Abstract
This study focuses on the use of mobile applications in tourism context (m-tourism). A survey was applied to a hotel in the city of Guimarães, in the north of Portugal, with a sample of 98 tourists. 94 reported to use these devices in tourism context to access information and share experiences in social networks, taking photos and videos, and using GPS. Users have a preference for free applications and look for the creation of itineraries. The use of the app in offline mode is the most valued feature, as well as the availability of updated and useful information. Only 13,7% of the inquired tourists referred the use of the app of the destination Guimarães, where they were staying. This shows that besides the features, it is crucial the promotion of mobile touristic apps, and the establishment of partnerships and rewards to incentivize its use.
TopBackground
This section discusses the theoretical background about consumers’ adoption of mobile devices and applications. The adoption of technology is related to two fundamental variables - perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use (Davis, 1989). These are subjective perceptions of each individual on performance and effort, respectively, and act according to beliefs. The literature stated that the user may prefer to deal with usage constraints rather than failing in the performance of tasks. However, if the difficulty is high, it may lead to withdrawal. In case the facility is high, it may compensate for its poor utility. The designers and creators of innovations should thus pay great attention to utility, being this strongly linked to the acceptance of innovation, and not only the ease of use in its creation and development.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Mobile Apps: A software specifically built for mobile devices that can improve the use of mobile services.
User Generated Content: Contents generated by online users with information about experiences, such as photographs, texts and opinions, habits and purchases.
Augmented Reality: It is an application that allows the integration of the reality captured by a camera with virtual contents.
QR code: These codes are read from the user's mobile devices and can be used to store texts, hyperlinks, among other types of information, in various characters like numbers, letters, symbols and binary numbers. QR codes are placed on the tours so that, from its reading, it is easier to know the cities and also in several museums this technology is used to facilitate access to all information.
Usefulness / Ease of Use: The perception about the utility and difficulty on the use of a technology.
Mobile Device: A device characterized primarily by its portability, wireless communications and its ability to perform small tasks. Examples being smartphones, tablets and reading devices.