The incidence of ICT in tourist destinations of the Spanish mountain. A case analysis

Abstract

This communication has as main objective to assess the incidence of ICT in selected tourist destinations of the Spanish mountain (Picos de Europa, Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas and Sierra de Guadarrama), and specifically: a) To know the level of application of ICTs in case studies in relation to product creation, information and promotion of destinations; B) to research the potential of new technologies (GPS, QR codes, augmented reality, apps, etc.) in the creation of new tourism products and the promotion of destinations; and c) to assess the contribution of ICTs to achieve more sustainable tourism practices.
The research has descriptive, evaluative and prospective purposes and therefore the methodological proposal is characterized by a multi-strategic design that integrates different procedures: review of documents and web pages, and discourse analysis.
The main results identify that although the destinations have progressed in the adoption of the ICT, they use it basically to provide information to users, while the rest of the tourist consumption phases are not yet well developed in the digital environment. The social networks have not yet acquired a central role as a tool for information and promotion of destinations. Thus, it is evident that there is still a long way to exploit ICT potential to mountain tourism.