Future mobile data services for tourism: barriers and
enablers for adoption of a mobile tourist guide in the
tourism industry of Norrbotten

Abstract: We are currently experiencing a paradigm shift in mobile telecommunication
technology as the third generation (3G) of mobile telecommunication
networks are being rolled out and mobile phones and other portable devices
are becoming more advanced. Due to this technological evolution, it is in
many actors’ interest to identify future attractive mobile data services
and to investigate how future business models can be designed. One industry
that is expected to benefit from the introduction of 3G technology is the
tourism industry, and one region that is believed to significantly rely on
tourism in the future is Norrbotten. The initial research area for this
thesis was therefore stated as: How can the introduction of new mobile data
technology enhance the value creation process of actors in the tourism
industry in Norrbotten.

Drawing inspiration from current mobile data applications within this
field, a mobile tourist guide was selected as an appropriate service to
evaluate. The mobile content value map, which highlights seven interrelated
enabling roles that must be adopted by actors, in order to deliver content
to mobile devices, was also used as a theoretical foundation. The value map
can basically be seen as the integration of the value maps from two
separate industries - those of the mobile voice and the media/content
industries.

Against this background, the research problem was stated as: How can the
content value map for a mobile tourist guide in Norrbotten be
characterised? In order to approach this problem, two supporting research
questions were formulated as: How can the structure of the tourism industry
in Norrbotten in the context of a mobile tourist guide be described?, and
how can enablers and barriers for adopting roles in a future value map for
a mobile tourist guide in Norrbotten be characterised?

Snowball sampling was used to delineate the structure of the tourism
industry in Norrbotten and also to identify actors whose opinions would be
valuable to gauge. Eight interviews were conducted in total. The results of
the interviews indicated that none of the tourism organisations had a
prospective attitude towards introducing new technology, but that many saw
themselves as fast followers once an innovation had proved itself
elsewhere. Cost reductions and effectiveness in information gathering were
identified as factors that would encourage adoption, whereas lack of
financial means, start-up costs, employee time to maintain a mobile tourist
guide, and organisational readiness were identified as factors that would
impede adoption.