A Multi-facet Requirement Assessment of Customer-oriented Mobile Tourism Services

NGMAST 2008 Chien-Chih Yu

A Multi-facet Requirement Assessment of Customer-oriented

Mobile Tourism Services

Chien-Chih Yu and Hsiao-ping ChangNational ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan

Outline of Presentation

Research Background and Objectives Literature Review Research Methodology and Process The Mobile Tourism Service Framework Survey Results and Implications Conclusion


Research Background Emerging Mobile services

Reaching customers, suppliers, and employees regardless of where they are located.

Relaxing the limitation of time and location.Enhancing context-aware and location-based

services.

Emerging Mobile ApplicationsMobile financial transaction and payment servicesMobile tour guide and information servicesMobile learning servicesMobile healthcare servicesOthers (M-Government,..)


The tourism sector is one of the most noticeable EB application domain, and a prime candidate for m-business.

Mobile commerce will gradually intensify competition further in the tourism domain (Buhalis and Licata,2002).

There is a call for research attention to mobile tourism services (European Commission, 2003).

Example of mobile tourism services Mobile tour guides, mobile notification, Mobile auction services (ESTIA project)

Although there is an apparent need for research in the area of m-tourism services, little work has been done yet.

Research objective– To present a multi-facet requirement assessment appro

ach for specifying and relating potential B2C mobile tourism services.

– To provide a guidance for helping tourism service providers to better understand customers’ needs and improve their current services.

Research Background and Objective


Literature ReviewProll and Retschitzegger (2000)

point out the need of accessing up-to-date tourism information via mobile devices to help tourists in scheduling their tour plans and outdoor activities.

Cheverst, Mitchell, and Davies (2002) mention the usefulness of mobile tour guide ser

vices in providing up-to-date and context-aware tourism information to tourists.

Yeo and Huang (2003) indicate the effectiveness of mobile tourism services for

gathering accurate, prompt, and relevant information to solve travel related problems before and during the trips.


Literature Review (cont.)Tsamakos, Giaglis, and Kourouthamassis (2002)

emphasize on auctioning tourism products over mobile devices.

Berger, Lehmann&Lehner; Hinze&Voisard (2003) address the potential of location-based information serv

ices in the tourism industry. Chiu et al (2005)

present an agent-based mobile route advisory system for public transport network.

Yu (2005) note that tourism related informaion search and recom

mendation, transaction and payment, as well as trip tracking and quality control services can be well supported by using mobile devices.

Mallat et al (2006) discuss the impact of use situation and mobility on the a

cceptance of mobile ticketing services.


Literature Review (cont.)Major functions and benefits of mobile tourism

services mentioned in previous studies:

(1) to initiate auctions, book, and pay for last-minute trips, train tickets, car rentals, and hotel reservations,

(2) to access real-time information about road conditions, weather forecasts, and events changes for tour control,

(3) to get recommendations on restaurants, sightseeing spots, hotels, transportation routes, and tour packages for meeting needs and preferences,

(4) to share traveling information and experiences with people of similar interests via tourism community,

(5) to seize indoor and outdoor learning opportunities like museum exhibition guidance through using theme-based, multimedia supported, interactive, and personalized mobile tour guides.


Research Methodology and ProcessLiterature reviews

To identify B2C mobile tourism servicesTo construct a m-tourism service framework

Group interviewsTo modify and validate the proposed m-tourism

services and frameworkTo review survey questions

Three surveysOnline survey: usefulness ratings by touristsOnline survey: importance, feasibility,

cost/benefit effectiveness ratings by 3G operators

Mail survey: importance, feasibility, cost/benefit effectiveness ratings by travel agencies


Research Methodology and Process Reliability

Internal reliability: Cronbach alpha Construct reliability Variance extracted

Validity Content validity: literature review & group interview

s Construct validity: convergence and discriminability

Hypothesis testing & Relationship analysis Structural equation modeling (SEM) Overall model fit


Semi-Structured Group InterviewsParticipant criteria

Domestic and/or oversea traveling experiences Mobile usage experiences Better with full-time working experiences

Procedure Form six groups Purpose initial m-tourism services and framework Modify and validate the service framework Review and modify initial survey questions

Results Organize 21 identified m-tourism services into a 6-

class service framework Finalize research model and survey questionnaire


Six Classes of M-Tourism ServicesMobile Search & Notification Services (NOTI)

