Exploring ways to improve personalisation : the influence of tourist context on service perception

Abstract

The heterogeneity and dynamic nature of tourist needs requires an advanced understanding of their context. This study aims to investigate the effects of observable factors of internal and external contexts on tourist perceptions towards personalised information services performance. An exploratory approach is used to test measurement invariance and the moderating effects of personal, travel, technical and social parameters of the tourist context, when applicable. The findings demonstrate that contextual factors motivate tourists to attribute different meanings to the parameters of the service, that have already been personalised for them. Individually developed personalisation design solutions are required for each travel context.