This paper introduces a comprehensive interview guide aimed at enhancing smart tourism research. It discusses the integration of digital technology in tourism, highlighting the importance of understanding tourists’ experiences in this evolving landscape. By focusing on qualitative research through interviews, the study delves into tourists’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors toward technology in tourism. It underscores the necessity of a flexible and thorough interview guide for capturing the complexities of digital transformation in the tourism industry, providing valuable insights for improving smart tourism experiences. This research contributes to the academic discourse on smart tourism, offering a systematic approach to exploring technology’s impact on tourism and suggesting future research directions to enrich the field further.

1. Islam MS, Fariba A, Sarker AMJ, et al. Innovating organizational culture: The impact of ethical leadership and organizational justice. Advances in Management 2022; 15: 4.
2. Sustacha I, Baños-Pino JF, Del Valle E. The role of technology in enhancing the tourism experience in smart destinations: A meta-analysis. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2023; 30: 100817. doi: 10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100817
3. Rong J, Hao H, Xu W. Big data intelligent tourism management platform design based on abnormal behavior identification. Intelligent Systems with Applications 2024; 21: 200312. doi: 10.1016/j.iswa.2023.200312
4. Novera CN, Ahmed Z, Kushol R, et al. Internet of Things (IoT) in smart tourism: A literature review. Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC 2022; 26(3): 325–344. doi: 10.1108/sjme-03-2022-0035
5. Nieves-Pavón S, López-Mosquera N, Jiménez-Naranjo H. The role emotions play in loyalty and WOM intention in a Smart Tourism Destination Management. Cities 2024; 145: 104681. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2023.104681
6. Muniz ECL, Dandolini GA, Biz AA, et al. Customer knowledge management and smart tourism destinations: A framework for the smart management of the tourist experience – SMARTUR. Journal of Knowledge Management 2020; 25(5): 1336–1361. doi: 10.1108/jkm-07-2020-0529
7. Mota B, Rua OL, Neira-Gómez I. New advances in science mapping and performance analysis of the open innovation and tourism relationship. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity 2024; 10(1): 100154. doi: 10.1016/j.joitmc.2023.100154
8. Hu H, Li C. Smart tourism products and services design based on user experience under the background of big data. Soft Computing 2023; 27(17): 12711–12724. doi: 10.1007/s00500-023-08851-0
9. Gelter J, Lexhagen M, Fuchs M. A meta-narrative analysis of smart tourism destinations: Implications for tourism destination management. Current Issues in Tourism 2020; 24(20): 2860–2874. doi: 10.1080/13683500.2020.1849048
10. Islam MS, Kirillova K. Non-verbal communication in hospitality: At the intersection of religion and gender. International Journal of Hospitality Management 2020; 84: 102326. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.102326
11. Mandić A, Kennell J. Smart governance for heritage tourism destinations: Contextual factors and destination management organization perspectives. Tourism Management Perspectives 2021; 39: 100862. doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2021.100862
12. Ercan F. Smart tourism destination: A bibliometric review. European Journal of Tourism Research 2023; 34: 3409. doi: 10.54055/ejtr.v34i.2788
13. Kontogianni A, Alepis E. Smart tourism: State of the art and literature review for the last six years. Array 2020; 6: 100020. doi: 10.1016/j.array.2020.100020
14. Balakrishnan J, Dwivedi YK, Malik FT, et al. Role of smart tourism technology in heritage tourism development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 2021; 31(11): 2506–2525. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2021.1995398
15. Benaddi L, Ouaddi C, Jakimi A, et al. Towards a software factory for developing the chatbots in smart tourism mobile applications. Procedia Computer Science 2023; 231: 275–280. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2023.12.203
16. Cimbaljević M, Demirović Bajrami D, Kovačić S, et al. Employees’ technology adoption in the context of smart tourism development: The role of technological acceptance and technological readiness. European Journal of Innovation Management 2023. doi: 10.1108/ejim-09-2022-0516
17. Bastidas-Manzano AB, Sánchez-Fernández J, Casado-Aranda LA. The past, present, and future of smart tourism destinations: A bibliometric analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 2020; 45(3): 529–552. doi: 10.1177/1096348020967062
18. Azizzadeh F, Islam MS, Naushin N, et al. Modeling employees’ skills for sustainable banking services. Frontiers in Sociology 2022; 7. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.985158
19. Azizzadeh F, Islam MS, Elvis Massey V, et al. Sources of women’s power in government organizations: A phenomenological study. The International Journal of Organizational Diversity 2022; 23(1): 1–19. doi: 10.18848/2328-6261/cgp/v23i01/1-19
20. Gelter J, Fuchs M, Lexhagen M. Making sense of smart tourism destinations: A qualitative text analysis from Sweden. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 2022; 23: 100690. doi: 10.1016/j.jdmm.2022.100690
21. Islam MS, Islam MS, Khan T, et al. Umbrella review in Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM): Developing models for adoption and sustaining GSCM. Environmental Challenges 2023; 14: 100820. doi: 10.1016/j.envc.2023.100820
22. Alharmoodi AA, Khan M, Mertzanis C, et al. Co-creation and critical factors for the development of an efficient public e-tourism system. Journal of Business Research 2024; 174: 114519. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114519
23. Chang X, Wang S, Ding D. Training quality evaluation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents for smart tourism. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) 2023; 18(15): 174–188. doi: 10.3991/ijet.v18i15.42385
24. Selem KM, Khalid R, Raza M, et al. We need digital inquiries before arrival! Key drivers of hotel customers’ willingness to pay premium. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism 2023; 1–23. doi: 10.1080/1528008x.2023.2280117
25. Chen JK, Prebensen NS, Uysal M. Introduction: Convergence of experience science in tourism, hospitality, and leisure. In: Handbook of Experience Science. Edward Elgar Publishing; 2024. doi: 10.4337/9781803926902.00007
26. Corrêa SCH, Gosling MS. Travelers’ perception of smart tourism experiences in smart tourism destinations. Tourism Planning & Development 2020; 18(4): 415–434. doi: 10.1080/21568316.2020.1798689
27. Vecchio PD, Mele G, Ndou V, et al. Creating value from social big data: Implications for smart tourism destinations. Information Processing & Management 2018; 54(5): 847–860. doi: 10.1016/j.ipm.2017.10.006
28. Barbosa de Freitas HB, Filho LM. Smart tourism destination initiatives in the city of Natal-RN: A qualitative approach. Smart Tourism 2021; 2(1). doi: 10.54517/st.v2i1.1721
29. Hung NP, Khoa BT. Applying smart tourism management in Vietnam after Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative research. Quality - Access to Success 2023; 24(194). doi: 10.47750/qas/24.194.01
30. Hunter WC, Chung N, Gretzel U, et al. Constructivist research in smart tourism. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems 2015; 25(1): 105–120. doi: 10.14329/apjis.2015.25.1.105
31. Islam MS, Islam MS, Quader P. Exploring the role of islamic teachings in ethical leadership for green supply Chain management: A research note. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, Ekonomi dan Bisnis 2023; 8(1): 7–16.
