An Economic Approach to Smart Tourism (Tourism 4.0) Technologies: The Case of Turkey

The 21st century is the beginning of a period in which the phenomena of globalization and digitalization are experienced rapidly, and the concept of Industry 4.0 stands out in all world economies. The digital predisposition of today's tourists also shapes their expectations from tourism businesses. For this reason, it is preferred that tourism enterprises are original and technology-oriented. Therefore, developments in technology and innovation in the process experienced with Industry 4.0 increase the competitiveness of tourism enterprises at the point of digital transformation. For smart (digital) tourism, tourism enterprises should make the necessary investments, allocate a budget in this direction, create financing and organize the necessary training for the workforce they will employ. This study aims to examine smart tourism (tourism 4.0) technologies within the scope of the tourism economy through the example of Turkey. In this direction, the economic contributions of the tourism industry in Turkey and the data on the digitalization process have been analyzed through tables and graphs. Based on the findings obtained in the study, it has been stated that the technological transformations with smart tourism have the potential to increase the number of tourists coming to a country, tourism revenues and the share of tourism revenues in gross domestic product (GDP).