A Review of the Literature on Smart Tourism : A Locational Research Perspective

As a new concept, smart tourism has received significant attention in the past decade. By reviewing 136 articles published in mainstream journals in the field of tourism from 2013 to 2022, this study discusses the major themes of smart tourism research of interest to researchers in their regions from the perspectives of Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. The results show that researchers in the Asia-Pacific region place smart technology-driven as the center of smart tourism research. In contrast, researchers in the European region discuss smart tourism through a destination research lens. The North American region, where smart tourism originated, researchers have studied the topic particularly from a tourist experience perspective. The article concludes with a discussion of the gaps in existing research in these regions, directions for future research, and contributions to regions in which smart tourism development is just beginning (e.g., Japan). This study is one of the few reviews of research related to smart tourism from a regional researcher’s perspective, which fills a gap in past literature reviews of smart tourism, helps researchers better understand the whole picture of smart tourism, establishes a theoretical contact of smart tourism research, and contributes to academia and the industry.