Understanding of continued use intentions of travel app users

Abstract

Due to the impact of Covid 19 pandemic, travelers tend to avoid traveling in groups and purchasing tour packages (Chebli & Said, 2020). With a strong desire for independent traveling, offering a one-stop solution for travelers, mobile applications (apps hereafter) play a crucial role in enabling travelers to not only search for and acquire information whenever and wherever they require it, but also make secure and private transactions for travel-related services (Im & Hancer, 2017). However, more than 25% of users were reported to abandon the travel apps after having used them once (Harris, 2017), and only half of the downloaded apps were retained after a trip (Linton & Kwortnik, 2015) due to unsatisfactory use experience. These figures point to the need for a better understanding of user experience with travel apps as well as the factors determining the users’ future use intention in the postadoption stage. Furthermore, because travelers’ expectations and needs may change as they experience with a travel app (Bilgihan, Okumus, Nusair, & Kwun, 2011), the hospitality and tourism industry has to respond to travelers’ altering expectations and needs over the course of experience. In these lights, adopting a three-phase mixed methods design, this study aims to develop and empirically test a conceptual model that delineates the factors that influence travelers’ decision to continue using a travel app.