BIOTOUR

The BIOTOUR project – from place-based resources to value added experiences – analyzes key conditions for future development of nature-based tourism that contribute to business innovation, community resilience and sustainable use of natural resources.

The project has funding from the Norwegian Research Council 2016-2021 and involves more than 20 researchers from five countries. The ETOUR team, composed by Dr. Tatiana Chekalina and Prof. Matthias Fuchs, is responsible for the research domain of e-marketing and mobile customer relationship management.

Nature-based tourists increasingly interact with nature through technology and use mobile applications to consume, create and share NBT-related content. The research at ETOUR focuses on a better understanding of the use of mobile devices and e-CRM applications to enhance various aspects of nature experiences, such as emotional, social and epistemic value dimensions, as well as excellence and safety of the trip.

The project aims at

1. the conceptualization and implementation of mock-up based mobile applications to satisfy segment-specific experience needs and to unfold major sensation potentials in the nature-based tourism context; and
2. usability testing of mobile application prototypes in a laboratory setting. More specifically, the study identifies value-creation potentials of content elements and functionalities of mobile apps (e.g. map-based information, weather/avalanche warnings, augmented reality, 360 images, QR-code tags, geocaching), location-based services (e.g. route guidance, check-ins), near field communication (NFC), mobile payments, and social media integration in a NBT context.

Research findings will provide valuable theoretical and applied insights into experience facilitation via mobile technology in nature-based tourism.