Solving Tourism Management Challenges by Means of Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

Literature Review

High diversification, mobility and ease of use of digital technologies open up extensive prospects for their application while organizing tourist activities (Dirin & Laine, 2018). The tourist can customize the search for information in the mobile application according to personal preferences, age, knowledge and profession, comparing reality with various multimedia formats offered by the AR (video, sounds, 3D images) (Tussyadiah et al., 2018). Virtual reality (VR) technologies are able to separate people from the real environment and provide them with both visual and audio stimuli, thereby allowing them to feel in a completely different world (the effect of telepresence) (Ali, 2016). Many AR applications are integrated with the most commonly used social networks, giving the possibility of updating one’s social status in real time, to use tags, to share photos and opinions and to exchange recommendations with other tourists (Yung & Khoo-Lattimore, 2019). Such an activity builds a stronger sense of confidence and awareness in a traveler, allowing him/her to gain a more vivid experience by interacting with other users posting virtual content (Kounavis et al., 2012). The modern market is actively promoting the development of such forms of interaction between the tourism industry actors as virtual communities (Yin et al., 2021). Hence, the entire pre-purchase process is integrated into online systems that allow tourists to connect to a community where at least the part of the whole travel experience happens virtually. A potential tourist can use VR to have a first short immersive experience of several destinations or locations (e.g., attractions, hotels, museums, restaurants) before deciding which destination, hotel or tour to choose. During the real visit to the destination, tourists can keep in touch with other members of virtual communities, who may suggest some attractions, tours, or places nearby that are worth visiting – all in real-time through the use of mobile phones and AR (Loureiro et al., 2020).