THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE USE OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS BY THE LOCAL POPULATION IN THE SMART TOURISM DESTINATION

Purpose - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ways of using technology have expanded, i.e. more and more residents in their area have been using the advantages of technology development for satisfying their everyday needs. The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of mobile applications by the local population in Rijeka as a smart tourism destination. Methodology - The research will be conducted in the form of a structural questionnaire among the local population of the city of Rijeka. The extent to which the local population has been using smart technology in Rijeka before and during the pandemic will be explored. The descriptive statistics and t-test will be used to analyse the research results. Findings - The paper will determine the importance of smart technology for both locals and tourists. The analysis of the research results will define which smart technologies in the pandemic conditions make it easier for the local population to fulfil their everyday obligations, and therefore also for tourists who mainly arrive to satisfy their basic life needs. Contribution - The obtained research results will be of use to the destination management when designing the tourism product of the destination because the research will provide the information on which smart technologies are necessary to be developed in order to meet the basic needs of tourists in a destination which is safe and easy to "consume". Today, the decision to travel is primarily influenced by the protection of tourists' health in a destination.