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Smart tourist – a new type of tourist






Smart tourist can easily find and book air tickets and hotels without leaving home, then go traveling using mobile applications, and not polluting environment with paper waste like maps and guidebooks. Thanks to digital technologies, logistic aspect of traveling fades into insignificance. 

The fact is that tourism itself has changed. Now tourism becomes a tool for cultural interchange, learning history, and from the sphere of entertainment it goes to discovery. Basically, considering the term “smart” there is no surprise in such transforming.

Modern tourist becomes more curious and thirsty for discoveries since logistic tasks are easily solved by technologies.



In our opinion smart tourism is much wider – it defines not only service sale but identify a personality of a tourist and completely new policies of providing tour service. 

It is time to understand that tourist cares more about fast and cheap Internet than luxury apartments, and he wants hotels, restaurants and sights to be able on the Internet with real descriptions.

Moreover, modern tourist wants not only business ads but reviews, here a good example is Tripadvisor – the biggest tourist review platform.



If we define the word “smart” literally, a smart tourist does not spend his time lying on a beach, he visits museums, uses public transport, communicates etc. His main assistant is technologies (mobile audioguides, maps and translators), but he also needs assistance of destinations and museums providing him the Internet and content. 

Here the situation is far from perfect. For example, on izi.TRAVEL there is not many good audioguides and often they have only one language. Most museums have the same problem.

Conclusion:
Technologies change the world, the travel industry changes even faster, and destinations, stakeholders and museums should grasp the ideas of transformation and needs of tourists as soon as possible.

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