Happiness and subjective experiences receive growing attention in the business and economic literature as a central force that determines consumer satisfaction. This process is supported, to a great deal, by technological developments in the form of portable and ubiquitous information, communication, and location technologies. In this article, we argue that the interaction of tourists with the destination is becoming mediated through technological apparatuses and thus products that are being consumed are becoming increasingly personalized. We call for a paradigmatic shift in the analysis of tourist experience and destination competitiveness which should build on the following four elements: (1) utilizing advanced methodological tools that rely on mobile and sensor technologies, (2) adopting disaggregated research approach toward experiences, (3) employing high spatial resolution analysis to allow a precise investigation of content- and place-specific experiences, and (4) avoiding the traditional differentiation between destinations as suppliers of attractions and tourists as passive consumers.

The article discusses the feasibility and benefits of using immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to gauge the environmental preferences of individuals. The discussion is based on the results of a stated preference conjoint experiment employed within an IVE. In the experiment, participants were asked to rate and rank their cycling experience during and after they had cycled a few virtual routes with changing environmental characteristics. Participants repeated the experiment a week later to allow the examination of the test–retest reliability of the method. Presence level—namely the extent to which one has an actual sense of being in the simulated world—was computed using the ITC–SOPI questionnaire. The scores were compared with an equivalent, more traditional, still images conjoint task that was administrated to a control group. Presence level was significantly higher in the IVE compared to the still images experiment. This finding supports the notion that IVEs may yield greater external validity due to their higher level of realism. Relatively low test–retest reliability scores between the two IVE experiment rounds were obtained. This might be explained by the participants' low familiarity with IVEs, which in the first round diverted their attention from the conjoint task itself. In contrast, the test–retest scores of post-IVE evaluations, which are considered more cognitive in their nature, were satisfactory. Implications of the experiments and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Advances in commercial wearable devices are increasingly facilitating the collection and analysis of everyday physiological data. This article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of using such ambulatory devices for the detection of episodic changes in physiological signals as a marker for mental state in outdoor environments. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using commercial wearables in combination with location tracking technologies. The study measured physiological signals for fifteen participants, including heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance. Participants? signals were recorded during an outdoor walk that was tracked using a Global Positioning System logger. The walk was designed to pass through various types of environments including green, blue, and urban spaces, as well as a more stressful road crossing. The data that were obtained were used to demonstrate how biosensor information can be contextualized and enriched using location information. Significant episodic changes in physiological signals under real-world conditions were detectable in the stressful road crossing but not in the other types of environments. The article concludes that despite challenges and limitations of current off-the-shelf wearables, the utilization of these devices offers novel opportunities for evaluating episodic changes in physiological signals as a marker for mental state during everyday activities including in outdoor environments. Key Words: electrodermal activity, GPS, mental state, stress, wearable.