digital tourism

Introduction to digital tourism

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written by Tom Fleming

updated 21.10.2020

Have you ever watched a TV advert for a new computer game and struggled to tell the difference between the gameplay graphics and real life?

What is digital tourism?

Why not just go there in real life, in-game photography, find out more.

If your answer is yes, then you could well be onto something. Thanks to recent mind-bending developments in software modelling and in-game design, the digital worlds of today’s games have become so detailed, realistic and vast that an exciting new trend has emerged: digital tourism.

Digital tourism allows “travellers” to recreate all the experiences and feelings of real world exploration, with the small difference that each epic voyage takes place in a digital dimension. It is the crossover between tourism as we know it – or have known it – and gaming. Because over time, the once obvious boundaries between what is “real” and what isn’t have been gradually eroded by developments in technology. These changes have given rise to a brave new world – one that is freed from the laws we are familiar with and is defined by endless possibilities. The thrill you get when you step off a plane or the buzz of exploring somewhere completely new are no longer the exclusive preserve of well-heeled holidaymakers. Instead, digital tourism offers a groundbreaking and thrilling new way to travel.

More and more gamers are choosing to go off the beaten track, becoming fully immersed in their virtual worlds. From the dense overgrown jungle and epic temples of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the vast open expanses of Metro Exodus’s former Russian Federation to the otherworldly, volatile planet of Anthem and the futuristic, war-torn Halo 5: Guardians, digital tourism caters for all types of travellers.

Tyrant Mine, Anthem

Reality as we know it happens in a flash ­– and a big part of what makes an experience seem “real” is how we feel, experience and remember it. Thanks to technological constraints, video games have not been able to get close to replicating a “real” experience. Until now. Virtual reality and other ground-breaking technologies are driving force behind this change. Now that gamers are starting to experience similar feelings in the virtual world to ones they undergo in the “real” world, who’s to say what’s real and what isn’t?

Part of the appeal of digital tourism is its ready availability. Granted, consoles and games aren’t cheap these days, but neither are flights and hotels. You can engage in digital tourism from the comfort of your own living room, you don’t have to take time off work, get any vaccinations or visas, or deal with any other tiresome travel-related admin – and it’s environmentally friendly too.

There’s also the social factor. Okay, so you don’t meet the people you are gaming with face-to-face, but you can talk to gamers from all over the globe whilst exploring a faraway new world together. Technology has come a long way since the days of dial-up modems and painfully slow internet connections.

But digital tourism is not all about convenience and cost. Due to the variety of games and the vastness of the worlds within, digital tourism provides gamers with a unique chance to have a truly bespoke travel experience. Imagine being able to travel the world – and in some cases entirely new planets – without having to leave your own living room. That’s what digital tourism is all about and why it’s so popular. With so many worlds to choose from, digital tourism offers the user more choice than the real world does, where fantasies run really, really wild.

Digital tourism has become so popular that sub-trends have begun to emerge, such as in-game photography. Travel and photography have always been closely linked – if you don’t have a picture of you standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, did you even go? This relationship, coupled with the huge variety of digital landscapes and the new opportunities presented by them, helps to explain why gamers are taking in-game screengrabs to document their digital travels.

In fact, in-game photography is becoming something of an art form: there are dedicated Instagram accounts and even gallery exhibitions documenting some of the world’s finest in-game snaps. Duncan Harris, who goes by the name Dead End Thrills , is one of the best-known in-game photographers around. He has been “photographing” game scenes for more than ten years, from epic abstract vistas to up-close-and-personal portraits.

Of course, this trend in particular begs the question, are these in-game screen grabs actually photographs? Not in the traditional sense of the word, as they are essentially capturing images of the work done by the game’s developers and designers. However, traditions, words and technologies are all changing, and there is a strong case that they do constitute art. After all, in-game photographers have the same motivation as real-world photographers: to document a moment in time, capture striking images of landmarks and to preserve memories. In-game photography is another example of how technology is changing the way we perceive and experience the world.

Rough Guides have partnered with Xbox to produce The Rough Guide to Xbox, a pioneering new guide that embraces digital tourism. The guide documents and explores the in-game worlds of eight Xbox One X Enhanced games: Forza Horizon 4 , Sea of Thieves , Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 , Shadow of the Tomb Raider , Anthem, Halo 5: Guardians , Metro Exodus and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey . Using Rough Guides’ unique “tell it like it is” ethos and user-friendly format, the guide features maps for each game, along with in-game photography and other useful features, helping to bring each virtual world to life for the reader.

Noctus, Halo 5: Guardians

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How virtual tourism can rebuild travel for a post-pandemic world

The Faroe Islands is just one destination using new technologies to create a virtual tourism experience Image:  Knud Erik Vinding/Pixabay

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.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, virtual and augmented reality.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the travel and tourism industries;
• Businesses in this sector must build infrastructure and practices that allow people to travel safely in a post-pandemic world and support local communities that benefit from tourism;
• Augmented, virtual and mixed reality technologies can offer alternative ways to travel the world and an exciting new model for the industry.

The tourism industry has hit a nadir owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will continue to feel the effects for at least the first three quarters of 2021 – according to a recent UN report , tourist arrivals globally in January 2021 were down 87% when compared to January 2020.

Travel will prevail over post-pandemic anxiety, making it incumbent on the aviation and tourism industry to build safer infrastructure and practices that take care of travellers’ well being.

Have you read?

International tourism is set to plunge by 80% this year – but some regions could recover more quickly, how global tourism can become more sustainable, inclusive and resilient, virtual reality adds to tourism through touch, smell and real people’s experiences.

After a year thwarted by the pandemic and with the future not looking too upbeat for the industry at this juncture, tourism business owners should look at alternative modes of interaction for holidaymakers that can also aid the people and economies who depend on tourism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has noticeably hastened the testing and rollout of forward-looking technologies. Technology has not only enabled citizens globally to interact with loved ones, but also helped industries such as healthcare, information technology, education and many more to work remotely.

In the last few decades, technology has helped travel and tourism industries increase their reach through travel booking websites, videos, blogs and travel photography. Digital tools and content are a vital source of information for vacationists organizing their next holiday or creating a destination wish list. Whilst remote or virtual tourism has been a futuristic theme within industry forums for some time, the world today, shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, might now be ready to accept it.

A human-centric design that draws insights from cognitive behaviour, social psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics applied with cutting edge technologies such as augmented, virtual or mixed reality (AR, VR, MR) could be a game-changer. AR, VR and MR can enable a seamless, uninterrupted interactive experience for viewers from their own private space. The design principles will create a frictionless digital user experience and construct a positive perception of a tourist destination.

There have been previous attempts to achieve this feat: if you are an aqua sightseer, you might be aware of a documentary exploring the Great Barrier Reef . Through an interactive website, one can view the clear, tranquil currents of the Pacific Ocean and the biodiversity of the reef, and experience the sounds of a healthy coral reef. Another much-discussed VR experience is Mission 828 which allows you to take a virtual parachute jump from the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The Official Tourist Board of the Faroe Islands has also crafted a virtual experience to entice post-pandemic visitors from across the world.

Imagine a human-centric designed, interactive space online that makes a destination accessible and so real for a sightseer with sound captured by electro-acoustics researchers. You could view holiday sites in a video or through self-navigation using voice or joystick controls, interact with people using video-calling platforms, travel through the streets of said location, eavesdrop on local music and much more. This could be stitched together in a single platform individually or in silos on the internet and further enhanced by setting up physical experience tourism centres locally. Such a setup would allow tourist guides, artisans, craftspeople, hoteliers and transport business to create their own digital and virtual offerings and interact with possible customers.

Here’s how it might look: a vacationer starts their experience from the time their flight commences. The plane descends to the destination runway and pictures of the vicinity from the aircraft window pane are captured. The airport signage welcomes passengers and directs them to a pre-booked taxi. The vacationer gets to choose their first destination and travels through the streets in a chauffeur-driven car whose interactions en route become part of their cherished memories. On arrival, a tourist guide walks you through the destination all controlled with just a tap on your gadget. During the sightseeing, you hear random people speaking, posing for photographs and more. You take a photo to post on social media, go shopping and negotiate with a local vendor to purchase an artwork and get it delivered to your door. You learn how a local dish is prepared and get familiar with local customs.

A virtual platform could even provide an opportunity for people to explore areas that are affected by or fighting terrorism. For example, imagine seeing the diverse wildlife and snow leopard of the Gurez Valley, in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It doesn’t stop there: if thought through, one could experience travelling to the South Pole, space and beyond. It could also serve as a learning portal for students to understand geographies, culture, art and history.

With technology improving lives globally, virtual tourism could reignite the tourism industry and its people and help build a more sustainable economic model. As a human-centric platform, it can establish local tourist guides, artisans and others as global citizens in the tourism industry.

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• Review Article
• Open access
• Published: 07 October 2023

A ten-year review analysis of the impact of digitization on tourism development (2012–2022)

• Chunyu Jiang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6072-8365 1 &
• Seuk Wai Phoong   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9925-0901 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  665 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Development studies
• Science, technology and society

Many tourism-related activities have been suspended due to the nationally enforced lockdown to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. The tourism industry suffered immensely from the lockdown, and as a result of this, digital tourism began gaining traction and attracted public attention. This study analyses the impact of digitalization on the social and economic sustainability of the tourism industry via systematic literature network analysis. The findings indicated that digitalization impacts economic sustainability, encompassing economic benefits in tourism product development, tourism consumption, and industrial development. Moreover, digitalization fosters social development, cultural awareness, and tourism participation in digital technology and cultural heritage. This study identified publication trends and research hotspots using bibliometric analysis, and it was confirmed that Sustainability was the top journal in published digital and tourism sustainability-related articles, followed by the International Journal of Tourism Research, Tourism Management , and Current Issues in Tourism . This study resulted in two implications: identifying the knowledge gap and evidence-based decision-making based on the (previous) literature. Recommendation for future research is also discussed in this study, which is helpful to policymakers, tourism planners, and researchers to develop strategies grounded in research.

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Introduction.

From 2019 through 2022, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wreaked havoc on the world’s tourism business (Navarro-Drazich and Lorenzo, 2021 ). Tourism contributes to many nations’ gross domestic product (GDP) as it is intertwined with various industries (Gössling et al., 2017 ). Examples of tourism products include lodging options such as hotels and Airbnb. Food and drink, theme parks, museum visits, and fashion items such as clothes and bags are additional examples of tourism products that boost the economic health of the individual and the nation.

Tourism is regarded as a complex service-driven industry, one of the characteristics of which is that if external influences disrupt the tourism sector, other industries linked to it will also be directly affected. Tourism development refers to creating and maintaining the tourism industry in a particular location and is closely linked to economic and social progress (Telfer and Sharpley, 2015 ). Over the past four decades, global tourism development has reported intense growth performance and research on tourism development (Capocchi et al., 2019 ). Kreishan ( 2010 ) posited that the impact of tourism development on destination development is a commonly discussed issue, particularly in terms of tourism development improving economic efficiency and local competitiveness. The growth of tourism currently is significant not only from an economic perspective but also from a social perspective, as evidenced by the optimization of the local social structure (Yang et al., 2021 ), increased community participation (W. Li, 2006 ), participation of women (Ferguson, 2011 ), and increased cultural awareness (Carbone, 2017 ). Also, the development of the tourism industry benefits the environment by increasing environmental protection awareness and providing greater funding for initiatives to conserve resources and the environment (Zhao and Li, 2018 ).

However, unmanaged over-tourism can cause serious harm, according to Berselli et al. ( 2022 ). From an economic standpoint, excessive tourism can result in higher prices and imbalanced industrial structure development, which lowers industries’ overall resilience. Social issues arising from over-tourism include the commercialization of culture (Wang et al., 2019 ), the shift in locals’ attitudes from friendliness to hostility towards tourists (Kim and Kang, 2020 ), and the emergence of on-stage authenticity (Taylor, 2001 ). In terms of the environment, issues such as excessive carbon emissions causing global warming (Liu et al., 2022 ), damage to water and soil resources, destruction to flora and fauna (Gössling and Hall, 2006 ), and even harm to cultural heritage (Zhang et al., 2015 ) are some of the effects of over-tourism. Since the development of the tourism industry combines economic, social, and cultural phenomena, as well as the past COVID-19 disruptions, the industry’s suspension for several years presents a significant opportunity for all stakeholders to reposition tourism for sustainable development.

Some studies suggest the tourism industry will recover after COVID-19 (Zhong et al., 2021 ). However, given the abovementioned problems caused by over-tourism, what needs to be considered is the sustainability of the tourism industry post-COVID-19. Researchers and tourism stakeholders are becoming more aware of the importance of the concept of sustainable development (Miceli et al., 2021 ), especially since COVID-19, as the tourism or hospitality industry remains one of the least developed sectors in terms of sustainable tourism practices (Kim and Park, 2017 ). Korstanje and George ( 2020 ) noted that over-tourism is a chronic disease that mere temporary changes cannot treat; it can be minimized via education and training to raise awareness. The tourism industry needs to rethink how to develop in a sustainable and healthy direction (Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019 ), not only in terms of ecotourism or green tourism but also in terms of putting the concept of sustainability into practice at a deeper level as it faces multiple pressures and challenges of an overarching environment, economy, and society.

Sustainability is often cited as one of the reasons for improved competitiveness among different tourism destinations (Han et al., 2019 ). The United Nations 2030 (UN, 2030 ) Agenda for Sustainable Development has developed a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) plan, defined as a set of global goals for fair and sustainable health at every level, from the planetary biosphere to the local community. The aim is to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that everyone enjoys peace and prosperity now and in the future. The basic concept is that productivity can be preserved for future generations. Due to the general emphasis of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on sustainable tourism and the industry’s economic importance, the SDGs and its associated millennium development goals (MDGs) have become critical elements for research into tourism’s contribution to sustainable development and overall sustainability (Saarinen et al., 2011 ; Saarinen and Rogerson, 2014 ). Winter et al. ( 2020 ) indicated that as sustainable tourism development needs to take complete account of the combined social, economic, and environmental impacts, stakeholders are expected to integrate scientific management and practice for future sustainability using updated and innovative technologies that can provide more tourism opportunities for groups unable to travel directly while enhancing environmentally-friendly behavior. Bramwell and Lane ( 2011 ) suggested that effective policy support is also crucial to implementing sustainable tourism development, as the path to sustainable development is guided and monitored by excellent and progressive policies. From a postmodernist perspective, social media and place brand authenticity in smart tourism are essential to place trust, place identity, and place brand image, while the development of this brand authenticity is one of the critical indicators of the visitor experience (Handayani and Korstanje, 2017 ). As a result, Korstanje et al. ( 2022 ) contended that new paradigms and strategies must be created to confront risks to tourism in the 21st century and satisfy the SDGs by 2030.

