Keywords

1 Introduction

This manual is for destinations that want to control their fate in a fast-changing environment and for destinations that want to manage tourism, beyond being merely responsible for attracting tourists and delivering services. Readers will find out across the next chapters that this is a manual for destinations that aim to align their tourism strategy with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and that want to become friendly and welcoming spaces for tourists to enjoy memorable experiences, and where residents can improve their quality of life (United Nations, 2015). Specifically, this manual presents a smart strategic tourism managerial model to achieve those goals.

The purpose of this introductory chapter is to present and discuss some of the salient challenges and trends that the tourism sector is facing and that must be seriously addressed by any destination that makes efforts to be relevant, responsible, and competitive. The chapter also proposes to consider tourism from a different, more holistic perspective. Tourism should not be viewed only as an economic engine that sells services, but as an activity that is part of a global natural and socio-cultural system which is impacted by tourism (both positively and negatively) and that should also contribute to improvement and sustainability.

Recovering from the biggest crisis it ever faced, the tourism sector is set to come back to pre-pandemic levels. However, it would be a mistake to assume that tourism is getting back to “normal” and that all is now well. The sector continues to face unprecedented challenges and trends that slowly shape the direction. Some of those challenges already appeared before the pandemic, but many chose to ignore them. A trend is a development, a tendency, or a change that helps define a direction. For tourism, several challenges and issues are helping us forecast or envision what the future may look like. In the box below, Sandra Carvao, Chief, Market Intelligence and Competitiveness at the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), reflects on the main challenges that the tourism sector must address to get closer to the desirable shared vision of a more competitive and sustainable tourism activity. Trends lead to changes in tourist behaviour, business processes, and destination planning and management. Significant trends also lead to political decisions, policies, and laws and regulations. All tourism organizations, be they governmental or private, develop goals, objectives, and strategies that are based on assumptions of what a desired future may look like. For destinations, understanding the external environment, trends and challenges, and their impact on future business is essential for successful strategic management. The issue is not only to be competitive compared to other destinations; it is to become and remain sustainable from an environmental, social, and economic perspective. There is an urgency for all actors to be smarter and to address the changes we are facing, in particular because of climate change, not only in a tactical way, but also in a strategic way. We all need to think more in terms of the bigger picture to help manage tourism so that destinations and their residents can thrive in a difficult future. Some in the tourism industry are already guided by the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015), but it is not sufficient.

The Tourism we want: the decisions we make today will define the tourism of tomorrow.

Just two years ago, in July 2021, the number of international tourists in the world reached no more than 60% of that of July 2019. Ranked third in the world export sector in 2019 – after fuels and chemicals, and ahead of food and automotive products – tourism fell to ninth place in 2021. The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer forecasts that the total value of international tourism will fully recover in most regions of the world by 2023.

There was much talk of change during the pandemic. It is essential that tourism seize this moment to accelerate the transformation towards a more competitive, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future. We need to invest in new products and experiences that meet the changing needs of travellers – such as community engagement and nature-based experiences – supporting the digitalisation of the sector and facilitating visas and funding for infrastructure, particularly in the area of connectivity, which includes digital connectivity. We need to work towards greater empowerment of women, inclusion of local communities, improvement of working conditions, as well as advancement of education and skills. We need to accelerate climate action through strong actions and commitments to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement – investing in measurement, decarbonization, and regeneration. We need to do so with a comprehensive governance approach based on national and national-local coordination; promoting public-private partnerships and community empowerment for a public-private-community partnership model. Finally, we must strengthen the multilateral system and coordination to increase tourism competitiveness and sustainability.

