Impact of smart tourism technologies on tourists' experiences: the case study of tourists in Museums of Tehran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Tourism, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Tourism Management, Technology Development Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran‌

10.22059/jut.2024.371724.1187

Abstract

A B S T R A C T
The present research aims to examine the impact of smart tourism technologies on tourists' experiences. Tourism is an information-driven industry, and the development of information technologies can fundamentally change the performance and structure of this industry. This study is conducted as an applied survey research using standard questionnaires on "smart tourism technology" and "tourist experience." The statistical population includes tourists visiting museums in Tehran in 2023. The research hypotheses were tested through regression analysis using SPSS and SMART PLS software in the inferential section. The results of the correlation analysis between the variables of smart tourism technology and the perceived value of tourists' experiences, using the Pearson correlation coefficient, showed that the variables of subjective experience (correlation coefficient 0.776), emotional experience (correlation coefficient 0.732), behavioral experience (correlation coefficient 0.768), existential experience (correlation coefficient 0.710), and recreational experience (correlation coefficient 0.736) have a positive and significant correlation with the variable of smart tourism technology from the tourists' perspective. Additionally, the results indicated that smart tourism technology overall has a positive and significant effect on tourists' experiences, with an effect size of 0.715. Moreover, the findings revealed that among the features of smart tourism technology, information has the largest effect size of 0.298; accessibility ranks second with an effect size of 0.292; and personalization ranks third with an effect size of 0.183 on the perceived value of tourists' experiences. Interaction has a significant impact only on the subjective experience dimension, with a standard coefficient of 0.177, ranking fourth, while security has no effect on any of the dimensions of tourists' experiences, placing it in fifth place.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Tourism is an information-driven industry, and the development of information technologies can bring about fundamental changes in the behaviors, desires, performances, and structures of this industry. Moreover, making smart tourism facilitates governance, enhances transparency in information management, and reduces costs in the tourism sector. This research is conducted with a demand-oriented approach and focuses on the tourist's experience with advanced and smart technology. In this study, unlike previous research, all dimensions of perceived value from experience (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential) are examined alongside all features and dimensions of smart technologies (information, accessibility, interaction, personalization, and security). This comprehensiveness indicates the thoroughness of the research and guides stakeholders and decision-makers toward more reliable results.
Accordingly, the main question of this study is:
- "What is the impact of smart tourism technologies on tourists' experiences?"
Thus, one main hypothesis and five sub-hypotheses will be tested.
 
Methodology
This study is an applied survey research. The statistical population consists of all urban tourists in Tehran in the year 2023 who have visited the museums of this city. The data collection tool is a questionnaire on smart tourism technology, which combines three questionnaires: the ones by No and Kim (2015), Li et al. (2018), and Yoo et al. (2017), along with the tourist experience questionnaire by Schmitt (1999). The research hypotheses are tested through regression analysis using SPSS and SMART PLS software in the inferential section.
 
Results and discussion
Main Hypothesis: * Smart tourism technologies significantly impact tourists' experiences. 
The hypothesis was confirmed. The standardized beta coefficient for this relationship is 0.715, with a significance level of 0.000, less than the error coefficient of 0.05; therefore, this relationship is considered positive and significant.
Hypothesis 1: The information feature in smart tourism technologies significantly affects the perceived value of tourists' experiences (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential). 
The hypothesis was confirmed. The information variable of smart tourism technologies positively and significantly affects the recreational experience with a standardized coefficient of 0.241, subjective experience with a coefficient of 0.249, behavioral experience with a coefficient of 0.246, emotional experience with a coefficient of 0.338, and existential experience with a coefficient of 0.271, as well as the overall score of perceived value of tourists' experiences with a coefficient of 0.298 at a significance level of 0.05. This result is consistent with previous research findings.
Hypothesis 2: The accessibility feature in smart tourism technologies significantly affects the perceived value of tourists' experiences (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential). 
The hypothesis was confirmed. The accessibility feature of smart tourism technologies has a significant positive effect on the subscales of the perceived value of tourists' experiences, including recreational experience with a standardized coefficient of 0.396, subjective experience with a coefficient of 0.212, behavioral experience with a coefficient of 0.257, emotional experience with a coefficient of 0.142, and existential experience with a coefficient of 0.351 at a significance level of 0.05. It also significantly affects the overall score of tourists' experiences, with a coefficient of 0.292. This result aligns with previous research findings.
Hypothesis 3: The interaction feature in smart tourism technologies significantly affects the perceived value of tourists' experiences (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential). 
The interaction feature of smart tourism technologies only has a significant effect on the subjective experience with a standardized coefficient of 0.177 and significance of 0.013 at a 0.05 error level, while it does not significantly affect other subscales of the tourism experience or the overall tourism experience score. This result is only consistent with some previous research findings.
Hypothesis 4: The personalization feature in smart tourism technologies significantly affects the perceived value of tourists' experiences (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential). 
The personalization variable of smart tourism technologies has a significant effect on subjective experience with a coefficient of 0.135, behavioral experience with a coefficient of 0.211, and emotional experience with a coefficient of 0.203 at a significance level of 0.05, while it does not have a significant effect on existential and recreational experiences. It also has a significant positive effect on the overall score of perceived value of tourists' experiences with a coefficient of 0.183. These results are in line with previous research findings.
Hypothesis 5: The security feature in smart tourism technologies significantly affects the perceived value of tourists' experiences (subjective, emotional, behavioral, recreational, existential). 
The hypothesis was not confirmed. The security feature in smart tourism technologies does not have a significant effect on the subscales of tourists' experiences or the overall perceived value of tourists' experiences, as the significance level of these relationships exceeds the error coefficient of 0.05. These results are inconsistent with previous research findings.
 
Conclusion
The results of this study indicate that among the five features of smart tourism technology (information, accessibility, interaction, personalization, and security), information is the most influential feature and can enhance tourists' experiences by meeting their needs. The accessibility feature ranked second. After these two, personalization, interaction, and security were ranked in importance.
Since the quantity and quality of information and ease of access to it play a crucial role in improving the smart and advanced tourism experience, it is essential for destinations (in this study, the museums of Tehran) to develop this smart infrastructure continuously. Interaction in smart tourism technologies involves timely and active two-way communication between stakeholders, accompanied by feedback and opinions. In this study, the interaction aspect only impacted the subjective experience and did not affect other subscales, indicating that smart tourism technology did not operate interactively in the surveyed statistical population.
This research suggests that the personalization process has the most significant impact on the behavioral experience, followed by the emotional experience. Security and the protection of privacy and confidentiality are other features of smart technology that the research results indicate have no significant impact on any of the experience dimensions, and their level in the studied community was not satisfactory. This means that visitors to the museums of Tehran do not feel assured about the security of their information and the protection of their privacy.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
Authors’ Contribution
Authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of the article. All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work declaration of competing interest none.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.
 

Keywords

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urban tourism
Volume 11, Issue 4
October 2024
Pages 59-75

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