Several studies are underway to determine the impact of various programs and strategies on the environmental component of sustainability practices (Goralski and Tan, 2020 ). Yalina and Rozas ( 2020 ) suggested that a digital workplace can promote environmental sustainability. Although there have been studies on the digitalization of tourism and environmental sustainability, such as Loureiro and Nascimento ( 2021 ), who reviewed digital technology on the sustainability of tourism using bibliometric methods, there is a need for a thorough examination of the impact of digital transformation on sustainable tourism growth, particularly in terms of economic and social dimensions (Feroz et al., 2021 ). Therefore, the objective of this study is to review the impact of tourism digital technology development on the economic and social sustainability of tourism development to offer future research guidance.

With the growing literature and the emergence of cross-disciplinary research related to sustainability and digitalization in tourism development, it is critical to analyze the changes in its research, summarize the focus of previous research content, and predict future research prospects. As a result, this study will address the above research gaps by answering the following three questions.

RQ1: What are the prominent documents, authors, sources, organizations, and keywords in digitalization for the economic and social sustainability of tourism development?

RQ2: What are the linkages based on bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-occurrence, and citation in digitalization for the economic and social sustainability of tourism development?

RQ3: What is the future research agenda based on the results of this study?

Literature review

Several review papers on tourism research are now available and relevant to this study. Ülker et al. ( 2023 ) assumed that there are currently 136 bibliometric studies in the tourism and hospitality industry, of which the literature review studies on overall trends in the tourism and hospitality industry are continuously being updated (Chang and Katrichis, 2016 ; Wang et al., 2023 ). Also, economic development in the tourism industry (Comerio and Strozzi, 2019 ), tourism marketing (Mwinuka, 2017 ), tourism and education (Goh and King, 2020 ), hospitality (Manoharan and Singal, 2017 ), Airbnb (Andreu et al., 2020 ), and even COVID-19 review articles related to tourism development are available (Bhatia et al., 2022 ).

With the emergence of cross-disciplinary digital-related technologies, the link between tourism and digitalization has become one of the hot topics of research, and as a result, several literature review articles on digitalization and tourism have been published, such as on robotics (Buhalis and Cheng, 2020 ; Ivanov et al., 2019 ; Pizam et al., 2022 ), ICT (Buhalis and Law, 2008 ; Law et al., 2014 ), big data (Li et al., 2018 ; Stylos et al., 2021 ), smart tourism (Buhalis, 2020 ; Mehraliyev et al., 2020 ), social media (Buhalis and Inversini, 2014 ; Mirzaalian and Halpenny, 2019 ), eye-tracking (Muñoz-Leiva et al., 2019 ; Scott et al., 2019 ), AI (Buhalis and Moldavska, 2022 ; Doborjeh et al., 2022 ; Dwivedi et al., 2023 ), VR (Koohang et al., 2023 ; Wei, 2019 ), AR (Jingen Liang and Elliot, 2021 ; Tscheu and Buhalis, 2016 ; Yovcheva et al., 2012 ), MR (Buhalis and Karatay, 2022 ), and the Metaverse (Ahuja et al., 2023 ; Buhalis et al., 2022 , 2023 ; Go and Kang, 2023 ).

Due to the rise of sustainability research, the literature review on sustainability research in tourism has seen a stark increase (León-Gómez et al., 2021 ; Ruhanen et al., 2018 ; Streimikiene et al., 2021 ). The proliferation of studies related to digitalization and sustainable tourism development has led to a considerable number of review articles (Elkhwesky et al., 2022 ; Gössling, 2017 ; Loureiro and Nascimento, 2021 ; Nascimento and Loureiro, 2022 ; Rahmadian et al., 2022 ). Feroz et al. ( 2021 ) conducted a literature study on the environmental aspects of tourism sustainability and digitalization; however, there is a distinct lack of studies on the economic and social dimensions.

Therefore, the study’s unique value is that it presents the first literature review in the field of digitalization and social and tourism economic sustainability development using a novel method of systematic literature network analysis (SLNA), filling a gap in the literature review landscape and addressing the need for more comprehensive, detailed, and up-to-date research endeavor.

Methodology

Colicchia and Strozzi ( 2012 ) proposed a systematic literature review analysis (SLNA) to identify past research trends more sophisticatedly, integrated, and scientifically. This method is currently used in reviews of sustainable development research (Afeltra et al., 2021 ) but is rarely used in reviews of tourism sustainability; therefore, SLNA is used in this study.

Systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliographic network analysis (BNA) are the two phases of SLNA. These actions comprise the first phase of SLR, which includes choosing the study’s final selection, conducting a dialectical examination of the most pertinent articles, and evaluating the results. Next, citation analysis and bibliographic coupling of BNA are also included in this paper to investigate the relationship between the previous literature, assess the research trends, and aid in uncovering future research innovation opportunities. Bibliographic coupling is a scientific mapping technique regarding two articles with a common citation contentedly comparable. This technique permits the segmentation of publications into thematic clusters utilizing published references to understand the most recent developments in current research issues (Donthu et al., 2021 ). Citation analysis reveals which papers are influential and their authors and journals and aids in comprehending what past literature has contributed (Pilkington and Meredith, 2009 ).

First phase: systematic literature review (SLR)

Introduction of slr.

The most widely used and reputable databases are the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus (Garrigos-Simon et al., 2018 ); thus, both were used in this study to eliminate data search omissions, broaden the search scope, and improve the accuracy of data outputs.

Figure 1 shows the flow diagram for systematic bibliometric analysis. Firstly, this paper takes “virtual reality or augmented reality or artificial intelligence or big data or mobile technology or internet of technology or social platform technology) and (sustainable tourism development or sustainability of tourism or green tourism or ecotourism” as keywords. The search process began by searching topics (including article titles, abstracts, and keywords). The language of the articles was set to English and had to be published between 2012 and 2022. The search process resulted in 91 articles. The data were extracted on February 15, 2022, per Fig. 2 .

This figure shows the overall process of this study from database selection until suggestions for future research. Source: Own elaboration.

The criteria and steps used to identify the selected target literature are explained in this diagram. Source: Own elaboration.

A review article with scholarly worth and contribution is required to describe the literature’s links and contents and examine and critique it precisely (Hart, 2018 ). As seen in Fig. 3 , the following research topics are divided into two categories: economic sustainability (which includes topics such as economic benefit, industry development, and tourist consumption) and social sustainability (which includes topics such as tourist behavior, social development, cultural awareness, and participation).

The research topics are divided into two categories: economic sustainability (which includes topics such as economic benefit, industry development, and tourist consumption) and social sustainability (which includes topics such as tourist behavior, social development, cultural awareness, and participation. Source: Own elaboration.

The SLRs are used to locate, appraise, and synthesize existing, completed, and documented work (Cocchia, 2014 ), facilitating classification and summarization, particularly for micro-profiling within macro-level fields of study.

Digitalization’s impact on economic sustainability

Digitalization’s impact on economic benefits.

Adequately improving the economic development of tourism is also one of the sustainable needs for developing tourism. At a time when tourism has been devastated by COVID-19, the tourism industry has almost ceased to exist. Therefore, one of the most popular research topics is maintaining substantial economic benefits while allowing the tourism industry to flourish sustainably.

Digital technology has piqued researchers’ interest due to its potential benefit to the tourism industry. Technologies that directly improve the economic situation are classed as economic benefits, and per many studies, digitization positively impacts local economic development and may bring objective revenue to tourism (Tables 1 – 7 ).

Digital technology promotes economic development. The growth of information communication technologies (ICT) positively impacts China’s tourism industry while promoting economic growth (Shehzad et al., 2019 ). As a rapidly evolving digital technology, mobile technology has significantly minimized asymmetric information, enhanced local GDP growth, and increased citizens’ financial capital through tourism (Kim and Kim, 2017 ; Phoong et al., 2022 ). Technologies such as 3D virtual, mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), or augmented reality (AR) applied in heritage tourism can effectively increase local economic income and the added value of tourism (Manglis et al., 2021 ; Martinez-Grana et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, marketing tools such as small programs and network technologies confer several advantages to tourism stakeholders, such as the ability to help local communities contribute value and support the tourism economy (Caciora et al., 2021 ; Lin et al., 2020a , b ). Also, smart heritage city tourism technology tools can drive the tourism economy to inaccessible areas (Gomez-Oliva et al., 2019 ).

The increase in income is proportional to increased economic benefits. ICT is often used in the tourism industry, which has an essential impact on the tourism service industry, one of which is the improvement of tourism income (Gomez-Oliva et al., 2019 ; Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2019 ). Virtual tourism technologies, such as AR and VR, are digital tools that can help overcome cultural heritage tourism challenges, such as reviving the tourism industry and resolving funding shortages (Lu et al., 2022 ). Mobile money, such as electronic traveler’s checks and credit cards, can assist low-income people in taking advantage of their marginal savings and encourage implementing a cashless economy for tourism sustainability (Singh, 2017 ).

Second, digital marketing technologies are frequently utilized by hotels to improve hotel performance, which increases profit (Theocharidis et al., 2020 ; Vitezic et al., 2015 ). Another example is Muslim-friendly apps promoting the international trade of products during the tourism process (Cuesta-Valiño et al., 2020 ),

Digitalization’s impact on tourism industrial development

Technological development has driven the tourism industry in local tourist cities, organizations, businesses, and governments. From the perspective of industrial market development, ICT, extensive data network marketing, and other virtual tourism technologies can create market development potential and improve market positioning for companies (Ammirato et al., 2021 ; Filipiak et al., 2020 ; Ma et al., 2021 ).

Adopting and applying information in the tourism industry are commonly regarded as a source of corporate innovation. The implementation of ICT can increase the profitability of tourism enterprises while also increasing organizational productivity (Croitoru and Manoliu, 2016 ; De Lucia et al., 2021 ; Duy et al., 2020 ; Obonyo et al., 2018 ). VR, AR, 3D digital technology, and mobile technology can all be used to improve a company’s performance and competitiveness in the tourism industry (Cranmer et al., 2021 ; Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2018 ; Pavlidis et al., 2022 ; Yuce et al., 2020 ), and these technologies have made significant economic contribution to economic sustainability.

The application and implementation of ICT play an essential role in developing the tourism industry (Adeola and Evans, 2020 ; Tan et al., 2019 ; Zhou and Sotiriadis, 2021 ). Also, digital advanced technologies, such as MR technology adopted by museums, AR technology adopted by destinations, and smart tourism products and tourism ecological reservation systems have made significant contributions in the front-end development stage, providing opportunities to monitor the future development of tourism, as well as being beneficial to the formulation and implementation of tourism industry strategies at later stages (Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ; Tsai et al., 2018 ). The abovementioned electronic environment is an excellent lubricant for tourism’s active and healthy development (Maiorescu et al., 2016 ). Moreover, apps can help customers understand legacy cities more from the standpoint of heritage preservation and help cities promote tourist city development (Briciu et al., 2020 ).

From the perspective of products sold and variations in product types, online services in Muslim-friendly apps can be helpful for market segmentation and promotion of product positioning and sales (Cuesta-Valiño et al., 2020 ). Furthermore, virtual multi-sensory technologies can improve the company’s potential, increase public awareness, and sell products (Martins et al., 2017 ). Undeniably, the development of digitalization enriches the cultural service products of museums in developing heritage tourism (Palumbo, 2021 ), and AR technology also increases the diversification of products in water tourism (Kaźmierczak et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on tourism consumption

Tourists’ spending power can reflect the overall economic development of the tourism industry as one of the contributing variables, and the number of tourists and the value of tourist flow are two measurement criteria of tourism consumer spending. Tourism apps, for example, can make traveling more convenient for tourists, increasing tourism consumption (Lin et al., 2020a , b ). Virtual tourism products or augmented reality technology allow tourists to spend more leisure time, increasing consumption (da Silva, 2021 ; Pehlivanides et al., 2020 ).

The application of virtual tourism technology is also helpful in improving the attractiveness of tourists (Cai et al., 2021 ; Manglis et al., 2021 ; Martins et al., 2017 ). Meanwhile, big data analytic tools, e-marketing (WOM), and mobile applications positively influence customers’ intention to travel and contribute to improving tourism sustainability (Gajdosik, 2019 ; Kim and Chang, 2020 ; Pica et al., 2018 ). With the application and construction of ICT, the demand for tourism has increased, and the number of tourists has also increased (Adeola and Evans, 2020 ; Kabassi, 2017 ; Kumar and Kumar, 2020 ). In addition to enhancing tourists’ imagination, virtual tourism technology and 3D digital technology can also be used as practical tools to further develop tourism and increase the number and flow of tourists (Bae et al., 2020 ; Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ; Pavlidis et al., 2022 ). Word-of-mouth marketing has increased the number of tourists (Fernandez-Lores et al., 2022 ; Wang et al., 2020 ).

Digitalization’s impact on social sustainability

Digitalization’s impact on tourist behavior.

Virtual tourism technology is gradually being implemented in the tourism industry, focusing on increasing the satisfaction of the elderly and disabled (Lu et al., 2022 ). Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are integrated into human-computer interaction system equipment, boosting service quality and increasing tourist satisfaction (Van et al., 2020 ). The mixed experience helps enrich tourists’ feelings about the surroundings, thereby boosting tourists’ contentment (Bae et al., 2020 ), and the succinct information and dependable system offered by VR can promote tourists’ satisfaction (Yuce et al., 2020 ). 3D digital technology to build innovative and appealing tourism items can help boost consumer satisfaction and positive feedback (Pavlidis et al., 2022 ).

Tourism stakeholders’ use of tourism apps is critical to increasing tourist satisfaction (Lin et al., 2020a , b ). For example, tourism management in Ho Chi Minh City’s use of Web 4.0 can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty in the long run (Duy et al., 2020 ). The mobile usability and ease of use of social media as a suitable medium directly impact satisfaction (Sharmin et al., 2021 ). It can also serve as a platform for tourists to communicate and contribute to increased satisfaction (Jamshidi et al., 2021 ). Simultaneously, tourism safety is an essential factor that influences tourist satisfaction, and the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can help to improve tourism safety (Ko and Song, 2021 ). The use of mobile technologies and payment mechanisms in the tourism process is also a fascinating study. Through electronic technology, two-dimensional code payment techniques improve tourists’ pleasure (Lou et al., 2017 ). Furthermore, incorporating digital innovation into hotel management structures increases hotel performance and client satisfaction (Vitezic et al., 2015 ).

