The Role of Technology in Tourism Experiences: A Research Project

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RESEARCH PROJECT
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN TOURISM EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
TASK 1 – RESEARCH PROPOSAL................................................................................................3
1.1 AND 1.4 RESEARCH FORMULATION AND SPECIFICATION..............................................3
RESEARCH TITLE................................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH PROBLEM............................................................................................................4
RESEARCH QUESTIONS.........................................................................................................4
AIM.......................................................................................................................................4
OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH.....................................................................................5
1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................6
1.4 METHODOLOGY FOR DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS.............................................10
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................................................10
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH.....................................................................11
RESEARCH DESIGN..............................................................................................................12
1.5 ACTION PLAN................................................................................................................13
GANTT CHART.................................................................................................................... 13
STRATEGY........................................................................................................................... 13
TASK 2- WRITTEN REPORT......................................................................................................14
2.1 RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION......................................................................................14
HYPOTHESIS....................................................................................................................... 14
2.2 DATA COLLECTION........................................................................................................15
2.3 RECORD AND COLLATE RELEVANT DATA......................................................................16
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................... 17
3.1 USE APPROPRIATE RESEARCH EVALUATION TECHNIQUES...........................................17
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3.2 RESULT INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION................................................................18
DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................28
3.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS........................................................29
TASK 4.................................................................................................................................... 30
4.1 POSTER PRESENTATION................................................................................................30
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 31
APPENDIX............................................................................................................................... 34
QUESTIONNAIRE.................................................................................................................34
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TASK 1 – RESEARCH PROPOSAL
1.1 AND 1.4 RESEARCH FORMULATION AND SPECIFICATION
RESEARCH TITLE
“The Role of Technology in Tourism Experience”
INTRODUCTION
The backgrounds of all the industries have been transformed due to technology. The
tourism industry is one of them. As in early times, people were more comfortable in using
guidebooks as well as checking magazines or periodicals to plan their upcoming tours. Also,
they were highly depended on the booking agents and organizations to purchase their travel
packages (Koo et al., 2015). Also, they had to visit the reservation stores in order to book
their hotel using catalogues. The emergence of technology has improved and changed the
mind-sets of tourists.
Tourism experience is the principal issue for academic researches related to tourism and
also in the real business world (eMarketer, 2016). The tourists search for experience in the
tourism industry. The advancement of information and communication technology in the
tourism industry revolutionised the nature of tourism and also significantly impacted
tourism experiences (Koo et al., 2015).
Various technologies such as social media, interactive and cross-platform website, and
mobile applications, virtual and augmented reality and so on are some of the ICTs that are
used to enhance the tourism experiences (Kourouthanassis et al., 2015). Mobile devices
have made their omnipresence and have driven amazing growth in mobile application
development to support tourists in the tourism industry. Application based on travel is the
7th most category of downloaded application a recently surveyed by eMarketer (eMarketer,
2016).
The use of applications on mobile devices assists the people to make their own travel
arrangements (Koo et al., 2015). Tourists are provided with a wide range of information for
tourism services through mobile devices such as smartphones to support their travel
process. These mobile apps have been useful for travel companies as it enhances their
presences and visibility in the competitive travel industry. The tourism organization asks
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mobile app Development Company to develop travel and tourism apps and provide
information at one place to the tourists by using smartphones and other mobile devices.
Also, the mobile application provides a 360-degree view of the rooms as well as ideas
regarding the amenities to prospective tourist (Kourouthanassis et al., 2015). Thus this
research project is presented to understand the role of technology that is a mobile
application in the tourism experiences.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
There are a different number of online publications and academic researches on the role,
use and significance of the technology in tourism experiences (Kourouthanassis et al., 2015).
Also, the tourists have become hypersensitive as the emergence of mobile application
changed the landscapes of the tourism industry. Mobile devices and applications are used
by tourists to plan their holiday trips and business travels which have impacted their
experience (Kourouthanassis et al., 2015). This research project is carried out to understand
the role of technology such as mobile applications on the tourism experience of tourists and
also assist the travel organizations to restructure their marketing and operations based on
the findings.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What is the significance of mobile applications in the tourism industry?
 What is the level of usage of mobile applications to plan tourism activities?
 What role do mobile applications play in enhancing the tourism experience?
 How technology like mobile applications impacts the tourism experience of tourists?
AIM
This research aims to analyse the role of technology such as mobile applications in
increasing the experience of the tourists in the tourism industry.
OBJECTIVES
The research objectives are:
 To find the role and significance of mobile applications in the tourism industry
 To determine the level of usage of mobile applications in planning tourism activities
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 To determine the relationship between mobile application usage and enhanced
tourism experience
 To recommend the travel organizations to developed and introduce mobile
applications to offer their services and enhance the tourism experience
1.2 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH
There are various technologies that have developed the tourism industry. The travel
organizations are able to register their presence around the world through their digital
medium and also ensure high visibility among the individuals (Koo et al., 2015). Mobile
applications allow the tourists to plan their tour activities such as booking a plane or train
ticket, booking accommodation or transport services and even meals during their travel. The
tourists use mobile applications for different purpose such as to search and retrieve
information, plan and reserve accommodation and travelling, enjoying the services and
amenities during the trip and then share their experience on mobile applications
(eMarketer, 2016). This led the researcher to carry out the research project and identify the
role of technology such as mobile application in enhancing tourism experience.
