Sustainability-Oriented Innovation in Smart Destinations: An Integrative Perspective

Abstract

This chapter builds on the multifaceted concept of sustainability and calls for a deeper and critical analysis of smart technologies’ roles alongside sustainable destination development, which represents a field of largely underdeveloped inquiry. The research cross-fertilises existing theoretical domains of innovation, smart technologies, and sustainable tourism, shedding light on the research gaps and building novel research routes that are relevant to academics, practitioners, and policymakers. The “tech-clash” in the contemporary global scenario represents the starting point for this book, which aims to cast a critical light on the consolidated views of disruptive technological exploitation, laying the foundation stones of the academic debate on sustainable-oriented innovation in smart tourism destinations. Sustainability-oriented innovation combines research on technology- and social-driven innovations in tourism destinations and the sustainable destination agenda, providing an integrative understanding of the nexus between smartness and sustainability within destinations. The book engages theoretically and empirically with the research question of how and to what extent smart technologies-drive tourism innovation focused on an integrative perspective of sustainability-oriented innovation. Building on a critical analysis of modalities, challenges, opportunities, and pitfalls of technology deployment, the book investigates emerging innovative destination models and practical smart solutions involving stakeholders in sustainable development. It explores the unchartered territories of sustainability-oriented innovation for human wellbeing and societal development.