Perception of Tourists on Chatbot Service Usage on Tourism Destination: A Study of Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Quest for satisfying tourists and customers’ expectations across the globe led to the development and application of various information communication technologies (ICT) in the hospitality and tourism industry. These information communication technologies have been adopted by tourism enterprises and managers such as Email, Mobile Phone, Social Media Networking (Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom, Artificial Intelligence). Also, the quest for providing friendly interaction among tourists and destination managers further led to the development of one of the artificial intelligence algorithms known as chatbot. Chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI) test and/or voice-based virtual assistants that aid customers to get what they ask for quickly and accurately through a conversation in natural human language. Chatbots have been reported to be the technology for hotels, travel agencies, and airlines, however, there is no evidence-based research on the factors that explain consumers’ willingness to interact with chatbots. It is on this basis that this research is carried out. The research examined tourists’ usage of chatbots, focusing on the Kainji Lake Park (Nigeria). It is an exploratory research that utilized descriptive statistics to analyze data collected. The findings reveal that tourists are aware of the existence of chatbots as deployed to tourism industry. Also, it found that chatbots enhance destination information search. As an emerging market, stakeholders and management in the tourism industry should integrate chatbots into their main information communication technologies to enhance customer patronage.
Downloads
Article Details
Authors hold the copyright of all published articles except otherwise stated.
References
Aliyah, K., Romadlon, F., Winati, F. D., and Hamid, A. (2024). Examining Trans Banyumas' Passenger Accessibilities Against Smart Mobility Initiatives. In 2nd International Conference on Railway and Transportation 2023 (ICORT 2023) (pp. 350-360). Atlantis Press.
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-384-9_31
Alotaibi, R., Ali, A., Alharthi, H., and Almehamdi. (2020). AI Chatbot for Tourist Recommendations: A Case Study in the City of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i19.17201
Aulana, Y. M., Aristio, A. P., Wiratno, S. E., & Junaedi, Land. (2024). Structural Model of Relationship Analysis between CRM, RQ, and CLV at Hotel in Palembang. Procedia Computer Science, 234, 821-828.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2024.03.068
Bassano, C., Barile, S., Piciocchi, P., Spohrer, J. C., Iandolo, F., and Fisk, R. (2019). Storytelling about places: Tourism marketing in the digital age . Cities , 87, 10-20.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.12.025
Bayram, G. E. (2020). Impact of information technology on tourism. In The emerald handbook of ICT in tourism and hospitality (pp. 243-257). Emerald Publishing Limited.
https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-688-720201015
Boiano, S., Borda, A., and Gaia, G . (2019). Participatory innovation and prototyping in the cultural sector: a case study. In Proceedings of EVA London 2019. BCS Learning & Development.
https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2019.3
Cheriyan, A., Sharma, R. K., Joseph, A., and Kappil, S. R. (2022). Consumer acceptance towards AI-enabled Chatbots: Case of Travel and Tourism Industries. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 6(3), 3880-3889.
Chi, N. T. (2023). The impact of implementing chatbot on customer visit intention: application for hotel management . International Journal of Technology Marketing , 17(2), 148-165.
https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTMKT.2023.130017
Gatzioufa, P., and Saprikis, V . (2023). Chatbots in tourism: A literature review on users' behavioral intention towards their adoption. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2909, No. 1). AIP Publishing. .
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0182620
Huang, C. D., Goo, J., Nam, K., and Yoo, C. W . (2017). Smart tourism technologies in travel planning: The role of exploration and exploitation . Information & Management , 54(6), 757-770.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2016.11.010
Ionescu, A. M., and Sârbu, F. A . (2024). Exploring the Impact of Smart Technologies on the Tourism Industry . Sustainability , 16(8), 3318.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16083318
Jichkar, R., Paraskar, S., Parteki, R., Ghosh, M., Deotale, T., Pathan, A. S., ... and Thakare, L. (2023). An Emerging Technology And Its Advancement. In 2023 11th International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering & Technology-Signal .
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICETET-SIP58143.2023.10151530
Kim, T U. M., and Chung, N. (2020). How does an intelligence chatbot affect customers compared with self-service technology for sustainable services? . Sustainability, 12(12), 5119.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125119
Martin, H. .. (2019). "Robots deliver fun with hotel room service orders, and they don't expect a tip" LA Times. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hotelrobots-20160207-story.html (accessed May 23, 2022).
Popesku, J. (2019). Current applications of artificial intelligence in tourism and hospitality. In Sinteza 2019-International Scientific Conference on Information Technology and Data Related Research, Singidunum University., (pp. 84-90). Retrieved November 20, 2022
Samala, N., Katkam, B. S., Bellamkonda, R. S., and Rodriguez, R. V. (2020). Impact of AI and robotics in the tourism sector: a critical insight. Journal of tourism futures.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-07-2019-0065
Sumarjan, N., Mazlan, N., Saiful Azmi, N. S., Kamaruddin, M. A., and Salleh, A . (2023). The usage intention of chatbot technology in hospitality and tourism industry: Customers' perspective . Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 15(1), 206-224.
Tussyadiah, I. (2020). A review of research into automation in tourism: Launching the annals of tourism research curated collection on artificial intelligence and robotics. Annals of Tourism Research, 81 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.10).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.102883
Ukpabi, D. C., Aslam, B., and Karjaluoto, H . (2019). Chatbot adoption in tourism services: A conceptual exploration. In Robots, artificial intelligence, and service automation in travel, tourism and hospitality (pp. 105-121). Emerald Publishing Limited.
https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-687-320191006
Yoo, C., Kwon, S., Na, H., and Chang, B. (2017). Factors affecting the adoption of gamified smart tourism applications: An integrative approach . Sustainability, 9(12), 2162.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122162
Zeng, D., Tim, Y., Yu, J., and Liu, W . (2020). Actualizing big data analytics for smart cities: A cascading affordance study . International Journal of Information Management , 54, 102156.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102156
Zumstein, D., and Hundertmark, S. (2017). Chatbots - An interactive technology for personalized communication, transactions and services. International Journal on WWW/Internet, 15(1), 96-109.