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1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW
The main purpose of this literature review is to explore the information from the secondary
sources and provide relevant information to enhance the effectiveness of the research.
Tourism experience
It was suggested by the effect-recovery theory and the conservation of resources theory
that the leisure trips taken by the individuals to get the opportunities to relax, detached
from work, mastery experience as well as personal control (Chen et al., 2016). Tourism
experience act as a stress reliever and this research focuses on the basic experience related
to psychology that is linked with recovery. It also examined the ways in which tourism
experience at the time of leisure trip influences the observed satisfaction of life after the
trip. It was revealed that life satisfaction is positively affected by all the dimension of the
recovery experience of tourism.
People have benefitted a weekend getaway as it helps them to recover from work stress
whereas longer trips offer more opportunities for recovery experience (Chen et al., 2016).
Due to technological changes in the tourism industry, social media influenced the way in
which the tourists see or experience their tours. A framework was proposed in the study of
Kim and Fesenmaier (2017), describing the relationship between social media as well as
tourism experience. It assesses the influences of social media while sharing the emotions as
well as perception about the trip by tourists. It was confirmed that the positive affect
increases and negative affect decrease among tourists by sharing the positive experience
post-trip (Kim and Fesenmaier, 2017).
A causal model was developed in another study by Zhang et al (2018) in order to discover
the antecedents as well as consequences of memorable tourism experience. Due to limited
research in this field, this study aims to fulfil the gaps among the perceived image,
memorable tourism experience and revisit intention. It was indicated form the findings that
revisit intention are influenced by country and destination image via the mediation effect of
memorable tourism experience.
Role of technologies in the tourism experience
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Nowadays smart tourism technologies such as social media, travel related websites and
smartphones have been pervasively and growingly used in travel planning (Hew et al.,
2016). This study by Huang et al (2017) examined the different uses of these technologies to
enhance customer satisfaction. An exploration and exploitation framework is adapted to
identify the antecedents in advancing and prohibiting the technology use. It was found that
both explorative, as well as exploitative use, is promoted by attributes to smart tourist
technologies whereas the security and privacy concerns of the users have a negative effect.
Also, overall travel experiences satisfaction is strongly influenced by explorative use and
transaction satisfaction is enhanced by exploitative use.
In addition to this, the emergence of innovative technological smart solutions due to recent
advancement in the field of technology provides extraordinary opportunities to be applied
in tourism as well as hospitality industry (Tan et al., 2017). It has become essential for the
tourism business to explore the technology potential due to intensified competition in the
tourism market. It optimises the existing process and also enables in creating more
meaningful as well as personalised services along with experiences (Neuhofer et al., 2015).
This study focuses on understanding the way in which mobile technologies facilitate the
personalised experience with references to the hospitality industry. It bridges the gap
between smart technologies as well as personalised experience. It concludes by developing
a model to depict the dynamic process of experience personalisation (Neuhofer et al.,
2015). The tourism experience has been dramatically transformed by technologies. This
research focuses on attitudes of the travellers and adoption of technology instead of their
experiences with travel technologies.
This study uses airlines as a case study to examine the technology readiness role as a
personality trait that shapes the satisfaction of travellers with travel technologies (Wang et
al., 2017). It took cross-country perspective by taking online survey of tourists in China
Australia and the United States to reveal the moderating effects of optimism as well as
innovativeness TR dimensions along with the country of residence on the relationship
between satisfaction with and perceived quality of services enabled through technologies,
overall satisfaction as well as future behaviour (Wang et al., 2017). The measures of
technology readiness and technology-enabled services should be incorporated by tourism as
well as hospitality services in their monitoring system of customer-experience (Wang et al.,
2017).
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Role of mobile technology in the tourism experience
The use of mobile technology has become prevalent for tourist not only in their daily lives
but also during their travels (Kennedy-Eden and Gretzel, 2012). About 92 articles that are
published in hospitality, as well as tourism journals, were collected and analyses to consider
the increasing significance of mobile technologies. It was observed that the majority of the
studies were focused on tourism experiences and the hotel industry. Quantitative research
methods were adopted along with using theories for the information system field (Law et
al., 2018). Some of the research themes were recognised from the perspectives of the
suppliers as well as consumers. There was disproportionation as researchers majorly focus
on the consumers rather than suppliers.
