Tourists as Mobile Gamers: Gamification for Tourism Marketing

The results suggest tourists’ game playing motivation is multidimensional and tends to start with purposive information seeking, then move on to an intrinsic stimulation, which demonstrates several implications for tourism marketing.

Abstract

Gaming as a cutting-edge concept has recently been used by some innovative tourism sectors as a marketing tool and as a method of deeper engagement with visitors. This research aims to explore the gamification trend and its potential for experience development and tourism marketing. Using a focus group, this paper discusses gaming and tourism, and explores what drives tourists to play games. The results suggest tourists’ game playing motivation is multidimensional. Players tend to start with purposive information seeking, then move on to an intrinsic stimulation. Socialization is also an important dimension. The research demonstrates several implications for tourism marketing.