SMART TOURISM READINESS, DIGITAL EXPERIENCE, INNOVATIVENESS, AND E-WOM IN SAUDI ARABIA’S TOURISM

One of the major pillars of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 is the tourism industry, andthe Kingdom is making significant investments in smart and innovative services to enhance the visitor experience.This research constructs and empirically validates an expanded conceptual model of electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) intentions among international tourists, encompassing smart tourism readiness, digital destination tourism, and an additional proposition that has not been empirically tested to date: perceived innovativeness of the destination. Structural Equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine a cross-sectional survey of international tourists in Saudi Arabia (n = 400). Findings advocate the claim thatsmart tourism readiness, characterized by good digital infrastructures, service creativity, and sustainable planning, contributes greatly to digital destination experiences of tourists, which subsequently lead to increased intentions to e-WOM.Importantly, the perceived innovativeness of the destination as a favourable antecedent to digital experiences and e-WOM intention has been identified, which emphasizes the importance of an innovative destination image in attracting and entertaining the visitors.