Sandra Carvao

Chief, Market Intelligence and Competitiveness

World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

This chapter addresses some key challenges and trends, specific to the tourism sector, that smart destinations must attend to with purpose and vision. The tourism sector is at a crossroads: Following a pandemic that brought it to its knees, global tourism has mostly recovered and is well on its way to getting back to its 2019 levels. However, the industry continues to face several challenges that will continue to test its resilience and that will require innovative development, management, and marketing solutions. The major challenge that the sector is facing is, of course, climate change and its resulting environmental impacts. But other issues continue to disturb tourism, such as overtourism, threats to cultural (UNESCO) and biological diversity, safety and security in a difficult geopolitical environment, to name but a few. Also, to consider are the increased cost of living that will continue to shift consumer preferences and behaviours, and technological changes such as artificial intelligence (AI), robots, chatbots, automation, and virtual reality. Finally, the industry continues to face labour challenges that must be urgently addressed. To be successful, to continue to attract travellers and to provide them with quality experiences, destinations must strategically address these challenges and learn from current trends. Only smart destinations will be able to manage the flow of new information and the externalities that confront the industry. In the next pages, the main challenges and trends affecting the tourism sector are presented, opening a discussion on how the smart strategic tourism destination management model, promoted by the Secretary of State for Tourism of Spain, through SEGITTUR as part of the Spanish Tourism Policy, supports destinations to better adapt and compete in a fast-changing environment.

2 Climate Change

Climate change is already contributing to changing tourist flows and destinations. Some Mediterranean regions, for example, have seen in the summer of 2023 fewer tourists because of the well-mediatized threat of more frequent heat waves and fires. When there is a wildfire or record temperatures in a particular area, the national and international media cover it and many people think, rightly or wrongly, that it is unsafe to travel in the broader region, or even the country. Then, tourists are looking for alternatives. But where to go? We have seen this summer heat waves and fires in Greece, draughts and water restrictions in Spain, hailstorms in Italy, and floods in Slovenia. Winter was difficult as well with many European resorts closing for lack of snow. The problems don’t respect borders: As we have witnessed in Canada, wildfires and their smoke have impacted the northeast of the USA, as far as New York City. The media worldwide reported the fires resulting in the evacuation of tourists from Rhodes, Greece, the destruction of a seaside resort in Hawaii, and the eerie orange skies in New York.

Climate change is not only creating more frequent extreme events that disturb tourists and their vacations but also affecting destinations for the longer term: The number of snow days in the Alps is declining and some wonder whether the traditional Mediterranean sun and beach summer holiday is put at risk because of unbearable temperatures. In addition, rising water levels and erosion are changing the landscapes that visitors know. Climate-related issues are felt around the world and most people are now aware of them… but are travellers changing behaviours (Gössling et al., 2012; Juvan & Dolnicar, 2017).

It seems that tourists may be starting to choose alternative destinations or to change travel times in favour of shoulder seasons, based on climate-related risk perceptions (Oliveira et al., 2022). But are they travelling less or flying less (Denley et al., 2020)? This remains to be seen in the next few years, because we are currently witnessing a strong eagerness to travel, which some call revenge travel (Liu & Wang, 2023; Meenakshi et al., 2023), probably resulting from the travel restrictions imposed in many countries during the pandemic. Worldwide travel volumes are on their way to being back at 2019 levels, as if nothing had happened and as if climate change and flight shaming were not a concern.

From a destination perspective, climate change will require change and adaptation. For example, in some countries, local authorities closed natural parks as a preventive measure because of the high fire risk; others restricted water usage. But they all appear to do “just enough” to manage the crisis on a day-to-day level, to be resilient, and to wait for a better season next year. Unfortunately, there may not be a better season next year: The frequency and intensity of the impacts of climate change are likely to increase over the years, since collectively, we don’t appear to be able to change course yet. The tourism sector (about 10% of world GDP, according to UNWTO or WTTC) has not fully embraced its contribution to CO2 emission, climate change, and water shortages. We need destinations and responsible managers who recognize the current challenges, embrace the future, and propose new tourism strategies that will contribute to leading the way towards global solutions. Society too often expects fast solutions and prompt results. Unfortunately, this will take time: Climate change is a long-term challenge with short-term consequences that will increasingly threaten our livelihoods. Governments, destination managers, and other industry stakeholders must work together to limit climate change and to design less-consumptive travel experiences. Looking for and providing responsible and sustainable travel solutions should be done with residents in mind. The well-being of the local communities should be at the forefront of tourism planners and managers’ minds or attention.