The role of mobile technology has been increased in the tourist's experiences and also led to
increasing focused on this area in tourism research (Neuhofer et al., 2014). Dickinson et al
(2016) carried out a study to explore the desire for digital (dis) connection at the time of
camping tourism. Interviews were conducted to compile and analyse the data to reveal that
about 590 per cent of the tourist has some desire to disconnect. It created the ambiguity
regarding the use of mobile technology in tourism along with a dilemma regarding the
connectivity value versus the desire to disconnect (Dickinson et al., 2016).
Another study by Kim and Kim (2017) conducted research to identify the status as well as
the role of mobile technology in sustainable and smart tourism achievement. The different
forms of technologies related to data as well as mobiles technology for systems and maps of
the smart city were identified in study 1. The sustainability, environment, business along
with market themes in relation to mobile technology were found in study 2. The attitudes
and preferences of the consumer for mobile travel apps are explored using their reviews in
study 3.
The advancement in mobile technologies along with social media development increased
the opportunities for the tourists to remain connected through the internet during the trip;
it has affected the behaviours and experiences of travelling (Minazzi and Mauri, 2015).
Some of the activities can be repositioned during the travel stages ranging from pre-trip to
post-trip stages. Travel operators are required to manage the consumption of travel services
while considering the rapid development of mobile tracking technologies. It discovers the
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influences of mobile technology on tourism experiences with the aim to understand the
suitable way for interaction with tourists (Minazzi and Mauri, 2015).
Thus from the literature reviews, it can be summarized that the advancement in the mobile
applications enriched the scope of services by travel agencies thereby shifting the tourism
experiences to a futuristic level. Increased mobile application usage has made it easier for
tourists to gather information about the world conveniently, comfortably and instantly.
While the travel company developed their businesses by hiring the mobile app development
companies to develop an app for booking, planning, rearranging and reviewing the travel
trips.
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1.4 METHODOLOGY FOR DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Mixed research methodology will be implemented in this research. Qualitative research will
be implemented to analyse the views and insights of the tourists in using mobile
applications during pre, on-site and post travelling. Quantitative research is conducted with
the aim to demonstrate the views and insights of the tourist in statistical form regarding the
role of the mobile application in tourism experiences (Kumar, 2019).
In order to meet the aim and objectives of the research, primary and secondary research
will be employed. The background information will be collected using secondary research
methods (Brannen, 2017). The data will be collected from different sources, such as books,
articles, magazines, journals, online applications and peer-reviewed researches. The
literature review of this research includes the summaries of selected secondary data sources
that support and drive the research to generate a reliable outcome. Also, primary research
is used to collect the original data representing the views and insights of the tourists about
the role of mobile applications on tourism experience (Hartas, 2015).
Structured questionnaire method will be implemented in the primary research to collect the
data from the participants in order to analyse it and meet the research objectives. A total of
10 objective and close-ended questions will be included in the questionnaire survey. The
analytical tools such as tables and charts from Ms-Excel will be utilised to analyse the data
and draw the reliable findings and the outcome so as to accomplish the research aim and
objectives (McCusker and Gunaydin, 2015).
100 tourists will be included to participate and share their experience and opinions about
using the mobile application in their pre, on-site and post travelling. Random sampling
method will be implemented so as to ensure that every individual has the opportunities to
be selected for the survey.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Ethical guidelines were taken into consideration while conducting the research. Despite the
emphasis of the researchers to conduct the research with honesty and well-intentional,
there might be the possibility of violating the rights of participants consciously or
unconsciously (Hartas, 2015). The data collection of the research was such that no tourist
had to face any inconvenience in disclosing any personal information. The privacy and
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dignity of each participant were protected and also rights were given to them to either
choose to or not to participate in research.
Voluntary participation of the participants was sought after explaining the aim of the
research. It enhanced the possibility of collecting honest and reliable information. Also,
participants were free to return the blank questionnaire in case of their unwillingness to
participate in the research (McCusker and Gunaydin, 2015). The information collected from
the participants was kept confidential and anonymous to ensure accurate and honest
responses. The responses of the participants were stored in Ms-Excel in tabular format and
remained locked on the computer with passwords. The research report is made available for
academic purpose with the study and its findings rather than commercialising it.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
This research concentrates on collecting the experience of the customer gained using
mobile application for travelling purpose and aims to identify the role of technology that is a
mobile application in tourism experiences (Brannen, 2017). It analyses the role played by
technology such as mobile technology in transforming tourism experiences. Since the
participation of the individuals was voluntary, the majority of the participant expressed their
unwillingness to participate in the research. This created a challenge to meet the desired
sample size within a short period of time.
The behaviour and views of the individual's changes over time which made it difficult to
determine its reliability and accuracy. The research was carried in a broad sense without
defining the geographical boundaries that restricted the effectiveness of the research. The
sample size of the population selected for the research is small therefore the findings and
results of the research cannot be generalised to the total population (Kumar, 2019). Budget
constraints limited the use of economic data collection and analytical tools to conduct the
research. The limitations of the secondary sources might reflect in this research as it formed
the research base.
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