The Impact of Technology on the Tourism Experience. A Gender Perspective

The issue of women's and girls' access to various sectors of society, as well as gender equality, remains a subject of ongoing discourse. This is true even in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are to be achieved by 2030. In the context of the tourism sector, prior research has highlighted the underrepresentation of women in tourism studies. Therefore, the objective of our study was to explore the impact of technology on women’s experiences in tourism, specifically (1) women’s perceived added value of technology, (2) which technologies women prefer, and (3) the main perceived benefits of using technology during travel. To this end, the study employed a questionnaire and collected data from 165 female respondents. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and crosstabulations to explore how technology usage differs among women of different ages. The findings indicate that women have a favourable opinion of technology and its impact on tourism. They view efficiency as one of the primary benefits of technology and prefer to self-plan their trips using classic technologies (i.e., widely used tourism online platforms based on the internet). Although younger women are more open to using advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR), reticence to use technology is still present overall. This study contributes to the literature by focusing solely on women’s perspectives in the context of tourism and technology.