Creating Smart Hybrid Solutions for Destinations: Lessons from COVID-19

It has been argued that individuals prefer to buy experiences rather than mere products or services. Customers enjoy physical experiences, such as buying in stores or attending concerts, and digital experiences, such as surfing the web or playing with VR/AR applications. Thus, people are increasingly demanding phygital (physical+digital) experiences, i.e., in-person experiences, without missing the benefits of using digital technologies. Existing tourism research realises that phygital strategies can bring innovation to the sector, allowing it to meet new tourists' needs and not solely improvements. However, to date, the construct of phygital remains insufficiently understood and lacks a comprehensive theoretical framework to understand the various facets (e.g., number of people, which technology) of phygital experiences. Moreover, there has been no detailed investigation of the tourists' perception and the opportunity for integrating such practices into future destination development strategies.
Working in partnership with SimpleView, a world-leading destination software, data analytics, and insights company, the overall aim of this thesis is to develop and apply a new framework of phygital solutions in the tourism sector. This thesis attempts to meet the overarching research aim by conducting three different studies. All three studies contribute to the overall research aim, but each paper tackles a different research question. The three research questions are 1) How can previous research and practical-phygital examples be classified and understood to inform a common framework for phygital experiences? 2) How do different attributes of phygital systems (i.e., blend of physical and digital solutions, which technology, how many people) contribute to the level of visitor engagement and satisfaction? And 3) How can tourist destinations co-design, develop and implement phygital engagement solutions in their strategies using innovation tools?
Paper One (RQ1) is a systematic literature review and a content analysis to examine various examples of phygital solutions adopted in different industries to provide a future research agenda. Paper Two (RQ2) investigates the factors influencing visitor engagement and satisfaction when interacting with phygital solutions. An online survey (n= 250 minimum) integrating the Kano model and semi-structured interviews with tourists will be designed. The Kano model allows a theory-based categorisation of phygital solutions into, for instance, 'must-be' (must be offered but does not contribute to satisfaction) or 'unexpected features' (will surprise customers leading to satisfaction) in defining visitor satisfaction. Finally, based on the findings of Paper One and Two, Paper Three (RQ3) investigates how tourist destination managers can frame and implement a phygital strategy. The aim is to stimulate co-creative discussions about the ideal structure, the steps, the most suitable technologies to adopt and the related opportunities and challenges through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. In doing so, innovation tools will be applied.
Theoretically, this study 1) will provide a new theoretical framework of phygital experiences; 2) will categorise how much phygital engagement solutions contribute to (dis)satisfaction if (not) provided, thus providing insight into the appropriate adoption of such solutions from a place-based perspective; and 3) suggest an innovative co-creation workshop design method to explore opportunities and challenges. Practically, the work 1) raises the level of practitioners' awareness about the importance of implementing phygital strategies; 2) develops recommendations to support the correct adoption of phygital solutions for tourism recovery and resilience and 3) emphasises opportunities and challenges in terms of strategic destination management.