PERVASIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR PROMOTION OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to analyze how the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and, in particular, the pervasive environments, can be more efficient tools for promoting tourism destinations. The study comes at a time when several researches are being focused on its potentialities on the tourism sector, as an important enabler of innovation and new marketing strategies, which could have implication on the developing of local economies. In particular, these tools can be used for promoting destination with a strong archaeological value. Design/methodology/approach - We have analyzed the most used technologies in the tourism field, with emphasis on the pervasive environments. Afterwards, we analyzed the case of the archeological virtual reconstruction by using stereoscopy tools of the Greek walls located in Vibo Valentia (Southern Italy). This represents a meaningful example of a pervasive environment with the purpose of the promotion of Vibo Valentia City by exploiting its archaeological resources and the new tool of ICT. Findings - The advances in technologies offer many interactive tools for promoting touristic destination, as well as provide interactive tools capable of improve tourists experience and, as consequence, influence their final decision-making. In particular, the pervasive environments allow tourists to live a more immersive experience, by enhancing the presentation and interpretation of the touristic assets. Furthermore, these environments can be integrated with other ICT to improve the offer of services for tourists. For instance, several current websites display three-dimensional model of objects, so that user can visualize these objects rotating them on the computer screen. Research limitations/implications - To date, the analyzed pervasive environment has not been tested on a statistical significative sample of population. A qualitative and a quantitative research can be carried out to gain more data on consumers' response, in order to improve the current environments used to deliver this information. Afterwards, the environment will be tested with the application of 3D sound techniques in order to improve the user immersive experience providing a more realistic context. Originality/value - In recent years, the competition among territories grow more than in the past. In this scenario, it plays a key role the development of new strategies for promoting the territorial resources to attract more tourists and gain a competitive advantage if compared to the other territories. This paper investigate how the new advances in ICT provide efficient tools to achieve this goal, and in particular how the pervasive environments can have the potential to have the major impact in the promotion of touristic destinations, which have not been fully investigated in the current literature.