Nowadays neuroscience is widely applied in different contexts and for some time they have given birth to the phenomenon that many define as “Neuro Prefix“.
Some examples of the “Neuro Prefix” phenomena are neurobranding, neurodesign, neuroeconomics, neuroethics, neurogastronomy, neuromanagement, neuroselling, neuroshopping, neuroweb, neuropolitics. In this context, one of the less cited application areas, but which could show exponential growth in the near future, is represented by the study of the brain response during the perception of stimuli attributable to the tourism sector. As reported byShiNa Li et All in a paper published in February 2021 in the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, some aspects that could be investigated through neuroscientific tools are the following:
- Engagement with tourism marketing and promotion
- Tourists’ attitude to online service perceived value
- Tourists’ perceptions of tourism products’ attractiveness
- Tourists’ purchase behavior
- Tourists’ choices among various tourism products
- Hotel guests’ ethical behavior
- Willingness to pay for environmental protection in tourism destinations
The application of electroencephalography (EEG) in the tourism sector
The electroencephalography (EEG) technique, more portable and cheaper than other neuroscientific techniques, could represent the key to the investigation of psychological processes in the tourism sector. Traditional tools are extremely useful for exploring conscious phenomena that the individual is willing to share, while neuroscientific tools could be used to explore processes that operate below the threshold of awareness and that are associated with topics that the individual prefers not to reveal. In particular Approach / Withdrawal (AW) and Mental Effort (ME) are some of the EEG neurometrics that could contribute most to increasing the knowledge of how our brain perceives communication and products related to the tourism sector. Together with the EEG, also the Implicit reaction time tests (IRTs), can be used effectively by neuromarketing experts in order to explore the implicit attitudes of people. Furthermore, thanks to the integration of Virtual Reality (VR), the monuments and tourist attractions located in every corner of the planet can be enjoyed by people directly from their homes and at any time. At the same time, the brain response can be explored by experts in order to investigate aspects of interest, such as those mentioned by ShiNa Li and her colleagues.
