Motivational Aspects Of Using Gamified Mobile Applications In Cultural Tourism Case Study

Motivational aspects of using gamified mobile applications in cultural tourism

This paper is about motivational aspects and the role of gamification in using travel applications. The phenomenon of cultural tourism will be examined in a context of educational activities. An important role will be assigned to determine user’s motivation and how gamification may increase the interest of different groups of tourists.
With the growth of the Web it has become possible to find the information about any tourist attraction or monument just in a couple of minutes. Though in the most of museums or places of interest it is possible to get printed brochures with all important information about the place, the user may find a lot of “cultural heritage”
They argue that it has happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s as an alternative to “classical” understanding of holydays with sand and sea. It has grown among the groups of better educated tourists that were interested in a deeper understanding of the cultural heritage of a destination. Despite of the fact that cultural tourism is a relatively new branch, the authors argue that it is the one of the oldest forms of special interest tourism (REFERENCE). The authors also provide an opinion that motivation of cultural tourists is different from the other tourist groups. The research provided by the UNWTO and the Canadian Tourist Commission shows that the real motivation of the cultural tourists is actually to learn about the place (p.5). Rami Issac in her work “Understanding the behavior of cultural tourists” points out that tourists preferring to visit places of cultural heritage have also different expectations of the trip in comparison to couch-trip tourists (p.120). For example, having fun is not so important for them as learning about the place as they “expect a greater degree of involvement with sites and a heavy educational component” (p.25). In other words, the one of the most important things for them may be defined as “learning history” and “heritage
Concerning to Zichermann, things that are basic for travel are also things that are basic for gamification. Travelers as well as players like to keep score and count the countries that they have visited. Passports are filled with stamps and visas like badges in Foursquare, and the must-see places like Eiffel Tower are crossed out [NYT]. The reason of travelling, by Zichermann, is “all about creating memories and discrovering ourselves. Gamification is perfectly aligned with that”.
On this basis, it may be supposed that mechanics of game can make any activity challenging and exciting, raise user’s interest and turn the process into more joyful experience. Taking into concern the idea that cultural tourists already have the motivation to learn about the place, media applications with a game component may be imagined as the one of the most effective and pleasing way to explore cultural heritage of the destination. Otherwise, there’s not so much difference between the printed brochure which the tourist gets in museum and the mobile application containing only pictures and