The relationship between smart cities and smart tourism in low density regions

The main aim of the smart cities initiative is to enable cities to manage their assets efficiently, investing in innovation and creativity as a way to promote sustainable and inclusive development. When talking about such an emergent and promising area as smart cities, it is important to understand the relationship between them and smart tourism, especially in small and medium-sized inland cities. The Portuguese Smart Cities Network comprises 46 Municipalities spread across the national territory. In this network, there are visibly fewer cities located inland. It is clear that the increasing tourist interest in Portugal is mainly targeted at big cities. It was this evidence that led to the present study, which focuses on determining whether the inland cities considered to be smart cities may be an alternative to this tourist flow. In order to answer this and other questions, a survey was conducted and the results are presented in this study.