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This study explores how technology-mediated journaling can support memorable and meaningful tourism experiences (MMEs). The digital photo is the most common medium for travelers to keep a record of memorable and meaningful moments and share them via social media. We explore the potential of using these footprints for travelers to connect the implic...
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... character strengths are pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is authentic and energizing to the user and enable optimal functioning, development, and performance [17]. The Values in Action Classification of character strengths identified six core virtues and 24 related character strengths (Table 1) which when used in a good way will generate positive experiences, find meaning and ultimately flourish [17]. ...Citations
... The shorter error bar indicates consensus among participants Fig. 3. A sample of MME entry provided by Ron (P10) (Wan et al., 2021). on the questions. ...
... The strengths-based journaling platform: user profile and story creation(Wan et al., 2021). ...
Reminiscing on memorable travel experiences is a common practice amongst many travellers. This study introduces positive psychology interventions-cultivation of character strengths and savouring strategies-to examine memorable and meaningful tourism experiences (MMEs). Although both interventions aim to increase well-being, little research has been conducted on their roles in enriching MMEs. MMEs are fundamental to understand as part of the travel reminiscence process. MMEs could be heightened by connecting tourists' past experiences with their character strengths (capacities for ways of behaving). Savouring, on the other hand, facilitates the connections to places. The reminiscence process helps tourists gain self-knowledge and make well-being oriented choices in their future journeys. In so doing, this research study created an interactive strengths-based journal that facilitated tourists to incorporate their character strengths in their past MMEs. The narratives were structured to connect explicit experiential components, such as tourism activities, with implicit psychological factors, such as emotions, character strengths, and values. Data collection involved ten tourists of diverse nationalities who created 51 MME narratives. Participants were then invited to savour their strengths used, reflect on their narratives, and express their behavioural intentions for their next trip. Data analysis, using grouped frequency distributions, found that MMEs were associated with the moderate strengths rather than the signature (prominent) strengths of the participants, such as curiosity and gratitude. Appreciation of beauty and excellence was the most dominant strength observed. The findings showed participants preferred their future journeys to be congruent with their character strengths. Theoretical and practical implications for tourist experience research are outlined.
... Reminiscing and finding meaning produce the potential to create technology-mediated meaningful experience (Baumer, 2015;Isaacs et al., 2013;Konrad et al., 2016;Odom et al., 2012;Odom et al., 2019) and memorable experience (Bruce Wan, 2019;Heath & Heath, 2017;J.-H. Kim et al., 2012;Tung & Ritchie, 2011;Wan et al., 2021) which are topics of interest in both HCI and tourism communities (de Freitas Coelho et al., 2018;Diller et al., 2005;Han et al., 2020;Lindeman & Beckhaus, 2009;Mekler & Hornbaek, 2016, 2019Pullman & Gross, 2004;Tussyadiah, 2014). ...
Considered to be an emerging topic in tourism research, traveling to familiar places benefits both the travelers and destinations. However, the current development of familiar tourism is severely affected by the epidemic. Recognizing the potential of virtual reality (VR), this research aims to explore VR’s relevance in the application of visiting familiar places and the empirical features of VR beyond on-site familiar tourism. We first reviewed the literature and developed an experience framework. Secondly, we conducted an exploratory activity in which participants (N = 16) used Google Earth VR to travel to their familiar places with two conditions (free exploration and task-oriented travel). In the activity, we employed think-aloud protocols, a scale, and semi-structured interviews. With our framework, we categorized findings into five dimensions and indicated the similarities and differences between familiar tourism in VR and that in actual places. Particularly, three empirical features (the sense of distance, multi-view space, and montage time) were recognized and formed VR’s opportunity to outperform on-site travel. We conclude by discussing the impacts of VR on familiar tourism and providing implications, including designing the timeline, sounds, tasks, and virtual guides. These suggestions inspire designers to acknowledge VR limitations and identify directions for future tourism applications. As a beginning of empirical investigation on VR familiar tourism, this study opens up a new field of discussion around VR tourism experience. We invite the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community to collectively probe into the VR experience and design of visiting familiar places. Efforts in this area will stretch beyond the current understandings of various forms of tourism and contribute to crafting rich travel experience by immersive technologies.
