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Mobile technologies and applications towards smart tourism – state of the art

Jelena Dorcic (Department of Quantitative Economics, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Croatia)
Jelena Komsic (Department of Quantitative Economics, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Croatia)
Suzana Markovic (Department of Quantitative Economics, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Croatia)

Tourism Review

ISSN: 1660-5373

Article publication date: 4 February 2019

10342

Abstract

Purpose

The popularity of mobile technologies and applications is constantly growing and undoubtedly changing consumers’ and providers’ behavior. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive systematic literature review of academic research related to mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism published between 2012 and June 2017.

Design/methodology/approach

Published peer-reviewed articles were gathered from the three largest and most popular online databases and search engines – EBSCO host, Science Direct and Google Scholar and ENTER conference proceedings. Based on a keyword-driven search and content analysis, 126 articles were determined to be relevant to this study.

Findings

Selected publications were analyzed in accordance with the proposed research questions and thematically classified into three main categories: consumer perspective, technological perspective and provider perspective. The findings contribute to a better overall understanding of recent research into mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism by presenting the main results, methods, trends and other insights of relevant publications.

Research limitations/implications

Although the researchers used two databases, one search engine and ENTER conference proceedings to collect articles, there is the possibility that some studies connected to the topic were not included. The study did not include books, other conference proceedings, literature reviews, theses, business reports and other possibly relevant publications.

Originality/value

This study provides a systematic review of the most recent published academic research (2012-June 2017; also including “Online First” articles) on mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism. The results of this study provide an agenda for future research in tourism and hospitality industry by identifying major trends and developments in smart tourism.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper is the result of the scientific project ZP UNIRI 2/15 supported by the University of Rijeka.

Citation

Dorcic, J., Komsic, J. and Markovic, S. (2019), "Mobile technologies and applications towards smart tourism – state of the art", Tourism Review, Vol. 74 No. 1, pp. 82-103. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-07-2017-0121

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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