Smart tourism: The OPTIM Ecosystem Framework

Harnessing AI to turn smart tourism into better tourism

Is aiming for smart tourism enough? The O.P.T.I.M. Ecosystem envisions a technology-led seamless integration of all the variables affecting the traveller’s experience. Harnessing artificial intelligence to turn smart tourism into better tourism may just well be the only way to ensure that we don’t end up with technology using us, but rather the other way around

How to create an OPTIM Ecosystem?

Optim as in an optimal ecosystem based on:

“O” as in OPTIMIZATION

An ecosystem where AI solutions drive change while thriving in the process, it’s an ecosystem where there is integration across all touch points. Transport, hospitality, attractions, local services, and tourism businesses are not disconnected but rather integrated across an ecosystem that ensures connectivity, practicality, and above all, optimization.

Why optimization? Optimization ensures that all the parts are equally accessible, even just simply understandable, if anything, by technology users. A simple example that comes to mind is something that I often get to see when I travel across Italy, even more so in the southern region of Puglia, where I’m based, when a visitor to a city, a town, or a charming village needs to decipher the bus timetables before being able to buy a ticket. That means that the timings of the buses are perhaps not available online, and the journey that a visitor may just carefully want to plan ahead of the travels may risk being fragmented and even disrupted by the lack of optimization across the touch points of their journey.

P as in PERSONALIZATION

In Smart Tourism, Big Data in the tourism industry requires constant profiling across the traveller’s journey. Who is the high-season traveller? Who are the low-season travellers?

Big Data analytics are key to understanding the traveller’s behaviour, profile, preferences, and habits in order to personalise the travel experience.

Often underestimated and in many cases not yet fully embraced by many destinations across the world, forecasting tourism demand with the use of data collection and data processing enhances the destination tourism strategy and allows better tourism to take place.

“T” as in TRANSPARENCY

In a world where we are constantly asked for cookie preferences, location sharing, device identification, etc, to name a few, it’s easy to understand how today’s travellers may have become reluctant to overshare their details over safety concerns when building their journey or directly while traveling.  

Ensuring clear communication on how the visitors’ data is collected and utilized is the foundation for building destination trust.

‘I’ as in INCLUSIVITY

The word on everyone’s lips these days, inclusivity in tourism, is a complex issue that requires a close observation of each destination’s cultural, social, and geographical features. In other words, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to inclusivity.

Inclusivity, meaning in tourism, encompasses the social, geographical, and economic strata touching the quality of life of many willing to travel, but perhaps concerned about safety, destination accessibility, and gender equality.

An O.P.T.I.M. ecosystem where tourism becomes better rather than just smart ensures that all stakeholders are accountable but also considered when it comes to needs, preferences, and desires.

“M” as in MONITORING

If tourism data collection is at the base of the true process of getting to know your visitors better and therefore moving from smart tourism to unlocking better tourism, once collected, the data requires constant monitoring to ensure an optimal distribution of resources.

This tourism high season’s data – if distributed and equally accessible by all the stakeholders – could mean a more optimised energy consumption for the next season because the parties involved are able to observe what was done, what needed to be done that wasn’t, and ultimately consciously plan.

 

The OPTIM Framework was presented at the ICCA Middle East Summit 2025 in Bahrain where Dolores Semeraro was the opening tourism keynote speaker for the summit works with a keynote titled: “Harnessing AI to turn smart tourism into better tourism”