Smartphone use at tourist destinations: Interaction with social loneliness, aesthetic scope, leisure boredom, and trip satisfaction

Abstract

Tourists often use smartphones while visiting tourist destinations. Many studies have examined the consequences of smartphone use at these destinations. This study considers tourists’ smartphone use due to their interaction with their travel companions, or in other words, social loneliness related issues, and the destination environment, or its aesthetic scope. Aesthetic scope is related to the experiential dimension and is concerned with diverse visual and auditory cues. This study also considers whether the number of visits to a destination moderates the relationships between social loneliness, aesthetic scope, smartphone use, leisure boredom, and trip satisfaction. Applying partial least square analysis on 246 responses from domestic tourists who visited Taitung in Taiwan, this study found that the contribution of smartphones to trip satisfaction is limited, and is often confined to applications that help tourists c have visited Taitung only once; these visitors use smartphones for functional and communication purposes. Additionally, it exerts a positive influence on those who have visited Taitung more than once; these visitors use a smartphone for entertainment purposes. Aesthetic scope serves as an antecedent of smartphone use for functional and communication purposes and only for visitors who have visited Taitung more than once.