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Mobile ethnography turns tourists into researchers and data providers.
Guests cross regions; DMOs urgently need supraregional cooperation.
Participant recruitment and motivation were the biggest challenges of the study.
Real-time data enables customer-oriented adjustments to tourism products.
Summary of the study
Service marketing has evolved from focusing on products and services to experiences. Companies today are looking for competitive advantages and competing for experiences rather than mere customer satisfaction. Although customer experience management (CEM) is not a new field, it has evolved significantly in recent years. Especially in tourism destinations, various local tourism providers are struggling to ensure high service quality along the entire customer journey. Therefore, CEM has also become an interesting approach in tourism research.
In this study, customer experience research is applied using an innovative research method: mobile ethnography. Mobile ethnography as a qualitative method transfers the classical ethnographic approach through the use of mobile devices. As a result, the customer becomes the researcher and has the opportunity to structure their own data. For tourism destinations in particular, this method makes it possible to "accompany" the guest in the geographical space used and to collect data in real time and in situ. It therefore overcomes many of the disadvantages of both traditional survey studies and ethnography. However, briefing and incentivizing participants proved to be the biggest challenges in two projects conducted in the Austrian province of Upper Austria.
Key findings of this study
- Mobile ethnography has proven to be an effective research tool in tourism. It enabled participants to capture authentic real-time experiences directly on site.
- The participants became active researchers and co-creators of the tourism products. This led to high-quality and detailed feedback from their perspective.
- The study showed that guests often move across political borders. Supra-regional cooperation between tourism organizations is therefore essential.
- The recruitment and detailed briefing of participants was a major challenge. Incentives and a support hotline proved to be crucial for motivation and data quality.
- The insights gained led to concrete adjustments and improvements to tourism services in Upper Austria. This underlines the importance of a customer-centered approach to product development.