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Enriching Tourist UX via a Location Based AR Treasure Hunt Game

In this research we implemented an Augmented Reality (AR) treasure hunt game, to enhance a visitor’s enjoyment and learning while touring a culturally rich city. The city chosen for this study was Valletta, the 2018 European Capital of Culture. Two prototype mobile applications were implemented and deployed to investigate the effectiveness of an AR serious game with in-built navigation tools. A pragmatic mixed-methods research approach was adopted, with data collected, analysed and triangulated using game log data, pre-post test interviews, observations and a survey. It was concluded that AR is useful to provide city information and enriched the tourist’s experience. However, the experience needs to be provided by implementing a treasure hunt ‘learning through fun’ approach, and including GPS navigation crucial to elicit interest and achieve a competitive advantage over traditional city tours.