Choosing tourism as an economic development strategy has its drawbacks for the environment and socio-cultural costs for the local communities. The tourism industry must take responsibility for these drawbacks: They must be identified, measured, and managed. A few travel companies and destinations are already on this path and should inspire others to be accountable for the impacts the travel and tourism sector has. The growing B-Corporation movement (“the for-profit Corporations Beneficial to society”) for example, helps companies focus on rethinking their business model, processes, etc., to reduce the negative impacts of their activity, benefiting all people, communities, and the planet (Lacmanovic & Milec, 2018; Zebryte & Jorquera, 2017). Such companies make efforts to lower their carbon footprint and social impacts, and, at the same time, help educate travellers about the role they play and the responsibilities they have. Tourists will continue to travel, but they should be encouraged to learn about the destinations they wish to visit and the issues those destinations have. Ideally, knowledgeable tourists will then be more inclined to contribute to solutions, rather than being merely the cause of problems.

Frequent droughts due to climate change, in many areas of the globe, represent a major challenge for governments, DMOs, and tourism managers. Since the tourism sector is a highly water-consuming sector (Mendoza et al., 2023), and the growth in the number of tourism establishments correlates with growth in water demand, implementing actions to reuse and save this scarce resource turns out to be essential for destinations. Moreover, within tourism companies, hotels are responsible for the highest water consumption rates in the tourism sector (Antonova et al., 2021). Consequently, exploring tourists’ perceptions regarding adopting water-saving measures or willingness to pay taxes at destinations to implement such measures becomes a key issue to address in coming years (Gabarda-Mallorquí et al., 2022).

3 Overtourism

With globalization and the rise in travel demand, easily accessible and popular destinations run the risk of experiencing overtourism. Some European cities (e.g., Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Venice) already suffer from high numbers of tourists that can’t be accommodated properly, leading to resident frustrations and tourist poor-quality experiences. This is an issue of carrying capacity (Bertocchi et al., 2020), or more exactly of under-capacity, as compared to visitor numbers. Destinations don’t have enough hotel rooms to accommodate all visitors, resulting in an increasing number of private houses and apartments turning into short-term rentals, in turn resulting in locals having difficulty finding affordable housing. Destinations don’t have enough parking spaces for cars, contributing to increased traffic and resident frustration. Also, some destinations don’t have enough attractions to visit, leading to a very high concentration of visitors in a limited area.

Overtourism calls for tourism planning and management strategies that will help prevent tourist overflows and that will contribute to making destinations more resilient and liveable for residents. However, due to a lack of political and managerial courage, many popular destinations continue to face large numbers of tourists who can’t be accommodated well, resulting in poorer experiences and frustrated, if not angry, residents (Andrades et al., 2014). Indeed, Butler and Dodds (2022) reported that destinations tend to lack the willingness to see and address the problem of large tourist numbers. In this context, technology should emerge as a useful tool to help destinations grapple with the challenge of managing tourist flows smartly and prevent the deterioration of the tourist experience. Moreover, “Creating new value such as local residents starting to reconsider and rediscover their own regions and promoting attractiveness will become important themes for tourism in the years ahead” (Haxton & Camacho, 2023). With ever-growing numbers of visitors to destinations, overtourism will remain a salient and complex problem to solve. However, unlike climate change, it is one that tourism planners and managers have the power to resolve.

4 Threats to Cultural and Biological Diversity

Climate change and overtourism are shaping the tourism sector’s current context, exacerbating the well-known negative impacts of tourism activity, and risking the preservation of the biological and cultural diversity of tourism destinations. Likewise, the intangible heritage is threatened by standardization and commodification (Buck Tawney, 2020): Destinations that are trying to adapt their tourism supply to international tourists’ tastes threaten local identities and social diversity, which, in turn, lead destinations to compromise their initial advantageous differentiated position in the market.

