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Review

Systematic Literature Review Analysing Smart Tourism Destinations in Context of Sustainable Development: Current Applications and Future Directions

by
Youssef El Archi
1,*,
Brahim Benbba
1,
Zhulduz Nizamatdinova
2,
Yerlan Issakov
3,
Gálicz Ivett Vargáné
4 and
Lóránt Dénes Dávid
5,6,*
1
National School of Business and Management of Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tétouan 93000, Morocco
2
Faculty of Tourism and Languages, Caspian University of Technology and Engineering Named After Sh. Yessenov, Aktau Index 130000, Kazakhstan
3
Department of Geography and Ecology, Institute of Natural Sciences and Geography, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty 050010, Kazakhstan
4
Doctoral School of Economics and Regional Sciences, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
5
Department of Sustainable Tourism, Institute of Rural Development and Sustainable Economy, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
6
Faculty of Economics and Business, John von Neumann University, 6000 Kecskemét, Hungary
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5086; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065086
Submission received: 8 February 2023 / Revised: 8 March 2023 / Accepted: 9 March 2023 / Published: 13 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends in Tourism under COVID-19 and Future Implications)
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Abstract

:
The growing popularity of smart tourism destinations (STDs) has increased the need to investigate their potential impact on sustainable development. This systematic literature review (SLR) aims to analyse the past achievements and future directions of smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development. The review was conducted through a systematic literature review that examined 20 papers using a rigorous framework of the research problem, the primary delimitation of the research, and the definition of the data collection and extraction tools. The review focuses on identifying and analysing the current state of the research on SLRs in smart tourism destinations and their implications for sustainable development. This includes the research questions, methods, journals, dates of publications, and key themes. The review also examines the implications and limitations of SLRs in this field, and it identifies gaps in the literature and areas for future directions. The review found that SLRs have been used to examine the impacts of smart tourism destinations on various aspects of sustainable development, such as economic, social, and environmental aspects. Additionally, the review found that there is a growing interest in smart cities, with a focus on reducing the environmental footprint of tourism and promoting sustainable tourism development. The review also identified the emerging research areas in the literature, such as the achievement of the sustainable development goals, the adoption of green IT, smart energy, and waste management.

