Virtual and Augmented Reality in Serious Tourism Games: Opportunities, Tourist Motives, and Challenges

Abstract

Using prior models regarding online consumer behavior and adoption of technological innovations the present study aims at identifying various factors that might impact on tourists’ intention to adopt mobile augmented reality gamified applications for tourism destinations and to decipher the impact of serious tourism games on tourists’ perceptions and behaviors towards a destination. Based on a literature review the present study developed a conceptual model that considers important antecedents that could impact tourists’ intention to adopt a mobile augmented reality gamified applications for a tourism destination. Moreover, tourists’ responses to usage of serious tourism games were also identified. The hypothesized model suggests that tourists’ intention to use augmented reality serious games for tourism could be influenced by environmental factors concerning the design of the application, the technical characteristics of the application as well as the features of smart mobile devices of users. Tourist characteristics related to personal traits and demographics, perceived benefits (enjoyment, ease of use and usefulness), and motivations (entertainment, knowledge, curiosity, exploration, immersion, escapism, physical activity, social interaction) were also found to be important antecedents of tourists’ intentions towards mobile augmented reality serious tourism games. Furthermore, this study shed light on the impact of tourism gamified applications on tourist behavior. Analysis of prior studies indicates that tourists’ usage of these applications can influence their perceived utilitarian and hedonic value and in turn result in increased levels of awareness, loyalty, word-of-mouth communication, and engagement of tourists with the destination. Results will help researchers test empirically the impact of the identified factors on tourists’ usage intentions and subsequent responses. Moreover, practitioners and game developers could design user centered gamified applications that enhance tourists’ satisfaction with the application and the destination as well.