Virtual- and live guided tours Exchanging experiences

The aim of this paper is to investigate mobile technologies used for guiding tourists. I will compare guiding applications with what is going in a live guided tour in order to understand what different experiences they produce and try to indicate what is needed in both types of guided tours if developed further. Guided tours are important tools in the tourism and hospitality industry and we know that guided tours are appreciated by visitors and residents of places. By applying the empirical and theoretical knowledge from a live guided tour in this work and frame this knowledge in technological applications it might be better understood how learning, experiencing and influencing visitors through the guided tours of different modes. The results from this study show that there are several aspects in live guided tours that can prospect from integrating elements from virtual guided tours. Also the opposite seems likely, that virtual guided tours can benefit from learning to integrate some of the elements from live guided tours.