Enhancing Tourist Experiences in Crowded Destinations through Mobile Augmented Reality: A Comparative Field Study

Authors

  • Mohamed Zaifri Laboratory of Informatics, Signals, Automatics, and Cognitivism (LISAC), Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30003, Morocco https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1780-2803
  • Hamza Khalloufi Laboratory of Informatics, Signals, Automatics, and Cognitivism (LISAC), Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30003, Morocco https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4516-5821
  • Fatima Zahra Kaghat Research Center, Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire, 92916 Paris, France
  • Abdessamad Benlahbib Laboratory of Informatics, Signals, Automatics, and Cognitivism (LISAC), Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30003, Morocco https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0039-7832
  • Ahmed Azough Research Center, Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire, 92916 Paris, France
  • Khalid Alaoui Zidani Laboratory of Informatics, Signals, Automatics, and Cognitivism (LISAC), Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30003, Morocco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v17i20.42273

Keywords:

mobile augmented reality, human-computer interaction, cultural tourism, user performance, UNESCO heritage, crowded tourism setting

Abstract


Mobile augmented reality (MAR) has gained significant attention in the tourism sector as a way to enhance the visitor experience. The rapid advancements in mobile computing and sensor technologies have facilitated the widespread use of geospatial augmented reality (AR) applications by tourists when exploring popular destinations. To analyze the impact of AR technology on the tourism experience, we developed the FEZAR mobile application. This application serves as the focal point of our study, allowing us to evaluate user performance using a comparative experimental approach. To ensure the usability of the FEZAR application, professionals with expertise in mobile technologies, including AR, performed rigorous testing and evaluation of the application. Through their evaluations, significant usability issues were identified and resolved, resulting in the application being well-received by the experts. Subsequently, a comparative field study was conducted in Fez’s old medina, a crowded UNESCO heritage site, involving users (N = 40) who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups in equal distribution. The results of the study revealed that the proposed AR model had a significant positive impact on user visits. Compared to other forms of media, AR offers more informative and enjoyable experiences. Additionally, it effectively helps locate monuments in crowded tourism settings. The findings of this research make a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding the impact of evaluating MAR user interfaces on increasing visitor engagement with tourist destinations.

Cover iJIM – Vol 17, No 20, 2023

Downloads

Published

2023-11-03

How to Cite

Zaifri, M., Khalloufi, H., Kaghat, F. Z., Benlahbib, A., Azough, A., & Zidani, K. A. (2023). Enhancing Tourist Experiences in Crowded Destinations through Mobile Augmented Reality: A Comparative Field Study. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 17(20), pp. 92–113. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v17i20.42273

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 20 (2023)

Section

Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Mohamed Zaifri, Hamza Khalloufi, Fatima Zahra Kaghat, Abdessamad Benlahbib, Ahmed Azough, Khalid Alaoui Zidani

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The submitting author warrants that the submission is original and that she/he is the author of the submission together with the named co-authors; to the extend the submission incorporates text passages, figures, data or other material from the work of others, the submitting author has obtained any necessary permission.
Articles in this journal are published under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC-BY What does this mean?). This is to get more legal certainty about what readers can do with published articles, and thus a wider dissemination and archiving, which in turn makes publishing with this journal more valuable for you, the authors.
By submitting an article the author grants to this journal the non-exclusive right to publish it. The author retains the copyright and the publishing rights for his article without any restrictions.
This journal has been awarded the SPARC Europe Seal for Open Access Journals (What's this?)