Smart Data and its Analytics in Destination Management and Marketing

The chapter analyses the possibilities of the use of smart data in the context of destination management and marketing within the network science. Smart data are the combination of traditional data with big data, adding layers of veracity and value, facilitating real-time usage and the appropriate dissemination of trends. Traditional methods of collecting data in tourism destinations (e.g. surveys, archival records, accommodation statistics) provide past static data and their collection is often time-consuming and misleading (e.g. high non-response rate in surveys, counting only overnight stays). Therefore, there is a challenge in destination management and marketing of shifting attention to smart data and their analysis. As tourism destinations are complex systems, the network science is a powerful approach for investigating the structural characteristics and dynamics of destinations. Therefore, social network analysis based on smart data is used to examine the cooperation, leadership and knowledge transfer among destination stakeholders. Further, tourist behaviour is analysed by time series mapped into complex networks, while the analysis of their mobility using centrality measures of network analysis provides recommendations on the dynamic construct of a destination based on strategic visitor flows. The chapter fills the gap in the destination management and marketing research by providing recommendations for smarter data collection and analysis, which will be profitable for destination managers and marketers.