THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN SHAPING INDIA’S TOURISM SECTOR: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY ON SMART TOURISM AND TRAVELER EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This paper examines the opportunities of digital transformation to transform the experiences of travellers in the smart tourism scenario in India, which is changing. It builds and validates the Smart Tourism Experience Scale (STES) based on the models of Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) and UTAUT2 as a scale of psychological and behavioral dimensions of digital interaction. The data analysis procedures were Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA/CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with the support of the analysis of the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which is the predictive validation. The results indicate that the digital transformation raises the perception of control, trust, and satisfaction, which, in turn, results in behavioral intentions. The validated STES possesses a high rate of reliability, validity, and cross-group invariance with both theoretical and methodological implications on the psychology of psychometrics and applied tourism psychology.