1-Intelligent-Systems-in-Tourism-A-social-Science-

REVIEWARTICLEINTELLIGENTSYSTEMSINTOURISMASocialSciencePerspectiveUlrikeGretzelUniversityofWollongong,AustraliaAbstract:Intelligentsystemssensetheirenvironmentandlearnfromtheactionstheyimple-menttoreachspecificgoals.Theyareincreasinglyusedtosupporttouristinformationsearchanddecisionmakingaswellasworkprocesses.Inordertomodelthetourismdomain,thesesystemsrequireaprofoundunderstandingofitsnature.Lookingatexistingliteratureintour-ism,thispaperdiscussescriticalgapsintheknowledgeofthefieldtobefilledsothatintel-ligentsystemdesigncanbeinformedandimpactsunderstood.Specifically,itdiscussestheneedtobetterconceptualizetechnologyintourismresearchandarguesforafocusonusesandinteractions.Itchallengessimplisticviewsoftouristinformationsearchanddecision-makingprocessesandcallsformoreresearchonpotentialimpacts.Keywords:intelligentsys-temdesign,groupdecisionmaking,preferences,persuasion,technology-userinteraction,pri-vacy.2011ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.INTRODUCTIONMuchhasbeensaidalreadyintheliteratureabouttheinformationintensityoftourismandtheresultingneedfor,andsymbiosiswith,informationandcommunicationtechnology(ICT)(Poon,1993;Sheldon,1997;Werthner&Klein,1999).ChangesinICTshaveledtofundamentalchangesintourismbehaviorsanddemandaswellastourismindustryfunctionsandstructures(Buhalis&Law,2008).WerthnerandRicci(2004)emphasizetheincreasing‘‘informatization’’oftheentiretourismvaluechain,meaningthatICTshavebecomefundamentalelementsofvaluegeneratingstrategiesinthetourismindustry.TechnologicalinnovationssuchasWeb2.0applicationsandlocation-basedservicesarecurrentlydrivingvaluegenerationandchangeandwillpavethewayforevenmoresophisticatedsystemsinfluencingthemannerinwhichtourisminformationiscreated,exchanged,andevaluated,andrelationshipsareformedandmaintained(Law,Fuchs,&Ricci,2011).UlrikeGretzelisAssociateProfessorofMarketingattheUniversityofWollongongandDirectoroftheLaboratoryforIntelligentSystemsinTourism(NorthfieldsAve.,Wollongong,NSW2522,[e-mail]).ShereceivedherPhDinCommuni-cationsfromtheUniversityofIllinois.Herresearchfocusesonthedesign,adoptionanduseofintelligentsystemsintourismandtheroleoftechnologiesinmediatingtourismexperiences.AnnalsofTourismResearch,Vol.38,No.3,pp.757–779,20110160-7383/$-seefrontmatter2011ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.PrintedinGreatBritaindoi:10.1016/j.annals.2011.04.014fieldofinquiry,technologyandtourismiswellestablishedthroughconferencesandjournals.Recentreviewpa-persidentifiedagrowingnumberofpublicationsinthisfield(Buhalis&Law,2008;Frew,2000;Leung&Law,2007;Wang,Fesenmaier,Werthner,&Wo¨ber,2010).Theyalsorevealedaheavyemphasisonconsumerbehaviorandmarketingrelatedtopics.Further,mostofthepapersdealwithsingleempiricalstudieswhileconceptualpapersdrivingtheorydevelopmentandcritiquearerare(Wangetal.,2010).Publicationsrelatedtothetopicarealsofoundinthemaintourismjournals.However,ofthe195papersLeungandLaw(2007)analyzed,onlyfiveappearedintheAnnalsofTourismResearch,sug-gestingacriticallackofasocialscienceperspectiveinthediscoursethatinformstourismandtechnologystudies.Forinstance,atopicasfundamentalastheincreasingmediationoftourismexperiencesthroughICTshasonlybeensporadicallydiscussedandnotnecessarilyintheleadingtourismjournals(Boksberger,Akinsola,Nan,&Unnikrishnan,2011;Gretzel,2010;Gretzel,Fesenmaier,Lee,&Tussyadiah,2011;Gretzel&Jamal,2009;Jansson,2002;Jansson,2007;Tussyadiah&Fesenmaier,2009;White&White,2007).Further,whilescienceandtechnologystudies(STS)haspermeatedotherfields,itisabsentfrommainstreamtourismliterature.Oneofthetopicsthathasbeendiscussedalmostentirelyfromatechnologicalperspectiveistheissueofintelligentsystemsintourism.Intelligentsystemsarenext-generationinformationsystemsthatprom-isetosupplytourismconsumersandserviceproviderswithmorerele-vantinformation,greaterdecision-support,greatermobility,and,ultimately,moreenjoyabletourismexperiences.Theycurrentlyencompassawiderangeoftechnologiesrelevantfortourismcontextssuchasrecommendersystems,context-awaresystems,autonomousagentssearchingandminingWebresources,andambientintelligence.Creatingthesesystemsrequiresaprofoundunderstandingofthepsy-chologyoftourists,ofthesocialstructureswithinwhichtourismisexperienced,oftourists’relationshipwithanduseoftechnology,ofthestructureofthetourismindustry,thelanguageoftourism,etc.Whilesomeoftheseissueshavebeenaddressedsufficientlyinthetour-ismliterature,othershavenotbeendiscussedinawaythatcancriti-callyinformthedevelopmentofintelligentsystemsintourism.Itisthegoalofthispapertoviewintelligentsystemsthroughasocialsci-encelensinordertoidentifygapsanddirectfutureresearchintour-ismthatisnotonlyrelevantbutalsochallengingandhasthepotentialtoinfluencetourismandtechnologydiscoursebeyondthisratherspecifictopic.INTELLIGENTSYSTEMSWhatMakesIntelligentSystemsIntelligent?Intelligencemeanstheabilitytocomprehend,toprofitfromexperi-ence,toacquireandretainknowledgeandtorespondquicklyand758U.Gretzel/AnnalsofTourismResearch38(2011)757–779successfullytoanewsituation(Rudas&Fodor,2008).T