DEVELOPMENT OF MOBILE MARKETING IN CROATIAN TOURISM USING LOCATION-BASED SERVICES

• Published in: Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija. Biennial International Congress. Tourism & Hospitality Industry p. 151
• Main Authors: Ruzic, Drago, Bilos, Antun, Kelic, Ivan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Opatija University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality Management 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Advertising; Cellular telephones; Consumers; Hypotheses; Information communication; Information sharing; Interest groups; Internet access; Local businesses; Location based services; Market strategy; Marketing; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME; Smartphones; Software; Studies; Target markets; Tourism; Web 2.0; Croatia

Tourism operators are expected to use the information received from consumers and attract consumers to the destination. Nowadays, tourists voluntarily share information of their location, using applications on their smartphone devices. If a business entity wants to offer its product or service to the target market, they are able to use a location-based service, a software application for smartphone devices which detects where the mobile device is located. Such applications provide users with useful information, depending on their geographical position. The most popular applications among smartphone owners reach hundreds of thousands of users. Not only do these services let users share their location with friends but they also bring a social element to the table. The aim of the paper is to give an overview and to highlight the importance of using location-based services for promotion, which allow small to medium size tourist operators to attract consumers using technology that is checking millions of users in to local businesses.