Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
following section aims to shed light on this issue by conceptually integrating experience,
co-creation and technology within the concept of technology enhanced tourism experiences.
For this purpose, it assesses the most recent developments of ICTs within the tourism industry.
While reviewing emerging technologies, such as the Web 2.0, social media and a range of social
networking sites (covered in
Part 8
of this topic), this chapter places particular emphasis on
mobile technologies for the creation of tourism experiences.
It tackles the advancements of mobile services and the mobile tourist and its implications
for tourism experiences, co-creation and value. In introducing the notion of Experiences 3.0:
technology enhanced tourism experiences, the chapter discusses a paradigm shift in tourism
marketing, the factors contributing towards this shift and offers a juxtaposition of the character-
istics of Experiences 1.0/2.0/3.0 underlining this evolution. To allow for a better practical
understanding, the chapter takes a closer look at novel experience creation processes with respect
to the individuals involved (
who
) and the travel stages comprised (
where/when
). The discussion
is supported by a range of best-practice examples demonstrating its current realization and
highlighting its potential for future experience creation.
ICTs' impact on the tourism industry
In the twenty-fi rst century, society has been undergoing a number of fundamental changes. One
of the most far-reaching shifts regards the adoption of technologies in people's everyday lives.
The proliferation of ICTs, such as computers and the Internet gave rise to the knowledge-based
economy, characterized by new ways in which information has become available. The importance
of information and communication is not only prevalent in society but across various industries,
including tourism. As a dynamically developing sector, the tourism industry has always been in
the forefront of technology (Sheldon 1997). With information being the so-called lifeblood of
the travel industry (Sheldon 1997), technologies have induced an information revolution that has
caused entire tourism structures to change.
In allowing for better access and transparency of information (Hall 2005), ICTs have fostered
an increasing consumer independence to access information online (Buhalis and Licata 2002)
and at the same time induced a decreasing importance of traditional travel distributions. Due
to the intangible, heterogeneous and perishable nature of the tourism product (Buhalis and
Jun 2011), information and communication tools have become essential for presentation
and description of information, prices, reviews and opinions online. Despite allowing for infor-
mation, ICTs have become instrumental in interacting and engaging with consumers more
effectively. In particular, the emergence of social consumer-oriented technologies has revolu-
tionized tourism. The Internet and its successive advances in the Web 2.0 have represented
one of the most critical technological developments over the past years (Dwivedi
et al
. 2012;
Hays
et al
. 2013; Xiang and Gretzel 2010) by turning the Internet into an immense space of
networking and collaboration (Sigala 2009). A wide range of social media, such as networking
sites, blogs or wikis, have enabled consumers to interact, collaborate and share content, opinions
and experiences to an unprecedented scale. In addition to the Web 2.0, a further development
has implied one of the most signifi cant changes to tourism, namely mobile technologies.
Mobile ICTs and mobile tourists
Mobility has been identifi ed as one of the four mega trends next to globalization, communication
and virtuality, as identifi ed by Egger and Buhalis (2008). The rapid technological development
has led to a massive mobility in terms of the physical movement of products, services and people