1. Introduction

The development of digital technologies in general and artificial intelligence, in particular, encourages destination management organisations (DMOs) and stakeholders to use disruptive technologies to optimise their competitiveness and improve the visitor experience. Several literature reviews have been conducted on this topic, with varying scopes and findings depending on the specific research questions, methods, and databases used. Some studies may focus on specific technologies or sustainability practices, while others may take a more holistic approach. A new systematic literature review is needed to gather the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on sustainable smart tourism destinations.
Digital technologies are rapidly becoming an important area of academic research in travel and tourism [1,2]. In recent years, researchers have focused on this field’s dimensions, issues, and elements. According to Gretzel et al. (2016) [2], any location may be a smart tourism destination if it has two pillars: (1) “soft” intelligence (which includes organisational skills and modalities, including collaborations and partnerships, innovation, and leadership) and (2) “hard” intelligence (which refers to the whole technological infrastructure). A destination is not clever just because one of the two pillars is present. This is dependent on the availability of “hard” intelligence, which enables the improvement in human capital and intelligent decision making based on the use of infrastructure and technology. The following characteristics are therefore necessary for smart tourism: integrated technological environments, responsive micro- and macrolevel processes, end-user devices, and stakeholders that actively utilise smart digital platforms [3].
The travel and tourism industry is currently undergoing a radical transformation among consumers, which is primarily due to technological advancements [4]. Web 2.0 has placed the tourist between functionality and product distribution [5]. The customer experience is being revolutionised by the usage of mobile devices, megadata, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technology [6]. The link between intelligence and sustainability is expressed at two complementary levels: the destination strategy and the application of technologies for more effective environmental management [7]. These two levels, combined with a new governance framework, create a new approach to managing smart tourism destinations [8].
A wide range of subjects and methodologies have recently supplemented the current research on the interdependence between sustainable development and smart tourism destinations [9,10], but the research is still in its early stages. Future studies could take a look at a few particular directions, such as consumer behaviour and technological advancements, which are obviously related and interconnected, when considering the potential for future research [11].
Smart tourism destinations must adopt sustainable tourism growth, or even more radical alternatives, such as moving towards equilibrium or degrowth situations. The synergistic approach that combines monitoring systems, real-time management, public–private partnerships, and open innovation benefits several aspects of intelligence and sustainability [12]. Smart city initiatives today must address significant social, ecological, and technological concerns, including digitization, pollution, ambitions for democracy, increased security, etc. [13].
The principles of sustainable development can guide the development of smart tourism destinations towards more sustainable outcomes. By prioritizing environmental protection, economic sustainability, social equity, community participation, intergenerational equity, an integrated approach, and the precautionary principle, STDs can be developed in a way that benefits all stakeholders, including local communities, visitors, and the environment. Sustainable development is a long-term process that requires a holistic and integrated approach to decision making, and STDs can play a significant role in achieving the sustainable development goals by promoting sustainable tourism practices and contributing to the well-being of local communities and the environment [9].
As availability and real-time infrastructure are monitored, smart tourism destinations not only solve urban problems and provide residents with a better quality of life [14], but they also allow travellers to discover new attractions, local products, and services at the ideal moment [9].
The development of innovative technologies, especially information and communication technologies, makes it possible to significantly increase the functionalities of destinations. It is necessary to integrate modern technical solutions with the existing infrastructure. The main premise of smart tourism is to make the destination an efficient organism with its tourists by using new technologies and sustainable management [15]. A current assessment of the existing systematic literature reviews is necessary due to the rapid growth of sustainable smart tourism destinations to provide a solid framework and direction for future study. By outlining the research trend, themes, journals, methodologies, as well as the main contexts of application, the current study seeks to provide an organised, systematic literature review that links smart tourism destinations and sustainable development.
In order to justify the choice of methodology, it is important to emphasise that this study is the first of its kind to analyse systematic literature reviews on smart tourism and its link with sustainable development through a systematic literature review. Therefore, this study is intended as a clear synthesis of completed achievements and avenues for future investigations in this area of research.
The interest of this review paper is to provide elements of answers to our main questions: (1) What are the years of publication of the selected papers? (2) What scientific jour-nals have published papers on studying smart tourism in the context of sustainable development? (3) In which research areas have smart tourism and its link to sustainable development emerged in tourism and hospitality research? (4) Which types of systematic literature review approaches have attracted interest in smart tourism destinations and sustainable development?
This study aims to investigate smart tourism destinations as one of the most significant and cutting-edge strategies for achieving sustainable development. The objective of the current study was attained using the systematic literature review methodology.
To review the applicable literature, the study primarily used theoretical studies related to the subject for the first chapter, which, in turn, supported the results of the study. The second chapter of the study explains the methods that were chosen and used to obtain the results. The third chapter describes the results that the authors obtained through the systematic literature review that was carried out. The discussion chapter is the fourth part of the study, and within it, the authors summarise the results chapter to explore future research directions and implications.

