Transformation to a smart tourist destination: prioritization strategic factors of the La Fortuna tourist destination, Costa Rica

The increase in the quality of the tourist experience and innovation in the marketing of products has generated a greater use of technology, encouraging a transformation of tourist destinations into intelligent tourist destinations. Planning is the first phase for this transformation process; it must be adapted to the needs of the destination and its territorial dynamics by diagnosing the tourism reality of the destination. The present work carried out a SWOT analysis and its respective evaluation matrix to prioritize the factors, serving as the basis for planning the transformation of the tourist destination La Fortuna in Costa Rica into an intelligent tourist destination; a process directed by the Strategic Administration tool version 4.2. The main result indicates that the most relevant factor for La Fortuna destination is the prioritization of marketing needs through the development of a brand. The results of this research are an input for the Arenal Camara de Turismo y Comercio to develop an action plan to specify a common strategy to define the steps to follow in the process of transforming La Fortuna into an intelligent tourist destination. Finally, this article will serve as a reference for other tourist destinations to become an intelligent tourist destination.