Advanced Technologies and Tourist Behaviour: The Case of Pervasive Environments

The chapter provides an overview of the most advanced technologies for tourism sector, with emphasis on pervasive environments, which represent innovative systems based on an efficient integration of virtual reality and affective world. The aim is to show how tourism industry might exploit the current advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as virtual reality, web-based technologies, mobile devices, etc., to catch tourists’ attention and gain competitive advantages over competitors. In particular, these technologies are capable of promoting touristic destination in a global perspective and affect potential tourist decision-making process, by investigating the main characteristics and possible integrations. Moreover, especially pervasive environments are efficient tools to entertain and attract tourists’ interest, by showing potential destinations in an innovative and exciting way capable of influencing users’ decision-making process. In addition, the chapter outlines the possible implications for both marketers and tourists.