2. Materials and Methods

To carry out our systematic literature review, we generally respected the basic protocol of systematic literature reviews [16] through a rigorous framework of the research problem, the primary delimitation of the research, and the definition of the data collection and extraction tools. Indeed, the interest of this review paper is to provide the elements of answers to our main questions: (1) What are the years of publication of the selected papers? (2) What scientific journals have published papers on studying smart tourism in the context of sustainable development? (3) In what research areas have smart tourism and its link to sustainable development emerged in tourism and hospitality research? (4) Which types of systematic literature review approaches have attracted interest in smart tourism destinations and sustainable development? In order to better operationalise this research, we delimited our preliminary field of investigation by setting the criteria for the inclusion and exclusion of references in terms of general information (context, year of publication, etc.), methodological information (theoretical framework, qualitative design, quantitative design, etc.), and documentary information (the nature of the document, languages, etc.). Scopus and Elsevier’s databases of citations and abstracts served as the sources for the imported data set for this study. Scopus was used as a research engine in this article over Web of Science (WOS) for these reasons: Scopus is regarded as having the greatest collection of a variety of peer-reviewed literature documents, including books, articles, conference papers, and review papers [17], and many other academics have employed it to perform systematic analyses in their research [18,19]. The search was conducted in English only, using the following keywords: “smart tourism destination”; “sustainable smart tourism”; “sustainable development”; “smart tourism”; “smart city”; “sustainable smart city”; “sustainable destination”; “smart destination”; “sustainability”; “systematic literature review”. At the end of this phase, 59 primary studies were sectioned, and finally only 20 were retained for the data extraction stage, after cleaning.
A systematic literature review is a type of research methodology that involves a comprehensive and rigorous examination of the existing literature on a specific topic [20]. The goal of a systematic literature review is to identify, evaluate, and synthesize all the relevant studies on a given topic in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the current state of knowledge [21]. The systematic literature review process typically begins with a clearly defined research question and a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria to examine the papers that meet the expectations [22].
A systematic literature review is the best approach for revealing the current state of tourism research with a focus on the integration of sustainable development in smart tourism destinations [23]. Therefore, it was determined that this would be the optimum methodology for this investigation. This study does not represent the analysis of systematic literature reviews on smart tourism; it only analyses papers on smart tourism destinations with a particular focus on sustainable development that used a systematic literature review research methodology.
To better understand how sustainable development has been included in smart tourism destinations, we conducted a thematic analysis of the data. Our approach to the theme analysis was based on the criteria presented by Thomas and Harden [24]. Our plan was divided into three key phases: (1) initial coding, which involves remaining open to all potential emergent themes suggested by the data readings; (2) focused coding, which involves categorising the data inductively based on the similarity to a specific theme at the level of description [25]; (3) theoretical coding, which involves incorporating thematic categories into fundamental theoretical constructs at a higher level of analysis [26].

2.1. Data Selection

To check the quality of the articles and the relevancy of the information, two rounds of data selection were conducted. In the initial round of selection, we evaluated the articles’ contents independently before discussing and removing those that did not relate to sustainable-development-focused smart tourist destinations. For the second phase of selection, only works using a systematic literature review method were considered. After 2 rounds of data gathering and selection, 20 articles on smart tourism destinations linked to sustainable development were finally verified.

2.2. Criteria for Exclusion and Inclusion of Manuscripts

In a systematic literature review (SLR), criteria of inclusion are used to define the parameters for which studies will be included in the review [27]. These criteria are used to ensure that the studies included in the review are relevant to the research question and are of sufficient quality to be included.
The chosen database yielded 59 published papers. A total of 42 articles remained after the duplicate items were eliminated. Seven of these items were removed because of accessibility limitations. The evaluation of the 35 papers that were left was in depth. After being matched to the criteria for choosing literature, another five studies were excluded from the final synthesis. Ten publications were ignored because the research for the studies was focused on smart tourism destinations and sustainable development without truly examining or defining them. As a result, the PRISMA method synthesis contained a total of 20 papers.
In this section, we will discuss the criteria used for both the inclusion and exclusion of manuscripts in our systematic literature review on smart tourism destinations and sustainable development. Our aim was to ensure that we selected the most relevant and rigorous studies for our review while also ensuring that we did not include any studies that did not meet our criteria.
The criteria for the exclusion of manuscripts included the nature of the issues dealt with, the journal in which the paper appears, the scientific rigor, the originality, and the relevance of the subject [16], integrating sustainable development with smart destinations. The inclusion criteria, meanwhile, perfectly met our research objectives: a clearer and more understandable research methodology, relevant analysis, and the number of citations of the 20 papers selected, as shown in Figure 1.

