Green and Digital Transformation: Touristic Competitiveness and Business Enhancement in São Miguel, Azores

The Azores archipelago, situated in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, boasts a unique blend of natural beauty and cultural richness. São Miguel, the largest island in this Portuguese autonomous region, stands as a testament to this allure, captivating adventurers and explorers alike with its diverse landscapes and attractions (Guerreiro, 2019). Amidst this backdrop of natural splendor, the island has emerged as a burgeoning hub for adventure tourism, drawing attention from renowned international publications such as Bloomberg, BBC, and Forbes (Ponte et al., 2018). The liberalization of air transport in 2015 ushered in a new era of accessibility, spurring a surge in tourist arrivals and catalyzing profound shifts in the local market dynamics (Couto et al., 2017). However, amidst the burgeoning tourism sector lies a complex web of challenges, ranging from infrastructure limitations to environmental sustainability concerns. The distance from major economic centers, coupled with the fragmented internal market and low education levels, presents formidable obstacles to sustainable tourism business development (Couto et al., 2017). Furthermore, insufficient strategic planning and inadequate human resource capacity further exacerbate these challenges, stifling the island's entrepreneurial competitiveness and hindering its ability to meet global standards of quality. Balancing São Miguel's need to be a competitive nature-based and adventure tourism destination while preserving its delicate fragile ecosystems is a multifaceted and complex challenge. In response to these challenges, there is a growing recognition of the need for innovative approaches to drive sustainable tourism entrepreneurship and business activity on the island. Among these approaches, digital and green transformation may have the potential to chart a new course toward inclusive and resilient tourism development in São Miguel (Muench et al., 2022). However, it is unknown what specific factors influence local tourism entrepreneurship and business, and what challenges the implementation of digital and green transformation poses in the pursuit of a more attractive, resilient, and financially sustainable tourism ecosystem.