Tourism Goes Mobile: A Study on Young and Literate Mobile Users’ Adoption of Smartphone Enabled Tourism Product Booking Services

This study aims to investigate the in-depth feeling of young and literate mobile users in regard to the adoption of smartphone booking services (SBS) for purchasing tourism products. A research framework together with five hypotheses was proposed and empirically tested using data collected from a survey on SBS users between 18 and 29 years old. Innovation diffusion theory and fashion theory were used to investigate and explain young mobile users’ intention to purchase tourism products through SBS. Among the investigated factors, price level, relative advantage and complexity were found to significantly affect consumers’ intention to adopt SBS, but there was no evidence showing that slogan and fashion were significantly associated with users’ intention to use SBS. The validated research model and corresponding findings can be referenced by business executives and decision makers for making favorable tactics to catch the revolutionary benefits offered by SBS.