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Challenges in smart tourism: a media content analysis of digital barriers for senior tourists in China

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Abstract

Digital transformation, as a key enabler of smart tourism, is increasingly being used to address pandemic-related challenges. Growing with the rapidly aging population, senior tourists are more likely to be digitally excluded. This study utilized media content analysis to examine the digital barriers senior tourists encounter in the post-pandemic era. Online news reports between January 2020 and December 2022 were collected from WiseSearch, a Chinese news database. Reports containing detailed scenario information about digital barriers for senior tourists were selected. High-frequency word analysis and thematic keyword analysis were used to analyze the digital barriers for senior tourists in four scenarios: before-travel, during-travel, pandemic control, and smart tourism application. Then, mitigating measures were proposed based on fourteen demonstration cases of senior-friendly smart tourism. The findings underscore the concerns raised in the media about this topic and reveal the details of digital barriers in each scenario. This study highlights the issues of senior tourists in smart tourism and guides developing solutions from both technological and service approaches.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Anan Hu, Dr. Lan Xue, Dr. Danni Zheng, and Dr. Yixuan Liu for their feedback.

Funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (71902113, 72074052 and 71901072).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yi Xu & Tianyu Qin

  2. Department of Tourism, Fudan University, No. 220 Handan Road, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Yuanyuan Shi

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  1. Yi Xu
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Xu, Y., Shi, Y. & Qin, T. Challenges in smart tourism: a media content analysis of digital barriers for senior tourists in China. Inf Technol Tourism 25, 665–682 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-023-00270-z

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