Digital cultural tourism: older adults’ acceptance and use of digital cultural tourism services

Abstract

Physiological and psychological constraints, e.g. increased risk of serious illness or loneliness imposed by mobility restrictions, make older adults one of the hardest hit tourist segments amidst during and after COVID-19. Older adults play a particularly important role as consumers of cultural tourism services. To mitigate for lack of in-situ cultural tourism experiences, many service providers have moved their offerings to a digital format, from virtual museum tours to livestreamed concerts. However, previous research suggests that older adults may not be as agile users of digital technology as younger tourists, potentially making it difficult for them to partake in digital cultural tourism. To that end, this paper explores factors influencing older adults’ acceptance and use of digital technology to access and partake in digital cultural tourism experiences. An empirical study drawing on technology acceptance model (TAM) is conducted, whereby 357 Finnish older adults (aged 60+) are surveyed. Findings indicate that digital cultural tourism services are seen to complement in-situ cultural tourism experiences to some degree, but that challenges such as lack of feeling of community and interaction, technical constraints, as well as lack of information of available services limit adoption. Implications for tourism management are considered.