When Smart Destinations Become Sustainable: How Technology And Communication Shape Tourist Satisfaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47608/jki.v19i22025.177-200Keywords:
smart tourism destinations, service quality, communication quality, tourist satisfaction, sustainabilityAbstract
This study investigates how technology service quality and omnichannel communication quality shape tourist satisfaction and perceived sustainability within Indonesia’s emerging smart tourism landscape. Grounded in the Smart Tourism Destination framework, the analysis incorporates perceived destination accessibility as a mediating variable and tourist digital literacy as a moderating variable to explain how digital infrastructures and user competencies jointly shape sustainable experiences. Data from 380 domestic and international tourists across six major destinations, namely Yogyakarta, Bandung, Bali, Jakarta, Malang, and Lombok, through purposive sampling to ensure that respondents had engaged with digital tourism services. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling revealed that technology service quality (β = 0.34, p < 0.001) and omnichannel communication quality (β = 0.29, p < 0.001) significantly enhance satisfaction, both directly and indirectly through perceived accessibility (indirect β = 0.18, p < 0.001). Tourist digital literacy strengthens these effects (β = 0.11 and 0.09, p < 0.01), while satisfaction strongly predicts perceived sustainability (β = 0.42, p < 0.001). The study advances Smart Tourism Destination theory by integrating technological performance, perceived accessibility, and human capability into a unified explanatory model. It highlights the need for reliable digital system, coherent communication across channels, and inclusive digital literacy initiatives to ensure that smart that smart tourism innovations lead to equitable and sustainable outcome in developing destinations. Policy makers and destination manager are encouraged to invest in digital capability programs, improve cross channel communication standards, and strengthen accessible technology infrastructure to maximize the long-term benefits of smart tourism development.
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