Safety-related warning (NOTI1) Traffic condition & weather forecast (NOTI2) Event schedule change notification (NOTI3) Major pre-trip notification (NOTI4) Reminder message (NOTI5)

Mobile Community Services (COM) Location-related information and knowledge (COM1) Travel experiences and resources (COM2)

Mobile Guide Services (GUIDE) Pre-recorded mobile guide (GUIDE1) Interactive mobile guide (GUIDE2) Theme-based video & audio mobile guide (GUIDE3)

Mobile Recommendation Services (RECOM) Hotels (RECOM1), Sightseeing (RECOM2), Restaurants (RECOM3) Tour plans (RECOM4), Tour routes (RECOM5) Souvenir stores (RECOM6)

Mobile Auction Services (AUC) Mobile auction services (AUC1) Mobile reverse auction services (AUC2)

Mobile Transaction & Payment Services (T&P) Booking/reservation (T&P1), Payment (T&P2), Ticketing

(T&P3)


Mobile Search & Notification Services (NOTI)•Safety-related information (NOTI1)•Road condition & weather reports (NOTI2)•Event schedule changes (NOTI3)•Major pre-trip information (NOTI4)•Reminder services (NOTI5)

Mobile Community Services (COM)•Information inquiry (COM1)•Information sharing (COM2)

Mobile Guide Services (GUIDE)•Pre-recorded mobile guide (GUIDE1)•Interactive mobile guide (GUIDE2)•Theme-based video and audio (GUIDE3)

Mobile Recommendation Services (RECOM)•Hotel (RECOM1)•Sightseeing (RECOM2)•Restaurant (RECOM3)•Tour plan (RECOM4)•Tour route (RECOM5)•Souvenir (RECOM6)

Mobile Auction Services (AUC)•Mobile action (AUC1)•Mobile reverse auction (AUC2)

Mobile Transaction & Payment Services (T&P)•Mobile booking (T&P1)•Mobile payment (T&P2)•Mobile ticketing (T&P3)

Overall Usefulness (ALL)

User-ranked score (ALL1)

Average score (ALL2)

H3

H5

H10

H12

H7

H1

H9

H11

H2

H4

H6

H8

Research Model


12 Hypotheses H1: User-perceived usefulness of the NOTI services is

positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism services.

H2: User-perceived usefulness of the NOTI services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services.

H3: User-perceived usefulness of the COM services is positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism services.

H4: User-perceived usefulness of the COM services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services.

H5: User-perceived usefulness of the GUIDE services is positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism services.

H6: User-perceived usefulness of the GUIDE services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services.


12 Hypotheses (cont.) H7: User-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services is

positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism services.

H8: User-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the AUC services.

H9: User-perceived usefulness of the RECOM services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the T&P services.

H10: User-perceived usefulness of the AUC services is positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism services.

H11: User-perceived usefulness of the AUC services is positive related to user-perceived usefulness of the T&P services.

H12: User-perceived usefulness of the T&P services is positive related to user-perceived overall usefulness of the mobile tourism


Online Survey - TouristsPopulation

– Taiwan tourists with domestic and/or oversea traveling experiences

– Better with 3G mobile usage experiencesConvenience sampling method

– One class of part-time college students with full-time working experience

– Full-time graduate students of Department of Management Information Systems

– Members of the Information Management Association in Taiwan

325 effective respondentsThe customers are asked to assess the usefulness

of the proposed B2C m-tourism services.


Online Survey - 3G Operators Population

– Taiwan telecom operators with both 2G and 3G licenses

– 95% of 2G market share in TaiwanConvenience sampling method

– Online survey was emailed to the contact windows– Planning, marketing & operation departments

86 effective respondentsThe 3G operators are asked to evaluate the

importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit effectiveness of the proposed B2C m-tourism services.


Mail Survey - Travel Agencies Population

– Taiwan travel agenciesStratified random sampling method

– Mailing list downloaded from Tourism Bureau– 300 randomly selected from 2708 travel agencies

according to the ratio of different travel license types92 effective respondents

– 31% effective response rate– Return profiles with reasonable ratio of different

travel agency license typesThe travel agencies are asked to evaluate the

importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit effectiveness of the proposed B2C m-tourism services.