Tourism satisfaction is directly related to tourism experience, and tourism experience is one of the most important criteria to measure in the tourism process. The findings suggest that using virtual immersion technologies such as AR, VR, and MR in the tourism process can significantly improve the tourist experience (Bae et al., 2020 ; Fernandez-Lores et al., 2022 ; Franco and Mota, 2021 ; Lee and Kim, 2021 ; Yin et al., 2021 ).

Additionally, the intention and motivation of tourism drive tourism behavior from the psychological aspect. Digital innovative technology can boost tourists’ interest in tourism products and locations, enrich their understanding of tourism culture, attract more tourists, enhance tourists’ preferences, and strengthen their desire to visit (Caciora et al., 2021 ; Cranmer et al., 2021 ; Gajdosik, 2019 ; Kang, 2020 ; Kaźmierczak et al., 2021 ; Manglis et al., 2021 ; Monterroso-Checa et al., 2020 ;). Digital marketing tools can ramp up customers’ desires and habits (Theocharidis et al., 2020 ), and digital mobile programs can increase tourists’ attention, influencing their overall view of the tourism experience (Wang et al., 2020 ). Big data can also be utilized to foresee client wants and expectations, allowing for a better understanding of customer needs (Del Vecchio et al., 2018 ). For example, Internet of Things technology can scientifically guide and divert tourists to alleviate the problem of local saturation and overload in scenic sites, thus improving the tourist experience (Xie and Zhang, 2021 ). It can also provide various cultural tourism content to enhance and support the experience of active tourists (Ammirato et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on social development

Tourism planners and governments can use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system-remote sensing (GIS-RS) technology to accurately select sites, develop eco-tourism activities, relieve the burden of tourism in the region, and thus help the locals create new employment opportunities (Chaudhary et al., n.d. ). Virtual tourism technology, such as AR, can also aid in analyzing tourist flow and conditions, improve safety, and expand job chances (Franco and Mota, 2021 ). Advances and innovations in tourism ICT can benefit enterprises enough to increase job prospects (De Lucia et al., 2021 ). Virtual tourism, ICT, mobile technology, smart heritage tourism technology, and innovative marketing methods improve stakeholders’ quality of life, increasing the tourism system and community awareness (Lemmi and Deri, 2020 ).

Digitalization’s impact on cultural awareness

Virtual technologies, such as AR, VR, and mobile augmented reality (MAR), are now widely used in cultural heritage tourism, with the potential to protect cultural heritages and enhance the potential of heritage management, thereby contributing to cultural communication (Bec et al., 2019 ; Caciora et al., 2021 ; Graziano and Privitera, 2020 ). Some studies indicate that online engagement platforms, mobile application technologies, and smart tourism models can all support the socially sustainable growth of culture (Bonacini et al., 2018 ; Pica et al., 2018 ; Zubiaga et al., 2019 ).

AR, VR, and other techniques can promote tourists’ behavior in underwater cultural tourism and raise public awareness of natural heritage protection among tourists (Manglis et al., 2021 ). Research on low-carbon travel modes is frequently concerned with tourism sustainability, and big data marketing technology can supply tourists with more low-carbon transport schemes, thus increasing tourists’ environmental consciousness (Ma et al., 2021 ). As a common medium for cultural communication, social media can raise tourists’ awareness of environmental protection (Haque et al., 2021 ).

Digitalization’s impact on participation

Tourists’ active participation in cultural heritage can be enhanced by digital technology, as can people’s feeling of belonging and responsibility to society (Koukopoulos and Koukopoulos, 2019 ; Permatasari et al., 2020 ). Virtual technology can also encourage public participation in preserving and promoting cultural heritages (Caciora et al., 2021 ), while digital media can help tourism businesses improve public relations and social participation (Camilleri, 2018 ; Haque et al., 2021 ). Increased smart tourism destinations optimize the potential for these communities to involve the destinations’ residents and impact their lives due to the improved urban tourism experience.

Stakeholders are closely linked to the sustainable development of tourism. Innovative applications of digital technology can better manage destination stakeholders, strengthening their linkages (Camilleri, 2018 ), help promote their participation in the development of tourist destinations (del Vecchio et al., n.d. ; Gajdosik, 2019 ), and create a democratic and sustainable system when promoting cultural heritage, which balances the opinions of different stakeholders.

The interactive network platform empowers local communities and encourages local inhabitants and tourists to communicate, which promotes the healthy growth of resident-tourism relationships (Dionisio et al., 2019 ). Also, ICT tourism apps influence the ultimate perception of older tourists’ travel experiences, stimulate tourists’ interest in world cultural heritage sites (WCHS), and increase contact and understanding between tourists and destinations (Ramos-Soler et al., 2019 ). Social media can help tourists increase their knowledge of environmental protection, which increases the participation of tourists and citizens and helps formulate sustainable goals (Haque et al., 2021 ).

Second phase: bibliographic network analysis (BNA)

The VOSviewer is the analysis tool used in this work to visualize the impact of digital technology on sustainable tourism development in economic and social aspects. VOSviewer employs the visualization of similarities (VOS) mapping approach to create a map (Moya‐Anegón et al., 2007 ).

Bibliographic coupling network of sources

Bibliographic coupling analysis mainly measures the similarity of documents by the number of identical references cited by documents. Although co-citation refers to the appearance of two documents in the same reference list, bibliographic coupling refers to the number of references that a group of papers share; for example, paper A and paper B are coupled if they both cite document C (Garrigos-Simon et al., 2018 ). In other words, bibliographic coupling happens when two documents quote the same document (Phoong et al., 2022 ; Mulet-Forteza et al., 2018 ), demonstrating the power of one publication in comparison to a group of others (Cavalcante et al., 2021 ). It should be pointed out that the size of the sphere represents the number of similar citations. This paper analyzes the bibliographic coupling network of sources, and the findings are summarized in Fig. 4 . Per Fig. 4 , there are 9 clusters, and the journal source with the highest number of similar citations is Sustainability . It can, therefore, be concluded that this journal has the most citations and published articles on this subject.

This figure refers to the number of references shared by a group of papers. Source: Own elaboration.

Citation network of documents

Citations are formed when two documents cite the same document and are used to illustrate the relation between documents and study fields. Figure 5 shows four clusters, each representing the degree of connection and the extent of influence in size. This study has the highest influence, according to the largest green group. It offers insight into the impact of reality and virtual reality on heritage tourism, stating that these technologies favorably impact tourists’ experiences (Bec et al., 2019 ).

Cluster size indicates the degree of connection and influence of the literature and research area. There are four groups, with the blue (Encalada et al., 2017 ) and green (Bec et al., 2019 ) groups representing the two articles that are relatively most influential. Source: Own elaboration.

This Blue Group study is also prominent, proposing that the widespread use of information and communication technologies, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and data mining with high processing performance, are the key to tourism’s sustainability (Encalada et al., 2017 ).

The number of citations between documents is used in co-citation analysis to determine their relevance. Figure 6 shows which publications are cited most frequently, and it is clear that tourism management and sustainability are the two commanding the most attention. Generally, the closer two journals are located to each other, the stronger their relatedness. For example, according to an article published in Tourism Management , virtual reality has significantly increased tourism intention and consumption (Tussyadiah et al., 2018 ). Simultaneously, this article presents the finding, which illustrates that combining history with cutting-edge technology in immersive spaces can preserve and manage legacy and enrich the visitor experience and, as a result, engagement with history (Bec et al., 2019 ).

This figure represents the citation strength of publications. The circle distance represents relevance. Source: Own elaboration.

Co-occurrence network of Keywords and titles

The significance of keyword co-occurrence analysis in bibliometrics resides in an intuitive understanding of hot subjects in the study field through the frequency and relevance of terms (Phoong et al., 2022 ). Before that, the following considerations must be made.

To begin, each node in the network map indicates a keyword, and the size of the ball represents the number of keywords that appear. The larger the ball, for example, indicates the higher frequency of keywords occurring. Second, the larger the co-occurrence rate between terms, the thicker the curve between the second keywords. In the third, on the network map, different color groups reflect different theme collections, while the same color represents similar subjects (Loureiro and Nascimento, 2021 ).

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate overlay visualization (Fig. 8 ) and network visualization (Fig. 7 ). From Fig. 7 , the keywords of high frequency include tourism (37 occurrences), technology (35 occurrences), tourist (32 occurrences), experience (31 occurrences), information (25 occurrences), application (23 occurrences), data (22 occurrences), analysis (21 occurrences), impact (21 occurrences), sustainability (14 occurrences) and sustainable development (9 occurrences). Some of Red Network Group’s primary keywords are tourism, information, impact, communication technology, virtual reality, new technology, and cultural tourism. The study’s content focuses on the impact of the relationship between information technology and tourism. Yellow Network Group’s primary keywords are destination, tourism destination, environment, and AR, mainly concentrated on destination environment and AR application research. The green network group comprises tourists, analysis, process, big data, management, stakeholders, case studies, innovation, and other topics. This group has conducted more studies on the effect of digital technology on enterprise management from stakeholders’ perspectives. The Blue Network Group focuses on technology, experience, data, service, research, relationships, social media, sustainable development, tourist satisfaction, intention, and other related topics, and this group study is particularly interested in the influence of technology on tourist experience and satisfaction.

The same color indicates a close relationship between the keywords. The red network group focuses on tourism and information technology, the yellow network group concentrates on destinations and the environment, and the blue group emphasizes tourists and technology, the green group concerns tourists and analyses. Source: Own elaboration.

Darker colors indicate older keywords such as tourists, information, data, research, etc. and lighter colors show the recent hot keywords such as big data, AR, VR, sustainable development, etc. Source: Own elaboration.

After conducting a literature review on digital technology’s economic and social implications on sustainable tourism development over the last ten years and creating a density visualization network map, it can be concluded that tourist experience, information technology, augmented reality, and data are research hotspots. As a result, most studies on tourism sustainability in social and economic dimensions focus on the impact of digital technology on the tourist experience.

Even though they are all co-occurrence analyses of keywords in literature, the emphasis in each network map is different. Generally, overlay visualization and network visualization are comparable to a certain extent; however, the color differs in overlay visualization (Fig. 8 ). In the lower right corner, there is also a quantification table. Purple indicates that the keywords are older, while yellow indicates that they are more modern. For example, keywords such as big data, augmented reality, sustainable development, creation, and intention are yellow, indicating a recent research hotspot, but keywords such as communication technology, information, environment, and service are purple, indicating that these themes were formerly popular.

Results and discussion

The data were collected from 2012 until February 2022. Analysis of the published articles shows a significant increase in publications on digitalization and tourism sustainability development. In 2017, seven articles were published, 10 in 2018, 16 in 2019, and 23 in 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, there are 6 published in the first two months of 2022. These findings illustrate a rise in data availability for digitalization and sustainable tourism development research and suggest that researchers are considering this topic more seriously, demonstrating its value to academic research.

According to the findings, Sustainability was the top journal in published digital and tourism sustainability-related articles. This is followed by the International Journal of Tourism Research , Tourism Management , and Current Issues in Tourism . The number of publications on the relevant subject has increased steadily, particularly in recent years, indicating that this form of research is increasingly gaining attention. Research over the last decade has shown the existence of a certain number of empirical studies on the relationship between digitalization and tourism social and economic sustainability, and from the bibliometric analysis, it emerges that the current research direction on tourism social and economic sustainability has shifted from exploring ICT to AR and VR. Moreover, Tourism Management and Sustainability have the highest citation.

In summary, this study answers RQ1 using the bibliometric literature analysis, while a systematic literature review used to answer RQ2 and RQ3 is discussed in the conclusion and further recommendation sections.

The content of relevant articles published in WOS and Scopus in this research area over the last decade was visually analyzed through bibliometric and systematic literature analysis, and a total of 91 articles meeting the research criteria were selected to provide information on the status of the impact of digitalization on the social and economic aspects of sustainable tourism development, as well as to identify specific research fields and research topics. It can be concluded that the digitalization of the social dimension of tourism sustainability is more richly studied and explored from a more diverse perspective, considering not only the tourists’ but also the residents’ perspectives. There are two implications in the present study. The first is that this study pinpointed the knowledge gaps. Systematic literature review analysis is used in this study to identify the gaps in the existing body of research in tourism development. By reviewing the previous literature and synthesizing the findings, researchers can identify the areas receiving limited or much attention. This insight is valuable for policymakers, tourism planners, and researchers when dealing with specific areas where future research is warranted. Furthermore, the publication trend and popular research themes were also discussed in this study. This enables the policymaker and tourism planner to understand tourism development and the potential for improved policies and practices. The second implication is enabling evidence-based decision-making in tourism development. Researchers can identify patterns, trends, and best practices by synthesizing the findings from multiple studies. This evidence-based approach helps policymakers, destination managers, and tourism stakeholders make informed decisions and develop strategies grounded in research. However, there is a lack of a more comprehensive perspective to explore in an integrated manner. For example, social and economic sustainability development sometimes does not increase simultaneously, and perhaps there is a particular imbalance between the two when using certain digital technologies. Therefore, it can be observed from this study that there is a lack of research in the past ten years that has explored both the economic and social sustainability of tourism comprehensively and that future research could emphasize the integration of social and economic sustainability, even a synthesis study of three dimensions: environmental social, and economic.

Therefore, when considering future developments, several challenges were raised.

Lack of integration study of social and economic dimensions.

Lack of cooperative research among other disciplines.

Lack of suitable theory and conceptual model for sustainable development research in the tourism area.

Lack of universality in different regions based on proposed digital technology.

Lack of research from the perspective of subject education or particular population as the research object.

Based on this literature study, relatively few research topics about this research area are suggested, and the following research scope and questions can be referred to as a priority in the future research process so that research trends can be accurately grasped more quickly and efficiently.

What is the impact of digital technologies on the economic and social sustainability of destinations?

How do digital technologies used in cultural heritage tourism impact tourism sustainability?

What is the impact of digital technology on education?

How can tourism companies improve employee satisfaction, loyalty, and sustainable performance through digital technology?

How can we create a globally accessible and digital system for tourism destinations for sustainable development goals?

How does digitalization impact sustainable development from stakeholders’ perspectives?

The above suggestions and research direction recommendations can provide new research inspiration to researchers in the same field for future research, and this study is expected to help other researchers understand the current research trends related to the digitalization of sustainable tourism development.

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This research is supported by the Universiti Malaya International Collaboration Grant, grant number ST013-2022.

