Sky-high concerns: examining the influence of drones on destination experience

ABSTRACT

Drones are recognized as one of the technological advances that drive tourism development. Whereas prior research has provided initial insights into drone usage in the tourism industry, little attention has been paid to the influence of drone usage on non-users at a tourism destination. It is worth noting that although a small group of drone enthusiasts would fly drones to record their travel activities, most tourists at a destination are non-users of drones. As the tourism destination is a shared environment, understanding the non-users’ reactions would shed light on the role of drones in shaping the destination experience. The current study takes the perspective of the tourist who observes drone usage at a tourism destination to examine how the use of drones affects the non-user’s destination experience, drawing on the dark side of technology. Based on data collected from 255 respondents, we found that privacy concern and safety risk each have a positive influence on drone irritation, which in turn, negatively affects the tourist’s intention to recommend the destination. This study advances research on drones in tourism by generating new insights into the impact of drone usage on tourists’ experience at tourism destinations.

KEYWORDS:

• Drone
• technology
• tourism destination
• tourist experience
• privacy
• safety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yangyang Jiang

Yangyang Jiang is an Associate Professor in Marketing at Nottingham University Business School China, University of Nottingham Ningbo China and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research work appears in Journal of Travel Research, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Tourism Recreation Research, Tourism Analysis, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Tourism Review, and others.

Cenhua Lyu

Cenhua Lyu is a Doctoral student at Nottingham University Business School China, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Her research work appears in Tourism Analysis.