Smart Tourism via Digital Governance: A case for Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes

Abstract

In order to establish policies that promote sustainable tourism, while selling out Korea’s local culture and products, there is a need to highlight the roles played by smart city prospects and digital governance. This paper focuses on Jeju Island and draws on its rich cultural and natural heritage for policy and to understand tourism and regional value creation by the community and other stakeholders. This paper hinges on existing (OECD, 2016) framework, which considers digital governance as a co-evolutionary process that connects public governance and public sector innovation. This paper contributes to theory and practice of tourism by highlighting Jeju’s efforts to place digital services at the core of government operations and tourism service delivery on the Island. The paper uses the case study research methodology to extend knowledge on strategies and frameworks of digital governance, and applies this framework to tourism strategies in Jeju Island. Since there are complexities embedded in using smart tourism as avenues for global tourism attractions in small regions, the research theoretically sheds light on existing trends in smart tourism, and then present policy directions and recommendations for each stakeholder.

Keywords: Smart Tourism, Digital Governance, Ecosystems, Jeju Island, etc

Highlights: Smart and green city prospects are channels for sustainable tourism; Public sector service provisions, if digital will make a country benefit from a successful transition to 4^th industrial revolution; and Small Islands must coexist with several stakeholders to achieve smart tourism