Gamified mobile experiences: smart technologies for tourism destinations

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to present gamified mobile experiences as valid tools for DMOs to enrich the experience of tourists, and to present the benefits provided to DMOs by analytics tools integrated on gamified mobile experiences. Design/methodology/approach Staff from three DMOs have generated a gamified mobile experience using a custom authoring tool designed and developed to fulfil their requirements. This gamified experience has targeted families with children visiting Basque Country during off-peak season. The experience has been validated over a period of seven weeks within a pilot project promoted by the local tourist information offices of the DMOs. Data directly provided by tourists and data gathered from analytic tools integrated on the gamified mobile experience have been analysed to fulfil the research objectives presented on the paper. Findings Both DMOs and tourists can benefit from gamified mobile experiences. The integration of analytics tools to gain insights into the behaviour of tourists can be a relevant information source for DMOs. Research limitations/implications The pilot project has targeted a niche tourism market, families with children visiting Basque Country, and has been running during off-peak season. Further studies focusing on other tourist types and different tourism season and destination types will be required to strengthen the validation of the research objectives presented on this paper. Practical implications The paper promotes both the development of gamified mobile experiences and the inclusion of analytics tools for DMOs to obtain relevant information about tourists and the mobile experiences. Originality/value A gamified mobile experience is generated by DMOs, validated on the basis of experience of real tourists. The analytics tools inside the gamified mobile experience provide DMOs with relevant information.

Hotel website quality, performance, telepresence and behavioral intentions

“…Because it is difficult to visualize their stay at hotels in advance, telepresence can play an integral role in promoting the hotel, helping customer information processing and decisionmaking processes. Therefore, an effective hotel website should highlight various interactive and sensory attributes (appealing/interactive visuals, video clips, games and testimonials), that can engage customers and help them picture concrete experiences, envisioned with future hotel experiences (Garcia et al, 2019). For instance, Hotel Cap Rocat in Spain has been successful in pulling website visitors further by showcasing grand, high-quality carousel of hotel videos showcasing the impressive entrance and luxurious amenities.…”

Effects of privacy concern, risk, and information control in a smart tourism destination

“…Data is used by the service provider in a smart tourism destination to suggest sightseeing locations, send events notifications, provide location-based advertising, use real-time personalized services based on the tourist location and preference (Femenia-Serra et al, 2019). Information can easily be available to the tourist using their mobile phone locationbased service in a smart tourism destination (Garcia et al, 2019). The personal information about tourists is made available to multiple stakeholders and service providers by the technology implemented in the smart tourism destination (Femenia-Serra et al, 2019).…”

The usability of visitor attractions: state-of-the-art

“…Figueiredo et al (2012) mention that interpretation activities are related to education practices, both environmental and cultural, and to leisure practices such as socio-cultural animation. Numerous studies confirm that interpretation techniques have a positive impact Carù and Cova (2006), Graillot et al (2011), Jensen et al (2017, Swacha andIttermann (2017), Campos et al (2018), Blumenthal and Jensen (2019), Garcia et al (2019) Source: Authors on overall visitor satisfaction (Beattie and Schneider, 2018). For developing interpretative activities, the usability tools are the most common techniques.…”