... However, little is known on using psychological data, such as character strengths, to enrich leisure and tourism experiences. Wan and his colleagues [18] demonstrated a strengths-based digital diary which allowed people to journal and savor memorable and meaningful tourism moments with photos and texts provided by users. The journal platform supports users to reveal meaning by making implicit psychological dimensions of MMEs explicit. ...
... The framework focuses on personally relevant characters which could facilitate a self-reflection process through breaking down memorable and meaningful experiences, inquiring about the character strengths involved and fostering self-transformation with strengths interventions. The framework is compatible with current studies [3,18] on digital wellbeing informatics systems. The following provides recommendations for developers to implement strengths-based personal informatics. ...
... This is probably the easiest way for people to connect their strengths with external stimuli (e.g., people, activities, environments, etc.) and their internal psychological states (e.g., values, goals, feelings). Reflection and introspection can be an effective way to allow users to recognize the character strengths they draw upon in gaining valuable experiences [18]. Reflection allows people to bring unconscious aspects of experience to conscious awareness, and thereby gain self-knowledge. ...
Personal technology plays an integral role in shaping people’s quality of life which includes leisure and tourism experiences. A number of personal informatics tools can support people in performing their activities by collecting biometric and environmental data; however, little is known regarding the use of psychological data to enrich leisure and tourism experiences. To address this research gap, this study aims to propose a conceptual framework that fosters memorable and meaningful leisure experiences (MMEs) based on theories from serious leisure and positive psychology. In particular, this study probes into the MMEs of serious leisure practitioners who put their efforts and resources into pursuing intrinsically rewarding leisure activities. Excelling at these activities, which may draw upon participants’ character strengths, yields sustained fulfillment which fosters personal transformation. The idiosyncratic nature of MMEs demands a phenomenological inquiry that involves in-depth interviews concerning the character strengths used and their development trajectories. Using theory triangulation from both positive psychology and serious leisure allows researchers to gain a holistic view of participants’ well-being. Character strengths were found to be the integral factors that contribute to MMEs at different stages of leisure activities. The result identified three aspects of strengths used: strengths well spent, reflection and introspection, and anticipation of the future self, which informs the development of a strengths-based personal informatics framework for leisure and tourism.
... Moreover, cultivating strengths in general tourism experiences should be a direction of great potential to overcome the aforementioned challenges of regular tourism experiences in eudaimonia generation. First, practicing personal strengths (particularly those that not regularly applied) often require tourists to step out of their comfort zones (Wan et al., 2021), which can compensate for the commonly believed lack of such opportunities in regular tourism experiences. Second, as the higher level mental engagement is often closely associated with strengths practices (Huber et al., 2020), motivated strengths practices throughout the regular tourism experience would be a candidate approach mentally engaging the tourists, while avoiding the side effect of energy exhaustion frequently observed in most eudaimonic niche tourism experiences. ...
... This makes up for the criticized deficiency of regular tourism experiences in cultivating the existential authenticity. Fourth, frequent strengths practices in various forms, once embedded in a trip, can compensate for regular tourism experiences' lack of depth due to the time/space limitation (Wan et al., 2021). Fifth, cultivating strengths directs tourists' attention to the strength application at the moment, inducing their sense of mindfulness which allows them appreciating the current and truly escaping from routine pressure (Niemiec, 2017). ...