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Jiang, C., Phoong, S.W. A ten-year review analysis of the impact of digitization on tourism development (2012–2022). Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 665 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02150-7

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Digital Platforms and the Future of Tourism

Successful woman backpacker use digital tablet taking photo on mountain peak cliff. © lzf/Shutterstock

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The tourism industry is vital to the growth of the majority of developing economies, with the potential to create millions of jobs and promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Digital technologies have the potential to give small tourism businesses in emerging destinations direct access to a global market of travel consumers for the first time, vastly expanding their prospects.
• To celebrate World Tourism Day, the World Bank Group, together with partners, are exploring how digital advances can be used to benefit sustainable tourism for development.

Tourism is one of the fastest growing and most important economic sectors in the world providing benefits to both host communities and destination areas. In 2017, international tourist arrivals reached a new record high at over 1.3 billion according to the latest UNWTO Tourism Highlights . The sector has now seen uninterrupted growth in arrivals for eight straight years. It also represents 10.4% of GDP and in 2017 the tourism industry supported 313 million jobs or 1 in 10 jobs globally.

Tourism also provides better opportunities for women’s participation in the workforce, women’s entrepreneurship, and women’s leadership than other sectors of the economy.

That is why the World Bank Group continues to be committed to invest funds, knowledge and expertise to support tourism for development.

• As a part of the World Bank Growth & Competitiveness Project in the Gambia, a hospitality training center trained 1,235 students and helped increase arrivals by tourists from non-traditional markets by 71% between 2011 and 2015.
• In Peru, an IFC Advisory project financed by SECO (Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs – Economic Cooperation and Development) helped streamline procedures for obtaining licenses and permits to start and operate tourism businesses in Cusco. The reforms eliminated 150 unnecessary processes and shaved three years off the business registration process, making it easier for both local and foreign investors to operate in Cusco.
• A World Bank Group report on the 20 Reasons Sustainable Tourism Counts for Development explains how sustainable tourism counts not just for travelers, but for tourism destinations and local residents.
• The World Bank Group developed the Abraham Path project to bring together fragmented communities along the path in the West Bank through many interventions like training and capacity, which were aimed at generating tourism revenue and jobs, and improving economic opportunities for women. The project has generated 137 jobs, 57% going to women.

Digital technologies and platforms are disrupting the way the tourism sector operates from end to end.   Many low-income economies can potentially benefit from this digital transformation and others are at risk of being left behind if they fail to embrace this moment.

The World Bank Group recently published two reports on the significance of this disruption on tourism and how countries can harness it for the benefit of all. According to the report, Tourism and the Sharing Economy , the annual growth rate for the global P2P accommodation is estimated at 31 percent between 2013 and 2025, six times the growth rate of traditional bed and breakfasts and hostels.

In addition, the second report, The Voice of Travelers , produced in collaboration with TripAdvisor explains how peer reviews and other forms of user-generated content (UGC), facilitated by digital platforms, have become the most important sources of travel information globally—more important than tourism boards and traditional outlets. This joint report is part of an MoU that was signed by the World Bank Group and TripAdvisor to promote the development of the tourism sector that highlights some of the key digital trends impacting the sector to countries and private sector partners.

This year, World Tourism Day is shining a light on “Tourism and the Digital Transformation” — as its theme. The UNWTO is calling on governments and the global community, to “support digital technologies that can transform the way we travel, reduce the ecological burden of tourism and bring the benefits of tourism to all.”  

They also can provide new opportunities for women and rural entrepreneurs to improve their market access and financial inclusion. However, many developing destinations have limited knowledge on how to take advantage of digital platforms and mitigate risks. Either constrained by the lack of understanding or knowhow and resources, these economies are not able to leverage digital tools to grow their tourism.

Responding to the global call to promote innovations in tourism through technology, the World Bank Group, will host a day-long event just prior to WTD2018 focusing on Digital Platforms and the Future of Tourism .

• Watch the Event Live on September 26th at 9:00 am
• Tourism and the Sharing Economy
• The Voice of Travelers

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Digital tools to revitalize tourism

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The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) continues to energize the restart of tourism based on sustainability and innovation. An agreement with MUST Travel & Tech places a digital tool at the service of tourism, allowing users to share their experiences to promote the reactivation of the sector with a view to sustainability. Presented during the UNWTO Mayors' Forum in Porto , Portugal, the tool is an opportunity for the advancement of smart cities, as well as destinations that incorporate technology and innovation in their development.

Already operating in 60 countries, MUST aggregates all the information of interest to travellers in one place. By also integrating key information and analysis from UNWTO, it aims to become a leading tourism application and generate opportunities for destinations.

Technology at the service of development

We welcome innovative ideas and technologies that allow the creation of global and regional innovation ecosystems aimed at accelerating the recovery of tourism for development

Visibility provided through technological tools is an opportunity for those who, along the entire value chain of the sector, require support to restart their activity, from new destinations around rural communities, to destinations with a high degree of infrastructure development.

“We welcome innovative ideas and technologies that allow the creation of global and regional innovation ecosystems aimed at accelerating the recovery of tourism for development,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili upon signing the agreement.

For his part, the CEO of MUST, Pablo López, highlighted that “technology enhances the productivity and resilience of companies. The implementation of digital solutions in line with new trends in the tourism sector allows us to develop a differentiated, personalized and safe tourism product that is more focused on behaviour patterns and the management of spaces that will undoubtedly contribute to the recovery of a key activity for the economy in general”.

Shared objectives

A distinctive element will be the contribution of tourism intelligence from the UNWTO to the users of the tool. In this way, relevant and verified content is combined with data for making informed and evidence-based decisions.

The agreement provides for cooperation in the execution of projects that include, among others:

• Supporting the digital transformation of tourism service providers.
• Fostering tourism development and promotion in a sustainable and inclusive way.
• Boosting innovation in the practices of reservation and consumption of tourism experiences and activities.
• Encouraging the creation of quality content with a focus on cultural heritage and the authenticity of the destination to be promoted.
• Promoting and disseminate the UNWTO “ Best Tourism Villages ” programme on the MUST platform as well as other programmes or events of the Organization.
• Promoting programmes related to innovation, education and investments that are useful for tourism destinations of mutual interest.

The agreement between UNWTO and MUST will be in place until the end of 2024.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, Pablo López, CEO of MUST

Related links.

• Download the news release in PDF
• UNWTO Opens Call for ‘Best Tourism Villages’
• UNWTO Mayors Forum for Sustainable Urban Tourism
• Innovation, Education and Investments

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Google spending as a share of marketing expenses of leading OTAs worldwide 2019-2024

Estimated Google advertising spending as a share of marketing expenses of leading online travel agencies (OTAs) worldwide from 2019 to 2023, with a forecast for 2024

GoogleAds average monthly CPC for travel worldwide 2023, by country

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Share of visits to the travel and tourism website booking.com worldwide as of March 2024, by country

Total visits to travel and tourism website tripadvisor.com worldwide 2020-2024

Estimated total number of visits to the travel and tourism website tripadvisor.com worldwide from August 2020 to March 2024 (in millions)

Share of visits to the travel website tripadvisor.com worldwide 2024, by country

Share of visits to the travel and tourism website tripadvisor.com worldwide as of March 2024, by country

Number of user reviews and ratings on Tripadvisor worldwide 2014-2023

Total number of user reviews and ratings on Tripadvisor worldwide from 2014 to 2023 (in millions)

ACSI - U.S. customer satisfaction with online travel websites as of 2024

U.S. customer satisfaction with online travel websites from 2000 to 2024 (index score)

Online travel planning and booking

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Main resources used for trip inspiration by travelers worldwide as of April 2023

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Main resources used for trip inspiration by travelers worldwide as of October 2023, by country

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Main resources used before purchasing a trip by travelers worldwide as of April 2023

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Share of travelers who think it is important to be able to book their trip entirely online worldwide as of July 2023, by generation

Travel product online bookings in the U.S. 2024

Travel product online bookings in the U.S. as of March 2024

Travel product online bookings in Canada 2024

Travel product online bookings in Canada as of March 2024

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Travel product online bookings in the UK as of March 2024

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Volume of Google search for travel-related terms in the United Kingdom (UK) from November 2022 to April 2023

Leading holiday travel provider websites in the UK Q1 2024, by share of voice

Leading websites for holiday searches in the United Kingdom in 1st quarter of 2024, by share of voice

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Important digital transformation topics among accommodation businesses in Europe 2023

Most important digital transformation topics among accommodation businesses in Europe as of May 2023

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Average engagement rate with brand posts on Facebook in 2023, by vertical

Instagram brand post engagement 2023, by vertical

Average engagement rate with brand posts on Instagram in 2023, by vertical

X/Twitter brand post engagement 2023, by vertical

Average engagement rate with brand posts on X (formerly Twitter) in 2023, by vertical

Key data on leading TikTok travel influencers worldwide 2023

Key figures on leading TikTok travel influencers worldwide as of May 2023

Most viewed travel destinations on TikTok worldwide 2023

Most popular travel destinations on TikTok worldwide as of May 2023 (in billion TikTok views)

Most talked about products/topics online in the U.S. 2024

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The Rise of Virtual Reality Tourism/Digitization of Culture in the Time of COVID-19

Flights canceled, famous attractions closed to the public, once crowded streets now vacant— emptied of tourists snapping photos. In the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional tourism has ground to a screeching halt in most places. Tourism has had to evolve to match the unprecedented and prolonged global travel restrictions, a situation that has made a profound impact on nations and industries around the globe. It has been indicated that the global tourism sector should expect to suffer a drop of about US$8.1 trillion in revenue due to the pandemic and will likely not recover until 2024. With many of their most popular landmarks, cities, and heritage sites closing or implementing restrictions, countries have had to radically rethink their tourism industries and cultural institutions have had to adapt to a time of reduced visitors and in-person engagement. The intersection of innovation with the need to digitize experiences and content in order to reduce human interaction have converged uniquely in 2020, marking a critical moment in the rise of virtual reality tourism and the digitization of culture.

Virtual reality tourism technologies have been evolving for the past few years, used primarily as an educational tool, allowing users to engage with the history, geography, and cultural aspects of location and serving as a substitute for physical visitation. It incorporates cutting edge technologies, such as high resolution 360- degree imaging and simulated movement capabilities to enable users to view, tour, and engage with landmarks and tourist destinations without leaving their homes. Museums, cultural sites, and locations of worldwide-renown can be explored on personal computers and tablets. One such site, the Seokguram Grotto hermitage and monastery complex in South Korea, utilized VR technology to construct a 3D stereopsis of the site and provide a digitized experience for visitors. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an additional opportunity for virtual tourism to provide travel-related content accessible around the world and explore the additional benefits of VR technology.

Many governments have been crafting virtual tours in hopes of attracting viewers who wish to visit cities around the world without the current risks of travel: exposure to the virus, or the logistical complications of widespread, pandemic-related bans and restrictions. Cities such as Paris, which attracted 38 million tourists in 2019 alone, have adopted virtual technology to continue to showcase iconic landmarks, by using the interactive features of Google Arts and Culture: users can select sites of interest and navigate the landscapes by clicking their way from one vantage point to another. The Paris Tourist Board website, for example, also allows users to view landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Palais Garnier. Because of the 2020 Olympics’ postponement, the Japan National Tourism Organization created a 360-degree virtual tour that can be viewed via smartphone or with VR goggles, Japan: Where Tradition Meets the Future , which virtually transports users to well-known landmarks including the Tokyo Tower and the Sagano Bamboo Forest, blending culture and technology in an innovative and engaging way. Smaller towns that are less tourist-dependent are also hoping to retain exposure and relevance by creating virtual representations of their architecture. This way people can continue to experience the landscapes and perhaps become inspired to travel to the destination post-pandemic. Germany’s Herrenberg is one such town; they created a “virtual twin” utilizing computerized technologies usually used for high-level aerospace tasks to replicate the town’s architecture on a digital platform, enabling visitors to immerse themselves in the sites of the town center via VR glasses.

Digitization of Culture

Outdoor landmarks and city streets are not the only places that can now be enjoyed virtually as people hunker down in their homes. Cultural institutions, particularly museums, which face  a severe reduction in the number of visitors strolling through galleries and perusing collections due to pandemic-related restrictions, have also started to adapt and modernize to continue to attract attention and virtual visitors. An empirical study of 100 of the largest state museums in Italy revealed that, throughout the most restrictive period of national lockdown, there was a sharp increase in online cultural initiatives conducted by museums via social media in order to continue stimulating viewer engagement through digital material. In this way, social media platforms—such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter—have been an invaluable tool in promoting cultural engagement during the COVID-19 crisis.

Besides simply engaging people in museum content, social media and digital platforms have also connected people during this time of limited social interaction. The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, for example, organized unique, virtual community events including the ArtYouReady virtual flash mob, an initiative that encouraged online users to post pictures of their favorite Italian cultural sites. Such virtual opportunities and initiatives have continued throughout the pandemic, likely remaining a staple for cultural organizations’ public engagement strategies.

The evolution of digital engagement at museums in Europe was highlighted in a post written by Chiarra Zuanni, assistant professor in digital humanities at the Centre for Information Modelling at the University of Graz, for Europeana, a European organization that works to support and empower the digitization of cultural heritage. Zuanni compiled a map to visually depict the evolving digital activities of museums throughout Europe. The map identified various categories of digital offerings, such as contemporary collecting projects, social media initiatives (local hashtags, targeted projects, etc.), streaming content, virtual tours, online exhibitions, games, and educational content. The map enables users to select locations or activities of interest and access direct links to the respective museum’s interactive sites. The map shows a widespread rise in online activity from museums across the continent, providing a look into just a small fraction of museums that are adopting modernized and digitized tactics to maintain and foster relationships with a global audience in a time when in-person interactions and the usual flow of tourists have been severely curbed.

COVID-19 has caused museums’, galleries’, and historic residences’ usage of digital technology to transition from being a mere supplementary tool used to offer additional and secondary services and content to being the primary source of continued engagement with the arts. The pandemic has created the unique opportunity for museums to radically redefine their marketing and content strategies, forcing traditionally archaic institutions to adapt to the modern world at a rapid speed.

New Opportunities to Explore

Is this the future? Are the days strolling through cobblestone streets, snapping photos at iconic landmarks and wandering through bustling art galleries simply experiences of the past? Not necessarily. When the pandemic subsides and the world reawakens from lockdowns, restrictions, and travel bans, travel will likely resume. While it may take years for the industry to fully recover, tourism will eventually reemerge as a prominent economic sector. Cultural institutions will reopen, welcoming visitors from around the world to engage with history and art once more.