3. Results

We present the results of each research question’s data analysis in this section. We start by listing the publishing dates that are part of the SLR, the journals in which the selected articles were published, the contexts of the sustainable development applications in the reviewed systematic literature on smart tourism destinations as shown in Table 1, and the research methodologies used as illustrated in Table 2.
To ensure that our review is based on the most current and relevant research, we provide an overview of the publishing dates covered in our study. The studies we included in our review were published between 2017 and 2023 as shown in Table 3, which allowed us to focus on recent research.
By including studies published over the past six years, we were able to capture the latest developments, trends, and perspectives in this field, which is important for making informed conclusions and recommendations.
The annual number of publications published on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development, as illustrated in Figure 2, appeared to be a generally developing trend between 2017 and 2023, reflecting the increasingly extensive attention given to this emerging field of study.
The 20 papers on smart tourism destinations and smart cities in the context of sustainable development that were published in 15 indexed journals are shown in Table 4 as a summary. Almost all the studies selected were from journals with high-impact factors to meet our inclusion criteria, and Journal of Cleaner Production and Sustainable Cities and Society are the first journals in terms of the scientific production of systematic literature reviews on smart tourism/smart cities in the sustainable development context.
A total of 3 papers out of 20 were published in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society, a Q1-indexed journal on Scopus. Three papers issued from the Journal of Cleaner Production, and two other manuscripts were published in Sustainability. The remaining papers were published in prestigious journals that deal with tourism- and hospitality-related topics.
The results indicate that the majority of the studies in this review were published in journals with a focus on sustainability and the environment, such as Sustainable Cities and Society and Journal of Cleaner Production. This suggests that the topic of smart tourism destinations is closely linked to sustainable development and environmental management.
The sustainable development goals and the adoption of green IT emerged as the most prevalent research areas on smart tourism destinations and smart cities in the sustainable development context (25%), followed by smart energy and waste management (15%). Several papers focused on smart governance, business ecosystems in destinations, and modelling sustainable smart destinations (10%).
The research methodologies followed in almost half of the treated manuscripts were based on qualitative data analysis and mixed methods (50%). Four papers opted for the PRISMA method, four were conducted using mixed methods, and three other studies were based on the metasynthesis approach.
The word cloud provided in Figure 3 shows that the most frequent terms appear as larger and more prominent, while the less frequent terms appear smaller. The word cloud is centred around the most frequently mentioned terms, which are “smart tourism”, “sustainability”, and “sustainable development”, each with a frequency of 11 or more.
Other terms that appear prominently in the word cloud include “smart city”, “sustainable tourism”, “smart destination”, and “smart tourism destination”, each with a frequency of six or more. Additionally, terms such as “COVID-19,”, “big data analytics”, and “social network analysis” are smaller and less prominent in the word cloud, as they have lower frequencies (three or less).
The word cloud visually represents the most important and frequently mentioned terms related to tourism, with a focus on the concepts of smart and sustainable tourism and the intersection of technology and sustainability.
After conducting a systematic literature review of the 20 papers dealing with smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development, several key themes emerged. First, there is a consensus among the authors that smart tourism destination development has the potential to significantly contribute to the sustainable development goals [9,41,45]. Second, a sustainable approach is essential to the success of smart tourism destination development, and digitalization and the use of big data are crucial tools for achieving sustainable development [31,32,33]. Third, stakeholder involvement is crucial to ensure social and environmental sustainability, and waste management, energy conservation, and governance are important areas for sustainable development [3]. Fourth, a holistic approach is necessary that considers social, economic, and environmental sustainability, and the sharing economy and agile business ecosystems may also play significant roles [35,39]. Finally, there is a need for further research to fully understand the concept of sustainable smart tourism destination development and its practical implications. This systematic literature review highlights the importance of considering sustainability as an integral part of smart tourism destination development.

