Smart tourism technologies in travel planning: The role of exploration and exploitation

The use of smart tourism technologies such as travel-related websites, social media, and smartphones in travel planning has been pervasive and growing. This study examines the mechanism of how travelers use these technologies to enhance travel satisfaction. By adopting the framework of exploration and exploitation and identifying the antecedents that advance and prohibit such uses, we find that the attributes of smart tourism technologies promote both explorative and exploitative use, while user's security and privacy concerns have a negative effect. In addition, explorative use has a strong influence on overall travel experience satisfaction, and exploitative use mainly enhances the transaction satisfaction.