The potential of chatbots in travel and tourism services in the context of social distancing
by Rajibul Hasan; Bernadett Koles; Mustafeed Zaman; Justin Paul
International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning (IJTIP), Vol. 13, No. 1, 2021

Abstract: As many other sectors, the travel and tourism industries faced great challenges following the 2019/2020 health pandemic, with confinements and border closures bringing travel to a halt. Although research exploring the impact of the health crisis is increasing, prior work investigating the potential of emerging technologies to mitigate the negative consequences remains scarce. The purpose of the current paper is to examine tourists' chatbot usage intentions in service encounters within the context of a future international travel, assuming continued social distancing. Our results indicate that automation, habit, social presence and health consciousness all contributed positively to chatbot usage intentions. Further variations were observed as a function of experiencing government-imposed lockdown. The role of social presence and human qualities in chatbots was weakened when controlling for lockdown and during the trip experience. Finally, the impact of health consciousness on use intentions was most pronounced during the travel stage.

Online publication date: Wed, 06-Oct-2021

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning (IJTIP):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com