What is a Smart Destination in Practice? The Interpretation of DMO Managers from Spanish World Heritage Cities

This work intends to identify how Spanish World Heritage Cities (SWHC) are interpreting and implementing the Smart Destination Spanish Model (SD). The model has been created as a new paradigm of tourist management, and it is being sponsored by the Spanish public administration in different destinations, including Spanish World Heritage Cities. SWHC are historic, major tourist destinations with a large number of visitors. A sequence of qualitative methods has been used, consisting of documentary analysis with semi-structured interviews. The destination managers from each of the 15 cities that take part of the World Heritage Cities Spanish Group have been interviewed. In addition, an executive of the government-owned Tourism Innovation and Technologies company (SEGITTUR) has been also interviewed. The results do highlight the momentum that the model has reached, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and serve to identify what kind of strategies have been put in practice.

Automated summary

This study aims to investigate the interpretation and implementation of the Smart Destination Spanish Model in Spanish World Heritage Cities (SWHC). The model, sponsored by the Spanish public administration, has been introduced as a new paradigm of tourist management. Qualitative methods including documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews were used, and destination managers from SWHC and an executive from SEGITTUR were interviewed. The results highlight the momentum gained by the model, especially accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and identify the strategies implemented.