Augmented reality marketing in hospitality and tourism: a guide for researchers and managers

Abstract

Purpose The hospitality and tourism industry is strongly influenced by new and immersive technologies, such as augmented reality (AR), to enhance customer experiences across a diverse set of touchpoints throughout the visitor journey. This paper aims to provide a holistic understanding of AR marketing for this industry context, present a number of fundamental premises of AR marketing within it and establish an agenda for future AR research. Design/methodology/approach This study reviews current literature on AR marketing, hospitality and tourism and industry use cases for the creation of a proposed conceptual framework to guide scholars and managers. Based on that, the authors propose fundamental premises. Findings The three fundamental premises of AR marketing presented are the need to clearly differentiate between AR and virtual reality within hospitality and tourism; the use of AR for the on-trip experience; and the combined focus on content, context, customer and computing devices for a successful strategic implementation of AR. Research limitations/implications This study serves as a first point of reference for the strategic integration of AR into hospitality and tourism marketing, both from an industry and academic point of view. Practical implications The authors provide a number of managerial recommendations based on our three fundamental premises. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to holistically characterize AR marketing in the hospitality and tourism context. It also highlights the fundamental premises of successful AR marketing and future directions of AR research today and in a spatial computing future.