M-Tour : A new socio-technological design application for destination competitiveness in Egypt

Purpose: The study explores how the comparative tourism destination could incorporate the merits of the competitive tourism destination by implementing a socio-technical design application for smart tourism. Design/methodology/approach: To address this issue researchers have conducted a case study in Egypt, because Egypt is one of the most popular tourism comparative destination. It includes two field studies and qualitative interviews conducted in Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt. Findings: Egypt has diverse comparative advantages in terms of touristic features; however, the dysfunctional flow of information among the stakeholders was a hindrance to be a competitive destination. Based on this problem statement, the researchers synthesized “M-Tour” as a new socio-technical design application, moving toward the competitive destination from the comparative ones. Originality/value: The present study makes two contributions. First, it theoretically conceptualizes an integrated model of how a tourism comparative destination can incorporate the competitive advantages by a socio-technical design application called M-Tour. Second, it empirically explores the tourists' latent requirements in Egypt by two field studies in order to develop a smart tourism design application as a new socio-technology.