These figures show that there is a potential
market for this kind of products. Moreover, a survey done in February 2010,
based on 963 respondents, revealed that Android and iPhone users download ~9
new apps2 / month, ~12 iPod touch, ~6 webOS. Twice as
many iPhone users regularly download paid apps as Android and webOS users. For
instance, iPod touch users that purchase paid apps spend $11,39 vs. $9,55
webOS, $8,36 android and $8,18 iPhone. Andoid users that purchase paid apps
download 5.0/month vs 4.6 iPod touch, 3.6 iPhone and 2.5 webOS (Admob metrics,
2010).
As for the behavior and habits of consumers,
Android users have similar download habits as iPhone users as shown in Figure 1
(Admob metrics, 2010).
Figure 1. Comparison between paid and free
apps (Source: Admob metrics, 2010)
At the end of 2008 there were approximately
10,000 apps in the App Store. By the end of 2009 there were over 100,000 apps
delivering approximately 1 billion downloads in the last 9 months alone. This
scenario, seen before as a promise of technology convergence, has become a
reality and for the tourism industry, this represents an unprecedented
opportunity to deliver “in-destination visitor information, hyper-localised and
hyper-personalised to the individual and where they happen to be” (New Mind, 2011).
The Tourism Industry
Our
behavior, as consumers, has changed – we are more informed, more demanding, we
want to engage with the content, with the brand, we want stories, emotions,
relationships. We are more and more mobile. Four in five business travelers
would like to have mobile applications offering recommendations for restaurants
and bars close to a hotel location (Psarros, n/d). We travel for work and
leisure. We prepare our trips and like to share them with friends. We recommend
hotels, restaurants and places to visit. Before travelling, tourists educate
themselves about what they are looking at. They read books, hire a tour guide
or they can read every plaque and sign on the premises – they prepare
themselves beforehand. They are described as “self made tourist” or “active
tourist” (Evjemo et al. 2009). As far as smartphones are
concerned, more than 40% of owners of such technology, already get destination
information, and 34% of business travelers and 26% of leisure travelers use
them to make booking during their trip (Psarros, n/d).
Tourism industry is currently an extremely
sensitive hybrid industry and incorporates distinct features of information
society. Although the core product in the industry is physical service, which
is produced and consumed in the physical world, it is dominated and achieved
though information services. The perfect integration of information and
physical services is the challenge for the contemporary tourism industry across
the globe. Hence it is largely a information product.
Usually the touristic activity can be divided
in 3 phases:
• the
pre visit phase: this phase can usually start with information search and
online research, word of mouth (via online review sites, social media and face
to face accounts) and continues with conversations both online and offline with
other consumers which can recommend places to visit, to stay and to eat.
Consumers use the technology for booking and ticketing (transport, dinner,
accommodation and attractions) as well as for other preparations (Simons, 2005).
At this stage what do customers want from travel websites? 52% say they look
for information about the destination which can be useful when choosing a
holiday, while 38% say they look for maps showing the location of the airport
and resort (Psarros, n/d) (data obtained from the econsultancy digital
marketers united). Consumers also look for photos of the destination and
accommodation since these help them to choose a holiday. Reviews are also
useful before making a decision.
• the
visit phase: the experience that started in the pre visit phase is extended
throughout the travel . At this stage, consumers still look for information and
routing using digital guidebooks, digital guides using GPS or SMS services.
They still need booking and ticketing (transport, dinner, accommodation and
attractions). They also use GPS navigation, get around with RFID, take pictures
/ movie clips, stay in contact with home / work and share information with
other travelers (Simons, 2005; acoupleofchicks, 2011).
• the
post visit phase: after the experience tourists gathers information about
the place visited and if they liked it they are likely to share their
experiences via review sites and social media (Simons, 2005;
acoupleofchicks, 2011) .