In response to the challenges yet importance to promote the eudaimonic benefits of general tourism experiences, cultivating character strengths in tourism experiences emerges as a promising solution. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to examine the potential of general tourism experiences for eudaimonia promotion through strengths cultivation. With online survey data collected from 389 US adults, McNemar’s tests first quantitatively identify the unique advantage of tourism in the tendency of cultivating each of 24 strengths for its rare users in daily life, and the weakness of tourism in the likelihood cultivating 11 strengths for their regular users. Qualitative thematic analyses then develop a more nuanced understanding by revealing the approaches and five contextual catalysts of strengths cultivation in tourism. The connected interpretation of quantitative and qualitative findings further sheds light on the generative mechanisms shaping the strength-cultivating potential of tourism. Besides being the first attempt investigating strengths cultivation patterns in general tourism experiences, this study identifies tourism as a unique strengths incubator complementing the daily strengths cultivation, which introduces a novel angle to examine the eudaimonic benefits of tourism. Practical implications further guide the strength-based tourism experience design to boost eudaimonia.
This study aims to explore the composition of virtual guided tour experience on Airbnb and to develop a formation process of virtual guided tour experience. A case study based on the qualitative analysis was conducted with a dataset of online reviews towards an Online Experience in Beijing, China. A three-stage process of virtual guided tour experience was concluded, including experience encounter, experience evaluation, and behavioral intention. Experience encounter describes the experience composition from four dimensions: interpretation quality, host credibility, tourist-host social contact, and peer interaction; Experience evaluation is involved with benefits mainly gained from the enhanced understanding of local culture and the satisfaction attributed by the sense of telepresence; Further, behavioral intention covers both online and offline willingness to recommend or repurchase the virtual tour, or visit the destination in person after the pandemic. Theoretical and practical implications in navigating tourism recovery were discussed.
We applied four machine learning models, linear regression, the k-nearest neighbors (KNN), random forest, and support vector machine, to predict consumer demand for bike sharing in Seoul. We aimed to advance previous research on bike sharing demand by incorporating features other than weather - such as air pollution, traffic information, Covid-19 cases, and social economic factors- to increase prediction accuracy. The data were retrieved from Seoul Public Data Park website, which records the counts of public bike rentals in Seoul of Korea from January 1 to December 31, 2020. We found that the two best models are the random forest and the support vector machine models. Among the 29 features in six categories the features in the weather, pollution, and Covid-19 outbreak categories are the most important in model prediction. While almost all social economic features are the least important, we found that they help enhance the performance of the models.
This open access book presents the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 29th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER2022 conference, which will be held on January 11–14, 2022.
The book provides an extensive overview of how information and communication technologies can be used to develop tourism and hospitality. It covers the latest research on various topics within the field, including augmented and virtual reality, website development, social media use, e-learning, big data, analytics, and recommendation systems. The readers will gain insights and ideas on how information and communication technologies can be used in tourism and hospitality. Academics working in the eTourism field, as well as students and practitioners, will find up-to-date information on the status of research.
Nowadays, hotels are adopting high technologies to improve the quality of their facilities and services to build competitive advantages. Although smart hotels are an emerging trend, no known studies have investigated hotel employees’ and guests’ perceptions of this kind of hotel. This research will investigate how hotel employees and guests perceive the benefits and drawbacks of smart hotels using Q methodology.
As global travel emerges from the pandemic, pent up interest in travel will lead to consumers making their choice between global destinations. Instagram is a key source of destination inspiration. DMO marketing success on this channel relies on projecting a destination image that resonates with this target group. However, usual text-based marketing intelligence on this channel does not work as content is consumed first and foremost as a visual projection. The author has built a deep learning based visual classifier for destination image measurement from photos. In this paper, we compare projected and perceived destination images in Instagram photography for four of the most Instagrammed destinations worldwide. We find that whereas the projected destination image aligns well to the perceived image, there are specific aspects of the destinations that are of more interest to Instagrammers than reflected in the current destination marketing.
This paper shows a first analysis of the experiences and challenges of studying tourism during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. 14 tourism students from two higher education institutions in Europe participated in three focus group discussions. One generation of these students started their education in presence and had to shift online with the start of the pandemic, while the other generation started their education knowing that lessons would be mainly online. Authors used qualitative content analysis to analyze the participants’ statements. As a result of the analysis, several themes emerged, and students contextualized eLearning as an education method for a future without COVID-19.
