Is smart scary? A mixed-methods study on privacy in smart tourism

This paper investigates privacy concerns in smart tourism, in which personal data fuels systems and services developed to enhance tourists’ experiences. A mixed-methods approach, involving semi-structured interviews (N = 34) and a survey among travellers from the UK and Spain (N = 1,019), was adopted. Findings from the qualitative study suggest that privacy concerns in smart tourism are built on preceding factors, including risk associated with use of different types of technology, past experiences with data misuse, and unawareness of data management practices. To cope with these, tourists adopt different strategies to protect their data. Results from the quantitative study reveal that privacy concerns influence actual behaviours and limit data disclosure. Different agents managing tourists’ personal data generate varying levels of privacy concerns. These findings have critical implications for tourism organizations and policy makers, posing the need to rethink the ramifications of smart tourism development for tourists and to devise appropriate strategies to address them.