Navigating Culture in Smart Port Cities: Cultural Sensitivity and Digital Engagement Among Sailing Tourists in the Mediterranean

This study examines the relationship between smart port city infrastructure, tourists or crew cultural sensitivity and digital engagement among international sailing tourists in the Mediterranean and particularly in Greece. It is based on an interdisciplinary literature synthesis and primary data from a survey conducted with a total of 203 respondents over three sailing seasons. This paper proposes a conceptual framework that positions cultural sensitivity as a result of the interaction between smart port destination technology, tourist awareness and their engagement with the local community. Among the findings, high levels of adoption of digital platforms for logistical purposes such as, while culturally oriented digital tools remain underused. A significant discrepancy is found between tourists cultural sensitivity and their practical uncertainty in real cultural situations. Thus highlighting an unmet need of potential visitors for real-time cultural guidance tools. Tourists from distant cultures found to be significantly higher among the entire sample of tourists. The evidence that tourists seek a culturally integrated smart port application is strong, particularly among tourists who experienced the highest levels of uncertainty. The study contributes both conceptual and empirical evidence to the smart cities literature, with practical implications for port planners, tourism policy makers, and digital platform designers.