Yet, although the COVID-19 pandemic devastated numerous economic sectors and rendered several aspects of daily life and travel unrecognizable, it has also unlocked the enhanced opportunity for countries and organizations to harness the full potential of virtual reality tourism. Museum attendance across several countries, particularly attendance at art museums,  has been in decline in recent years. Virtual offerings however, seem to be driving significant user interest due to the increase in virtual engagement with cultural and artistic content on cultural websites. The increased adoption of technology could help prevent museums from buckling under the weight of low visitor rates if they can identify ways to accrue revenue through digital means.

In the same vein, the COVID-19 epidemic and subsequent lockdown have prompted countries to rethink their tourism strategies, opening the door for an already burgeoning virtual tourism industry to take root. Easily accessible for users around the world, providing access to landmarks and locations that are currently restricted, and free or low in cost for users, virtual tours allow for global experiences to be enjoyed by large, international audiences. While not a replacement for the thrill of physical travel, the virtual tourism sector offers intriguing opportunities for accessible global experiences.

The intersection of modern, cutting-edge innovation with a global pandemic has created a pivotal moment in how we access, view, and support tourism and cultural markets, both of which are critical to developing and sustaining national economies. The use of digital technologies in light of the COVID-19 epidemic highlights the benefits of rising technological innovations, offering viable and fascinating avenues for nations to adapt to a largely unprecedented world in the years ahead.

Abby LaBreck

Abby LaBreck is an Executive Content Editor & Staff Writer for the HIR. She is interested in European affairs and transatlantic relations. She has previously written about French culture/politics.

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Research trends of digital tourism: a bibliometric analysis

Tourism Critiques

ISSN : 2633-1225

Article publication date: 30 May 2023

Issue publication date: 27 November 2023

Discussions about digital tourism continue to increase among scholars as Information Communication and Technology (ICT) infrastructure develops. Dynamic changes due to technological aspects have given rise to various developments in the tourism industry. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the scientific structure of the development of digital tourism topics through a bibliometric analysis approach. In total, 102 publications from research on digital tourism were taken from Scopus database between 2001 and 2021, for further bibliometric analysis using the VOSviewer application. Interesting findings describe the most cited digital tourism publications, the contribution of digital tourism by various authors, institutions, countries, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence for the main trends of digital tourism. This study compiles a detailed review of digital tourism research. This article adds substantial value to the digital tourism topic by analyzing bibliometric data. It provided scientific information regarding digital tourism for other researchers and future research.

• Digital tourism
• Tourism industry
• Bibliometric analysis

Roziqin, A. , Kurniawan, A.S. , Hijri, Y.S. and Kismartini, K. (2023), "Research trends of digital tourism: a bibliometric analysis", Tourism Critiques , Vol. 4 No. 1/2, pp. 28-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/TRC-11-2022-0028

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Ali Roziqin, Alferdo Satya Kurniawan, Yana Syafriyana Hijri and Kismartini Kismartini.

Published in Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) impacts all fields, including the tourism industry ( Alford and Jones, 2020 ; Bødker and Munar, 2014 ; Kalia et al. , 2022 ; Watkins et al. , 2018 ; Zhao, 2014 ). In the 21st century, the tourism industry is expected to transform information and engagement tools ( Dexeus, 2018 ; Navío-Marco et al. , 2018 ; van Nuenen and Scarles, 2021 ). Many industries rely on digital technologies to run their operations. Major economic segments use digital technologies to improve their capabilities ( Akhtar et al. , 2021 ). Currently, the industry trend is easy to access online or on the internet ( Belonozhko et al. , 2018 ). The online system provides interactive convenience and has a global reach at the speed of interaction between tourists ( Puspawati and Ristanto, 2018 ). Therefore, all entities need to adapt and innovate appropriately to survive in an era of uncertainty. It takes creativity and good promotional innovation (Del Vecchio et al. , 2015) because the digital era has given potential tourists the freedom to quickly and precisely obtain information on the internet ( Dexeus, 2018 ; Zhang, 2014 ).

Nowadays, tourists are getting smarter ( Pan, 2016 ), and those who understand the online concept can quickly obtain information through smartphones and tablet computers ( Watkins et al. , 2018 ). The travel industry also does not rely on offline but online ( Kayumovich et al. , 2020 ), and many countries are preparing a sizeable digital tourism market to compete and attract foreign tourists ( Huang and Liu, 2011 ). Marketing makes planning and developing tourism destinations easier ( Khurramov et al. , 2020 ). Many other conveniences accrue to vacationers who use digital tourism, such as the ability to skip the ticket counter and get straight to the attraction of their choice and the speed with which they may arrange their transportation and lodging.

According to united national world tourism organization (UNWTO) data, world tourism visitors reached 1.3 billion in 2001, while in 2021, it is estimated that 2.3 billion tourists have traveled. Tourists do not only travel conventionally but also online or using the internet. Li et al. (2020) explained that about 70 million and 14.2 million people in Japan and Taiwan use the internet. The concept cannot be separated from the role of the millennial generation ( Iorio et al. , 2020 ) targeted to increase tourism because most of this generation spends time in a digital environment ( Bennett et al. , 2008 ).

Information technology users are spread worldwide to market tourism by using digital tourism websites ( Mathew and Soliman, 2021 ; Ziyadin et al. , 2018 ). It is significant to be used in modern times because online information and communication development are straightforward ( Liu et al. , 2016 ). For example, smartphones and intelligent tourism are powerful tools for visitors to aid in traveling. The ownership of different technology devices impacts the contribution of mobile travel bookings to the entire travel industry ( Adeola and Evans, 2019 ).

The development of digital tourism in the past decade has increased following the trend of digitization in all fields. Many publications discuss the idea in various countries, but no research explains the scientific structure of the latest development trends. This study evaluates digital tourism to obtain scientific information and research mapping as input for developing topics using a bibliometric approach. The analysis is expected to provide an up-to-date view of a particular scientific topic based on a recognized bibliographic database/previous publication.

2. Literature review

Digital tourism is an information service system based on networks, technology and databases ( Adeola and Evans, 2019 ; Wu, 2020 ). It forms complex projects, from surveys and evaluation of tourism resources to planning ( Ziyadin et al. , 2018 ). Supporting service facilities needed are marketing of tourism product designs, protection of resources and the ecological environment related to geology and geomorphology, land use at all levels and transportation aspects ( Bounab et al. , 2020 ). Digital or electronic tourism (e-tourism) combines one of the fastest-growing technologies, such as telecommunications and information technology, the hospitality industry and strategic planning ( Happ and Ivancsóné Horváth, 2020 ; Mistilis et al. , 2014 ; Navío-Marco et al. , 2018 ). Digital tourism also can be defined as the use of technologies to improve the tourist experience ( Adeola and Evans, 2019 ).

The trend is an alternative by stakeholders due to the impact of the current spread of COVID-19 ( Akhtar et al. , 2021 ). Restricted mobility and social distancing significantly affect the decline of the world tourism industry sector ( Gössling et al. , 2020 ). Most people will use the internet and mobile devices to obtain information, explore, interact and experience travel ( Ruiz-Gómez et al. , 2018 ), such as millennials ( Ketter, 2020 ; Kim and Park, 2020 ). Veiga et al. (2017) conveyed that millennials have the potential to change the work pattern of the tourism industry with their strong digital skills. According to Liu et al. (2019) , they can share their travel experiences in one tourist destination through their social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, which can influence other people to be interested in visiting these tourist destinations. Therefore, there is a significant change in consumer behavior patterns ( Navío-Marco et al. , 2018 ) and a disruption in the tourism sector ( Buhalis et al. , 2019 ). For example, taking selfies posted on social media has become a new trend in tourism.

The use of digital information and communication technology also helps the development of tourism. An online system will reduce promotional costs, increase employee effectiveness and make ordering easier ( Watkins et al. , 2018 ). Customers can share information and research assessments based on purpose, quality of service in hotels and restaurants and environmental conditions through new technologies, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs ( Dessovic and Egger, 2011 ). For travelers, technology may be a valuable tool in a variety of ways, including the acquisition of information on desired destinations, climate and weather patterns, hotels, scenery, geopolitical and economic situations, trip arrangements, online purchasing and payments and preserving memories ( Kumar and Kumar, 2020 ). On a peer-to-peer basis, digitizing tourism can also increase the sharing economy among actors ( van Nuenen and Scarles, 2021 ).

The use of technology can improve the tourist experience by posting recommendations for attractions on the Web or using reality technology ( Poux et al. , 2020 ). Examples are TripAdvisor, Airbnb, MakeMy Trip and other local apps. Additionally, the benefits of digital tourism attract tourists to digital experiences by building an environment that can be conducted interactively ( Stors and Baltes, 2018 ). Innovation, especially with information technology, has a positive impact on several sides of tourism.

3. Research methods

This study uses bibliometric analysis to search for the formal nature of the scientific domain in a rigorous, systematic and innovative way ( Leong et al. , 2021 ; Sánchez et al. , 2017 ) by using quantitative and qualitative analysis derived from publications on previous research ( Azizatun et al. , 2021 ; Herrera-Franco et al. , 2020 ; Leong et al. , 2021 ). Indicators, such as the total number of authors and publications, citations, institutions and countries, were used to analyze data. Research trends in this study focus on scientific structure in the specific field of digital tourism on a certain period, starts from the annual output and subject areas, top cite articles by the most productive authors, most contributing institutions and countries. Furthermore, bibliometric studies are carried out using a database and a specific period.

The bibliometric analysis shows a map of tourism’s distribution of knowledge structures, measurement and evaluation in some particular topic ( Robertson et al. , 2020 ). Several studies using the bibliometric approach in the tourism topic include ( Singh and Bashar, 2021 ) concerning e-tourism; ( Suban et al. , 2021 ) related to halal and Islam; ( Sánchez et al. , 2017 ) about wine; ( Liu and Li, 2020 ) and ( Khanra et al. , 2021 ) related to ecotourism;, ( Knani et al. , 2022 ) about the role artificial intelligence in hospitality and tourism; ( Herrera-Franco et al. , 2020 ) about geo-tourism; and ( Kalia et al. , 2022 ) about the past three decades of digital tourism.

Each of these studies has made a scientific contribution in looking at trends in specific topics and succeeded in providing comprehensive information. Especially from Kalia et al. (2022) argued that new research areas in digital tourism include consumer behavior, technology and sustainability, management of smart destinations and the internet as a platform for marketing and communication. When Kalia et al. (2022) analyzes the current direction of digital tourism research (2020), this study aims to evaluate the scientific structure of digital tourism based on the Scopus database (2021). Additionally, in the limitations, Kalia et al. (2022) used broad keywords that allow for bias in determining the number of articles reviewed. Therefore, in this study, we focus and specifically use the keyword digital tourism in searching for document titles to ensure the topics discussed are appropriate and minimize bias on other topics.

Data processing was carried out through data sets obtained from the Scopus database and then processed with VOSviewer. VOSViewer is used to construct and visualize the bibliometric network ( van Eck and Waltman, 2010 ), which will form information related to the field of study, developments and existing trends. Some of the features are cooccurrence, coauthorship and bibliographic coupling. According to Suban et al. (2021) , the VOS viewer graphically displays the nodal network through the use of two defined weights, such as the quantity and overall strength of the links. A lot of numbers of software for bibliometric analysis, such as Citespace, Bibexcel, Pajek, Gephi, SciMat, Sci2, R Studio and UCINET. Each software has its own advantages and deficiency; it is important depends on the case study or research questions ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ; Miraj et al. , 2020 ). The VOSviewer was chosen for usage in this study. The rationale is that, in comparison to other software tools, VOSviewer provides a large number of functions for visualizing bibliometric networks and scientifically mapping networks. Furthermore, the software has been used in several previous research studies and features a special text mining tool for visualizing bibliometric networks. For these reasons, this study thought VOSviewer was sufficient to meet its goals.

Scopus was selected as the index because it is the world’s largest abstract and citation database for peer-reviewed journals, books and conference proceedings. Another side, it offers in-depth information on the field’s global research output. Collecting the data set in the Scopus database, the authors provide a limit for two decades, namely, 2001–2021, to see the latest developments in the 21st century, where technology has become a culture and slowly enters all lines of human society. The Scopus data set was analyzed using MS Excel for data description, and the stages are described in detail in Figure 1 .

Substantively, the four stages in Figure 1 serve to map research on digital tourism with the keyword from the title category. The bibliometric method can provide a new mapping regarding the latest developments in digital tourism research and its position with other research topics ( Singh and Bashar, 2021 ). The bibliometric analysis will assist practitioners in discussing future digital tourism studies.

For the next chapter, the research results are divided into several sub-sections. First provides annual output and subject areas regarding digital tourism topic. Second, it discusses regarding top cited articles by the most productive authors. Third, the researcher discusses about most contributing institutions and countries from digital tourism research. Further, it discusses regarding bibliometric network analysis. Finally, based on the research cluster of digital tourism, the researcher proposes a future research agenda.

4. Results and discussion

4.1 annual output and subject areas.

Articles about digital tourism first appeared in 2004 ( Ghafoor et al. , 2004 ), discussing multiagent systems related to digital tourism, the development of intelligent agents to receive information quickly and agents that can provide insight by managing the system and transferring knowledge. In line with the discussion, the momentum of digital tourism should be assisted by human intelligence in managing digital aspects.

Based on Figure 2 , discussions and publications related to digital tourism continue to develop simultaneously. From 2007 to 2017, 33 articles were published by several authors, and the information is increasingly diverse with the existing linkages. In 2001–2010 digital tourism was about the usage of websites, desktop and laptop. In 2011–2021, it was more about social media, software applications and mobile phones. Some academics predicted that in the next decade, digital tourism will be about virtual reality ( Zhu et al. , 2023 ) and metaverse tourism ( Buhalis et al. , 2023 ). One important thing in this trend is the positive value of technology can provide innovations to the public (Del Vecchio et al. , 2015). Increasing the number of digital tourism articles since 2017 proves that many academics are starting to take an interest in the development of digital tourism.

Research on digital tourism gained momentum when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020–2021. Restrictions and social activities have had a negative impact on the tourism industry ( Akhtar et al. , 2021 ; Gössling et al. , 2020 ). Digitalization of tourism is considered an alternative for tourism industry players. According to Akhtar et al. (2021) , future digital tourism research development will focus on using technology for marketing, mobile apps and virtual reality. Optimizing digital tourism for economic growth is using training and development for school and college students to increase awareness and create innovations.