Descriptive Statistics - Usefullness

Construct MeanStandard Deviation

Cronbach’s Alpha

>0.7

Construct Reliability

>0.7

Variance Extracted

>0.5

NOTI 4.44 0.509 0.77 0.88 0.59

COM 3.45 0.976 0.83 0.82 0.69

GUIDE 3.48 0.963 0.87 0.85 0.66

RECOM 4.16 0.706 0.94 0.96 0.81

AUC 3.38 1.065 0.93 0.92 0.85

T&P 3.78 0.914 0.80 0.78 0.54

ALL 3.96 0.579 0.79 0.96 0.81


Summary of Hypotheses TestingHypothesis Antecedent Outcome

Hypothesized Direction

Standardized Coefficie.

Supported

H1 NOTI ALL Positive 0.26** Yes

H2 NOTI RECOM Positive 0.42** Yes

H3 COM ALL Positive 0.17** Yes

H4 COM RECOM Positive 0.29** Yes

H5 GUIDE ALL Positive 0.26** Yes

H6 GUIDE RECOM Positive 0.15* Yes

H7 RECOM ALL Positive 0.31** Yes

H8 RECOM AUC Positive 0.37** Yes

H9 RECOM T&P Positive 0.26** Yes

H10 AUC ALL Positive 0.17** Yes

H11 AUC T&P Positive 0.36** Yes

H12 T&P ALL Positive 0.27** Yes

Note: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01.


Survey Results – Tourist Perspective Mean values of the usefulness ratings of the m-tourism

services range from 3.38 to 4.44, indicating that these mobile services are useful.

All proposed m-tourism services have direct effects on the overall perceived usefulness of the mobile service system

The top three useful mobile service groups are NOTI, RECOM, and T&P.

Among the six m-tourism service groups, RECOM have the greatest impact on the overall evaluation of the integrated mobile services, followed by T&P, and then NOTI and GUIDE.

NOTI (the greatest), COM, and GUIDE all have direct effects on RECOM.

RECOM has direct effect on AUC, and then both have direct effects on T&P.


SEM Result


SEM Overall Model FitFit Indices Criteria Outcome Acceptability

Chi-square 779.55 (p=0.0, degree of freedom=215)

Goodness of fit (GFI) > 0.90 0.83 Acceptable

Root mean square residual (RMSR)

- 0.081 -

Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)

0.05–0.08 0.087 marginal

Adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI)

>=0.90 0.79 marginal

Non-normed fit index (NNFI) >=0.90 0.95 Acceptable

Comparative Fit Index (CFI) > 0.95 0.96 Acceptable

Parsimony normed fit index (PNFI)

Higher value

0.80 Acceptable

Parsimonious goodness of fit index (PGFI)

>0.50 0.65 Acceptable


Importance Evaluation 3G Operators Travel Agencies

DM SD R M SD R

NOTI 4.46 0.549 1 4.12 0.862 1 ***

COM 3.17 1.053 5 2.53 1.142 4 ***

GUIDE 3.17 1.040 5 2.49 1.093 5 ***

RECOM 3.97 0.765 2 3.32 1.102 2 ***

AUC 3.23 1.124 4 2.48 1.296 6 ***

T&P 3.65 1.001 3 3.04 1.144 3 ***

ALL 3.94 0.661 3.42 0.802 ***

Note: M=mean; SD=standard deviation; R=ranking; D=difference; *** p<0.001.


Feasibility Evaluation3G Operators Travel Agencies

DM SD R M SD R

NOTI 4.41 0.597 1 3.94 0.839 1 ***

COM 3.58 1.108 5 2.62 1.187 5 ***

GUIDE 3.58 1.107 5 2.74 1.132 4 ***

RECOM 4.06 0.769 2 3.33 1.073 2 ***

AUC 3.67 1.103 4 2.52 1.236 6 ***

T&P 3.85 0.960 3 2.96 1.142 3 ***

ALL 4.01 0.673 3.26 0.776 ***



Cost/benefit Effectiveness Evaluation3G Operators Travel Agencies

DM SD R M SD R

NOTI 4.08 0.722 1 3.44 1.040 1 ***

COM 2.91 1.141 6 2.22 1.080 6 ***

GUIDE 2.93 1.113 5 2.39 1.073 4 ***

RECOM 3.75 0.920 2 3.19 1.565 2 ***

AUC 3.21 1.250 4 2.28 1.232 5 ***

T&P 3.67 0.993 3 2.82 1.177 3 ***

ALL 3.58 0.783 2.90 0.880 ***



Survey Results – Business PerspectiveFor the mobile companies

Mean values of the importance, the feasibility, and the cost/benefit effectiveness ratings of the m-tourism services range from 3.17-4.46, 3.58-4.41, and 2.91-4.08.

