Do tourism applications' quality and user experience influence its acceptance by tourists?

The aim of the present study is to improve the understanding regarding the acceptance of tourism apps available for the marketing and tourism destination. For this purpose, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) was adapted to investigate the determinants of users' behavioral intention for mobile tourism applications according to the quality and user experience of tourism applications. In order to understand whether the design of and user experience with tourist applications influence those apps' use and acceptance, the variable Trust in the Internet operator was added to UTAUT2 as an external variable, as well as App Quality and App User Experience. To investigate the determinants of the users' behavioral intention, a survey of 552 users was performed, and the data were analyzed using the partial least squares path modeling in Spain and Portugal. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of user needs when they decide whether to download a mobile tourism app and whether to use it at their destination.FCT - Foundation for Science and TechnologyPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [UIDB/04470/2020 CiTUR]