The use of technology in digital tourism should adapt to the times ( Almeida-Santana et al. , 2020 ). Research on the concept continues to increase and is also influenced by the development of the internet and social media ( Adeola and Evans, 2019 ; Munar and Gyimóthy, 2013 ). In various countries, tourism industries are growing by using digital-based platforms as an alternative to marketing. The influence of digital information spreads quickly throughout the world. Most European Union countries purchase tourism services or packages online ( Ruiz-Gómez et al. , 2018 ). This arises from the massive development of information technology in various sectors of people’s lives, including tourism, which impacts consumer behavior patterns in accessing products or services.

Figure 3 shows the importance of discussing Digital Tourism’s multiperspective managing digital data. It does not only pay attention to or focus on one scope but relates to other scopes. The development has spread to social science, economics, business, management and accounting, arts and humanities. The discussion about digital tourism is dominated by social science, business, management and accounting and computer science ( Tosida et al. , 2020b ).

The development of digital tourism, combined with digital-based local wisdom, can positively impact the economic and business fields ( Subali et al. , 2018 ). The numbers are very multiperspective and not only related to technological developments.

4.2 Top cited articles by most productive authors

Based on the 102 scientific documents analyzed, Table 1 shows the top 10 articles or the most cited in the period based on the search, such as the article entitled “Progress in information technology and tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet – Revisiting Buhalis and Law’s landmark study about e-Tourism” by Navío-Marco et al. (2018) . The article has been cited or quoted 89 times, describing the analysis and evaluation of the sustainable development of tourism websites. The numerous citations are all global issues examined and studied urgently. Mistilis et al. (2014) articles titled “Future e-Destination Marketing: Perspective of an Australian Tourism Stakeholder Network” have been quoted or cited 60 times.

The high number of citations from each article indicates that it has a significant scientific influence on other research. This is because the topic is a strategic issue and has an established theoretical value, such as Navío-Marco et al. (2018) on trend and development of e-tourism, Mistilis et al. (2014) on stakeholder engagement and networks of e-tourism ( Watkins et al. , 2018 ) and ( Adeola and Evans, 2019 ) on tourism and ICT. Each article that gets the most citations mostly has an academic contribution for further research. Additionally, the influence of big names in publishing journals can also be a consideration for other researchers to cite as primary data.

For 20 years, studies on digital tourism have involved many authors. Figure 4 shows the ten most productive authors who often publish articles on the topic. Benyon, D is the most productive author producing four articles on digital tourism, especially the blended spaces framework ( Benyon et al. , 2014 ; O’Keefe and Benyon, 2015 ). In addition, one of the articles from Benyon, D entitled “Presence and digital tourism,” has been widely cited by other researchers as many as 35. Miao, F had four articles on fuzzy analysis hierarchy process (FAHP)-Based Digital Tourism Engineering Research, with the essential findings being seven factors. The main factors in evaluating digital tourism are infrastructure construction, data support, technology systems, application platforms, industrial size systems, security systems, planning and organization ( Miao et al. , 2009 ). Furthermore, Bon, A.T., and Ziyadin, S published three articles, and in the order of 5 to 10, two were produced articles by Adi, S; Andria, F; Ardiansyah. D; Blembayeva, A; Bonacini; Chen R. Even though the number of articles from the most authors only has four articles, each paper has made a consistent scientific contribution to further research, whether it is the theory used or the phenomenon being explained.

4.3 Most contributing institutions and countries

Reviving tourism potential using technological developments has attracted studies from different research institutes. Figure 5 shows that Edinburgh Napier and Chengdu University of Technology produced five and four articles. In order from 3 to 6, universities are donating three publications each. One of the publications from Al Farabi Kazakh National University discusses the main aspects of digital tourism modernization. The formation in Kazakhstan is environmentally oriented and uses near field communication (NFC) technology ( Madiyarova et al. , 2018 ). Even though Edinburg Napier University and Europe have the most significant number of documents, countries in the Asian region continue to conduct digital tourism studies.

Figure 6 shows the ten countries with the most contributors to published articles. China is at the top by donating 22 documents, followed by Spain, the USA, Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Germany, Kazakhstan and Malaysia. From the available data, European Union countries provide digital tourism articles. Indonesia and China also played a significant role in developing digital tourism. This follows the predictions that big countries such as Indonesia, the USA and China will dominate the world’s economic power in the next few years, including the tourism industry ( Giorgi et al. , 2020 ; Pramana et al. , 2021 ). The number of documents is only small evidence of the variations in the contribution of science to digital tourism, considering that the database used is only Scopus. Studies only focus on international recognition research; hence, several countries with the most documents are productive with internationally recognized standards (Scopus).

4.5 Bibliometric network analysis

Cooccurrence features are used on VOSviewer to create graphic maps based on the author and search for keywords to understand the relationship’s structure with the digital tourism concept cluster. Figure 7 shows the coauthorship analyzed using VOSviewer ( van Eck and Waltman, 2010 ) with a minimum threshold of two. Furthermore, the relationship between the authors will appear in Figure 6 , where Bon, A.T dominates by frequently conducting joint research with other authors. An example of research results from Bon, A.T, Hidayat, M, Tosida, E.T is “Strengthening the competitiveness of micro-businesses based on local wisdom through digital tourism education collaboration” ( Tosida et al. , 2020a ).

Figure 8 shows the related names with the same reference document, and the authors have interrelated references. The most numerous documents were Navio-Marco J in 2018, with publications explaining information technology and tourism management advances. The second was Mistilis N in 2014, which explained strategic efforts for tourism destinations to encourage digital tourism marketing ( Mistilis et al. , 2014 ).

Table 2 and Figure 9 explain the connectivity or coverage related to digital tourism. Each cluster has an interrelated concept in case studies of clusters 1 and 2 related to information communication technology in tourism. In a diverse global society, the transformation of information technology is a factor in economic development, especially tourism. Technological advances gave birth to the internet, contributing to tourism by providing information when planning a vacation ( Qian and Zhou, 2017 ). Information technology produces changes and new paradigms as opportunities and challenges in driving the tourism industry digitally ( Zolotovskiy et al. , 2020 ).

Clusters 3 and 4 explain digital tourism marketing, where digitalization in modern times is not rare. Digitalization can make it easier and expand tourism marketing ( Madiyarova et al. , 2018 ). By using digital marketing, marketing costs can be reduced rather than conventional methods. Tourists can easily see digital marketing, and the interest in visiting a tourist destination can be high. This is because substantive marketing can provide the understanding and persuasion to be interested in tourist destinations ( da Silva-Pina et al. , 2018 ). Therefore, digital tourism marketing is critical to boosting tourism destinations. Clusters 5 and 6 provide a general description of the innovations. The digital strategy is a managerial process of developing digital tourism to achieve benefits in specific tourist destinations and should also be able to run sustainably ( Bec et al. , 2019 ).

Professional human resources are needed to provide intelligent innovation. The development of digital tourist destinations applies not only to artificial tourist attractions but also to cultural or heritage tourism ( Chareyron et al. , 2020 ). Therefore, human resources will determine the direction of innovation that is developed. Clusters 7–10 provide information about digital tourism through a collaborative process in developing tourism destinations ( Gao et al. , 2010 ). The safety of tourists should be considered in digital tourism when developing tourism destinations. Applications or search sites regarding digital tourism should be provided with a security system when making transactions. It requires collaboration between tourism developers and the government or third parties to develop tourism destinations in line with a guaranteed security system ( Shrestha et al. , 2020 ).

Collaboration in developing tourism destinations can also be conducted using social media applications, and every smartphone user has a social media account ( Adi and Heripracoyo, 2018 ). Since the tourism industry cannot stand alone, good cooperation is needed for promoting and marketing digital tourism ( Stors and Baltes, 2018 ). In addition, this study explains potential future research regarding four topics, namely, millennials, marketing strategy, metaverse tourism and virtual tours which are quite far apart and not connected. It demonstrates that these four topics have not been extensively researched as of yet. At the same time, there are still few scholars who link other themes like sustainable tourism, technological innovation and tourism experience. This visualization certainly provides information for future researchers to adjust the research topics to be discussed, making it easier to find novelty or research gaps.

During the 2001–2010 period, as explained in Figure 2 , there were not many articles that discussed digital tourism in detail. In total, there are only eight documents, such as the development of mobile agents ( Ghafoor et al. , 2004 ) and the use of geospatial information technology to optimize digital tourism ( Chen et al. , 2009 ; Gao et al. , 2010 ). So, the trend in this decade is the geospatial technology system in digital tourism. Furthermore, in the 2011–2021 period, discussions regarding digital tourism began to appear significantly, starting in 2018, along with the massive development of information and communication technology in society. The research trend in this period is the use of the internet and innovation in the tourism sector, including the benefits of e-commerce and social media in supporting digital tourism. Some examples of papers in this period are Madiyarova et al. (2018) about modern trends in digital tourism; van Nuenen and Scarles (2021) regarding the advancement of digital media for tourism; and Almeida-Santana et al. (2020) about the new ecosystem of digital tourism.

5. Conclusion

This study evaluates and provides a comprehensive understanding of the latest digital tourism research consisting of annual output and subject areas, influential works, most productive authors, universities or institutions and most productive countries on the topic of digital tourism, as well as bibliometric analysis of digital tourism topic within the scope of the publication. Furthermore, this study uses bibliometric analysis reviewed using the VOSviewer and can provide a visualization analysis to scholars interested in digital tourism. There are 102 documents analyzed in the Scopus database and the cooccurrence, coauthorship and bibliographic coupling features. This comprehensive scientific information is helpful for further research to determine mapping research related to digital tourism.

This study found that the trend of digital tourism publications continues to increase. The topic is multidisciplinary, with the dominant areas being computer science, social sciences and business management. Many authors, universities and research institutes in various countries collaborate to conduct research related to digital tourism. Benyon, D and Miao, F are the top two authors who contribute most to digital tourism research based on the number of publications. Meanwhile, Edinburg Napier University is the most productive institution, with five published documents. China is the most productive country, and the topic of digital tourism has 10 clusters, with the dominant concept being communication technology in tourism.

This review demonstrated the fundamental developments in the field of digital tourism over the past two decades and provided the pertinent data that would be needed for future authors to publish their work. It is also intended to guide scholars interested in the topic of digital tourism by providing more space for contextual papers. For countries that are developing and will be develop digital tourism, they can make digital tourism models references in countries that have the highest number of publications, such as China, Spain and the UK, as confirms the findings of Kalia et al. (2022) . These can be started through collaboration between institutions, countries and practitioners in the digital tourism industry to conduct research and publication in journals to improve conditions and realistic needs in the field, especially for developing countries in the Asia, Africa and South America regions.

The findings increasingly emphasized that changes occur because developments in information technology make tourism move rapidly. The application of digital tourism is related to implementing information and communication technology in the tourism industry. Building on the work of other scholars, this study offers certain practical implications for tourism managers and policymakers. From a managerial perspective, this article suggests that business managers should formulate and execute more extensive strategies to cover the requirements all of tourists while, especially on millennial tourist, metaverse tourism and virtual tourism.

This bibliometric research finding might be used to educate tourist manager on how to respond to a new behavior of tourist in the digital era. They would get a competitive advantage as a result of this bibliometric. A growing number of research on the digital tourism sector in every country in the world, as well as cross-country studies between developed and developing countries, are greatly encouraged to make the industry more acceptable, profitable and sustainable.

Managers should consider applying for digital tourism based on cluster findings and research trend, for instance, communication technology as supported by ( Pawłowska-Legwand, 2020 ; Ruiz-Gómez et al. , 2018 ), tourism experience and virtual tour as argued by ( Knani et al. , 2022 ; Leal et al. , 2020 ; Zhu et al. , 2023 ), sustainable tourism as explained by ( Scott, 2014 ; Del Vecchio et al. , 2018 ) and website usability as supported by ( da Silva-Pina et al. , 2018 ). Furthermore, smart strategies should be used to improve access inclusively, including dealing with destinations that have internet network problems by building adequate digital infrastructure. For policymakers, the government should provide economic incentives such as low taxes for digital tourism industry developers, increase digital capacity for managers and everyone involved in the digital tourism industry, and help to overcome digital dividends by building digital infrastructure evenly. The government should also setup a committee that could develop, establish and monitor digital tourism development. The government should devise strategies to encourage digital tourism through a mature and comprehensive planning in reading the development of the tourism sector in the future.

5.1 Limitations and future research

This study uses only one reputable international database, namely, Scopus. Within the scope of reputable international publications, there are other international databases, such as Web of Science or Clarivate Analytics. Hence, further research can use several databases to cover this limitation. It is also limited by the period of the documents analyzed in the past 10 years and the specific topics, namely, digital tourism. The topic is selected due to the increasing use of information technology in the tourism sector. Bibliometric analysis cannot provide a detailed description of the development of specific topics due to various factors, especially in the practical aspect. This study can be essential for studying digital tourism, especially mapping relevant topics from previous research. Referring to the existing literature, future research on digital tourism should develop empirical studies to contribute to academic research and society, especially the role of social media and internet to improving the digital tourism sector.

Research stages and description

Annual digital tourism research results (2001–2021)

Field of digital tourism is based on the Scopus database

Most productive authors

10 most productive institutions

Documents by country (Top 10)

Coauthorship by country and author

Bibliographic coupling

Clustering concept item

Ten most cited article from scopus database

Source: Table by authors

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang for this supported this research, through research blockgrant with number E.6.k/022/FISIP/UMM/1/2022. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers who provided critical comments to improve our manuscript quality.

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Ali Roziqin is a Lecturer in the Department of Government Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the Department of Public Administration at Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. His research interests are in bureaucracy, public policy and administration, and public sector innovation. He has published papers in international and national journals.

Alferdo Satya Kurniawan is a Research Assistant in the Department of Government Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. His focused research is bureaucracy and tourism governance.

Yana Syafriyana Hijri is a Lecturer in the Department of Government Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the same department. Further, he got a master’s degree in Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia.

Kismartini Kismartini is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. She got her doctoral degree from the Universitas Brawijaya. Recently, active as an author and reviewer in reputable national and international journals. She is specialized in areas of public policy, tourism and maritime affairs.

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Strategi Digital Tourism dalam Menggaet Wisatawan

Pandemi COVID-19 menjadi mimpi buruk bagi seluruh sektor industri, terutama pariwisata Indonesia. Untungnya, perkembangan teknologi menjadi angin segar bagi sektor pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif untuk bisa bertahan dan berkembang di tengah pandemi.

Kunci utama para pelaku pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif bertahan di tengah pandemi adalah memiliki kemampuan adaptasi, inovasi, dan kolaborasi yang baik. Ketiga kemampuan itu sebenarnya sudah mulai diterapkan di Indonesia melalui digital tourism .

