Purpose The current study probes the impact of digital itinerary through Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Smart Tourism System (STS) on travel experiences by adopting a mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches. It discovers the elements influencing the acceptance and satisfaction, emphasizing on timeliness, price, destination selection, safety and hedonic values. The study attempts to offer actionable insights for the tourism industry to maximally provide digital travel solutions for better user experiences. Design/methodology/approach The study used a mixed-methods approach. Qualitative interviews were carried out with 16 participants and unraveled numerous perspectives and unique decision-making discourses pertaining to digital travel technologies. Later, a quantitative survey was administered with 1,129 respondents via online to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of STS. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to measure the mediating and moderating effects. Findings The findings of the study indicate that tourists who adopt technology-driven itineraries are influenced by timeliness, price, safety, destination selection and hedonic values. On one hand, destination brand equity dimensions mediated these effects and on the other hand, demographic features moderated user experience preferences. This study stresses the factors influencing the adoption of STS-based digital itineraries. Research limitations/implications The study relies on self-reported data derived from a digital community, which restricts the generalizability. Future studies can discover cross-cultural contexts and aim for longitudinal designs, pertaining to STS-based digital itineraries. Practical implications The study highlights a better user experience by focusing on timeliness, safety and destination through STS itinerary features. Customizing services considering on demographic choices can further enhance the adoption of STS. Social implications STS-driven digital itineraries can enhance the user experiences by limiting the level of insecurity and uncertainty and creating a sense of informed decision-making, resulting in improved travel experiences. Originality/value The study combines a qualitative and quantitative approach to probe the factors for the adoption of STS, which enhances user experience satisfaction by highlighting unique practical insights for creating smart tourism.
Chakraborty et al. (2025) studied this question.