Applicability of smart tourism in Turkey case of Istanbul

The rapid increases in globalization, population, limited resource consumption, urbanization, environmental pollution, and harsh economic competition conditions bring about many problems in global settlement areas. These problems, which are frequently seen in the cities where population and urbanization are intense, are clearly seen in the metropoles of many different geographies where the cities are not able to meet their needs and this makes the lives of city dwellers difficult. These problems require smart, sustainable and effective solutions in ecological, demographic, economic and spatial dimensions. The developments in information and communication technologies, smart devices and sensors have led to the emergence of smart cities, a settlement concept that enables local government and city planning institutions to reach precise and lively data for the solution of urban problems. Thanks to the smart tourism concept, which is built on the smart city concept, in big cities with high tourism value, high population and high urbanization, visitors can utilize all the city's infrastructures, offers, values and culture without disrupting the city's structural, socio-cultural, historical integrity and daily life routine. The aim of the smart tourism concept is to accommodate the visitors to gain economic and social benefits and to make the most of the city's opportunities available for both sides (dwellers and visitors) to benefit from it. The aim of this study is to examine the applicability of smart tourism concept in Turkey through Istanbul. In this research, the perspective and suitability of the Turkish tourism sector to this new technology based tourism concept is examined. In this context, 10 main stakeholder institutions, which are operating in the field of tourism and urbanism Istanbul, were included in the study. In this study where qualitative methods are used, data were collected from the questions asked in the interviews to the senior executives selected from the institutions in the field of tourism and urbanization. The data of the applicability of Smart Tourism concept to Turkish tourism industry though Istanbul is evaluated in 7 dimensions such as infrastructural qualification, applicability, necessity and conformity, the adaptation of enterprises and employees, performance and efficiency, sustainability, innovation and creating value and analyzed. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the smart tourism concept can be applied by some improvement and planning in Istanbul, although the smart city infrastructure of Istanbul is not fully completed. Keywords: Smart, Smart Cities, Smart Tourism, Information and Communication Technologies, Technology