Evaluation of tourists' destination choices within the scope of smart tourism

With the development of information and communication technologies and the acceptance of technology by more and more users, technology-based usage habits have emerged. The concept of smart tourism is a result of the combination of technology and tourism. The smart tourism approach, derived from the concept of smart city, aims at efficient and sustainable use of destinations and resources, competitiveness, enrichment and co-creation of tourism experiences. In the smart tourism system, it is ensured that the supply and demand aspects of the destination are combined under the roof of technology and have usable information. Many socio-cultural, demographic and economic factors are decisive for tourists at the stage of destination selection. With the development of technology, smart technologies that have entered the lives of consumers have begun to be as effective as other factors in the purchase of tourists. The less time tourists spend searching for information about destinations using smart tourism technologies, the more positive their perception of destination image will be. In this research, it is aimed to examine the effect of tourists' use of smart technologies on destination choices and destination image perceived by tourists. The universe of the research consists of tourists who use smart technologies before, during or after their travels. For the purpose of this research, 428 questionnaires were applied to the participants and 403 questionnaires were analyzed. According to the results of the research, it has been determined that smart tourism applications have positive effects on tourists' destination preferences and perceived destination image.