Smart City or Smart Tourist Destination?

Mexico and Latin America are in the process of promoting smart cities on the one hand and Smart Tourist Destinations on the other. 

What is a Smart City?

A smart city is a city that uses the potential of technology and innovation, together with other resources, to promote sustainable development more efficiently and, ultimately, to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

What is a Smart Tourism Destination?

According to SEGITTUR, it is an innovative tourist destination (ITD), consolidated on a cutting-edge technological infrastructure, which guarantees the sustainable development of the tourist territory, accessible to all, which facilitates the interaction and integration of the visitor with the environment and increases the quality of their experience in the destination and improves the quality of life of the resident. It develops the technological and non-technological intelligence of the destination, where non-technological intelligence accounts for 80% and technological intelligence for 20%.

Who validates this methodology?

This ITD methodology is validated by the Spanish Ministry of Tourism, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Why Smart Tourism Destination and not Smart City?

Both smart cities and smart destinations share some similar objectives, such as the use of advanced technologies to improve the quality of life of residents and visitors, and the more efficient management of resources. However, there are some differences between the two concepts.

A smart city is a city that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, environmental sustainability and the efficiency of public services. Technologies are used to collect and analyse data in real time, enabling authorities to make informed decisions and provide more effective services.

On the other hand, a smart tourism destination uses technology to improve the visitor experience and sustainable tourism management. These technologies are used to provide personalised information and services to tourists, improve safety and accessibility and promote sustainability.

The term Smart City implies that the whole city must be smart and this has not been achieved anywhere in the world because cities are unmanageable and never reach the suburbs or slums.

The term ITD is more realistic because it implies developing the intelligence of the city in the area where the tourists move and where the tourist product is.

What is the international experience?

In Spain, there are more than 400 destinations of all types: rural, sun and beach, urban, including Benidorm, Santander, Pamplona, Valle de Aran, Seville, and Bilbaos.

In Latin America, the first DTI was Tequila in Mexico, and to date Medellin and Bogota have also been certified. There are at least five destinations in Brazil and 10 in Argentina seeking certification.

Why should projects be an ITD?

Because tourism intelligence implies that any project that is inscribed in a territory, beyond being private, is connected by action or omission with the whole territory. And tourists move throughout that territory and you can't be smart by halves.

How soon can it be implemented?

Depending on the key success factors: i) governance; ii) public-private-university-third sector articulation capacity; iii) training of project managers; iv) management parallel to the municipal management to implement the model and achieve evidence of compliance with indicators (200) in the pillars of Governance; Technology; Accessibility; Sustainability and Innovation, implementation can take two years.

What are the benefits for the population?

- Increased security through infrastructure and cameras

- Increased accessibility and mobility

- Increased economic spillover

- Employment 

- Higher average income

- Average length of stay doubles

- Access to markets that previously did not attend the destination, such as those with accessibility needs.

What are the benefits for tourism?

Tourists, when in an orderly destination, perceive it and stay longer and spend more and know more about the culture of the place.

What about ITDs at the international level?

There are two international networks of Smart Tourism Destinations: the Spanish Network and the Ibero-American Network. 

The Spanish Network https://www.segittur.es/destinos-turisticos-inteligentes/proyectos-destinos/red-dti/

The Network currently has 618 members, of which 437 are destinations, 87 institutions, 91 companies and three observers.

The Ibero-American Network https://destinosinteligentesiberoamerica.com/

Recently created (June 2022), it has five founding destinations from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, and 10 member destinations and three observer members, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Mexican Institute of Sustainable and Sustainable Smart Cities (IMCISS) and the Ibero-American Network of Accessible Tourism.

Beyond the conceptual, there is a reality; cities cannot be smart in their entirety in most cases, either due to territorial scope, lack of resources, or the impossibility of accessing certain places. While the area where most tourists move around can have the scope to be a Smart Tourism Destination.

Latin America faces this dilemma. The ITDs are a good start; with their pillars i) accessibility; ii) governance; iii) technology; iv) innovation and v) sustainability and their ISO certifications per pillar , they can advance in a sophistication that leads them to expand their territory as "smart," to the point where the logic of the city allows them. It should not be forgotten that it is always necessary to listen to the destinations, which set the timing of the evolution.