs (Helsinki, Gothenburg and Lyon) and corresponding official hashtags were selected for the sample and total 6,000 post data (1,000 × 6) were retrieved from Instagram. Visual communication content was examined with a netnographic design over a proposed four-level visual content framework using corresponding methodological approaches (thematic analysis, visual analysis, object detection and text mining) for each level. Findings Among the eight emerging themes dominating the images, communication of smart elements conveys far less than expected textual and visual signals from DMOs despite their smart status, and in turn, from UGC as well. UGC revealed three extra image themes regardless of smartness perception. DMOs tend to project and give voice to their standard metropolitan areas and neighborhoods while UGCs focus on food-related and emotional elements. The findings show a partial overlap between DMOs and UGCs, revealing discrepancies in objects contained in visuals, hashtags and emojis. Additionally, as a rare attempt, the proposed framework for visual content analysis showed the importance of integrated methods to investigate visual content effectively. Research limitations/implications The number of attributes in visual analysis and focusing on the observed elements in text content (text, hashtags and emojis) are the limitations of the study in terms of methodology. Originality/value Apart from the multiple integrated methods used over a netnographic design, this study differs from existing SM and smart destinations intersection literature by attempting to fill a gap in focusing on and exploring visual SM communication, which is scarce in tourism context, for the contents generated by DMOs and users.

Prospect of Promoting Sikkim as a Smart Tourism Destination

Since 2006, Sikkim progressively switching to a full-fledged tourism-centred state having declared it a predominant industry as an engine for its economic growth. The state accounted for the highest influx of foreign tourists amongst the eight north eastern states of India during the last 20 years or so. The smart city mission was commissioned by government of India as a centrally sponsored scheme destined to provide financial support for the allotted cities to the extent of INR. 100 Crore per city per year spanning over five years. Studies suggest that induction of smart city concept will act as precursor for growth of smart tourism destinations (STDs) across the country. The STD as a concept revolves around “6A's,” an essential ingredient for promoting smart tourism in destinations. Incidentally, two cities in Sikkim have been enlisted amongst the top 100 cities in India for promoting smart city, instrumental in promoting STD in tourism-driven states. The chapter delves into the concept of smart city as an antecedent for promoting STD along with conditions with respect to Sikkim.

Smart Tourism Destinations

Tourism businesses and touristic destinations that want to reach a highly competitive position in the world should fulfill the required infrastructure investments and acquire a service concept that is consistent with the smart tourism strategy in order to turn into smart tourism. In order to compete with rival destinations, it has become a prerequisite for Turkey's world-famous destinations such as Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir, and Cappadocia to embrace digital transformation and smart tourism concepts. Accordingly, the concepts of smart tourism, smart city, and smart tourism destinations will be explained, and smart tourism applications in Turkey's touristic destinations will be explored in this chapter within the framework of current academic studies. It is aimed to ascertain how well these specified destinations adhere to the concept of smart tourism.

A Comprehensive Systematic Literature Review About Smartness in Tourism

With the rapidly developing technology, the tourism experience has started to enrich and innovative/personalized services and competitive advantage in tourism have started to gain importance. Smartness in tourism refers to tourism activities supported by technology. This study aims to classify the current literature on the subject of smartness in tourism. First of all, a qualitative research was carried out by explaining the concepts of smart tourism and smart tourism destination in the literature. Within the scope of the research, a qualitative research was conducted using systematic literature review method. In the research, 264 academic publications related to smartness in tourism were analyzed in terms of the destinations where they were applied, the scope of the journals they were published, the language of the publication, the methods and approaches, and suggestions were made for further studies.

Digital Transformation and Tourist Experiences

Technology has transformed the tourism industry over time, and today, this transformation has accelerated with digitalization and Industry 4.0. With the application of new generation technologies that shape Industry 4.0 to the tourism industry, the concept of smart tourism has entered the literature and digitalization has accelerated in tourism. It can be said that digital transformation has had an impact on tourist experiences. In this context, this chapter aims to describe the potential impact of digital transformation on the tourist experience. For this purpose, the following topics and concepts will be studied: uses of Industry 4.0 technologies in tourism industry, digital transformation, tourist experiences, and effects of digital transformation on tourist experience.

Smart and Sustainable Tourism Destinations

Policymakers and business practitioners increasingly recognize the importance of sustainability in the development of smart tourism destinations, which require clear directions and specific guidelines. The authors used the Bibliometrix R-package and VOS Viewer software to perform a bibliometric analysis of 59 articles between 1900-2020 retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database. They compiled a bibliographic coupling, identified the key authors, journals, documents, and the most relevant universities. The findings detail four clusters: (1) smart tourism, (2) sustainable tourism, (3) technology, and (4) smart specialization. This work contributes to a better understanding of the concepts and aspires to provide useful information for those academics and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) attempting to analyze and deepen their knowledge within this research field. Simultaneously, it also aims to provide insights concerning the future development of sustainability and smart tourism in the social sciences' academic literature.

Tourist Experience and Digital Transformation

As technology affects the tourism sector as it does all sectors, smart tourism has emerged. The ultimate goal of smart tourism is to improve the efficiency of resource management, maximize competitiveness, and increase sustainability through technological innovations and practices. The digital transformation of the tourism sector, especially in recent years, has greatly affected the tourist experience by completely changing the supply-demand interaction in the industry. The spread of information and communication technologies, the development of the web, and the growing technology use skills in the population, in general, have helped increase the level of self-organization of tourists and have led to smart tourists. This new tourist profile created by smart tourism technologies frequently benefits from technology before, during, and after their travels.