Evaluating Influencing Factors of Tourists’ Experiences with Smart Tour Guide System: A Mixed Method Research

Abstract

The issue that this study explores is evaluation of tourists’ experiences with smart tour guide system (STGS). To address this issue, the purpose of this study is to explore what factors influence tourists’ experiences with STGS in four Chinese smart tourism destinations (STDs). An exploratory sequential mixed method was used to collect the data. Tourists who had used STGS in four Chinese STDs participated in the research. In the first and second phase, Semi-structured interviews with 12 interviewees were conducted, and these interviewees put forward six factors affecting tourists’ experiences with STGS: approachability, visual, operability, function, offline service, and interactivity. The third phase involved an analysis of a survey of 248 participants who had used STGS in the Chinese four STDs to verify the influencing factors. By using the method of linear regression analysis, we found that approachability, visual, operability, function and offline service have a significant impact on tourists’ experiences with STGS while interactivity contributes little impact to tourists’ experiences with STGS. The findings will be useful for STDs to explore and promote STGS services, as well as enhancing tourists’ smart experiences with STTs.