Governmental Strategies and Policies in the Projection of Smart Tourist Destination: An Approach to the Conceptual and Theoretical Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to carry out an approach for a conceptual and theoretical analysis of governmental strategies and policies to project whether a tourist destination is smart or intelligent. Governments, those responsible for planning the development of a country, have been looking for new mechanisms for the development of the tourism sector after the uncertainty caused by the global health crisis. From the theoretical perspective, the Smart Tourist Destination (STD) concept could be a mechanism or strategy that strengthens the development of tourism in its different typologies in each tourist region. The COVID-19 pandemic generated discouraging scenarios in destinations where tourism is the main activity; however, at the same time, it highlighted important aspects to consider in order to prevent this type of situation. Local governance, which acts as a catalytic instrument in promoting tourism, is a central factor in diversifying tourism from a sustainable perspective, in which local actors can be involved to satisfy the demand of tourists or visitors to the destination. The methodology used was qualitatively based on the technique of content analysis of thematic literature review using databases, scientific journals, books, book chapters, websites, Web of Science (WoS), Scopus databases, among others. The main results of the research show that there are different strategies and government policies that have served as the basis for the promotion of smart tourist destinations in other tourist regions of the world, and where interconnected collaboration in networks using technology is the basis of this intelligence in action to offer the tourism products of destinations.