NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
A Multi-facet Requirement
Assessment of Customer-oriented
Mobile Tourism Services
Chien-Chih Yu and Hsiao-ping Chang
National ChengChi University, Taipei, Taiwan
Outline of Presentation


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Research Background and Objectives
Literature Review
Research Methodology and Process
The Mobile Tourism Service Framework
Survey Results and Implications
Conclusion
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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 Applications
Mobile financial transaction and payment services
Mobile tour guide and information services
Mobile learning services
Mobile healthcare services
Others (M-Government,..)
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Research Background and Objective
 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
approach 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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Literature Review
Proll 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
services in providing up-to-date and contextaware 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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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
services 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
recommendation, 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
acceptance of mobile ticketing services.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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 themebased, multimedia supported, interactive, and
personalized mobile tour guides.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Research Methodology and Process
 Literature reviews
To identify B2C mobile tourism services
To construct a m-tourism service framework
 Group interviews
To modify and validate the proposed m-tourism
services and framework
To review survey questions
 Three surveys
Online survey: usefulness ratings by tourists
Online survey: importance, feasibility,
cost/benefit effectiveness ratings by 3G
operators
Mail survey: importance, feasibility, cost/benefit
effectiveness ratings by travel agencies
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Research Methodology and Process
 Reliability
 Internal reliability: Cronbach alpha
 Construct reliability
 Variance extracted
 Validity
 Content validity: literature review & group
interviews
 Construct validity: convergence and discriminability
 Hypothesis testing & Relationship analysis
 Structural equation modeling (SEM)
 Overall model fit
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Semi-Structured Group Interviews
 Participant 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 6class service framework
 Finalize research model and survey questionnaire
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Six Classes of M-Tourism Services
 Mobile 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)
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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)
H1
Research Model
Mobile
Recommendation
H7
Services (RECOM)
H2 •Hotel (RECOM1)
•Sightseeing
(RECOM2)
Mobile
•Restaurant
Transaction &
(RECOM3)
Payment
•Tour plan
H9 Services (T&P)
H4 (RECOM4)
•Mobile booking H12
•Tour route
(T&P1)
(RECOM5)
•Mobile payment
•Souvenir (RECOM6)
(T&P2)
•Mobile ticketing
H8
H11 (T&P3)
Mobile Community
Services (COM)
•Information inquiry
(COM1)
•Information sharing
(COM2)
H6
Mobile Guide
Services (GUIDE)
•Pre-recorded mobile
guide (GUIDE1)
•Interactive mobile
guide (GUIDE2)
•Theme-based video
and audio (GUIDE3)
Mobile Auction
Services (AUC)
•Mobile action
(AUC1)
•Mobile reverse
auction (AUC2)
H10
H5
H3
Overall Usefulness
(ALL)
User-ranked score
(ALL1)
Average score
(ALL2)
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Online Survey - Tourists
 Population
– Taiwan tourists with domestic and/or oversea
traveling experiences
– Better with 3G mobile usage experiences
 Convenience 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 respondents
 The customers are asked to assess the usefulness
of the proposed B2C m-tourism services.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Online Survey - 3G Operators
 Population
– Taiwan telecom operators with both 2G and 3G
licenses
– 95% of 2G market share in Taiwan
 Convenience sampling method
– Online survey was emailed to the contact windows
– Planning, marketing & operation departments
 86 effective respondents
 The 3G operators are asked to evaluate the
importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit
effectiveness of the proposed B2C m-tourism
services.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Mail Survey - Travel Agencies
 Population
– Taiwan travel agencies
 Stratified random sampling method
– Mailing list downloaded from Tourism Bureau
– 300 randomly selected from 2708 travel agencies
according to the ratio of different travel license types
 92 effective respondents
– 31% effective response rate
– Return profiles with reasonable ratio of different
travel agency license types
 The travel agencies are asked to evaluate the
importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit
effectiveness of the proposed B2C m-tourism
services.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Descriptive Statistics - Usefullness
Construct
Mean
Standard
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
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Summary of Hypotheses Testing
Hypothesis
Antecedent
Outcome
Hypothesized
Direction
Standardize
d 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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
SEM Result
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
SEM Overall Model Fit
Fit Indices
Chi-square
Goodness of fit (GFI)
Criteria
Outcome
Acceptability
779.55 (p=0.0, degree of freedom=215)
> 0.90
0.83
Acceptable
-
0.081
-
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)
Parsimonious goodness of fit
index (PGFI)
Higher
value
>0.50
0.80
Acceptable
0.65
Acceptable
Root mean square residual
(RMSR)
Root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA)
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Importance Evaluation
3G Operators
M
SD
NOTI
4.46
0.549
COM
3.17
GUIDE
Travel Agencies
R
D
M
SD
1
4.12
0.862
1
***
1.053
5
2.53
1.142
4
***
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.
R
***
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Feasibility Evaluation
3G Operators
M
SD
NOTI
4.41
0.597
COM
3.58
GUIDE
Travel Agencies
R
D
M
SD
1
3.94
0.839
1
***
1.108
5
2.62
1.187
5
***
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
Note: M=mean; SD=standard deviation; R=ranking; D=difference; *** p<0.001.
R
***
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Cost/benefit Effectiveness Evaluation
3G Operators
M
SD
NOTI
4.08
0.722
COM
2.91
GUIDE
Travel Agencies
R
M
SD
1
3.44
1.040
1 ***
1.141
6
2.22
1.080
6 ***
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
***
Note: M=mean; SD=standard deviation; R=ranking; D=difference; *** p<0.001.
R
D
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Survey Results – Business Perspective
 For 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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Business Implication
 Strong and sophisticated needs for m-tourism services
Seamless tour decision-making supports
 Top 3 services as a basic service package
Mobile search & notification services,
Mobile recommendation services
Mobile transaction & payment services
 Second stage services: the mobile community services
and the mobile auction services.
 Need business collaboration
Strategic alliance: 3G operators + travel agencies
Service platform: technology complexity and
profitability are main concerns for the tourism
industry.
Triple-Win opportunities
NGMAST 2008
 This paper
Chien-Chih Yu
Conclusion
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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Q&A
Thanks !
NGMAST 2008
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 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)
Chien-Chih Yu
H1
H2
H4
Mobile
Recommendation
Services (RECOM)
•Hotel (RECOM1)
•Sightseeing
(RECOM2)
•Restaurant
(RECOM3)
•Tour plan
H9
(RECOM4)
•Tour route
(RECOM5)
•Souvenir
(RECOM6)
H8
H11
M-Auction
H6 Services (AUC)
•M-auction
(AUC1)
•M-reverse
auction (AUC2)
H7
Mobile Trans. &
Payment
Services (T&P)
Overall
•M-booking
Usefulness
(T&P1)
H12 (ALL)
•M- payment
•User rating
(T&P2)
score (ALL1)
•M-ticketing
•Average score
(T&P3)
(ALL2)
H10
H5
H3
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Summary of Hypotheses Testing (1/2)
Hypothesis
Antecedent
Outcome
Hypothesize Standardized
d Direction
Coefficient
Support
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.
NGMAST 2008
Chien-Chih Yu
Summary of Hypotheses Testing (2/2)
Hypothesis
Antecedent
Outcome
Hypothesize Standardized
d Direction
Coefficient
Support
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**
Yes
Note: * p<0.05; ** p<0.01.