Digital Management in Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges of a Smart Transformation
Abstract
In recent years, digital tools and technologies have become an important part of how the tourism industry works. From planning a trip to sharing experiences online, technology now plays a role in nearly every stage of the travel journey. This article looks at how digital management is helping tourism businesses and destinations improve the way they operate and connect with travelers. Digital management means using tools like mobile apps, online booking systems, smart data, and artificial intelligence to make tourism more efficient, flexible, and customer-friendly. These tools allow businesses to better understand what tourists want, offer more personalized services, and respond faster to changes in demand. For example, hotels can now use chatbots for customer support, and travel agencies can give tailored suggestions based on a tourist’s preferences.
The article also explores the benefits of these changes — such as saving time, improving communication, and supporting more sustainable travel. However, going digital also comes with challenges, including the need for staff training, concerns about data privacy, and the cost of new technology.
Overall, digital management is opening new opportunities for the tourism sector. As more people rely on technology for travel planning, tourism providers must continue to adapt. When used wisely, digital tools can help create better travel experiences while also making tourism more responsible and forward-thinking.
References
1. Alegre, I., Hernández-Lara, A. B., & Rasche, A. (2023). Smart tourism destinations and sustainable development: A systematic review. Sustainability, 15(6), 5086.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065086
2. Almeida, D. S., Dias, M. R., & Fonseca, A. (2025). Digital twins in tourism: A systematic literature review. arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.00002.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.00002
3. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
4. Duarte, L., Cruz, M. C., & Ferreira, A. I. (2020). Artificial intelligence systems applied to tourism: A survey. arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.14654. https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.14654
5. Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., & Koo, C. (2015). Smart tourism: Foundations and developments. Electronic Markets, 25(3), 179–188.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-015-0196-8
6. Mercan, S., Akkaya, K., Cain, L., & Thomas, J. (2020). Security, privacy and ethical concerns of IoT implementations in hospitality. arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.07951.
https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.07951
7. Prakash, M., Mishra, S., Tiwari, P., & Chowdhary, N. (2024). Smart destination marketing in the digital age. In Tourism Planning and Destination Marketing (pp. 283–306).
Emerald Publishing.
8. Sonuç, N., & Süer, S. (2023). Smart tourism destinations and digitalization of cultural heritage for sustainability. In Smart Cities for Sustainability (Vol. 32, pp. 151–168).
Emerald Publishing.
9. Weng, G., & Zhang, J. (2023). Application analysis of smart tourism management model under the background of big data and IoT. Journal of Information Processing Systems, 19(3), 347–354. https://doi.org/10.3745/JIPS.01.0102
10. Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, 333–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039