The role of smart technologies in shaping tourist experience

Purpose This study aims to investigate how the informativeness, accessibility, interactivity, personalisation and security/privacy of a smart technology, as perceived by individuals during their stay at the tourist destination, contribute to the experience co-creation. Likewise, it examines the potential interrelationships among the experience co-creation, tourist satisfaction, experience memorability and tourist loyalty. Design/methodology/approach Considering Google like the smart technology under investigation, the data collection was based on quantitative research with 1,000 online surveys sent to a panel from Netquest. Findings The results indicate that the informativeness is the characteristic of the technology with the greatest influence on the experience co-creation. For its part, co-creation positively influences on both the tourist satisfaction and the experience memorability. Finally, the memorability (direct effect) and satisfaction (direct and indirect effect) significantly contribute to the loyalty towards the tourist destination. Originality/value In contrast to numerous previous studies, which have focused on the role of smart technologies in the pre-trip stage, this paper provides empirical evidence about the impact of those technologies on experience formation in tourism. More specifically, it reveals the main antecedents and consequences of an experience co-creation process currently driven by the technologies and the interactions with multiple actors or destination stakeholders.