Evaluation of Smart Tourism Applications in Terms of Hotels: The Case of Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Purpose – The main purpose of the study is to determine the extent to which technological developments are used in the hotels in Bishkek. In addition, it is necessary to determine what kind of smart applications are offered to the services provided to tourists during their stay. Design/methodology/approach – The study examined the evaluations of managers of three, four and five-stars hotels in Bishkek regarding smart-tourism applications using a questionnaire. The data were analysed through 101 questionnaires filled in completely. The research applied to the volunteers between 2021 May and June. ANOVA and t tests were used to test the research hypotheses. Findings – According to the findings, majority of the managers have a perception that using smart tourism technologies increases room sales, service quality and customer satisfaction, also provides time savings and competitive advantage while smart technologies increase operating costs. According to the results of the hypotheses tests, there are significant differences between perceptions of the possible benefits of smart-tourism technologies and individual characteristics of participants such as gender, age, education, working time in the sector and stars of the hotels. Discussion – It is stated that the technological applications used by the hotels in Bishkek are not very old, but there may be current applications with some improvements and planning. Therefore, it can be stated that hotel establishments in Bishkek are on the way to use smart and sustainable technology. The hotels emphasized that they view the implementation of smart technologies in their establishments positively and that these technology applications will provide prestige and create added economic value for Kyrgyzstan. Due to the rapid developing of technological innovations, the managers may not follow the current smart technologies that used in accommodation establishments. So this can be stated as an important limitation of the study.