An integral mobile application for pre-travel, on-site and post-travel stages

Resumen

Today, more than 92% of travel information searches are carried out on the Internet. In fact, the use of Information and Communication Technologies is a constant in any area of the tourism industry. Nevertheless, the myriad of travel websites and mobile applications can also cause disorientation and slower decision making by tourists, as well as the need for installing an important number of mobile applications for different purposes. This paper proposes the design of a holistic, single mobile application able to integrate the relevant information on travel resources from pre-travel, on-site and post-travel stages. In the application it is taken into account the different actors who are included in the travel experience such as information searchers, content providers or local merchants, allowing real-time connections among them. Furthermore, the mobile application encourages the users’ engagement and a better user experience through some gamification features.