Nowadays, the degradation of ecosystems is worsened by climate change (Pellaton et al., 2022) and as a result threatens the attractiveness of destinations’ resources and their appeal to tourists. This represents a major managerial challenge for DMOs. In this context, strengthening destination governance becomes essential for competitiveness and sustainable development. Often, the topmost challenges to biodiversity conservation and tourism at destinations are caused by the increasing population and tourists’ consumptive needs, together with the competing interests of various stakeholders. Moreover, for destinations in developing countries, such as some in Africa, poverty, greed, and historical legacies render difficult destination governance (Lamptey, 2021). Therefore, achieving a common agreement at destinations and a commitment to prevent the continuous detriment of many natural ecosystems as well as tangible and intangible cultural resources represent a major challenge for the coming years. In this regard, Fatorić and Seekamp (2017) identified technical, financial, and institutional barriers as the main challenges to minimizing climate risks and stated that those obstacles can only be overcome if governance at destinations is strengthened. Certainly, to align competing interests and to mediate in favour of a more fair and sustainable tourism development, empowering governance will be an essential determinant of success.

5 Safety and Security

Safety and security have always been a concern in tourism. Operators and destinations are responsible for the well-being of travellers and visitors. The past few decades have been marked by events that have further contributed to making governments and people more concerned about security and safety. The 09/11 Islamic terrorist attacks remain a turning point in the way governments approached air travel. Since then, security procedures have changed worldwide and have impacted how we go through airports and how we fly. Terrorist attacks have also changed how we manage large and smaller events (Ludvigsen & Parnell, 2023). The cost of assuring security at mega-events such as the Olympic Games or World Cups has gone up exponentially, to such an extent that the pool of cities or countries that can afford to be candidates for hosting those events is getting smaller (McBride & Manno, 2021).

Health crises are also increasingly costly. For example, the mad cow disease in the UK or the SARS crisis (2003) in Hong Kong and Canada (Smith, 2006) led to fewer visitors and fewer revenues for those countries. But those events paled in comparison with what the COVID-19 pandemic brought about: A complete international shutdown of the tourism sector. Some countries closed their borders and/or restricted people from travelling, even domestically. Those measures, and sometimes the additional effect of negative news media that exacerbated people’s fear of travelling (McClinchey & Dimanche, 2023) had a damaging effect on the travel sector and led millions of workers to lose their jobs (read below about the labour crisis).

The COVID-19 pandemic may be over, but some people continue to request, when possible, remote working arrangements and from the travel and hospitality industry more tangible hygiene and safety procedures such as contactless check-ins and payments. The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness among tourism policymakers on the need for improving crisis management strategies, as well as security protocols, to strengthen hygiene and safety at destinations (Jiang et al., 2023).

WTTC (2021, p. 4) defined seamless travel as “a journey during which the traveller no longer needs to present travel-related documents (e.g., boarding passes) or identification documents (e.g., passport) multiple times to multiple stakeholders at different checkpoints in their journey. Travellers will be able to book transportation, check-in, proceed through security, cross borders, board their aircraft, collect luggage, rent a car, check-in and out of their hotel and other non-air services, simply by confirming their identity and booking data in a contactless way”. Seamless travel enhances tourists’ experiences, and destinations should be able to improve their governance to foster public–private sector collaboration to collect and share data, at the time that privacy is assured. With this purpose, the interoperability of data collection platforms, at the different travellers’ encounter points of private companies and public services will be decisive. On a basis of collaboration at the destination level, the development of solutions and operational processes to provide seamless, instinctive, and convenient customer experiences should become possible.

Beyond safety, research on healthful lifestyle habits and healthy eating witnessed a growing interest within the academic community (Rodríguez-López et al., 2020). Possibly, environmental concerns have added to the local-first approach of many tourists and have given rise to trends related to demanding organic food and eco-travel (Konuk, 2019; Pellegrini et al., 2023).

