TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating potential tourists' attitudes toward artificial intelligence services
T2 - a market segmentation approach
AU - Choe, Ja Young (Jacey)
AU - Opoku, Emmanuel Kwame
AU - Cuervo, Javier Calero
AU - Adongo, Raymond
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a research grant funded by the University of Macau (SRG2018-00119-FBA).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2024/8/8
Y1 - 2024/8/8
N2 - Purpose: This study profiles and segments potential tourists on the basis of their various attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) services. Furthermore, this study distinguishes descriptors among the different clusters, such as preference for using diverse AI services, overall image of AI services, willingness to use AI services (WUAI), willingness to pay more for AI services (WPAI) in tourism and hospitality, and characteristics of respondents.Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted in South Korea. Data on 758 potential tourists were used for K-means cluster analysis.Findings: This study identified three distinct tourist segments with differentiated attitudes toward AI services: the group aspiring to use or fantasizing about AI services (Cluster 1), the group being knowledgeable and supportive of AI services (Cluster 2), and the group having low interest about AI services (Cluster 3).Practical implications: Members of Cluster 2 were the most marketable as this segment exhibited the greatest knowledge of and support for AI services, while Cluster 1 would be an ideal segment to launch and test novel AI services.Originality/value: This study extends the authors’ knowledge of AI scholarship by unpacking the existing market segments, which could be tapped to sustain AI penetration in the tourism industry. Hence, this study contributes to existing debates on AI scholarship, which is predominated by conceptual reflections and issues of AI services in the tourism and hospitality field.
AB - Purpose: This study profiles and segments potential tourists on the basis of their various attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) services. Furthermore, this study distinguishes descriptors among the different clusters, such as preference for using diverse AI services, overall image of AI services, willingness to use AI services (WUAI), willingness to pay more for AI services (WPAI) in tourism and hospitality, and characteristics of respondents.Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted in South Korea. Data on 758 potential tourists were used for K-means cluster analysis.Findings: This study identified three distinct tourist segments with differentiated attitudes toward AI services: the group aspiring to use or fantasizing about AI services (Cluster 1), the group being knowledgeable and supportive of AI services (Cluster 2), and the group having low interest about AI services (Cluster 3).Practical implications: Members of Cluster 2 were the most marketable as this segment exhibited the greatest knowledge of and support for AI services, while Cluster 1 would be an ideal segment to launch and test novel AI services.Originality/value: This study extends the authors’ knowledge of AI scholarship by unpacking the existing market segments, which could be tapped to sustain AI penetration in the tourism industry. Hence, this study contributes to existing debates on AI scholarship, which is predominated by conceptual reflections and issues of AI services in the tourism and hospitality field.
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - Cluster analysis
KW - Overall image
KW - Service preference
KW - Willingness to pay more
KW - Willingness to use
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173463120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/JHTI-04-2023-0231
DO - 10.1108/JHTI-04-2023-0231
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85173463120
SN - 2514-9792
VL - 7
SP - 2237
EP - 2255
JO - Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights
JF - Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights
IS - 4
ER -