Smart tourism for smart city. An exploratory analysis of tourism digital start-ups: The case of Italy

Smart tourism, or tourism shaped by new digital technologies, such as internet of things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), etc., is a fundamental, albeit frequently unrecognized, dimension of smart cities. Indeed, for more than a decade now, smart tourism has been continuously evolving leading to the emergence of new service providers and thus, offering innovative solutions improving not only the tourists' experience but also the quality of life of local, city, residents. However, the debate is just beginning especially with regard to the role of tourism start-ups in contributing to the development of smart and sustainable tourism cities. Thus, this chapter examines tourism start-ups, on the one hand, adopting new digital technologies, and on the other hand, their growing interconnectedness with the smart city ICT-enhanced fabric. To do so, the study explores the digital start-ups established in Italy and operating in the tourism sector. Results allow us to provide a classification of these start-ups based on the innovative solutions proposed and, therefore, identify their contribution to smart cities' economy, people, governance, mobility, environment, and living. Accordingly, this chapter contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between smart tourism and smart city. Moreover, it can help policymakers develop innovative and sustainable solutions contributing to the successful digital transition of tourism cities.