Acceptance of online personalised advertising in Tourism: the role of privacy

Abstract

[eng] Thanks to the development of technologies, the rise of social networks, and the continuous growth of the tourism sector in Spain, companies in the tourism sector now incorporate new marketing techniques into their business strategy. The aim of this is to improve the effectiveness of their traditional advertising campaigns and to offer users advertising adapted to their needs and specific preferences, with the design based on personal data obtained from social networks. These personalised communication techniques can cause certain users concern around levels of intrusiveness, and concern for privacy, due to the lack of knowledge of the use and collection of their data, thus having an impact on the acceptance of personalised tourist advertisements on social networks. In this study, the acceptance of personalised advertisements is evaluated by studying attitudes and responses towards personalised advertisements, as well as the incorporated concerns about privacy. The study also considers concerns based on control and knowledge of the management and collection of personal data of the user at whom the personalised tourism advertisement is aimed. The study concludes that companies in the tourism sector should target their advertising to specific groups of users who, by their own choice, have an interest in being part of a community related to tourism destinations or services. Also, they should manage the personal data obtained in a clear and transparent way, to increase both the users’ control and sense of security.