Smart Tourism Technologies and Tourist Experience: The Role of Digital Safety and Convenience in Shaping Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions

This study examines the role of smart digital systems in shaping the tourist experience, with a particular focus on perceived safety, comfort, and convenience, and their relationship with satisfaction and future intention to use digital services. The research was conducted on a sample of 104 respondents using a structured questionnaire and a quantitative research design. Data were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and the Mann–Whitney U test. The results show that perceived comfort and convenience had the strongest positive association with satisfaction with the tourist experience, whereas perceived safety showed a weaker positive association. Satisfaction, perceived effectiveness of smart technologies in larger destinations, and comfort were positively associated with the intention to use smart digital services. The findings also indicate that perceived digital competence positively affects perceived safety and comfort, while gender differences were not statistically significant. The study contributes to the smart tourism literature by proposing and empirically examining an integrated conceptual framework that simultaneously considers perceived safety, comfort and convenience, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in the context of smart tourism technologies. The results highlight the importance of developing simple, intuitive, and user-oriented digital solutions in tourism.