Digital Technologies as Tools to Promote Tourism and Territorial Development

Abstract

Digital platforms can facilitate the establishment of collaboration networks between tourists and local agents, promoting the importance of dialogue, as well as the opportunity for constant innovation. In this way, digital platforms can help tourists co-create their most valuable experiences with other tourists and influence a tourism destination's success. This chapter aims to describe the process of studying and analysing the possibility of implementing a digital solution, which intends to encourage interactions between different local agents and tourists, facilitating communication processes and collaboration and encouraging the joint creation of innovative “bottom-up” initiatives. Considering the different potentialities of the mobile context for tourism, health, and wellness, it was decided to develop a mobile application, which aims to facilitate their communication processes, allowing for constant connectivity inside the network. This article presents the main results of the development and validation process of the mobile application prototype.