Touristic Stakeholders’ Perceptions about the Smart Tourism Destination Concept in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico

Abstract

The smart tourism destination (STD) is an adaptation of the smart-city concept into a tourism destination. Smart cities relate to the urban use of technologies and internet in order to improve economic growth, quality of life, efficient management of resources, and generation of governance processes and social participation. This paper aims to highlight the perception that different tourism experts in Puerto Vallarta have about intelligent tourism destinations. The working method of this research was through a Delphi study to analyze the responses of local experts on the status of STD´s and their future trends. The experts’ perceptions on the concept’s definition, regional capacity for innovation, technological components, linking, and sustainability was analyzed. Experts perceived an optimistic scenario for STD in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México. The participants in this study value the factors that determine the implementation of STDs as determinants; there are at least three of them: Training, Investment, and Governance.