Publication Details
Abstract
The rapid growth of digital technologies such as IoT, AI, and mobile applications has transformed global tourism, with smart tourism emerging as a driver of service quality, competitiveness, and visitor satisfaction. In Uzbekistan, a strategically significant cultural destination in Central Asia, the adoption of smart tourism initiatives—including QR-coded heritage sites, e-visa systems, and digital guide applications—has begun, but integration remains fragmented and public awareness limited. Despite global advances, empirical research linking smart tourism, infrastructure, destinations, risk perception, adoption, and satisfaction in Uzbekistan is scarce, leaving uncertainty about how these factors interact in emerging markets. This study develops and tests an integrated framework examining the relationships between smart tourism, smart infrastructure, smart destinations, tourist travel risk perception, e-tourism adoption and experience, and tourist satisfaction. Based on survey data from 303 respondents, regression analyses confirm that smart tourism reduces perceived travel risk and significantly enhances smart destinations and infrastructure. Both smart destinations and infrastructure positively affect e-tourism adoption and experience, which in turn strongly predicts tourist satisfaction, explaining 58% of its variance. This research is among the first in Central Asia to empirically validate a multi-construct framework, demonstrating that adoption is the final pathway through which smart initiatives generate satisfaction and competitiveness. The findings provide theoretical contributions to smart tourism studies in emerging economies and practical recommendations for policymakers, emphasizing the need for investment in infrastructure, integrated digital services, and real-time information to strengthen Uzbekistan’s global tourism competitiveness.