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Mobile Devices as a Tourism Distribution Channel: Perceptions of Visitors to National Parks in South Africa

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Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014

Abstract

The use of mobile devices in the tourism industry is growing and travellers’ intentions or willingness to use them for specific purposes need to be recognised. This study looks at visitors’ support of South African National Parks’ (SANParks) mobile website for booking purposes, their level of satisfaction with the interaction and their propensity to adopt a mobile application, should SANParks provide one. It also investigates what visitors deem important in mobile devices. The results confirmed that mobile devices as a booking channel for SANParks is still in its initial stages, with relatively few visitors having used the SANParks mobile website or any type of mobile application. The results also indicated the level of satisfaction that visitors experience with the SANParks mobile website, and features they deem important when using mobile applications for accommodation bookings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Tourism Management, Department of Marketing Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Anneli Douglas & Berendien Lubbe

Authors
  1. Anneli Douglas
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  2. Berendien Lubbe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anneli Douglas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Zheng Xiang

  2. Washington State University, Vancouver, Washington, USA

    Iis Tussyadiah

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Douglas, A., Lubbe, B. (2013). Mobile Devices as a Tourism Distribution Channel: Perceptions of Visitors to National Parks in South Africa. In: Xiang, Z., Tussyadiah, I. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03973-2_62

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