Evaluating Mobile Applications for Urban Tourism

Roberto Peretta

doi:10.6092/issn.2036-5195/4351

Authors

Roberto Peretta University of Bergamo

He has been working in the publishing field since 1974, on the Web since 1995. He has published for the Rough Guides, Time Out, Mondadori, Hoepli, Zanichelli, De Agostini, Touring Club Italiano (TCI), McGraw-Hill, and local Authorities in Milan.
He is lecturer at the Bergamo University since 2000, Ifitt and Sistur member.
He is resident consultant at the TCI 1999-2009 for tourist data management, web & mobile communication and the European Projects, now a regular TCI contributor.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-5195/4351

Keywords:

Tourism, Destination, Mobile, App, Europe

Abstract

With the spread of mobile communication, destinations have to decide whether, and in case how, to inform and drive their guests through smartphones.
Three groups of issues must be addressed.

a. Mobile content and its usability differ from those designed for desktop.
b. Smartphones use web pages as well as proprietary applications.
c. Smartphones connect both through telecoms and hotspots, posing specific cost problems.

With a view to understanding how these issues have been addressed by urban destinations, a reasonably representative sample of forty-four European destinations was identified.
To compare the quality of the mobile applications available in the sample destinations, the 7Loci meta-model – already well established for destination websites – was used.
More discursively, some critical points were finally identified, and the mobile services available on-site were compared with those offered for the same cities by four global platforms: TripAdvisor, Foursquare, TripWolf and Google.

References

Pike, S. (2004). Destination Marketing Organisations. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Mich, L., Franch, M., & Martini, U. (2005). A Modular Approach to Quality Evaluation of Tourist Destination Web Sites: The Quality Model Factory. In A. J. Frew (Ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2005, Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, 2005 (pp. 555-565). Vienna: Springer Vienna.

Rasinger, J., Fuchs, M., & Höpken, W. (2007). Information Search with Mobile Tourist Guides: A Survey of Usage Intention. Information Technology & Tourism, Vol. 9, 3/4, 177-194.

Buhalis, D., & Pistidda, L. (2009). Wireless Applications in Destinations. In W. Höpken, U. Gretzel, R. Law (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009, Proceedings of the International Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2009 (pp. 161-171). Vienna and New York, NY: SpringerWienNewYork.

Mich, L. (2010). Destination Marketing e Internet. In M. Franch (ed.), Marketing delle destinazioni turistiche (pp. 277-324). Milano: McGraw-Hill.

Nwagbara, U. (2011). Homing in on Paradigm Shift: Ryanair Leadership in the Age of Expensive Air Travel. Kravis Leadership Institute, Leadership Review, Vol. 11, Spring, 204-214.

Kostner, A. (2012). Do DMOs really need an app? Presentation at the Enter2012 International Conference, Helsingborg, Sweden, January 26.

Mich, L., & Hull, J. (2012). Good practices for web presences strategies of tourism destinations. eReview of Tourism Research, n. 10, 3, 36-40.

Marzani, P., & Mich, L. (2012). Tables for website quality evaluation of the RTBs in the Alps. eTourism research report 24.

Yovcheva, Z., Buhalis, D., & Gatzidis, C. (2013). Engineering Augmented Tourism Experiences. In L. Cantoni, Z. Xiang (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013, Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, January 22-25, 2013 (pp. 24-35). Vienna and New York, NY: SpringerWienNewYork.

Wang, D., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2013). Transforming the Travel Experience. The Use of Smartphones for Travel. In L. Cantoni, Z. Xiang (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013, Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, January 22-25, 2013 (pp. 58-67). Vienna and New York, NY: SpringerWienNewYork.

Ryanair SWOT analysis – Michael O’Leary’s maniacal focus on being the lowest cost producer. CAPA - Centre for Aviation, February 6, 2013. Retrieved from http://centreforaviation.com/

Kostner, A. (2013). The mobile strategy of the Vienna Tourist board. Do DMOs really need an App? Mobile Web vs. Mobile App. Presentation at the UNWTO Master Class “Improve your skills in developing, optimising and evaluating properly integrated e-marketing strategies”, Zadar, October 23. Retrieved from http://europe.unwto.org/es/node/38896

Evaluating Mobile Applications for Urban Tourism

Authors

DOI:

Keywords:

Abstract

References

Downloads

Published

How to Cite

Issue

Section

License

Language

Information

Current Issue

Keywords