6 Technology and Digitalization

The tourism sector has traditionally been one of the early adopters of technology. In the last decade, a disruptive technological revolution enabled the emergence of multiple high-tech managerial solutions: contactless payment, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robots, chatbots, blockchain, metaverse, massive data analysis with which to personalize the tourist experience like never before possible, etc. Nowadays, tourism destinations, as well as tourism companies, may benefit from competitive advantages if they adopt innovative technologies to expand their tourism services production processes, commercialization, and delivery (Hsu et al., 2016; Neuhofer et al., 2015). Indeed, Sustacha et al. (2023) showed that smart technology has a positive effect on the tourist experience. Enhancing tourists’ experiences at destinations will highly depend on destinations’ ability to integrate these new technologies into their managerial practices (Garanti, 2023). Goel et al. (2022) analysed the drivers and barriers to consumers’ adoption of artificial intelligence and robots in the hospitality and tourism industry. Within the barriers, psychological, social, financial, technical, and functional perceived risks were identified as the main obstacles to overcome.

Despite the rising attention given by the academic community to the impacts that technology adoption has on the tourism sector, while technology-driven service innovation has been profusely studied from the demand approach, it still needs more attention from a supply perspective (Park et al., 2023). Garanti (2023) explored factors explaining travel agents’ adoption of digital technologies to digitally transform their businesses, concluding that perceived relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability, supportability, and integrability are crucial factors. These factors may generalize to other tourism agents, more research is needed in this regard. One relevant issue related to technology adoption, from a supply standpoint, is that technology facilitates sustainable management at destinations, for example introducing sensors to manage traffic flows, reduce pollution, or reduce water consumption for watering plants if humidity is high, embracing renewable energy innovations, etc. Consequently, technology may facilitate destinations and companies to meet the Tourism Agenda 2030 and some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, without the government’s support and collaborative approaches, tourism SMEs are very unlikely to adopt emerging technologies and be able to compete against larger peers and online platforms (O’Connor, 2023). Sharma et al. (2023) called on governments across the globe for attention to design and instrument policies oriented to lessen the digital gap and improve standardization.

Besides, technology may also help destinations when managing safety and security crises. Nevertheless, for destinations to benefit from all the opportunities that technology adoption may bring, important challenges must be addressed first (Ozdemir et al., 2023). One of those is the need to update human resource qualifications, and to train specialists on restructuring destinations databases, connecting them, unifying diverse semantics, and assuring their interoperability (Solazz et al., 2020). We should have human resources that can lead destinations by fostering the cooperation that is needed between the many different stakeholders that operate.

7 Labour Issues

Tourism is a people industry. The delivery of quality services and experiences to tourists relies, mainly, on a large workforce—over 300 million people worldwide work in travel and tourism—(WTTC, 2022). The pandemic had a very detrimental effect on tourism employment. Businesses struggled to survive, and many workers were laid off, quit, changed sectors, or retired. If the COVID-19 crisis was a major reason for this, it also acted as a strong catalyst for what was called “the great resignation” (Formica & Sfodera, 2022). Indeed, the travel and tourism sector suffered for years, in many countries, from human resource management issues that affected hiring and retaining quality employees. These issues, pre-dating the pandemic, included difficult working conditions and schedules, low wages and benefits compared to other sectors, and worker mental health challenges. The tourism industry ignored those issues that contribute today to continuing staff shortages. If some are calling for fair and decent work (Crespi-Vallbona et al., 2023; Winchenbach et al., 2019), it will take years for the industry to listen and react proactively. People seek better work conditions and benefits, but the industry has unfortunately been slow to take those considerations seriously. The industry continues to have a poor record concerning labour issues and there is consensus on the need to do more and better (Buckley, 2023; King et al., 2021). The current labour gap situation has been felt around the world: It is, mostly, due to leadership failures (Lin et al., 2022): The failure, mostly, to value the diverse workforce that often constitutes the industry front-line and that provides essential services to travellers.

