Use of User Generated Content to Support the Creation of Smart Tourist Destinations

The Covid-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the tourism industry. It is believed that the recovery of the sector goes through a strong investment in technologies that allow creating and managing tourists' perception of the virtual image of tourist destinations. This article proposes a discussion about the relevance of User Generated Content (UGC) to reveal the virtual image of a tourist destination, in order to contribute to the creation of a Smart Tourism Destination (STD). The virtual image is studied from the perspective of the public transport system due to the fact that its improvement is one of the objectives of the Tourism of Portugal strategic plan for the creation of a STD in the decade 2017 - 2027. The methodology used was qualitative, through a bibliographical research, in which the key factors of this theme were addressed. After the study carried out it was concluded that the exploration of UGCs can allow managers and regulatory and tourism promoting entities to extract a lot of interesting information about how to take better advantage of the technologies adopted to create value for tourists.