32. Shafiee S, Rajabzadeh Ghatari A, Hasanzadeh A, et al. Smart tourism destinations: A systematic review. Tourism Review 2021; 76(3): 505–528. doi: 10.1108/tr-06-2019-0235
33. Azizzadeh F, Basir SM, Islam MS, Ali M. The Covid-19 pandemic and economy—A study on Bangladesh. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, Ekonomi dan Bisnis 2023; 7(2): 19–26.
34. Ballina FJ. Smart business: The element of delay in the future of smart tourism. Journal of Tourism Futures 2020; 8(1): 37–54. doi: 10.1108/jtf-02-2020-0018
35. Buhalis D, O’Connor P, Leung R. Smart hospitality: From smart cities and smart tourism towards agile business ecosystems in networked destinations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 2022; 35(1): 369–393. doi: 10.1108/ijchm-04-2022-0497
36. Buhalis D, Islam MS. Moment of truth. In: Buhalis D (editor). Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. Edward Elgar Publishing; 2022. doi: 10.4337/9781800377486
37. Islam MS, Azizzadeh F, Zupok S. Business research process: Easing beginners’ attempt. Journal of Contemporary Research in Business Administration and Economic Sciences (JCR-BAES) 2022; 1(4): 67–80.
38. Islam MS, Ahmed AK, Azizzadeh F, et al. Workplace bullying causes employee turnover: A responsible human resource management approach. The International Journal of Organizational Diversity 2023; 23(2): 17–36. doi: 10.18848/2328-6261/cgp/v23i02/17-36
39. Islam MS, Azizzadeh F, Laachach A, et al. Halal tourism’s themes, theories and methods: A general literature review. Journal of Tourism & Development 2023; 41.
40. Islam MS. Striking a paradoxical balance: Shakespearean insights for hospitality management. Tourism and Hospitality Research 2023; 14673584231188917.
41. Islam MS, Azizzadeh F, Zupok S, et al. Service employees’ expressions of emotions in restaurants: A transcendental phenomenology study. Journal of Environmental Management & Tourism 2022; 13(6): 1681–1796.
42. Mehraliyev F, Choi Y, Köseoglu MA. Progress on smart tourism research. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology 2019; 10(4): 522–538. doi: 10.1108/jhtt-08-2018-0076
43. Nematpour M, Khodadadi M, Makian S, et al. Developing a competitive and sustainable model for the future of a destination: Iran’s tourism competitiveness. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration 2022; 25(1): 92–124. doi: 10.1080/15256480.2022.2081279
44. Islam MS, Kirillova K. Nonverbal communication in hotels as a medium of experience co-creation. Tourism Management 2021; 87: 104363. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104363
45. O’Connor P. Small- and medium-sized tourism enterprises and smart tourism: Tourism Agenda 2030 perspective article. Tourism Review 2023; 78(2): 339–343. doi: 10.1108/tr-09-2022-0431
46. Selem KM, Islam MS, Aureliano-Silva L, et al. Nexus of customer adaptation to mannequins with visit intention to full-service restaurants: Role of spatial layout. International Journal of Hospitality Management 2023; 115: 103608. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103608
47. Selem KM, Sinha R, Khalid R, et al. Trade-off between future travel avoidance and self-protectiveness post-COVID-19: The roles of adventurousness and safety-seeking tendency. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights 2023; 7(1): 227–248. doi: 10.1108/jhti-09-2022-0432
48. Lee P, Zach FJ, Chung N. Progress in smart tourism 2010–2017: A systematic literature review. Journal of Smart Tourism 2021; 1(1): 19–30. doi: 10.52255/smarttourism.2021.1.1.4
49. Wang G, Azizzadeh F, Mohammadaminzadeh L, et al. Experience of principals in private educational institutions to find sources of income: A qualitative approach. The International Journal of Educational Organization and Leadership 2022; 29(2): 89–101. doi: 10.18848/2329-1656/cgp/v29i02/89-101