Publication:

European capital of smart tourism: an initiative to promote the tourism industry

This theoretical chapter tries to underpin the European Capital of Smart Tourism initiative that was launched in 2018 for the cities of the European Union. It therefore starts with an introduction to smart tourism and to the meaning of a smart tourism city. It follows this with a description of the impact of the smart tourism city award on the European Union, and the rules of the challenge, emphasising the good practice of the two 2019 winning cities, Helsinki and Lyon. Finally, some recommendations for future research and a conclusion are given.