Tourism 4.0 and smart technology applications in the tourism

Abstract

Purpose: The paper seeks to discuss smart technologies that are being applied in the tourism industry, focusing more on Tourism 4.0. To be specific, it discusses potential issues that may be identified with regard to benefits, challenges, and future implications from such technological advancement to serve tourists better, make the industry efficient, and create a sustainable practice of tourism. Methodology: An extensive literature review was carried out in order to understand the adoption of Tourism 4.0, smart technologies, and their various applications in the tourism industry. Papers from peer-reviewed journals from Scopus database were consulted with the purpose of identifying the main trends, challenges, and best practices. Results: The integration of smart technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, big data analytics, and blockchain has a very great potential that will alter the face of tourism. It is bound to enhance the experience of tourists, make the processes in the industry more efficient, and engender the principles of sustainable tourism. However, several problems relating to data privacy and security, a digital divide, and infrastructure constraints have to be overcome. Implications: The findings of this study have an important contribution for tourism businesses, policymakers, and technology providers in that smart technologies embraced by the tourism industry can make the environment competitive, sustainable, and customer-orientated. The theoretical contribution: This present study is that it gives a wide overview of the adoption of smart technologies in the tourism industry. It underlines the possible benefits and challenges of the technologies at hand and gives important insight into future research and industrial practices. Originality: The originality of the current study comes from an attempt to discuss how different smart technologies will be integrated in the framework of Tourism 4.0, depicting holistically the future perspective of the tourism industry.