Digital tourism merupakan salah satu strategi yang efektif dalam mempromosikan berbagai destinasi dan potensi pariwisata Indonesia melalui berbagai platform . Artinya, digital tourism tidak hanya sekadar mengenalkan, namun juga menyebar keindahan pariwisata secara luas untuk meningkatkan jumlah wisatawan mancanegara berkunjung ke Indonesia.

Bisa dibilang tren digital tourism tentu akan menjadi lompatan besar bagi sektor pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif di Indonesia. Sebab, digital tourism secara tidak langsung membuat masyarakat semakin melek dan ikut beradaptasi dalam perkembangan teknologi. Tentu bukan hal yang sulit, karena gaya hidup masyarakat cenderung cepat dan bersentuhan langsung dengan internet.

Bukan hanya itu saja, saat ini tren pariwisata juga mulai bergeser ke arah digital. Salah satu buktinya terlihat dari aktivitas wisatawan yang mulai merencanakan perjalanan, pre-on-post journey , hampir seluruhnya dilakukan secara digital.

Menariknya lagi, ternyata perkembangan teknologi saat ini menjadikan industri pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif sebagai salah satu sektor yang mengalami digitalisasi dengan pesat dalam beberapa tahun terakhir.

Dengan kata lain, penerapan strategi digital tourism adalah pilihan yang tepat untuk menggaet wisatawan mancanegara, dan membantu memulihkan pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif Indonesia pasca pandemi COVID-19.

Strategi Digital Tourism

Guna menunjang penerapan digital tourism di Indonesia, Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif/Badan Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif (Kemenparekraf/Baparekraf) sudah mulai melakukan berbagai persiapan secara matang.

Contohnya pada layanan internet dan wifi, Kemenparekraf/Baparekraf telah berkolaborasi dengan Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika (Kemkominfo) dalam mengembangkan infrastruktur telekomunikasi dan informatika (TIK), terutama di 5 Destinasi Super Prioritas (DSP) dan desa wisata di Indonesia.

Diharapkan signal coverage dapat lebih memadai di seluruh daerah, hingga pelosok. Bukan hanya untuk menunjang digital tourism , peningkatan layanan internet sekaligus mengoptimalkan perkembangan tren wisata digital nomad di Indonesia.

Selain itu, dalam pemulihan sektor pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif juga harus dibarengi dengan menerapkan strategi yang tepat bagi sektor akomodasi di Indonesia agar dapat bertahan. Salah satu caranya adalah melakukan adaptasi dengan menawarkan fasilitas WFH ( Work From Hotel ), untuk para pekerja profesional yang membutuhkan refreshing di tengah kesibukan pekerjaannya.

Selanjutnya, industri perhotelan telah banyak menyediakan paket wisata staycation di hotel. Sebab, pandemi menjadikan staycation sebagai alternatif tren liburan yang aman, karena tidak mengharuskan wisatawan berkunjung ke tempat ramai.

Hal tersebut pun harus ditunjang dengan faktor keselamatan dan kenyaman saat menginap. Maka dari itu setiap hotel harus dilengkapi dengan sertifikat CHSE ( Cleanliness , Healthy , Safety , and Environmental Sustainability ), agar setiap wisatawan dapat menginap dengan aman dan nyaman.

Informasi Melalui Smartphone

Platform media sosial memiliki peranan yang cukup kuat untuk mempromosikan destinasi wisata Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, membuat spot-spot wisata Instagramable menjadi salah satu strategi mempromosikan tempat wisata secara gratis agar dapat meningkatkan wisatawan.

Karena semua serba digital, tentu harus dibarengi dengan kemudahan akses wisatawan untuk menuju lokasi wisata. Mulai dari memesan tiket perjalanan, memilih transportasi, menentukan akomodasi, hingga mencari informasi tentang destinasi wisata yang dituju semua bisa dilakukan lewat smartphone .

Bukan hanya itu saja, saat ini semua dituntut untuk serba cepat, mudah, dan aman, termasuk soal pembayaran. Maka dari itu, telah banyak sektor pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif yang beralih ke sistem pembayaran cashless environment , atau pembayaran digital menggunakan QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard).

Menariknya, hingga pertengahan Juli 2021 sudah ada 8 juta merchant yang telah terintegrasi dengan layanan QRIS. Tentu jumlah merchant akan terus meningkat, sehingga memudahkan seluruh wisatawan melakukan transaksi cashless .

Jadi, dengan pesatnya perkembangan teknologi sektor pariwisata dan ekonomi kreatif terus berupaya untuk bergerak cepat mengikuti perkembang tersebut. Sehingga dapat menciptakan tren pariwisata baru pasca pandemi COVID-19.

Foto Cover: Ilustrasi wisatawan yang tengah melakukan aktivitas digital menggunakan gadget-nya. (Shutterstock/sergey causelove)

Berita Terkait

LIVE, WORK AND EXPLORE IN COSTA RICA

See program requirements.

Requirements

Benefits of the tourism offer:

• Costa Rica offers a wide variety of options in accommodations, cuisine, transportation and tour guides from professional agencies located throughout the country’s tourist regions, allowing them to serve tourists who come to any region of the country for prolonged stays.
• We are a destination that is characterized by peace, nature, sustainability, solidarity, hospitality and wellness, as well as a commitment to the environment and a diverse tourism offer with an excellent quality-value relationship.
• Costa Rica is a country that has everything it takes to provide visitors with unique, authentic experiences. It is a nation of quality, not mass tourism, with highly qualified tourism professionals who are ready to serve. Our goal is for tourists to feel like they’re real ticos as well.
• Long-term visitors can visit the country at any time of the year, with a variety of outdoor activities that are free from crowds, adopting a sustainable and secure approach that complies with the strict biosafety protocols implemented by all tourism subsectors.

Benefits of the destination:

• Costa Rica is a country with high degrees of connectivity, allowing digital nomads to keep in touch with their companies anywhere in the world.
• The country’s geographic location, climate, timezone, air connectivity and the tourism experience make Costa Rica an attractive destination for digital nomads.
• According to a study by InsureMyTrip, Costa Rica ranks in the top 10 digital nomad destinations worldwide.

Legal benefits:

• Digital nomads will not be considered to be normal residents for tax purposes, meaning that they will be exempt from complying with “formal and material duties” to the General Directorate of Taxation of the Costa Rican Ministry of Finance.
• Digital nomads will be able to use their driver’s license from their home country for the full duration of their stay in the country.

Foreign nationals may apply to the immigration sub-category of Stay (Estancia) for Remote Workers and Service Providers if they provide paid services remotely, irrespective of whether such services are subcontracted, using digital or telecommunication technologies or analogous means, to a natural person or legal entity located outside of Costa Rica, earning a minimum amount of three thousand U.S. dollars ($3,000.00) per month originating from outside of Costa Rica for the provision of such services, or a minimum of four thousand U.S. dollars ($4,000.00) per month originating from outside of Costa Rica for the provision of such services if they also wish to apply for their dependents to legally stay in the country. The above amounts will be determined in accordance with the official sale price set by the Central Bank of Costa Rica.

Foreign nationals and their dependents who meet the following requirements may legally stay in the country under the immigration sub-category of Stay (Estancia) for Remote Workers and Service Providers:

• Application form signed by the applicant or their representative. Check the Form, regulation and legal aid section on this page to download the relevant forms depending on whether the applicant will submit the form online through the Tramite Ya digital platform https://tramiteya.go.cr/dgme/ or in person using a physical form in the central or regional offices of the General Directorate of Immigration (DGEM).
• Receipt confirming payment to the Government in the amount of one hundred US dollars ($100.00) or the equivalent amount in Costa Rican colones at the reference exchange rate of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, in accordance with Article 256 of the General Law on Immigration and Aliens. This deposit must be made to account no. 242480-0 of the Banco de Costa Rica.
• A copy of the photo page of the foreign national’s valid passport, which contains their photograph and biographical information, as well as the page containing the Costa Rican entry stamp if the applicant is already in Costa Rica. The passport must always be provided for the documentation process.
• Consular or restricted visas as applicable to the group of countries set forth in the requirements under Executive Decree no. 36626-G, entitled “Regulation on granting entry visas to Costa Rica”, based on the applicant’s nationality in accordance with the provisions of the “General Guidelines on Visas for the Entry and Stay of Non-Residents”. The exceptions set forth in the above-mentioned guidelines will be considered when applying this rule.
• Bank statements accompanied by an affidavit declaring that the statements have been requested and obtained from the corresponding financial institution. These statements must provide evidence of income and indicate that the individual has received payment or remuneration during the previous year from outside Costa Rica in an amount of not less than three thousand US dollars ($3,000.00) per month at the official sale rate determined by the Central Bank of Costa Rica, or four thousand US dollars ($4,000.00) if the applicant is requesting that their family group be granted permission to legally stay in Costa Rica. Alternately, the applicant may submit a certification of the above issued by a public accountant or notary public, if the procedure is completed in Costa Rica, or by the counterparts of such professionals abroad in accordance with the legislation of the respective country. This certification is the only component that must be accompanied by the respective consular legalization or apostille.

By law all documents issued in a foreign language must be accompanied by an official translation in Spanish. Applications for underage children or children with disabilities of any age must be signed by the parent completing the application or whose application in this sub-category has been approved, or the latter’s special representative. If the application is submitted by a representative, it must be accompanied by the respective power of attorney granted under the laws governing such legal acts.

For the purpose of complying with the provisions of Item 70 of the General Law on Immigration and Aliens and safeguarding national security, and in compliance with the provisions in Item 11 bis of Law 10008, the issuance of visas in this category is subject to a security review by DGME of the criminal and police records via the national and international databases to which it has access. Likewise, if it deems appropriate, DGME may carry out biometric revisions in order to safeguard national security.

Requirements for

Issuance of the, immigration, medical services.

Spouses or common-law partners, children under twenty-five years of age or children of any age with disabilities, and/or seniors who live with the person(s) who work or provide services remotely must submit the information requested in numbers 1-4 for this sub-category.

Check the Formularios según Trámite section on this page to download the relevant forms depending on whether the applicant will submit the form online through the Tramite Ya digital platform https://tramiteya.go.cr/dgme/ or in person using a physical form in the central or regional offices of the General Directorate of Immigration (DGEM).

In addition to the above, familial connections must be proven using one of the following requirements, as applicable, which must be issued by the corresponding authorities of the country of origin:

• Marriage certificate issued in the last six months.
• A document that clearly represents a declaration or recognition of the civil union, issued in the last six months by the competent authority.
• A copy of the birth certificate of minor children or unmarried children up to the age of 25.
• If the dependent is a person with disabilities, a medical opinion that identifies the condition.
• Accompanying seniors must demonstrate the existence of a familial link or cohabitation with the person applying under this special Estancia category by means of an affidavit to that effect.
• Foreign nationals applying under the sub-category of Stay (Estancia) for Remote Workers and Service Providers and their dependents, whether applying digitally or in person, must complete the registration process on the digital platform, granting their informed consent within the scope of Article 5 of Law 10008, and meet the requirements listed above, as applicable.
• If the applicant intends to submit a physical, in-person application, they must make an appointment through the DGME’s Web Appointments Portal using the option of Stay (Estancia) for Digital Nomads.
• If the application is made in person, the applicant must appear at the Service Platform of the Foreign Nationals Administration (Plataforma de Servicios de la Gestión de Extranjería) with all of the necessary requirements for opening their file. This Platform is located in the central DGME offices in La Uruca, or in the regional offices that carry out the DGME’s administrative procedures.
• The Foreign Nationals Administration or the respective regional coordinating body will have a period of 15 calendar days from the date on which the application is submitted to issue a resolution in writing with respect to the application in this sub-category.
• No more than 5 calendar days after receiving the application, the office processing the file will issue a single written notice , in which it lists the requirements left out of the application, or requests that the user provide clarifying or supplementary information. The applicant will have 8 working days to complete or clarify their application.
• Once the applicant submits all requirements, the remainder of the administration’s 15-calendar day period to issue a definitive resolution will begin to elapse.
• If the requirements listed in the notice are not submitted within 8 working days, the application will be rejected through an administrative act in accordance with Law 6227 , the General Law on Public Administration, and the file will be archived.

Immigration Document

Once a notification has been sent regarding the resolution granting the ability to remain legally in Costa Rica under the immigration sub-category of Stay (Estancia) for Remote Workers and Service Providers, issued by the Foreign Nationals Administration of the DGME, the foreign national and/or their dependent(s) will have a period of three months to process their immigration accreditation document. If the individual does not compete the process within this time period, procedures will be initiated with the aim of cancelling the immigration status granted.

For documentation, the foreign national must request an appointment by calling the Immigration Call Center at 1311 or the Bank of Costa Rica at 800-227-2482.

On the day of the appointment, the foreign national must provide:

• A receipt confirming payment to the Government in the amount indicated in the approval resolution , in accordance with Article 215 of the General Law on Immigration and Aliens.
• A receipt confirming payment to the Government in the amount of ninety US dollars ($90.00), corresponding to the request for legal stay documents , as well as the issuance of the document that certifies the legal stay and the fees corresponding to the Special Social Immigration Fund.
• Receipt for a single payment as a guarantee deposit for non-residents, Stay (Estancia) sub-category, according to the amount set forth in the Regulation on the Guarantee Deposit Fund of the General Law on Immigration and Aliens, in accordance with Executive Decree 36539-G
• Passport of the foreign national that is valid and in good repair . The passport used to initiate the passport must be provided as a proof of identity. If the passport is expired, it must be provided along with the valid travel document.
• Medical services policy that covers the applicant and their dependents for the full period of the authorized legal stay.
• The policy must cover the full period of the legal stay authorized by DGME for this category.
• It must include coverage guarantees for medical expenses in the event of illnesses in Costa Rica of at least fifty thousand US dollars ($50,000.00) and its period of validity must cover the duration of the stay in the country. The medical services policy may be offered by one of the insurance companies authorized by the Office of the Superintendent General of Insurance of Costa Rica and duly registered with that authority. Alternately, applicants may obtain an international insurance policy with the above-mentioned coverage.
• In the event of family groups, each family member must have a medical services policy that follows the above points.

Forms, regulation

And legal aid, nomad insurance.

For renewals under this immigration category, the foreign national must demonstrate that they have been present in the territory of Costa Rica for a minimum period of 80 days in accordance with Article 15 of the Law.

