The “United for Smart Sustainable Cities” (U4SSC) is a UN initiative coordinated by ITU, UNECE and UN-Habitat and supported by CBD, ECLAC, FAO, UNDP, UNECA, UNESCO, UNEP, UNEP-FI, UNFCCC, UNIDO, UNOP, UNU-EGOV, UN-Women and WMO to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. U4SSC serves as the global platform to advocate for public policy and to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities. The U4SSC initiative leverages smart technologies for sustainable and resilient urban environments. Smart Tourism within U4SSC focuses on enhancing destination security and resilience. The goals of the initiative include improving safety with surveillance systems and emergency response, and crisis management using real-time data and communication. Sustainable tourism is promoted through smart transportation, waste management, and energy efficiency. Visitor experiences are enhanced with personalized services through mobile apps, AR, VR, and IoT devices. Collaboration among stakeholders fosters innovation and knowledge sharing. Overall, it aims to create secure, resilient destinations by integrating smart technologies for safer, sustainable, and enjoyable experiences. The intervention specifically includes: Security Enhancement: The intervention aims to enhance the security of tourist destinations by leveraging smart technologies such as video surveillance systems, access control systems, and advanced analytics. These technologies enable real-time monitoring, early threat detection, and effective response mechanisms, contributing to a safer environment for tourists and residents. Crisis Preparedness and Response: The intervention emphasizes the development of robust crisis management plans and strategies for tourist destinations. By integrating smart technologies, cities can improve their preparedness and response capabilities in the face of crises, including natural disasters, pandemics, or security threats. Real-time data analytics, predictive modeling, and communication systems enable swift and coordinated responses to mitigate the impact of crises. Resilience Building: The intervention aims to enhance the resilience of tourist destinations, ensuring their ability to withstand and recover from shocks and disruptions. This involves the implementation of smart infrastructure and systems that can adapt and withstand adverse events, such as resilient energy grids, smart transportation systems, and effective waste management solutions. Data-Driven Decision Making: The intervention promotes the use of data analytics and insights to make informed decisions for tourism management. By collecting and analyzing data related to visitor flows, behaviors, and preferences, cities can optimize resource allocation, develop targeted marketing strategies, and enhance the overall visitor experience. Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: The intervention emphasizes collaboration among various stakeholders, including government bodies, tourism organizations, technology providers, and local communities. By fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing, cities can leverage collective expertise, experiences, and best practices to drive innovation and continuously improve their smart tourism initiatives. The main results from the implementation of the initiative include enhanced security through the use of smart technologies like video surveillance systems, access control systems, and advanced analytics. Additionally, there is improved crisis preparedness and response capabilities with real-time data analysis and communication systems. The intervention leads to the development of resilient tourist destinations with smart infrastructure, efficient resource management, and effective waste management solutions. Data-driven decision making enables optimized tourism management, and collaboration among stakeholders fosters innovation and knowledge sharing for continuous improvement. Overall, the intervention results in more secure, resilient, and sustainable tourism destinations.
