Smart Technology Effecting Tourism Development in Albania
Abstract
The concept of tourism represents a wide field of research and development, especially considering the global dimensions it is taking. In Albania, the tourism sector has become one of the most important sectors of economic development, especially in recent years when attention has increased in the international arena. The financial and social impact has begun to be experienced, when seeing that almost all figures in the tourism components show growth. The earthquake of November 26, 2019, and especially the isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, had a negative impact, that limited the development and investment capacities in this sector. As a result of the great opportunities that our country offers in the field of tourism, technology has played a no less important role, especially for promotion to foreigners. The standardization of services has come as a result of awareness on development opportunities, but also as a result of constant demands and models borrowed from other countries, where digital transformation also undoubtedly plays a role. Another element affected in this study is the digitalization of business in the provision method of the tourism product. Specifically, tel_Albania, as a leading company in the country, has launched the tel_Business platform, by aiming to contribute to the fulfilment of the concepts of smart tourism and e-tourism.
References
[2] Boboli, I. and Muça, E. 2021. Exploring Tourist Expenditures of the Gjirokastra District in Albania: A Cluster Analysis. Acta Scientiarum Polonorum-Oeconomia, 20(2):13-20. DOI:10.22630/ASPE.2021.20.2.11
[3] Boboli, I. and Muça, E. 2021. The Impact of Smart Tourism in Local Communities. Case of Visit Gjirokastra. Paper presented at the 6TH International Istambul Scientific Research Congress, October 30-31, in Istambul, Turkey.
[4] Boes, K., Buhalis, D., and Inversini, A. 2015. Conceptualising Smart Tourism Destination Dimensions, in Tussyadiah, I., and Inversini, A., (eds), ENTER 2015 Proceedings, Lugano, Springer-Verlag, Wien, ISBN: 9783319143422, pp. 391-404.
[5] Buhalis, D. and Amaranggana, A. 2014. “Smart Tourism Destinations”, “Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism” Springer, Dublin, fq. 553-564.
[6] Buhalis, D., and O'Connor, P. 2005. Information Communication Technology-Revolutionizing Tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 30(3): 7-16
[7] Cavalheiro, M., Joia, L., Cavalheiro, G., and Mayer, V. 2021. Smart Tourism Destinations: (Mis)Aligning Touristic Destinations and Smart City Initiatives. Brazilian Administration Review, 18(1). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-7692bar2021190132
[8] Garsia, L.M., Aciar, S., Mendoza, R. and Puello, J.J. 2015. Smart tourism platform based on microservice architecture and recommender services. Paper presented at the15th international conference, MobiWIS, August 6-8, in Barcelona, Spain.
[9] Gavalas, D., Konstantopoulos, C., Mastakas, K., and Pantziou, G. 2014. Mobile recommender systems in tourism. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 39: 319–333. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2013.04.006
[10] Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., Xiang, Z., and Koo, C. 2015. Smart tourism: foundations and developments. Journal Electronic Markets, 25(3): 179-188.
[11] Haddad, Rami J., and Youakim Kalaani. 2014. Google Forms: A Real-Time Formative Assessment Approach for Adaptive Learning. Proceedings of the 2014 American Society for Engineering Education, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Indianapolis, Indiana. Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/electrical-eng-facpubs/37
[12] Kontogianni, A., and Alepis, E. 2020. Smart tourism: State of the art and literature review for the last six years. Array Journal, 6(2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.array.2020.10002
[13] Ktona, A., Muça, E., Çollaku, D., Shahini, I., and Boboli, I. 2022. Support the creation of appropriate tourism offers by finding a model, using machine learning algorithms, to forecast spending by tourists. International Journal of Technology Marketing, (In Press), Inderscience. DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2022.10048142
[14] Masseno, M.D. and Santos, C. 2018. Privacy and data protection issues on smart tourism destinations - a first approach. Paper presented at 14th international conference on intelligent environments, June 25-28, in Rome, Italy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/978-1- 61499-874-7-298
[15] Su, K., Li, J., and Fu, H. 2011. Smart city and the applications. Proceedings of the International Conference on Electronics, Communications and Control (ICECC). Ningbo (China); 2011: 1028-1031.
[16] Temiraliyeva, Z. et al. 2021. Economic Analysis and Factors Influencing the Development of Tourism. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 8(56): 2109 - 2120. Available at: https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6655
[17] Tsenina, E. V. et al. 2022. Cluster Analysis of the Expenditures for Environmental and Technological Innovations in Sustainable Development Policy Formation. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 1(57): 63-74. Available at: https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6809
[18] Vikulenko, J. et al. 2021. Analysis of the Development of Innovative Entrepreneurship for the Assess Their Competitiveness and Environmental Impact Factors. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 7(55): 1861 -1874. Available at: https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6579
[19] Yalçınkaya, P., Atay, L., and Korkmaz, H. 2018. An Evaluation on Smart Tourism. China-USA Business Review, 6: 308-315. DOI: 10.17265/1537-1514/2018.06.004
[20] INSTAT. 2020. Tourism. Available at: http://www.instat.gov.al/al/temat/industria-tregtia-dhe-sh%C3%ABrbimet/turizmi/
[21] INSTAT. 2022. Tourism in figures. Available at: http://www.instat.gov.al/en/publications/books/2022/tourism-in-figures-2020/
[22] Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 2018 Integrated program of 100 Available at: https:wwbujqesia.gov.alwprogrami-i-integruar-per-zhvillimin-rural-programi-i-100-fshatrave-2ë
[23] Ministry of Tourism and Environment (2018), National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development 2018 – 2022. 2018. Fq.1, 5-6, 8
[24] WTTC, Albania. Annual research. 2020. Available at: https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact
The Copyright Transfer Form to ASERS Publishing (The Publisher)
This form refers to the manuscript, which an author(s) was accepted for publication and was signed by all the authors.
The undersigned Author(s) of the above-mentioned Paper here transfer any and all copyright-rights in and to The Paper to The Publisher. The Author(s) warrants that The Paper is based on their original work and that the undersigned has the power and authority to make and execute this assignment. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission to quote material that has been previously published in any form. The Publisher recognizes the retained rights noted below and grants to the above authors and employers for whom the work performed royalty-free permission to reuse their materials below. Authors may reuse all or portions of the above Paper in other works, excepting the publication of the paper in the same form. Authors may reproduce or authorize others to reproduce the above Paper for the Author's personal use or for internal company use, provided that the source and The Publisher copyright notice are mentioned, that the copies are not used in any way that implies The Publisher endorsement of a product or service of an employer, and that the copies are not offered for sale as such. Authors are permitted to grant third party requests for reprinting, republishing or other types of reuse. The Authors may make limited distribution of all or portions of the above Paper prior to publication if they inform The Publisher of the nature and extent of such limited distribution prior there to. Authors retain all proprietary rights in any process, procedure, or article of manufacture described in The Paper. This agreement becomes null and void if and only if the above paper is not accepted and published by The Publisher, or is with drawn by the author(s) before acceptance by the Publisher.