The use of the devices depends on the services
being offered by the touristic market. And this means that this market needs to
know exactly what the consumer wants in order to satisfy their needs with
adequate products and services. The five main sectors of the tourism and travel
industry and for which consumers are looking for information are (Middleton and
Clarke, 2001): (1) Accommodation; (2) Attraction; (3)
Transport; (4) Travel organisers’ sector and (5) Destination organizations. It
is here that suppliers must keep their eyes on and make their offers.
Trends and Challenges
In
the next paragraphs we briefly present some of the trends and challenges in the
mobile industry and apps applied to tourism.
Maybe enabled by the technologies (or because
of them) we can no longer imagine the leisure industry without mobile devices.
The free internet via wifi access is also blooming and has a catalyzing effect
on the development of digital applications which will, by its turn, to reform
the tourist landscape (RCCT, 2011).
Moreover, one knows that internet is becoming
more and more important in the pre-holiday phase, when the tourist looks for
information about the place to visit, where to eat, sleep, what to do and see.
According to RCCT (2011), 52% of the potential
travelers visit three or more websites before making a booking. Also, more and
more users book their own custom-made trip (dynamic packaging). But despite the
growing dexterity in using the internet, many people still have problems to
book and/or pay the desired product due to customer unfriendly sites and
applications. People would abandon a travel purchase online if the pricing is
unclear and if there are hidden charges. Moreover, this will also happen if
there is lack of information or if they experience difficulties in searching
for holidays (Psarros, n/d). This means that there is still a lot to do in
order to facilitate to reserve, book and pay the product / service.
Another trend, according to the
Trendwatching.com, is related to real-time reviewers. Nowadays, whatever one
sells or launches is viewed and discussed widely, live and 24/7. People want to
read reviews about all sort of products and services and be able to share their
comments with their peers.
Related to the need to look for information
and have recommendation there is the F-Factor (Trendwatching, 2011[mb1] ).
Consumers are increasingly tapping into their networks of friends, fans and
followers to discover, discuss and purchase goods and services, in ever-more
sophisticated ways. The five ways that the F-Factor influences consumption
behavior are (op. cit.):
• F-Discovery: How consumers discover new products and services by relying on their
social networks
• F-rated: How consumers will increasingly receive targeted ratings,
recommendations and reviews from their social networks
• F-feedback: how consumers can ask their friends and followers to improve and
validate their buying decisions
• F-together: how shopping is becoming increasingly social, even when consumers and
their peers are not physically together
• F-me: how consumers’ social networks are literally turned into products and
services
Almost everybody has a mobile phone and in a
few years we will have smartphones. Power of multimedia technology storytelling
together with digitalization trends and diffusion of handy mobile devices
support changes. All these developments are transforming the mobile phone into
a multimedia device. However, there are still some problems that need to be
solved such as the communication costs and network coverage (Evjemo et al.
2009). We also acknowledge that more and more there is an
emphasis on relationships. Consumers want to engage with the products /
services and brands. This is why cultivating relationships online will dominate
value in content, links and promotion (Psarros, n/d).
Another technology that can have some impact
in the tourism is the use of QR Codes or “Quick Response” codes. The code is a
specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR
barcode readers and camera phones. How does this work? Users scan the code into
a smartphone and then they are taken to a friendly web based page or mobile app
where they can find more information about the product / service / monument and
engage with the brand while they are in the market and experiencing travel. In
order to be successful the QR codes must be used at the point of consumption or
close to the travel buying cycle.
However, one also has to consider the cost of
development of application. As a matter of fact, to develop an application
costs thousands of dollars, depending on the functionality the client wants. It
is also important always provide updated information for visitor, which means
having the information always updated. Furthermore, there will also come into
question whether or not one should charge for the app (Lively, 2011).
Usually they are available for free but now some suppliers are already charging
for it.
Another issue that needs to be discussed is
the need for speed. Consumers need to get what they want even faster. They do
not want to wait too long.
Usability will also be the key success factor
saving those deep, cumbersome websites from instant dismissal by users
(Psarros, n/d). This means that websites must be simple. A visual appealing
website is a site that is easy to read, easy to navigate and where one can find
relevant information.
