ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Pandemics are not new, and like other crises and disasters, they can have long-term consequences for individuals, businesses, communities, and countries. This Covid-19 pandemic has also affected tourism industry all over the world, having to face challenges to sustain in the international market. Hence, to address limitations to travel, smart tourism technology is seen as rapidly advancing and opening new potential for tourism growth. With the pandemic highly impacting the tourism industry globally, tourist managers and operators have to resort to the use of smart technology to ensure the sustenance of the tourist industry. As such, smart tourism technology is now being practiced by many tour operators to attract visitors and enhance their trip experience. Many tourism-related firms have implemented a variety of smart technologies to promote and market their locations, where Malaysia is of no exception. In order to explore innovative ways to create memorable experiences for visitors, Malaysia has also taken steps to embrace this technology. The site on “Animal Park” reflected as a zoo is one of the examples that has implemented live virtual tour in order to attract visitors to at least experience “visiting” the zoo by seeing the view of the zoo through virtual technology. Differences in visitor experiences need to be captured to create impact on smart tourism experiences. Thus, this study is to measure the visitor’s satisfaction to the smart tourism technology experiences (informativeness, accessibility, interactivity, personalization, and security) that have been practiced in Malaysia’s virtual animal park. The anticipated study will assist destination managers and local authorities in gaining information on smart tourism technology and understand the visitor’s satisfaction and their experience in live virtual tours implemented via smart tourism technology. This is in line with the National Tourism Policy (NTP) launched in December 2020 to ensure the continuity of the country’s tourism industry and make Malaysia a preferred tourist destination globally.
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In-Text Citation: (Eizamly et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Eizamly, N. U. E. N., Paramasivam, S., & Bhattacharyya, E. (2021). Let’s Go for a Tour…. The Smart Way. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(11), 920–935.
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