Renewal is subject to the following requirements, in accordance with Article 10 of the Regulation, Renewal of the Stay (Estancia) Sub-category:

• Application form signed by the applicant or their representative. The applicant must enter the Tramite Ya digital platform, available at the URL https://tramiteya.go.cr/dgme/ or any other such digital platform that DGME may, in the future, make available to users.
• Bank statements accompanied by an affidavit declaring that the statements have been requested and obtained from the corresponding financial institution. These statements must provide evidence of income and indicate that the individual has received payment or remuneration during the previous year from outside Costa Rica in an amount not less than three thousand US dollars ($3,000.00) per month at the official sale rate determined by the Central Bank of Costa Rica, or four thousand US dollars ($4,000.00) if the applicant is requesting that their family group be granted permission to legally stay in Costa Rica. Alternately, the applicant may submit a certification of the above issued by a public accountant or notary public, if the procedure is completed in Costa Rica, or by the counterparts of such professionals abroad in accordance with the legislation of the respective country. This certification is the only component that must be accompanied by the respective consular legalization or apostille.
• A receipt confirming payment to the Government in the amount indicated in the approval resolution, in accordance with Article 215 of the General Law on Immigration and Aliens.
• A receipt confirming payment to the Government in the amount of ninety US dollars ($90.00), corresponding to the request for legal stay documents, as well as the issuance of the document that certifies the legal stay and the fees corresponding to the Special Social Immigration Fund.
• Passport of the foreign national that is valid and in good repair. The passport used to initiate the passport must be provided as a proof of identity. If the passport is expired, it must be provided along with the valid travel document.
• The regulation states that all of the required documents in the application have to be translated into Spanish. Who is able to provide such a translation?

To be on the safe side, applicants can have the translation completed by an official translator registered with the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or a notary public with knowledge of the language.

Documents can also be translated abroad, but the official sources consulted note that working with a Costa Rican translator is more practical, as this can prevent errors or problems with translations done in applicants’ home countries, which generally slow down the process.

• Where do digital nomads have to make the $100 deposit (receipt of payment to the Government) required to enter the country?

The USD $100 must be deposited in the account no. 242480-0 in Banco de Costa Rica, which belongs to the Republic of Costa Rica. This is the account generally used for payments to enter the country.

The payment receipt may be attached to the form that must be completed on the Trámite Ya platform, or a printed copy may be taken to authorized Immigration offices.

• How does the medical services insurance work for digital nomads?

The medical services insurance must cover the full duration of the digital nomad’s stay in Costa Rica for the full period authorized, and must have a coverage of at least USD $50,000.

The policy may be from an international provider or a Costa Rican insurance firm regulated by the Office of the Superintendent General for Insurance of Costa Rica. Any dependents accompanying the digital nomad to Costa Rica must also be covered by an insurance policy.

• What requirements does a digital nomad need to meet to open a bank account with a Costa Rican financial institution?

Digital nomads may open savings accounts in financial institutions belonging to the national banking system provided that they comply with the provisions of the Law on Narcotics, Psychotropic Substances, Unauthorized Drugs, Connected Activities, Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (8.204).

They must also comply with all regulatory frameworks relating to the fight against money laundering. The Office of the Superintendent General of Financial Institutions (SUGEF) will issue any regulations or guidelines that prove necessary.

• Do I need legal assitance to apply?

No, no legal assitance is required.

* By law all documents issued in a foreign language must be accompanied by an official translation in Spanish. *

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Application requirements.

How can tourists apply for the Digital Nomad Visa?

Foreign nationals who wish to apply for the non-resident immigration sub-category of “Remote Worker or Service Provider” must fill out an application form, which can be signed by them or their representative. This form is available online via the Trámite Ya platform of the General Directorate of Immigration (DGME) or as a physical form available from the Foreign Nationals Administration or the regional offices that carry out administrative procedures for the DGME.

Currently, only the application form for the tourist visa – also called the Estancia visa – is available Trámite Ya website. Tourist visas are available for a maximum period of 90 days, though no “distinction” has been made as yet for visitors to enter the country as a digital nomad, according to sources. Tourists have also not been provided with any other channels in which they can submit such an application.

Meanwhile, for foreign nationals already in the country who wish to change the category under which they are staying in Costa Rica, DGME offices should be able to provide the required form as long as the application is made within the 90-day duration of their tourist visas.

The press department of the DGME was asked about when the form would become available and stated that “the final details are being ironed out before the process will be available” and that once the regulation is published in La Gaceta, they will “be able to communicate more clearly to users”.

Can the Digital Nomad Visa be requested from abroad, or only after entering Costa Rica?

Both methods are possible. Tourists who are still in their home country can apply online using the Trámite Ya platform. Once their visa is approved, they can come to Costa Rica.

One of the requirements listed on the application form is an image containing the page of the passport with the Costa Rican entry stamp. According to company spokespersons, the regulation “leaves the possibility open”, but those who have not yet arrived in Costa Rica are free to “skip the step”.

Tourists can also apply if they have entered the country under a different short-term stay visa and wish to change to a Digital Nomad Visa.

How long will Immigration take to provide a response?

According to Rodríguez of Outlier Legal, if we use current processes for permanent or temporary residence permits as a point of comparison, the law states that Immigration has 90 calendar days to resolve applications. However, the immigration specialist notes that a typical residence process can take 12 or 15 months to be resolved.

The regulation on digital nomads sets out a period of 15 calendar days for resolutions, but Rodríguez points out that experience would indicate that this duration is unlikely to be respected, with resolutions potentially taking around four months or longer, depending on the demand for applications.

“In October 2020, DGME launched the Trámite Ya platform, which sought to expedite resolutions on residency applications, but what we’ve seen is that even with the platform, these applications are not being resolved within the legal timeframes,” concludes Rodríguez.

For tourists who have been working remotely from Costa Rica for several months and wish to prolong their stay, what is the process?

Prior to the passage of Law 10.008, digital nomads were entirely outside the vocabulary of Immigration, they were unregulated. What some tourists did was essentially to apply for a different immigration category (temporary visitor, for example) and continue to work remotely from the country without any kind of incentive to do so.

Now, however, foreign nationals will need to change their immigration category in order to obtain the tax benefits of being a digital nomad.

Article 15 of the law on digital nomads states that “the immigration benefit shall be granted for one year, and may be extended once for an additional year. In order to obtain such an extension, the beneficiary must have stayed in the country for a minimum of 180 days during the year originally granted.”

Furthermore, prior to the expiration of the immigration benefit, in cases where it is appropriate to do so and in which the relevant formal and substantive requirements are met, beneficiaries may apply for a change in their immigration category in accordance with the General Law on Immigration and Aliens (8.674).

In concrete terms, what are the fiscal incentives for digital nomads?

The regulation states that the beneficiaries (digital nomads) will not be considered to be normal residents of Costa Rica for tax purposes, nor will the income they receive from abroad be considered to originate from a Costa Rican source. This means that they will be exempt from complying with “formal and material duties” to the General Directorate of Taxation of the Costa Rican Ministry of Finance.

As such, digital nomads will be exempt from paying income tax, as well as being exempt from import taxes on their basic computing equipment they use to carry out their work remotely, including their personal computer, cellphone, tablet, camera, recording equipment and other accessories.

For any objects that are not covered by the law that digital nomads wish to bring into the country, the applicant must complete a parallel process via the EXONET platform, an electronic information system of the Ministry of Finance, which has been set up to process tax exemption requests from the beneficiaries of incentives.

The benefits also include the ability for digital nomads to use their driver’s license from their home country for the full duration of their stay in the country.

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Thailand Relaxes Its Visa Program: Longer Stays For Tourists And Digital Nomads

Beginning next week, Thailand will roll out an initiative that will allow travelers from 93 countries to stay up to 60 days, and relax rules for digital nomads, students and retirees.

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Thailand is pulling out the stops to attract more tourists from a larger pool of countries and for longer stays.

T his week, Thailand’s government announced that it is significantly relaxing its visa program, approving longer stays for tourists, students and remote workers in an initiative that will allow travelers from 93 countries (up from 57) to stay 60 days (up from 30).

The changes will go into effect on June 1.

For digital nomads, as well as self-employed and remote workers, visas will extend to five years—a significant jump from 60 days—with each stay limited to 180 days, Thai government spokesperson Chai Wacharonke said at a press conference. Previously, digital nomads were allowed only two 30-day stays.

Foreign postgraduate students will be able to stay an additional year after graduation.

In addition, Thailand is drastically lowering insurance requirements for foreign retirees. Currently, retirees aged 50 years and up must have health insurance coverage of 3 million baht (nearly $82,000). The new requirement will be just 440,000 baht ($12,000).

Thailand is hoping these moves will collectively help juice its stuttering economy. Earlier this month, the finance ministry reduced its 2024 economic growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.8%. The country is aiming for a record 40 million foreign tourism arrivals in 2024, with an anticipated revenue of 3.5 trillion baht ($95.3 billion).

Around the world, there’s a marked trend toward fewer countries requiring traditional paper visas affixed in a passport, according to UN Tourism’s latest Tourism Visa Openness Report , which revealed that just 47% of travelers in 2023 required a traditional visa, falling steadily from 77% in 2008 and 59% in 2018. Instead, travelers are finding looser rules and less friction when traveling to destinations around the world. Today 21% of the world’s population does not need any visa—up from 17% in 2008—and visa-on-arrivals and eVisas are popping up around the world.

This trend is most visible in the Middle East and Africa. Consider that in 2015, about seven in 10 people in the world needed to obtain a visa prior to visiting the Middle East. By last year, that figure had dropped to 57%.

The list of countries soon eligible for visa-free short stays in Thailand include large tourism source markets like China and India, as well as U.S., U.K., Albania, Cambodia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Romania, Sri Lanka, UAE and Uzbekistan.

A Thai visa-on-arrival will soon be available for 31 countries (up from 19), including Armenia, Fiji, Malta, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.

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Alipay+ Partners With Khan Bank to Enable Digital Payment of 12 International E-wallets in Mongolia to Drive Tourism and Merchant Growth

• Alipay+ partners with Khan Bank to enable users of 12 leading overseas mobile wallets and bank apps from 8 countries and regions to make seamless digital payment across Mongolia.
• With this partnership, Mongolia becomes the newest destination to accept digital mobile payment, powered by Alipay+.

Users of 12 popular overseas e-wallets from 8 countries and regions can now enjoy a seamless digital mobile payment experience in Mongolia thanks to the partnership between Khan Bank, the leading Mongolian full service bank, and Alipay+, a suite of cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solutions operated by Ant International.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240605811315/en/

Ms. Erdenedelger Bavlai, First Deputy CEO of Khan Bank (left) and Mr. Frank Piao, Country Manager, Alipay+ Mongolia officiated the partnership ceremony at Khan Bank HQ, Mongolia. (Photo: Business Wire)

Powered by Alipay+, users of these popular Asian and European e-wallets and payment apps will enjoy a smooth and secure payment experience in Mongolia whenever they encounter the Alipay+ logo at participating merchants ranging from established hotel chains and restaurants to department store and cashmere outlets located throughout the country. Through the one-stop integration feature provided by Alipay+, these merchants are able to accept payments from these mobile payment apps on the same QR code interfaces displayed at physical stores, or by scanning the QR code in user’s app.

In addition, Alipay+ marketing solutions will also enable the local merchants the ability to create promotions, distribute digital coupons and discount offers directly reaching users of those e-wallet super apps in their respective markets – all at the same time to achieve better marketing efficiency and scalability.

Popular e-wallets and bank apps newly brought into Mongolia by Alipay+ include Alipay (Chinese mainland), AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), Tinaba (Italy), MyPB by Public Bank Berhad and Touch ‘n Go Digital (Malaysia), GCash (The Philippines), Changi Pay and OCBC Digital (Singapore), Kakao Pay , Naver Pay and Toss Pay (South Korea), and TrueMoney (Thailand).

As a celebration of the new partnership between Alipay+ and Khan Bank, a series of promotion activities will be launched from now on through October, 2024. Users of eight e-wallet super apps namely AlipayHK , MyPB by Public Bank Berhad , GCash , OCBC Digital , Kakao Pay , Naver Pay , Toss Pay , and TrueMoney will enjoy 10% instant discount when making their purchases on Khan Bank’s POS terminals from now through October, 2024. More mobile payment service apps are expected to join in the months to come.

Ms. Erdenedelger Bavlai, First Deputy CEO of Khan Bank, noted, “Khan Bank was the first financial institution to sign an agreement with the Ant group back in 2021, enabling international payment process through Alipay. This time we are delighted to expand our partnership with the group and accept digital payment of users from eight countries and regions powered by Alipay+ on Khan Bank terminals for the first time in Mongolian market. This partnership is significant for not only Khan Bank but also for Mongolia as it contributes to the development of tourism besides securing seamless payment for tourists and travelers coming to Mongolia.”

Mr. Danny Chung, General Manager of Alipay+ Korea, Europe, Middle East and Mongolia , said, “Mongolia is one of the favorites destinations for international travelers. The partnership with Khan Bank marks a significant milestone for Alipay+ as Mongolia becomes a new destination to accept cross-border mobile payments, powered by Alipay+. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to bringing a convenient and secure digital payment experience for international travelers.” He added, “Together with Khan Bank we are connecting local businesses with international visitors, offering better travel experience to tourists and greater business opportunities and visibility for local merchants.”

Since post-COVID, Mongolia has seen an increase of inbound travelers in the past three years. In addition, the Government of Mongolia has announced 2024 and 2025 as years to visit Mongolia with an ambition to receive 1 million tourists from 2023 through 2025.

Introduced by Ant International in 2020, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million merchants in more than 50 countries and regions to over 25 e-wallets and bank apps, allowing consumers to travel and pay hassle-free globally, and merchants to expand cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.

In the addition to Mongolia as the latest Alipay+ destination, Alipay+ partner wallets have already been accepted at various major global destinations including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the Middle East.

About Khan Bank

Khan Bank is the largest bank in Mongolia providing comprehensive financial products and services to its 2.9 million customers or 82 percent of the total population through its digital channels and 547 branches nationwide and ranks as number 2 in the country’s Top 100 private entities. Khan Bank supports MSMEs, which are the key drivers of the country's economic growth, by offering business loan products and non-financial services such as customer training and advisory and consulting services through its SME Business Centre. In recent years Khan Bank has been actively implementing projects in line with sustainable development initiatives, aiming to be greener and offering environmentally-responsible products and services. For more information, visit www.khanbank.com .

About Alipay+

Alipay+ is a suite of cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solutions that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payment and a broad choice of deals using their preferred payment methods while travelling abroad. Small and medium-sized businesses may use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.

Media Inquiries Khan Bank Oyuntsetseg Tsedendamba [email protected]

Ant International Eric Tey [email protected]

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240605811315/en/

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