4. Discussion

Research on smart tourism destinations within the context of sustainable development has evolved over time to reflect changes in technology and the increasing importance of sustainability in the tourism industry.
Our findings indicate that there was a general growing trend in the annual numbers of papers published on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development between 2017 and 2023, indicating the increased global attention to this emerging research. Recently, several systematic literature reviews have been completed, focusing only on smart tourism or sustainable tourism, but little research has focused on smart tourism destinations in a sustainability context.
Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainable Cities and Society, and Sustainability were the first journals in terms of the scientific production of systematic literature reviews on smart tourism in the context of sustainable development, and almost all of the studies chosen were from journals with high-impact factors to meet our inclusion criteria. There are few publications in tourism and hospitality journals in this research area.
The review of the literature on smart tourism destinations in a sustainable development context has revealed that there is growing interest in this emerging research area, with a focus on achieving the sustainable development goals [9,41,45] and the adoption of green IT [31,33,40]. This has been achieved through the implementation of various smart city technologies and strategies, such as the use of big data and digital solutions to optimise resource use and enhance the overall sustainability of destinations.
The findings suggest that smart tourism destinations can play a significant role in promoting sustainable development and improving the quality of life [46] for both residents and visitors [32]. The implementation of smart city technologies and strategies can help to reduce waste and improve energy efficiency [30,42,44], thereby reducing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and local communities [47].
Another important aspect that has evolved in the research on smart tourism is the focus on the governance of smart tourism destinations [8,43]. Research has been conducted to understand the role of governance in implementing smart solutions, as well as its role in ensuring that smart tourism is aligned with the principles of sustainable development.
The research conducted on smart cities is much more important than the studies on smart destinations [48]. The creation of smart cities has also been seen as a prerequisite for the establishment of smart tourism destinations [3,49]. The principles of smart cities are also accepted and debated in relation to smart tourism destinations [3]. Smart cities and sustainable development are two concepts that go hand in hand. The principles of smart cities related to sustainable development focus on promoting the efficient use of resources, protecting the environment, and enhancing the quality of life for citizens. Smart cities aim to create sustainable and resilient urban environments that support economic growth, social progress, and environmental protection [50]. A recent study has shown that many smart tourism efforts were created out of smart city projects [51]. When these smart city principles are examined through the prism of various definitions, it becomes clear that the use of the word “smart” in connection with the concepts of governance, the environment, mobility, the economy, people, and living is an example of vagueness (i.e., there is a lack of clarity regarding this concept in the tourism literature) [52].
Studies on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development have yielded several key insights and results, including: (1) the importance of ICTs and an emphasis on the critical role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing smart tourism destinations [53]; (2) the importance of stakeholder collaboration between various actors in the success of smart tourism destinations, including government, local communities, and tourism businesses [35,54]; (3) studies have shown that smart tourism destinations can increase the economic benefits for local communities [55] through job creation and increased tourist spending [39,56]; (4) the use of technology can help reduce the negative environmental impacts of tourism through, for example, better waste management and energy efficiency [30,44,57]; (5) smart tourism destinations can contribute to the social sustainability of local communities by, for example, involving local residents in tourism planning and decision making [58].
Because our research solely focuses on systematic literature reviews, mixed-method studies and analyses of qualitative data predominated among the papers we examined. These have been the techniques used most frequently in research, using both comprehensive reviews and the meta-analysis methods. Semantic network analyses, scientometric analyses, integrative reviews, and critical reviews are all significantly present in the investigations. The most popular diagram approach is the Prisma flow. All of the evaluated studies employed systematic methods for conducting literature reviews as part of their study approaches. In this regard, our SLR demonstrates that theoretical techniques are still being used in research on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development.
This review reveals that there is still much to be learned about the development of smart tourism destinations in a sustainable development context. Future research should focus on exploring the potentials of new and emerging technologies and strategies, such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things [59], to further optimise resource use and enhance the sustainability and resilience of smart tourism destinations [60]. In addition, more research is needed to better understand the social and cultural impacts of these technologies and strategies, as well as their potentials to create equitable and inclusive destinations for all [61].
A research agenda for smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development involves several key areas of investigation. These include the following: (1) the role of smart tourism in promoting sustainable tourism practices in order to examine how the use of digital technologies, such as mobile apps and social media, can be used to promote them, such as reducing carbon emissions, protecting natural resources, and supporting local communities; (2) the use of data analytics in monitoring and evaluating the environmental impacts of tourism to explore how data analytics can be used do so, and how this information can be used to improve the sustainability of tourism operations; (3) the role of stakeholder collaboration in promoting sustainable smart tourism to examine the ways in which different stakeholders, such as tourism providers, local authorities, and environmental organizations, can work together to create and implement sustainable smart tourism initiatives, taking into account accessibility [62]; (4) the use of technology in promoting sustainable behaviours among tourists to focus on how smart tourism technologies, such as mobile apps, can be used to promote sustainable behaviours among tourists, such as reducing energy consumption and water usage [63]; (5) the relationship between smart tourism and biodiversity conservation to look into how smart tourism can be used to enhance biodiversity conservation and support the sustainable development goals; (6) research on smart tourism and the circular economy, which will investigate how smart technologies can support the implementation of circular economy principles in the tourism sector, including reducing waste, reusing resources, and promoting sustainable consumption; (7) smart tourism in the context of natural disasters and climate change in order to analyse how smart technologies can help destinations to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from their impacts; (8) the contribution of smart destinations to social inclusion through the leveraging of technology and innovation to create more accessible, equitable, and inclusive tourism experiences; (9) cultural heritage preservation and its implications for smart destinations, which can be achieved by digitizing and preserving local cultural heritages, such as ancient monuments, artifacts, and artworks.
The research agenda for smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development should focus on understanding how smart technologies can be leveraged to create more sustainable and responsible tourism experiences while minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and communities.

