Far from fantasy: Defining a smart destination

While the phrase itself may conjure up slick sci-fi visions, a “smart destination” is anything but a futuristic fantasy. While it’s true that advanced technology plays a key role within every smart destination, the concept is simple: to help every place be more confident in its decision-making, thereby ensuring that every outcome strategically benefits visitors, stakeholders, and wider communities.

Smart destinations come in all shapes and sizes. But as we’ll explore — as our recent Smarter destinations, smarter decisions playbook sets out — despite these differences, they all share similar characteristics and a shared vision, one which enables them to access the right information at the right time for the benefit of a greater collective good.

Common ground: The shared traits of success

Despite their great diversity, smart destinations all share:

• A focus on laying the groundwork for success. These entities aren't necessarily investing in the most technology; they are busy laying the groundwork for better decision-making by focusing their efforts on connecting the data, systems, and teams that they already have.
• A drive to interpret and action information. Once that connection is made, data isn’t simply held as static information but actively analysed and acted upon to make evidence-based decisions across the organisation.
• An operating model that supports collaboration. In these organisations, teams work from a shared understanding of their performance. Likewise, they also recognise that the decisions they make will have a profound impact on their wider community.
• A sense of future preparedness. Thanks to connected systems — an environment where data is shared with ease — smart destinations are more naturally prepared for AI, automation, and advanced analytics.
   

Understanding the Smart Destination Maturity Framework

While many organisations share these traits, it’s important to recognise that smart destinations don’t simply happen. It takes a purposeful, methodical effort to move through the phases of the Smart Destination Maturity Framework:

• Stage 1: Disconnected. In this first stage, data is spread across systems, reporting is manual, and visibility is limited. There is no collaborative effort between teams.
• Stage 2: Integrated. Here, core systems are connected, data is shared, and collaboration improves.
• Stage 3: Insight-driven. During this third stage, reporting becomes more consistent, decisions are evidence-based, and organisational KPIs become clearer.
• Stage 4: Intelligent destination. In this final stage, predictive insights, AI-enabled workflows, and ROI optimisation become more achievable.

Far from being a futuristic fantasy, a smart destination is a practical, achievable concept. With thought, planning, and — most importantly — the creation of a connected foundation, every destination can move forward with ease, confident that it is helping to provide outcomes that directly benefit its wider community.