Usability Evaluation Metrics of Tourism Mobile Applications

Abstract

The use of mobile phone applications for our touristic activity is very common nowadays with the simplification of smartphones. The tourism mobile applications currently can be argued to be one of the most useful applications that can facilitate the movement of travelers. However, existing usability evaluation metrics are too general to be applied to a more specific application, such as mobile tourism application. Thus, the objective of the study is to propose usability evaluation metrics for tourism mobile applications. The study employs four phases: identifying problem and the objective, encompassing the techniques of developing usability measurement of metrics, selecting the usability metrics of tourism mobile application and conducting expert review and verification. The verification phase was conducted using expert review approach to measure the proposed metrics in terms of its consistency ease of use, understandable, verifiable and overall impression. The finding revealed that the proposed metrics have been well received by the experts in terms of consistency, ease to use, understandable, verifiability and overall impression. Finally, this study presented usability metrics for the tourism mobile applications that can be used by designers or usability practitioners in creating a useable mobile application for the tourists.