5. Conclusions and Implications

Since the development of digital technologies and their adoption in tourism and hospitality research, there has been an increase in the body of literature on smart tourism destinations. The purpose of this paper was to identify and analyse 20 related papers on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development through a systematic literature review. These data sets were taken from the Scopus database for the years 2017–2023, and they were examined using a variety of systematic approaches: including and excluding criteria, database-selected methods, and qualitative data analysis. This work focused on identifying the overall concept of performing systematic reviews in order to precisely examine sets of various systematic literature reviews, including their years of publication, research topics, journals, and methodologies.
The results of the STD systematic literature study were highly comprehensive and included many essential themes in numerous fields. Additionally, the field has grown considerably in recent years, and this trend is anticipated to continue. This is in addition to the fact that several journals are engaged in publishing STD papers, which reflects the variety of topics covered in relation to STDs and demonstrates the significance of its different economic sectors.
The relevance of integrating technology and sustainability into tourist destinations is shown by the comprehensive literature studies on smart tourism destinations and sustainable development. The evaluation has demonstrated the need for more studies in this field, and notably in the creation of innovative and more efficient strategies for promoting sustainable tourism practices. The results of this review have significant repercussions for stakeholders, practitioners, and policymakers in the tourism sector and serve as a foundation for future research paths. It is intended that the knowledge gathered from this systematic literature review will advance this field of study and aid in the creation of more environmentally friendly tourist destinations.
Our results show that, between 2017 and 2023, there was a general increase in the number of papers published annually on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development, showing greater worldwide interest in this developing research. There have been a number of systematic literature reviews recently that have concentrated exclusively on smart tourism or sustainable tourism [64], but there are few studies on smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainability.
Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainable Cities and Society, and Sustainability are the pioneer journals in terms of the scientific production of systematic literature reviews on smart tourism in the context of sustainable development. Nearly all of the studies selected were from journals with high-impact factors to meet our inclusion criteria.
Mixed-method studies and qualitative data analyses prevailed among the publications we examined, while our study is restricted to systematic literature reviews.
With a focus on achieving the sustainable development goals [65] and the adoption of green IT [66], the assessment of the literature on smart tourist destinations in a sustainable development framework showed that there is significant interest in this new research subject. This was accomplished by putting into practise a number of smart city technologies and techniques, including the use of big data and digital tools, to optimise resource consumption and improve an area’s general sustainability.
The emphasis on destination governance is another significant development in the field of smart tourism research. Research has been conducted to comprehend the function of governance in putting smart solutions into practice, as well as the function of governance in making sure that smart tourism adheres to the principles of sustainable development.
Overall, the literature suggests that smart tourism has the potential to improve the sustainability of tourism, but it is important to address the potential negative impacts and ensure that the technology is used in a responsible and equitable way.
This paper provides a research agenda for smart tourism destinations in the context of sustainable development that should focus on understanding how smart technologies can be leveraged to create more sustainable and responsible tourism experiences while minimizing the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and communities.
As only one language from the chosen manuscripts was used in the current work, it is recommended that more languages be used in future studies to strengthen the findings. It is also suggested that this research be continued in order to confirm the development and appearance of new themes associated with the concerned keywords.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.E.A. and L.D.D.; methodology, Y.E.A.; software, B.B.; validation, L.D.D., Y.E.A. and B.B.; formal analysis, L.D.D.; investigation, Y.E.A.; resources, Z.N.; data curation, Y.I.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.E.A.; writing—review and editing, L.D.D.; visualization, G.I.V.; supervision, L.D.D.; funding acquisition, Y.E.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sustainability 15 05086 g001 550
