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An Evaluation of the Importance of Smart Tourism Tools in the Riobamba Canton, Ecuador

Author

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  • Danny Daniel Castillo Vizuete

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur, Km 1 ½, Riobamba EC-060155, Ecuador)

  • Alex Vinicio Gavilanes Montoya

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur, Km 1 ½, Riobamba EC-060155, Ecuador)

  • Eduardo Antonio Muñoz Jácome

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur, Km 1 ½, Riobamba EC-060155, Ecuador)

  • Carlos Renato Chávez Velásquez

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur, Km 1 ½, Riobamba EC-060155, Ecuador)

  • Stelian Alexandru Borz

    (Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, Şirul Beethoven 1, 500123 Brasov, Romania)

Abstract

The use of the state-of-art information and communication technology has been found to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of the tourism industry and many countries have chosen to implement smart tourism tools as a strategy to adapt to the continuously changing profile of tourists. While there are many tools which could be implemented for such endeavors, the evaluation of the tourist preferences in relation to their use and importance needs to be done so as to ensure at least the sustainability of investments and of the local development strategies. The Chimborazo Fauna Reserve (canton of Riobamba, Ecuador) was selected for the application of a questionnaire survey to evaluate the importance of 38 smart tourism tools based on the experience of Ecuadorian and international tourists with them. The survey considered more than 700 respondents and 500 valid questionnaires were retained for analysis which was done mainly by developing distributions of the relative frequencies of ratings given on a 5-point Likert scale and by a correspondence analysis at the level of two subsamples: national and international tourists. There were obvious differences between these two groups in terms of importance placed on the smart tourism tools. The first difference was that the Ecuadorian tourists found less utility in the smart tools as compared to the international tourists. The second difference was that the best rated tools in terms of importance were different among the two groups, with the international tourists placing, for instance, more importance on safety-related tools. Correspondence analysis has shown the similarities of profiles and data association, being a useful tool of associating the ratings to the evaluated tools. The knowledge gained by the survey may be helpful in supporting the development of local tourist strategies, providing at the same time valuable data to support preference comparisons with other tourist destinations and countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Danny Daniel Castillo Vizuete & Alex Vinicio Gavilanes Montoya & Eduardo Antonio Muñoz Jácome & Carlos Renato Chávez Velásquez & Stelian Alexandru Borz, 2021. "An Evaluation of the Importance of Smart Tourism Tools in the Riobamba Canton, Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9436-:d:619643
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Danny Daniel Castillo Vizuete & Alex Vinicio Gavilanes Montoya & Gabriela Estefanía Román Santamaría, 2023. "Evaluation of the Importance of rural tourist attractions in Riobamba Canton, Ecuador," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 200-210, June.
    2. Vitor Rodrigues & Celeste Eusébio & Zélia Breda, 2023. "Enhancing sustainable development through tourism digitalisation: a systematic literature review," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 13-45, March.
    3. Chris Roberts & Joel Reynolds & Mary Jo Dolasinski, 2022. "Meta-Analysis of Tourism Sustainability Research: 2019–2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.

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