The Evolution of Digital Ecosystems in Tourism under Emerging Technologies and Platform Discourse Dynamics

Abstract This study investigates the longitudinal evolution of digital platform ecosystems in tourism in the context of rapid advances in artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, and data-driven platform orchestration. Using a bibliometric analysis of 447 Web of Science-indexed publications published between 2015 and 2026, combined with an exploratory discourse analysis of Booking.com corporate communications, the study examines the thematic transformation of smart tourism research across three temporal phases: digital infrastructure ecosystems (2015–2019), adaptive platform coordination systems (2020–2022), and AI-driven intelligent tourism ecosystems (2023–2026). The findings reveal a progressive shift from infrastructure-oriented digitalization toward increasingly intelligent and interconnected tourism ecosystems integrating AI-enabled personalization, conversational interaction, immersive experiences, governance coordination, sustainability management, and predictive analytics. The results further demonstrate the growing convergence between academic smart tourism research and platform-level strategic discourse, particularly regarding generative AI, ecosystem orchestration, adaptive governance, and sustainability-oriented coordination mechanisms. The study contributes to the emerging literature on digital platform ecosystems by proposing a longitudinal conceptual interpretation of tourism platform evolution and by demonstrating how tourism platforms increasingly operate as intelligent so-cio-technical orchestrators rather than transactional intermediaries. The findings pro-vide theoretical and managerial implications for researchers, tourism organizations, and digital platform stakeholders navigating the next generation of AI-driven tourism ecosystems.