Figure 1. PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 1. PRISMA flow diagram.
Sustainability 15 05086 g001
Sustainability 15 05086 g002 550
Figure 2. Distribution of papers by year.
Figure 2. Distribution of papers by year.
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Figure 3. Word cloud derived from R programming language (biblioshiny: web interface of the bibliometrix package).
Figure 3. Word cloud derived from R programming language (biblioshiny: web interface of the bibliometrix package).
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Table
Table 1. Distribution of 20 papers by research area.
Table 1. Distribution of 20 papers by research area.
Research AreaNumber of StudiesPercentage
SDG achievement525.00
The adoption of green IT525.00
Smart energy and waste management315.00
Smart governance210.00
Business ecosystems in destinations210.00
Modelling sustainable smart destinations210.00
The sharing economy15.00
Source: Authors.
Table
Table 2. Distribution of 20 papers by methodology.
Table 2. Distribution of 20 papers by methodology.
MethodologyNumber of StudiesPercentage
Mixed methods525.00
Qualitative data analysis525.00
Metasynthesis approach312.51
PRISMA method316.68
Semantic network analysis14.17
Scientometric analysis14.17
Integrative review14.17
Critical review14.17
Source: Authors.
Table
Table 3. Distribution of 20 papers by theme.
Table 3. Distribution of 20 papers by theme.
AuthorsDatesThemes
Zheng et al. [28]2020From digital to sustainable: a smart city review
Shafiee et al. [10]2019Developing a model for sustainable smart tourist destinations
Yigitcanlar et al. [29]2019Without being sustainable, can cities become smart?
Kim et al. [30]2021Smart energy conservation system and sustainable smart cities
Rodrigues et al. [31]2022Improving sustainable development through the digitalization of tourism
Lee et al. [9]2020The smart tourism city: changes and developments
Bouzguenda et al. [32]2019The role of the digital citizen in social sustainability towards smart sustainable cities
Rahmadian et al. [33]2022The use of big data in sustainable tourist destinations
Otowicz et al. [34]2022The levels and dimensions of smart tourism
Buhalis et al. [35]2023From smart cities and smart tourism to agile business ecosystems in networked destinations
Lim et al. [36]2019The outcomes of smart city development
Himeur et al. [37]2022Transfer learning in sustainable smart cities
Tomor et al. [38]2019Smart governance for sustainable cities
Akande et al. [39]2020The sharing economy and its implications for sustainable smart cities
García Revilla et al. [40]2022A commitment to technology–sustainability for smart tourism destinations
Trindade et al. [41]2017The sustainable development of smart cities
Zhou [42]2022Smart cities and sustainable airport energy ecosystems
De Guimarães et al. [43]2020Governance and quality of life in smart cities
Esmaeilian et al. [44]2018Waste management in smart and sustainable cities
Branny et al. [45]2022Smart green cities
Source: Authors.
Table
Table 4. Distribution of 20 papers by journal.
Table 4. Distribution of 20 papers by journal.
JournalsNumber of StudiesPercentage
Sustainable Cities and Society315.00
Journal of Cleaner Production315.00
Sustainability210.00
Current Issues in Tourism15.00
Journal of Smart Tourism15.00
Tourism Management Perspectives15.00
Information Technology & Tourism15.00
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management15.00
Cities15.00
Waste Management15.00
Journal of Urban Technology15.00
Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity15.00
Energy Reviews15.00
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews15.00
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability15.00
Source: Authors.
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El Archi, Y.; Benbba, B.; Nizamatdinova, Z.; Issakov, Y.; Vargáné, G.I.; Dávid, L.D. Systematic Literature Review Analysing Smart Tourism Destinations in Context of Sustainable Development: Current Applications and Future Directions. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065086

AMA Style

El Archi Y, Benbba B, Nizamatdinova Z, Issakov Y, Vargáné GI, Dávid LD. Systematic Literature Review Analysing Smart Tourism Destinations in Context of Sustainable Development: Current Applications and Future Directions. Sustainability. 2023; 15(6):5086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065086

Chicago/Turabian Style

El Archi, Youssef, Brahim Benbba, Zhulduz Nizamatdinova, Yerlan Issakov, Gálicz Ivett Vargáné, and Lóránt Dénes Dávid. 2023. "Systematic Literature Review Analysing Smart Tourism Destinations in Context of Sustainable Development: Current Applications and Future Directions" Sustainability 15, no. 6: 5086. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065086

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