The situation worsened during the pandemic in countries whose governments made inconsistent decisions about closing or reopening the industry. This had a detrimental effect on job security and employee morale. In addition, the news media sometimes painted a dark picture of how dangerous it was to travel during the pandemic (Zheng et al., 2021). Not only was travel blamed for the spread of the virus, but tourism was portrayed as dangerous, not only for travellers, but also for workers (Yu et al., 2021). That led to not only a fear of travelling but also a fear of working in the frontlines of the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors (McClinchey & Dimanche, 2023), resulting in a damaged reputation for the sector. The world came out of the pandemic, but the industry continues to struggle with attracting, hiring, and keeping employees, resulting in well-publicized travel woes with service failures at airports, in planes, hotels, or restaurants. The labour crisis keeps contributing to giving a bad reputation to the tourism sector. Indeed, staffing issues affect the quality of the services that are provided or contribute to price increases. This is increasingly hurting destinations that can’t afford to attract visitors without making sure they have the necessary workforce to welcome and satisfy them. Providing fair work will remain one of the key issues for the sector to deal with in the next years (Camillieri et al., 2023).

Indeed, improving working conditions represents a key strategic challenge for the tourism sector in the coming years. The availability of qualified talent—with knowledge, professional experience, interpersonal skills, decision-making skills, self-management skills, emotional intelligence, and resilience to adapt to changes, as well as a sound strategic vision—provides destinations and tourism firms with a distinct competitive advantage (Elsharnouby & Elbanna, 2021). Accordingly, it becomes essential for tourism managers to become proactive and capable of exercising transformative leadership, which induces satisfactory work environments, where employees are willing to share and transfer their knowledge, cooperate, and develop innovative attitudes which leverage their creativity (Lin et al., 2022).

Another significant challenge that the industry must face is to continue boosting diversity and to offer women and minorities better opportunities for career development (Dimanche & Perzyna, 2024). On the one hand, the industry must engage in wide and collective efforts to improve its poor reputation, which not only affects current workers but also higher education institutions in their efforts to attract promising talent. On the other hand, university tourism management programs must change their approach to adopt a more humanistic management and leadership approach (Della Lucia et al., 2021). Facing the current and upcoming labour challenges demands coordinated efforts between the industry, government, and the public and private institutions that are delivering training, education, and professional certifications. They must align shared needs and interests, for effective and beneficial results to be achieved (Şimşek & Kalıpçı, 2023; Wesley et al., 2017).

8 Rethinking Competitiveness

In the above pages, some of the main challenges that currently shape the tourism sector have been discussed. In this environment, tourism leaders are inevitably forced to rethink how to adapt their management to remain competitive in the twenty-first century. As the reader may guess, in today’s conditions, managing competitiveness cannot only consist of enhancing the attractiveness of destinations and satisfying visitors, while promoting sustainable socioeconomic progress in the territory. The technological revolution provides destinations with new tools and opportunities to improve the supply and to better fit tourism demand expectations. This fact, together with a greater awareness of the need to review past tourism development models, and to turn them into truly sustainable ones, is leading us to assess what it means for a tourism destination to be competitive.

Recently, international organizations such as the World Economic Forum, which traditionally published the “Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index” [TTCI], reviewed this index, updated its methodology, and published what it called the “Travel and Tourism Development Index” [TTDI]. Intuitively, the focus of destinations now evolves from “being the most competitive destination of the world” to “becoming a destination able to stimulate a sustainable development”. The old TTCI offered a comparative measure of countries’ tourism competitiveness based on a battery of indicators grouped into four pillars to explain tourism competitiveness: environmental factors that enable tourism activity; tourism policy and other facilitating factors; the destination’s infrastructure; and its cultural and natural resources (WEF, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022). The TTDI, on the other hand, is made of five pillars, with their respective indicators. In the TTDI, “The cultural and natural resources of the destination” no longer represent a pillar; they are integrated into a new pillar called “Factors driving tourism demand”, which also includes other destination resources that are not linked to leisure pursuits. Furthermore, in the TTDI, “Sustainability”, previously included in the “tourism policy and other facilitators” pillar of the TTCI, becomes, by itself, the fifth pillar and indicator in the tourism development index proposed by the WEF (WEF, 2022). This change illustrates the observed changing trend in tourism management, which involves incorporating new managerial criteria, expanding objectives, and prioritizing social well-being and sustainability.

