IFITT Doctoral Summer School 2015 Proceedings Page | 1 Flourishing Through an eTourism Platform – A Framework Enabling Tourists’ Eudaimonic Pursuits Bruce Wan, Cees de Bont and Paul Hekkert School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Email: bruce.wan@polyu.edu.hk ; cees.debont@polyu.edu.hk Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Email: P.P.M.Hekkert@tudelft.nl Keywords: eTourism, existential authenticity, positive psychology, transformational tourism, meaningful tourist experience, psychological well-being, serious leisure, eudaimonia. 1 Background Information and communication technology (ICT) plays an indispensable role in development of the tourism industry. However, the role of technology has shifted from back- end services for transactions and reservations to front-end applications that support a plethora of tourist activities. Such drastic change has made usability and the user experience prime concerns for researchers. The era of pervasive technology has also changed our relationship with information appliances; they enable us to work, play, and express ourselves in a new way to the extent that we no longer “use” technology but rather it has become part of our everydayness. Furthermore, the new technology has the capacity to redefine and transform us (Sellen, Rogers, Harper & Rodden, 2009); from the research point of view, “such new forms of interaction between humans and computers will involve asking questions about the qualitative - process, potential, and change - rather than quantifiable attributes and capabilities alone” (p. 66). How tourists live with technology may eventually become a new agenda for eTourism research. 1.1 Use of ICT in the tourism industry The tourism industry is regarded as one of the earliest adopters of ICT in the field of business through introduction of the Computer Reservation System (CRS) in the 1970s (Buhalis & Law, 2008, p. 609). Buhalis (2003, p. 77) defined the term eTourism decade ago as the digitalization of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality, and catering industries’ information technology for strategic tourism management. This umbrella term includes all business functions as well as eStrategy, ePlanning, and eManagement for all sectors of the tourism industry, including travel, leisure, hospitality, principles, intermediaries, and public sector organizations. The role of eTourism was aimed at increasing the efficiency and efficacy of transactions. However, technology has become more popular and pervasive than ever before and the use of ICT in the tourism industry is no longer as a back-end supporting service. Over the last decade, we have seen a plethora of websites and applications developed to empower tourists’ autonomy: They assist tourists in looking for travel-related information, generating customized travel packages, making instant reservations, and sharing travel experiences with