REALIZATION OF THE SMART TOURISM CONCEPT: WORLD EXPERIENCE AND DOMESTIC PRACTICE

Abstract

In 2017, the digital revolution has entered a crucial phase – every second inhabitant of the Earth is connected to the Internet. Therefore, smart technologies are emerging and are getting more and more widespread, particularly in the tourism industry. The article is aimed to define the essence of the smart tourism concept and summarize both the foreign and domestic experience of its implementation. the methods of analysis of theoretical and applied researches, synthesis of their results, comparison, abstraction are used for this purpose. The practical experience of the smart tourism introduction is summarized through the systematization of web pages materials of cities seeking to form smart cities.
It is determined that since 2015 we can talk about the concept of smart tourism, a complex multifaceted phenomenon, that is developing in the era of information economy and includes a number of components based on the use of smart technologies to improve the demand for tourists. The results of the analysis of literature sources show that the concept of smart tourism is developing in two directions: 1) smart tourism is recognized as an element and consequence of the smart cities development; 2) smart destinations are identified with smart tourism.
Features of basic technologies application (large databases and their analysis, robotics, modeling, Internet of things, cybersecurity, additive technologies, augmented reality, adiative production) in realization of the concept of smart tourism are revealed. The practical experience of implementing smart technologies that have become a component of smart tourism in major cities of the world (Barcelona, Amsterdam, Seoul, London, Chicago, Oslo, Beijing, Seattle) is generalized. The elements of the smart tourism concept implementation in Ukraine are analyzed. It is revealed that the most common components of smart tourism for Ukraine are electronic guides and QR codes, but it is too early to speak about the existence of a holistic concept of smart tourism.