IS TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT IN SERBIA ALIGNED WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF SMART TOURIST DESTINATIONS?

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify tourists' satisfaction with ICT performance in two tourist destinations in Serbia. In addition, one of the goals of the research is to determine the weaknesses and strengths of the tourist offer at the destinations, in order to choose an adequate tourism development strategy in the future to improve the competitiveness of the tourist offer in Serbia and possibly find patterns of development between different destinations. Methodology – Measuring the importance and satisfaction with the performance of smart technologies was carried out in two destinations, Novi Sad and Vrnjačka Banja (Serbia). IPA analysis was used to assess the importance and performance of 38 attributes related to ICT in the selected destinations. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify groups of smart technologies that tourists consider when evaluating smart tourist destinations. Findings – When examining individual components, the ICT tourism offer in Novi Sad and Vrnjačka Banja are evaluated as fairly low. The results of the analysis showed that Novi Sad, is a more competitive destination than Vrnjačka Banja in terms of the deployment of smart technologies. Contribution – The analysis of weaknesses and strengths can be particularly insightful in revealing what is prioritized more and what is viewed as less crucially, for the overall experience and satisfaction of tourists in order to improve the tourist experience. The results of this research provide practical knowledge for DMOs and tourism companies, to understand the benefits of smart tourism as an important direction in improving the competitiveness of a tourist destination.