B2C m-tourism services are significantly important, feasible, and cost/benefit effective.

For the travel agencies Mean values of the importance, the feasibility, and the

cost/benefit effectiveness ratings of the B2C m-tourism services range from 2.48-4.12, 2.52-3.94, and 2.22-3.44.

B2C m-tourism services are nice-to-have.There are significant differences in the importance,

feasibility and cost/benefit effectiveness evaluation between mobile companies and travel agencies.

Both parties agree on the selection of the top three important, feasible, and cost/benefit effective m-tourism services, namely, the NOTI, RECOM, and T&P.


Business ImplicationStrong and sophisticated needs for m-tourism services

Seamless tour decision-making supportsTop 3 services as a basic service package

Mobile search & notification services, Mobile recommendation servicesMobile transaction & payment services

Second stage services: the mobile community services and the mobile auction services.

Need business collaborationStrategic alliance: 3G operators + travel agenciesService platform: technology complexity and

profitability are main concerns for the tourism industry.

Triple-Win opportunities


ConclusionThis paper

Assess the mobile tourism services requirements from both tourists’ and service operators’ perspectives.

Structurally organize and present a B2C m-torism service framework with six functional groups : the mobile search & notification services, the mobile community services, the mobile guide services, the mobile recommendation services, the mobile auction services, the mobile transaction & payment services.

Validate the service framework thru empirical studies. Contribution to the m-tourism domain

Provide a m-tourism service framework and survey findings

Offer a guidance to assist the mobile and tourism/travel businesses in planning customer-driven m-tourism services.


Future research works

To translate customer requirements into working system,

To investigate more service scenarios and processes for developing suitable business models,

To adopt the proposed service framework and methods to other business domains.


Q & A

Thanks !


Mobile Community Services (COM)•Information inquiry (COM1)•Information sharing (COM2)

Mobile Guide Services (GUIDE)•Pre-rec. mobile guide (GUIDE1)•Interactive mobile guide (GUIDE2)•Theme-based video and audio (GUIDE3)

M-Auction Services (AUC)•M-auction (AUC1)•M-reverse auction (AUC2)

H3

H5

H10

H11

H6

H8

H12

H7

H1

H9

H2

H4

Mobile Search & Notification Services (NOTI)•Safety-related information (NOTI1)•Road cond & weather reports (NOTI2)•Event schedule changes (NOTI3)•Major pre-trip information (NOTI4)•Reminder services (NOTI5)

Mobile Recommendation Services (RECOM)•Hotel (RECOM1)•Sightseeing (RECOM2)•Restaurant (RECOM3)•Tour plan (RECOM4)•Tour route (RECOM5)•Souvenir (RECOM6)

Mobile Trans. & Payment Services (T&P)•M-booking (T&P1)•M- payment (T&P2)•M-ticketing (T&P3)

Overall Usefulness (ALL)•User rating score (ALL1)•Average score (ALL2)


Summary of Hypotheses Testing (1/2)Hypothesis Antecedent Outcome Hypothesize

d DirectionStandardized

CoefficientSupport

H1 NOTI ALL + 0.26** Yes

H2 NOTI RECOM + 0.42** Yes

H3 COM ALL + 0.17** Yes

H4 COM RECOM + 0.29** Yes

H5 GUIDE ALL + 0.26** Yes

H6 GUIDE RECOM + 0.15* Yes

Note: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01.


Summary of Hypotheses Testing (2/2)Hypothesis Antecedent Outcome Hypothesize

d DirectionStandardized

CoefficientSupport

H7 RECOM ALL + 0.31** Yes

H8 RECOM AUC + 0.37** Yes

H9 RECOM T&P + 0.26** Yes

H10 AUC ALL + 0.17** Yes

H11 AUC T&P + 0.36** Yes

H12 T&P ALL + 0.27** YesNote: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01.

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A Multi-facet Requirement Assessment of Customer-oriented Mobile Tourism Services