Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies a set of indicators and tools, associated with the key pillars of a smart tourist destination (governance, innovation, technology, universal accessibility, sustainability). It is designed for use by smart tourist destinations, to support effective decision-making by destination management organizations and those responsible for relevant processes or activities, ultimately contributing to the continuous improvement of these destinations

This document establishes a logical model applicable to any tourist destination undergoing digitalization and technological enhancement of its processes and services. It also provides a framework for measuring its performance in a comparable and verifiable way, regardless of the destination’s size or location.

Purpose

Tourism is a very competitive and constantly evolving industry. In this changing context, innovation together with sustainability, universal accessibility and the use of technologies become indispensable allies for improving the competitiveness of tourist destinations. The Smart Tourist Destination (hereinafter, STD) serves as a catalyst for synergy, fostering teamwork and consensus among all public and private stakeholders at the municipal, regional, and national levels to shape the desired destination model. It is no longer just about meeting tourists' needs in isolation but about anticipating their aspirations and embracing a holistic approach to destination management. This approach integrates vertical systems, ensures cross-sectoral information analysis, and places the tourist at the center—not only as a beneficiary but also as an active contributor, providing valuable data and insights to enhance services. A Smart tourist destinations can be defined as a territory that promotes universal accessibility, which makes use of innovation and technology, guarantees sustainable tourism development in its three aspects (economic, socio-cultural and environmental) to improve the tourist's experience and the quality of life of the citizen and is governed by a Management organization For those tourism destinations striving to become smart tourist destinations, a measurement framework is needed to ensure a rigorous follow-up is in place, based on evidence. This standard allows progress to be measured and compared based on common criteria. To this end, it establishes a series of tools and indicators that aim to provide information on the objectives and parameters linked to the activities or processes implemented. The main characteristics of these indicators being:

 – They symbolize an important or critical activity.

 – They are directly related to the concept being assessed.

– They are quantifiable, usually expressed by a numerical datum.

–The benefit obtained from the use of indicators is greater than the investment of capturing and processing the data necessary for their development.

 – They are comparable over time and therefore represent the evolution of the valued concept. – They are reliable providing confidence to users.

 – They are easy to set up, maintain, and use.

– They are compatible with other indicators allowing comparison and analysis.

Indicators refer to a certain period of time, so it is important to follow the development of an indicator's value over time to analyze the trend. Measurement can sometimes be complex due to the interdependencies of activities and processes within a smart destination. A management meter or indicator is information about a process that is defined and recorded and that allows its effectiveness and/or efficiency to be indicated. An indicator is a part of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PHVA) continuous improvement cycle, specifically it is framed in the verification that allows the monitoring, measurement of processes and key characteristics of the operations. In this sense, this document is connected to the Smart tourism destination methodology proposal, where step-by-step approach for the transformation of tourism destinations into smart tourism destinations is set out. Finally, this standard presents a series of technological tools that destinations can use to start their transformation towards a smarter destination model. Additional information on the Smart Tourism Destination proposal can also be found in the following documents (ISO/TC 228 N 2089, N 2065 and N 1950) which were presented for information during ISO/TC 228 plenary meeting.