Systematic review of smart tourism development research in rural areas (years 2000 to 2022)

A B S T R A C T
The definition and explanation of the theoretical framework for developing the smart model of rural tourism requires benefiting from the studies conducted in this field and other related topics, the review of previous research shows the weakness of existing frameworks in explaining the model of smart tourism in rural areas. This research aims to develop a comprehensive framework for implementing the smart tourism model in rural areas with a systematic review approach. The current research is fundamental in terms of its purpose, and with the systematic review of the literature related to the components of rural smartening and smart tourism between 2000 and 2023, using 3 specific keywords and a clear and pre-designed strategy, from 5 databases. Collected After screening and qualitative assessment, the final analysis was done on 59 articles. By analyzing the articles, four processes and 42 components were identified for developing the theoretical framework of the smart tourism model. The study shows that creating a theoretical framework for the implementation of the smart tourism model requires knowing the prerequisites and requirements before implementation, identifying the key elements and organizations involved in the field of smart tourism, paying attention to the territorial resources of the destinations and the strategies for choosing the target destinations, and finally the process of implementing the smart tourism model. It will contribute to the sustainability of resources and the realization of purposeful and sustainable tourism.
Extended abstract
Introduction
Smartening in rural areas requires these areas to have natural or historical and cultural attractions in order to be able to implement the model of smartening, villages with tourist attractions in Iran are known as tourism target villages, the category of smart tourism is mainly in the field of planning. The city has been emphasized in different countries and less attention has been given to rural areas. However, it must be acknowledged that many villages in our country have the appropriate capabilities to implement and operationalize smart tourism, for this reason, the need to benefit from smart tourism in rural areas is felt more than ever. Considering the lack of documented studies in the field of smart tourism development in rural areas, in the first step, knowing the components and indicators of smart tourism should be considered and what factors can influence the development of smart tourism and finally what model can be used used for the development of smart tourism in rural areas. Based on this, in order to fill the void of a comprehensive framework for developing a smart tourism model for rural.
 
Methodology
This method should be used to develop a theoretical framework for developing a smart tourism model in rural areas. The statistical population of this systematic study includes all published research articles in the field of smart tourism and the smartening of rural areas, the result of quantitative and qualitative studies. Is. In the initial search, based on keywords, 125 study titles were identified. The retrieved articles were placed in Endnote software. Repetitive and common articles in the aforementioned databases were removed and 93 studies entered the screening stage. The screening criterion at this stage was the relevance to the study topic (title, abstract) and the removal of unrelated articles, articles presented in conferences and educational articles. That left 70 studies. According to the screening criterion in the third stage, i.e. removing the article by checking the full text of the articles due to the insufficient and inappropriate information and the low quality of the articles, finally, 59 articles were selected. It should be noted that the current research in three stages; Determination, verification and analysis have been done. In the determination stage, all available information about the research was collected and taken. In the verification stage, all the collected articles were categorized and coded based on the evaluation parameters (analytical axes and categories). In the analysis stage, all the information extracted from the selected articles in the period of 2000-2022 were processed, analyzed and interpreted. In the following, the results of the review of the relevant articles will be presented.
 
Results and discussion
The development of smart tourism in rural areas requires the explanation of a series of strategic measures. As the studies of Yu et al. (2021), Ballina (2021), Arnaz et al. (2019) stated that the first goal of smart tourism is to find suitable routes for destinations, in fact, choosing the optimal route according to the current situation and cost is one of the most important initial measures., Balina et al. (2019), Chris and Chao, Barter et al. (2020), have emphasized networking and data sharing for the benefit of other stakeholders from tourism destinations. Zhiank and Fesenmayer, Tan et al. (2017) emphasized the support and competitiveness among residential centers and considered the Internet of Things as a basic strategy, Kokbi et al. And they have emphasized the development of an operational document according to the benefits of the beneficiaries.
It is necessary to prepare a smart tourism model, pay attention to the realizability and spatial utilization of available resources, this issue has also been noticed by Su et al. (2021), Radobatri (2021), Sari et al. The existence of a necessary population threshold, access to communication networks and the need to define the concept of intelligentization as a precondition, on the other hand, the studies of Hong (2020), Rodrigues (2019), on the ranking of destinations and places and the enjoyment of attractions They emphasized natural and cultural. In the field of smart tourism, territorial resources and having this capacity have a significant place, based on the studies of Nadali et al., Dashtali et al. (2018), Salehi et al. , having important agricultural products, holding different festivals, taking advantage of product sales markets and active organizations can be known as the components of territorial resources in the target areas. Yu et al. (2021), Gretzel (2020), Mehiari et al. (1401) emphasize the role of local and regional organizations and creative companies in the field of implementation and support, Carlson et al. (2017), Tanen et al. Media and social networks, Dasht Ali et al., Nad Ali et al.
In relation to the approaches proposed in the field of rural smartness and smart tourism, it can be said that paying attention to sustainability in all dimensions is known as the main strategy, and the difference between smartness and benefiting from new technologies is emphasizing the social dimension and benefiting from All the existing potential capacities and capabilities and the interaction of stakeholders and actors. On the other hand, the realization of smart tourism requires attention to some requirements such as knowledge, financing, benefiting from the capacities of local associations and good governance, and factors such as territorial and demographic factors, attention to tourist clusters and successful local experiences and branding. Be In other words, it can be said that the doctrine of the aforementioned research in the field of smart tourism is land sustainability and attention to environmental and social values.
 
Conclusion
Based on the studies conducted in the field of tourism smartness, 59 articles were selected as the final articles for evaluation and in order to formulate the model of smart tourism, 4 components including territorial resources, key elements and measures, reliability and spatial distribution and the requirements of smart tourism were identified. As indicated in Table 4, there are 21 territorial resources studies, 30 key elements and actions, 19 prerequisites, and 18 requirements.
 
Funding
This article is supported by the country's researchers and technologists support fund under contract number 4004926 dated 05/04/2022.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.