ICT and the Sustainability of World Heritage Sites. Analysis of Senior Citizens’ Use of Tourism Apps

Irene Ramos-Soler,Alba-María Martínez-Sala,Concepción Campillo-Alhama

doi:10.3390/su11113203

Irene Ramos-Soler, Alba-María Martínez-Sala + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113203

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jun 8, 2019
Citations: 33	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Alicante

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and applications (apps) for tourists are key tools for the sustainability of World Cultural Heritage Sites (WCHS). Their integration into tourism marketing strategies poses challenges regarding the satisfaction of the expectations of the target stakeholders, particularly senior tourists, people aged 60 and over. This paper adopts an exploratory and descriptive approach that combines qualitative techniques (focus groups), to study the use senior citizens make of ICT and tourism apps, with quantitative ones. In this sense, content analysis has been performed on a sample of tourism apps. The results reveal that ICT are essential tools for senior tourists and positively influence tourists’ final perception of the travel experience. The analysis of these mobile apps shows that they meet the expectations of senior tourists, who constitute a relevant generation for cultural tourism and are of special interest for the sustainability of WCHS. The configuration and development of these tools must be adapted to this generation, which we call Generation W.

Highlights

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) over the past decades has conditioned the evolution of destination marketing and cultural and tourism communication
The relational potential of ICT has derived in a new concept: Relational, Information, and Communication Technologies (RICT) [10], which are essential tools in destination promotion and marketing as they allow the tourist user to adopt the role of adprosumer [11], which is based on positive experiences that are the origin and driving force of relationships [12]
Of the RICT available, tourism apps are a key tool with enormous relational and experiential communication potential that Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) should exploit. These advantages seem to have been accepted by the main tourist destinations, we cannot confirm this in the specific case of the tourist apps that are the object of this research, which continue playing the informative role typical of the Web 1.0 and of the premises of transactional marketing and one-way communication

Summary

Introduction

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) over the past decades has conditioned the evolution of destination marketing and cultural and tourism communication. Smartphones have become necessary tools in tourists’ interaction between the physical and digital world [1] The growth of this expanding sector [2,3] has triggered the boom of mobile applications (apps), including tourism apps, a category that stands out for its large number of downloads [2]. The relational potential of ICT has derived in a new concept: Relational, Information, and Communication Technologies (RICT) [10], which are essential tools in destination promotion and marketing as they allow the tourist user to adopt the role of adprosumer [11], which is based on positive experiences that are the origin and driving force of relationships [12]. The value of experience has acquired more importance with the arrival of the model 2.0 [19,20] and its potential to multiply the reach of the traditional word of mouth [13,21] and the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), when focused in the digital field [22,23]

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