9 The SEGITTUR Proposal: Smart Management to Embrace Complexity

All trends addressed in this introductory chapter justify the need to approach destination management from a different perspective. It is about taking advantage of all the opportunities that investing in and adopting technological innovations may provide, applying them to enhance tourism destination governance, to transforming destinations into better places for tourists and residents, as discussed in the box below by the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Challenges and opportunities for destination managers in the twenty-first century.

In 2022, Travel and tourism accounted for one in 11 jobs worldwide and contributed US$7.7 trillion to the global economy. The sector is forecast to inject US$15.5 trillion into the economy, globally, over the next 10 years. With the sector’s significant contribution to global employment and GDP, it is crucial to address the challenges destinations managers may face.

One such challenge is meaningful community engagement. Local communities are integral to the travel experience – they not only welcome tourists, but they also run and support local businesses. Including local communities in decision-making is key as is forging public-private-community partnerships where each stakeholder is equally valued and respected. Through collaboration, destination managers can foster effective long-term relationships for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Another challenge to consider is environmental and social sustainability. Destination managers face many challenges as they work to meet the Paris Agreement goals, achieve and maintain Nature Positive Tourism, and promote inclusion. To address these issues, destination managers can leverage resources like WTTC’s Net-Zero Roadmap, Hotel Sustainability Basics initiative, Nature Positive Toolkit, and Diversity & Inclusion guidelines. These tools can equip destinations with the knowledge and strategies to tackle these pressing issues head-on.

One example of a destination that has taken the community on board as it acts as a Guardian of Nature is Rwanda. Through its Sustainable Development Policy, Rwanda has revolutionised green and rural tourism, championed biodiversity conservation, eradicated single-use plastic bags, and safeguarded the critically endangered mountain gorilla. In fact, 10% of the revenue from gorilla permits directly funds human-centred initiatives such as water access, health centres, and schools in neighbouring towns. The ongoing protection of the gorillas also provides locals with lucrative employment opportunities, further empowering the community to thrive.

Destination managers must navigate these challenges nimbly and with finesse. By fostering collaboration, embracing sustainability, and championing community empowerment, these visionaries will shape the future of this thriving sector.

Maribel Rodríguez,

General Manager Spain

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)

Destinations should become more accessible, more sustainable, and ultimately more competitive.​ Sharma et al. (2023) called on governments across the globe to design and instrument policies oriented to lessen the digital gap and improve standardization. Certainly, together with meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, filling the digital gap, at public and private organizations, is one of the main challenges we must face in the coming years. In this context, the model for smart strategic tourism management described in this manual comes in full force. The model is aligned with the concept of a smart city but surpasses it: It considers among its objectives not only the improvement of the citizens’ quality of life but also the amelioration of the tourist experience in the destination (López de Ávila Muñoz & García Sánchez, 2013). This is how “smart tourism destinations” are defined to increase the competitiveness of destinations: (1) By incorporating innovation and technology as driving levers for more effective, transparent, cooperative, and participatory governance; (2) by committing to sustainability; (3) by providing universal accessibility and quality tourist experiences, (4) to improve the well-being of the resident population, and (5) to preserve the tangible and intangible natural and cultural heritage (Shafiee et al., 2022).

