m-Tourism 2.0: A Concept Where Mobile Tourism Meets Participatory Culture

Technological convergence has contributed to the emergence of a great variety of research niches in academic and economic areas with an ever-evolving transdisciplinary essence. In this convergence context, which is not dissociable from concepts such as innovation, creativity, competitiveness, sustainability and participation, tourism has also come across multiple challenges and changes in its relation with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and has been able to embrace it and its use as critical key issues when looking into the near future. The shear concepts used to describe the integration between ICT and tourism, such as e-Tourism and m-Tourism, are at a point where it is questionable if they are suitable for including and describing, at a detailed level, the influential role played by social media and participatory culture in technological mediated scenarios. This paper proposes and describes the concept of m-Tourism 2.0, based on the above mentioned concepts, presents current trends in the use of mobile devices, social media services and inherent participatory culture issues, as well as ongoing research