Smartphone Adoption amongst Chinese Youth during Leisure-based Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities.

Abstract

With the spread of Information communications technology (ICT) in China, the tourism industry has come to recognize the importance of examining the factors that influence adoption of smartphones during leisure-based tourism among Chinese youth, a vital segment in what the world’s greatest domestic, inbound, and outbound 10 tourism market will be by 2020. Using data collected from undergraduate students at a university in China, this study, based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and theory of reasoned action (TRA), found that an extended model can predict travelers' intentions. A detailed profile of Chinese youth and their smartphone usage is provided, and the managerial implications of increased adoption of Internet-capable smart- 15 phones during leisure-based tourism are also explored.