410 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM 3.3.4. INCREASE IN THE QUALITY OF TOURISM SERVICES AND ECONOMIC PROFITABILITY One of the elements that contribute to tourism sustainability is quality – only if a high level of quality is reached can we talk about sustainability, since it will also increase the economic profitability of tourism. Quality tourism is economically profitable because it requires fewer consumers to achieve the same returns. Moreover, a saturated and crowded tourist destination cannot be considered quality, as it generates discomfort for residents and bad image of destination for users. However, quality tourism should not be mistaken for expensive or elite tourism, because it could not be considered socially sustainable either. Quality tourism is, as the World Tourism Organization itself has shown, “the result of a process that implies the satisfaction of all the legitimate needs and expectations of the consumer with respect to the products and services demanded, at a price acceptable, in accordance with the underlying determinants of quality, such as health and safety, hygiene, accessibility, transparency, authenticity and harmony of the tourism activity considered with its human and natural environment”; in other words, the total satisfaction of the client with the services received. In fulfiling this objective, ICTs have an essential mission, since they allow, to mention just a few examples, to have access to the Internet from anywhere, to know the peak hours to avoid crowding (occupation status of restaurants, museums, means of transport), access information about cultural news, among others. In short, the use of technologies improves the quality of life of the tourist (and, also, the leisure of the resident, which results in an improvement in the perception of tourism). 4. THE MAIN CHALLENGES BEFORE SMART TOURISM 4.1. Data protection and privacy: the importance of privacy in the design and by default As is easily understandable, one of the essential challenges facing the development of smart tourism is precisely the risk it poses to privacy38. Thus, the extensive use of data that is carried out through big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, etc., implies that it is increasingly difficult to guarantee the citizens total 38 See PIÑARMAÑAS, J. L., “Derecho, Técnica e Innovación en las Llamadas Ciudades Inteligentes. Privacidad y Gobierno Abierto”, in Smart Cities. Law and technique for a more livable city, op. cit., p. 21; and VALERO TORRIJOS, J., “Ciudades inteligentes y datos abiertos: implicaciones jurídicas para la protección de los datos de carácter personal”, Istituzioni del Federalismo, Rivista di Studi Giuridici e Politici, no. 4, 2015, pp. 1025 et seq.
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