The Influence of Smart Technologies on Customer Journey in Tourist Attractions within the Smart Tourism Management Framework

Shiwei Shen,Yuwen Zhang,Marios Sotiriadis

doi:10.3390/su12104157

Abstract

Nowadays, smartness and smart management of tourism destinations and suppliers are becoming a top priority and big challenge. This article focuses on tourist attractions and aims at exploring how smart technologies influence the customer journey. The main research question is how smart technologies are influencing the tourists’ visit experience. The study takes a consumer behavior perspective with a specific focus on the visit cycle (prospective, active, and reflective phases), based on the theoretical foundations of customer journey process model. First, a research framework was elaborated, encompassing three hypotheses. Then, this model was empirically tested and validated by means of a quantitative research using as a study site the Ningbo Museum, Ningbo, China. This investigation allows us to get insights into consumer behavior, which is useful for tourist attraction to become ‘smarter’. The study’s findings indicate that smart technologies have an influence on the customer journey at all three phases, the most significant being at the prospective and active phases, without neglecting the reflective one. This article extends our knowledge by providing new insights into the influence of smart technologies that have theoretical and marketing implications for tourist attraction.

Highlights

Within the general context of digitalization—which is not a trend any more, but an everyday reality—the extensive use of smart technologies constitutes an essential component in the field of tourism [1]
This study used a regression analysis to undertake a correlational analysis [57]. This analysis determines the influence of smart technologies on tourists at the three phases of customer journey to a tourist attraction; in other words, to have an Attractive and Memorable Visit Experience (AMVE)
Statistical analyses were used to determine the role of the three phases (PP, active phase (AP), and reflective phase (RP), which are constructs/independent variables) in predicting the influence of smart technologies on AMVE

Summary

Introduction

Within the general context of digitalization—which is not a trend any more, but an everyday reality—the extensive use of smart technologies constitutes an essential component in the field of tourism [1]. These technologies render tourist consumers more active and exhibiting higher expectations in terms of experience at a destination or a specific tourist attraction. In 2018, the planning and design of 5A-level scenic spots in all Chinese provinces as “smart tourism scenic spots” were promoted By this year, all scenic spots rewarded with 4A-level or higher in China should offer free of charge full coverage of Wi-Fi, smart tour guide, online booking, and other smart services [5]

Objectives

Methods

Results