Investigating the Effect of Smart Tourism Technologies’ Select Factors on the Satisfaction of Using Technology in Travel: A Case Study of Yazd Visitors

Emerged out of recent advances and the development of information technology, smart tourism provides modern modes of communication, novel ways of collecting information, and new opportunities for value creation and management. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the influence of the technologies used in smart tourism on tourists’ satisfaction with using technology in their travels. The study's statistical population comprised domestic tourists who visited Yazd city in Iran, out of whom 240 individuals were selected via convenient sampling. The required data were collected by administering the 16-item questionnaire proposed by Yoo et al. (2017) and Huang et al. (2017). Moreover, the questionnaire’s technical characteristics were examined in terms of validity (structure and content) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha) to secure the accuracy of the research results. The research hypotheses were also tested based on the partial least squares method using the structural equation modeling and Smart PLS 3 software. The study’s results indicated that all three hypotheses were confirmed, as their t-statistic value was over 1.96. Furthermore, it was found that the highest impact factor belonged to informing aspect of smart tourism technologies, suggesting that offering information, interaction, and accessibility had a significant positive effect on the satisfaction of using technology in travel. It can therefore be argued that satisfaction with the use of technology in travel generates profits for tourism companies, leading to the loyalty of tourists to a particular destination.