The Model for Smart Strategic Management discussed in this manual, the DTI (Destinos Turísticos Inteligentes) Model, headed by the Secretary of State for Tourism, has been designed and developed by SEGITTUR, the Spanish State Public Company for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies. SEGITTUR is wholly owned by the Spanish government, under the aegis of the Secretariat of State for Tourism, and ascribed to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism in 2012. Within the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the Secretary of State for Tourism uses SEGITTUR as a tool to oversee the promotion of innovation in the Spanish tourism sector. As chapter “Methodological Framework of the Spanish Smart Tourism Destinations Model” describes, the DTI Model is a strategic management model that considers five fundamental pillars which structure the smart management of tourism destinations: innovation, technology, governance, sustainability, and accessibility. Through these five pillars, the model states the objectives to attain, which are specified in requirements and progress indicators, to support destinations in addressing the digital transition that is needed to face the challenges and trends raised earlier. The five DTI Management Model pillars correspond to strategic working areas acknowledged by academics, destination managers, and international institutions as some of the main strategic spheres of action in which to work to achieve a more competitive and sustainable tourism sector. Sergio Guerreiro, Senior Director at Turismo de Portugal, shares in the following box his concerns about the relevance of innovation, digitalization, and a better qualification of tourism sector human resources as main leverages for achieving a more sustainable and smarter tourism management.

Addressing challenges for a better tourism

The tourism industry recovered quickly from the biggest crisis in its history as a global industry. However, it is wrong to think that all challenges have been overcome.

In fact, in addition to the impact of two hard years on companies and destinations, the post-pandemic era brought new challenges, such as the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and rising interest rates that affect household income, but there are also other challenges that are here to stay.

As tourism accelerated growth after the pandemic, a growing demand has emerged for skilled workers to meet the needs of travellers. This shortage is particularly evident in certain roles such as hospitality and typical tourism jobs, making it crucial for businesses to find innovative ways to attract and retain talent.

Another challenge is the need for digital skills and the digital transformation of the industry. With the pace of technology developments and the rise of online bookings, mobile apps, and personalised experiences, tourism businesses must adapt to the digital landscape to remain competitive. This requires investing in digital infrastructure, training employees in digital skills, and leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics to enhance customer experiences.

Finally, there is the challenge of sustainability. In Portugal, sustainability has been at the core of our tourism strategy since 2017, and many efforts have been made in this area. It is an area that requires investment, knowledge, and partnerships, but, above all, a profound change of mindset.

Following the pandemic, travellers have become increasingly conscious of their environmental impact and are looking for sustainable and responsible tourism alternatives. Businesses need to adopt eco-friendly practices, promote local cultures and communities, and minimise their carbon footprint to contribute to international commitments in this field and appeal to the growing segment of environmentally conscious travellers.

In the face of these challenges and trends, innovation plays a crucial role in transforming businesses and destinations. Embracing innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, can enhance the visitor experience. Adopting innovative business models and diversifying offerings can help businesses adapt to changing consumer preferences. Additionally, collaboration between industry stakeholders, governments and communities can foster innovation and drive sustainable growth.

Innovation holds the key to transforming the tourism industry, creating memorable experiences for travellers, and ensuring a sustainable future for businesses and destinations.

Sérgio Guerreiro

Senior Director, Knowledge Management & Innovation at Turismo de Portugal

Figure 1 describes how technology, digitalization, and innovation are strategic tools to improve efficiency, transparency, and public/private collaboration in the governance of destinations. The overall objective is to facilitate the preservation of and accessibility to destination resources, through sustainable management, and to improve the competitiveness of tourism destinations, by promoting the well-being of both tourists and the host communities.

Fig. 1
A chart presents the D T I model of smart strategic management for tourism destinations. It includes tourism destination competitiveness and sustainability management, including digitalization, overtourism, and climate change. Strategic pillars include technology, innovation, and sustainability.

Current challenges for tourism destinations management and the DTI model for Smart Tourism Management

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Readers will read in the following chapters how the various challenges that were identified above, from climate change to labour issues, are addressed across the various action areas specified in the DTI model. Each action area is developed into a set of requirements that address measures to manage tourism. This manual was designed to share the visionary efforts that are being made in Spain to address today’s challenges and to help shape and foster better tourism for tomorrow. We hope you will find it useful and that it will serve as a starting point to lead transformative thinking and innovative management in your respective destinations.