Digital trajectories in contemporary cities: Exploring the interplay between digital technology implementation, the amplitude of social media platforms, and tourists inflow in cities

Over the years, we have witnessed an ongoing and interrelated combination of smart city implementation and tourism trends. The current development of cities integrates technological implementation, the adoption of social media, and “smart” practices to interact with users and tourists, influencing their travel choices by offering a highly technological and customized environment. The objective of the study is to examine the impact of digital technology implementation and social media platforms in cities on tourism flow. Based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach and relying on panel data considering 20 Italian smart city projects between 2011 and 2021, this paper demonstrates the extent of the relationship between digital technology implementation embedded in smart city development and tourist flow. Moreover, it also considers the effect of the amplitude of social media platforms adopted, which positively impacts this relationship. Thus, our findings suggest that digital technology implementation in cities generally influences the interplay between smart city and tourism trajectories. Additionally, a city’s ability to respond to and implement the newest and trending social media significantly influences its local tourist attractiveness.