Finally, content is the king. This means that
qualitative and diverse information, trip planning tools, attractive visual
material including video and photo sharing applications, multilingual content,
B2B and press sections are all must elements of a successful DMO website
(Psarros, n/d)
In the next section some ideas on how the
technology can help to improve the trip of the tourist are presented.
How Technology Can Help the Tourist to Improve
the Trip
In
the next paragraphs it is specified ways in which technology can help the
tourist to improve his / her trip (Bashara, 2010):
1. Identifying
tourist problems: The common problem among tourists is to decide where to
go and what to do. To overcome this problem, travelers are relying on
smartphones and tablets and do not typically browse websites from mobile
devices. Anyway, special apps helping to identify popular spots are needed to
be developed. The next step is to help tourists to know how to get to their
final destinations and coordinate travel with availability of certain
attractions.
2. Identifying
tourist solutions: The possibility to document and share a trip is
something that the tourist wants. The user wants to bring something with him /
her back to his / her life. It could be a photosharing or leaving a digital
trail full of blogs.
3. Indispensable
travel apps: There are several apps that improve the travelling experience.
Nevertheless, users will only download an app that provides value. It is
necessary to give them a reason to use the app while they are visiting a
destination and encourage consumers to share experiences while they are in the
destination. In the next paragraphs some tools are presented.
a. Google
maps: a map is one of the mostly needed tool together with guidebooks
during a trip.
b. Guidebooks
and itineraries: tourists look for sources where they can find all sorts of
reviews and information about any attraction.
c. Translators:
frequently, tourists need translations and here the iPhone seems to reign with
its app iLingual. This app replaces the mouth of the user with an animated
mouth generated from photo reference that speaks the inquiries to whoever one
is requesting information from.
d. Layar:
this app is about augmented reality. This application allows finding fellow
Twitter users, or café’s to spend time while one checks up on what is going on
back at home. It is also possible to get information about the building the
tourist passes by asking the app to identify the places around. How can this be
done? Just need to hold up the mobile phone in front of the user and receive
annotation on the screen on top of the visual coming through the camera lens
from the real world. It is also possible to narrow down the information by
selecting categories such as bars, restaurants, hotels, etc. The user will see
dots in the screen that will tell him / her which direction is relative to his
/ her position as well as how far they are. The software relies on knowing the
user’s position rather than recognizing the scenery. As long as the user can
receive a GPS signal and have a compass, gyroscope and accelerometer in his /
her device, then the app will know which way the person is facing, the
orientation at which he / she is holding the phone and where all the POIs are
relative to his / her location (Sung, 2011[mb2] ).
e. Tracking
transactions: There are some apps that help tracking transactions and
facilitate the expenses report portion of any business trip. The user just
needs to point the camera to the receipt, shoot and file the report away for
later.
f. Tracking
the journey: tourists also enjoy tracking their journey. There are several
solutions for this. One of them is Foursquare.
g. Staying
in touch: there are several chat programs that allow communicating with family
and friends.
Conclusion
The
International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction is concerned with
research that explores the link between men and technology. Being the
technology present in all the dimensions of our lives it is natural that all
sort of disciplines may contribute for this publication. Furthermore, the
journal also publishes special issues where a certain topic is fully discussed
and presented. One of the nest special issues will cover “green technology”.
Besides that, one acknowledges that in the mobile industry and tourism market
several developments have occurred in the last years, bringing changes in the
way people look for information at all the travelling stages. Users want to
engage with brands, they want to be stimulated and get emotionally involved
with the experience. Taking this into consideration, some trends were
identified and presented. However, there are also some challenges that need to
be overcome and these were also dressed.
References
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Endnotes
1 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third
generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard.
2 The term has been used as shorthand for “application” in the IT
community for decades. However, it became popular for mobile applications in
smartphones and tablets, especially due to the advent of Apple's iTunes App
Store in 2008. It is just as correct to say “iPhone application” as it is
“desktop computer app;” although app is shorter (PC Mag, 2011).