Is destination management data-driven and technology based? The perspective of the authorities responsible for destination management in a geographically diverse destination area

In order to determine whether the entities responsible for destination management at the local level are keeping up with market trends, especially the requirements on implementing “smartness”, and whether there is a recognition of the need for their decision-making to be guided by real-time information and data, this research surveyed most of the local tourism authorities in the recognized tourism region of the Adriatic, which regularly records high numbers of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the Republic of Croatia, a country where tourism is an extremely important component of GDP. To explore the topic, a survey was conducted by using the methods of Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI), depending on the preferences of the respondents, primarily heads of destination management entities. The study of a specific topic related to tourism development decision-making, the application of smart technologies in the destination, and the collection of input from visitors to the destination included 73.53% of tourism management bodies (tourist boards of cities/municipalities) in the observed region and resulted in interesting findings. It is indicative that the application of technologies varies by sub-region and that decision-making is based on similar sources, regardless of the strategic importance of a particular decision and its long-term impact. Also, the fact that a large proportion of destination planning and development managers interviewed had no knowledge about the existence of strategic documents on sustainable development, and that only a very small proportion implement a strategy for the application of smart technologies and recognize the benefits of such an approach, is somewhat alarming. The limitations in this research are mostly caused by the determinants imposed by the funding source.