SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCE OF A MOBILE APPLICATION WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY AND GEOLOCATION TECHNOLOGIES ON THE TOURIST ROUTES OF MALQUI MACHAY, CANTON LA MANÁ

Purpose: The study aims to show the rich culture of the canton of La Maná, Cotopax and the influence of technology in tourism for the social and cultural development of Malqui Machay. Theoretical framework: The tourist routes and the transformation of tourist practices, make the tourism industry generates economic and social activity to improve the quality of life of people, also georeferencing allows sharing and consulting geographic information in real time. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach is adopted, the experiences of tourists using this application to guide their visit to local sites are explored, and the social and cultural aspects of tourists' interaction with the application and its impact on the overall experience are examined. Conclusions: The use of mobile geolocation technologies to add another option to learn about tourist sites in La Maná utilize current trends in mobile technologies to enable location and present user experiences in the tourism sector. Implications: The use of current technologies are implemented in a mobile application that generates information about tourist sites, improving the promotion of Malqui Machay.


CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE STUDY
Tourism is an industry that generates economic activity (Piñeiro Adega, 2023) and social activity that generates ventures to improve the quality of life of people (Lucas Mantuano et al ., 2019) .In 2022, the Latin American travel and tourism sector contributed with 302.6 billion dollars to the regional economy , only 4.1 % below of the 2019 level and in 2023 , represents 4.4 % of the national economy of Ecuador ( World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) , 2024) .
The growing technology integration mobiles in the tourism industry (Benavides Muñoz et al., 2023) has generated a significant change in the way in which travelers they interact with the destinations they visit .In particular, the applications mobiles based in geolocation technologies (Solano Barliza, 2021) (Ordoñez Ninasunta et al., 2024) (Macías Lara, 2021) (Arregocés et al., 2022) have emerged as powerful tools to improve the tourist experience by providing contextualized information and facilitating navigation by places of interest .
According to ( Abdul Rashid et al., 2020) among the business applications , travel applications are the seventh category of the most downloaded and 60 % of the travelers they choose to use applications mobiles while they travel .This study focuses on analyze the social and cultural influence of an application mobile (Perez-Coronell, 2023) specifically designed for the Malqui tourist routes Machay , located in he La Maná Canton , Ecuador .
Malqui Machay (Caizaluisa et al., 2021) , a territory of historical and cultural wealth, offers visitors a variety of tourist sites (Calero Moreno & Lema Molina, 2016 ) that reflect the identity and the heritage of the region .Add an app mobile (Lopez Velez & Bajaña Zajia, 2023) designed to guide tourists through these routes presents a unique opportunity to explore how the technologies can influence the tourist experience and its interaction with the local social and cultural environment.
Through a qualitative approach , this study seeks to deepen the understanding of the effects that this application mobile has in tourists who visit Malqui Machay .Reviewing the records of the participants, it was evident how tourists use the application to access information about tourist sites , they have the opportunity to interact with other visitors and approach the history and culture of La Maná.Furthermore , it undertakes the tourist experience when using this application to guide their visit to the local tourist sites , exploring the nuances social and cultural that appears during this interaction .

TOURIST ROUTES
A tourist route is a path that allows you to appreciate the most notable virtues that a tourist place has.It is a planned tour so that tourists can discover particularities of a natural, cultural, historical, archaeological, artistic, recreational or gastronomic nature.
This route is represented through a tourist itinerary, which is responsible for guiding visitors along the way, in addition to pointing out and describing the points of interest in the area (Hernández Ramírez, 2011).
Rural Tourism Community (TRC) can be defined as a small-format tourism modality , established in rural areas and the one who local population , through its organizational structures , exercises a significant role in his control and management (Gascón, 2005) 2 6 improved the immersion of the traveler by offering virtual tours and interactive experiences before your arrival .

MOBILE APP
An application Mobile is a type of software that is designed to operate on devices such as smartphones .It uses the word "app" to refer to an application since it is an acronym that is derived from the term in English " application ".They have a great variety of uses from facilitating work until providing entertainment .While the web applications are accessible through browsers and do not require installation prior to use , the applications mobiles must be downloaded and installed on he smartphone to be used.At the moment the popularity of these have grown exponentially becoming in a part of everyday life for the most people (Pérez Garcia, 2018)

GEOLOCATION
Geolocation is the determination of the geographical location by means of a computer or a Smartphone, by any of the means available to achieve it (Rodríguez, 2015) .( Velazco Currently, to determine the geographic location of a user, there are several ways to do it, among them are the identification of the router to which the user is connected, the provider's network, the mobile phone or directly through the device's internal GPS receiver, among others.many more (Vidal Ferré & García Villegas, 2003) , in addition, geolocation is possible with the use of the W3C geolocation standard, which is currently used by the majority of web browsers available on the market (Rodríguez, 2015) .

RESEARCH DESIGN
The study used a mixed approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain a global understanding of the social and cultural influence of a mobile application with geolocation technologies on the tourist routes of Malqui Machay from the Canton La Maná.

Population
The population of this study includes tourists who visit Malqui Machay who use the mobile application.Additionally, members of the local community, to know at what level the number of tourists increased, during the time of use of the geolocation application.

Sample
Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used, selecting those tourists who have used the georeferencing application, during their visit, this information is stored, respecting personal data, only variables such as routes, time, distance, experience and interaction.

PERCEPTION OF THE MOBILE APPLICATION WITH GEOLOCATION
The The survey determined that few people knew about the use of the geolocation application to locate themselves and learn about tourist routes and places where they can stop to taste typical dishes and learn about cultural sites.

Route operation tests
Source: Authors.
The study analyzed how tourists perceive and use the mobile application with geolocation technology, where 75% expressed that the level of usability is high and 25% requested improvements in the generation of alternative routes.
Regarding the distribution of tourists, in the evaluation period of the application, it was found that 60% of the tourists are national, while 40% are foreigners.This information is very important, because it allows you to make decisions when creating an update.

CONCLUSION
In this article, we propose the use of technologies geolocation mobiles to add other option to visit tourist places in La Maná, are used tendencies current in technologies mobile phones to allow location and present user experiences in the tourism sector.
Most of the population account with a smartphone , this favors use of an application mobile , to be able to spread the tourist attractions that it has he canton , in addition indirectly the entrepreneurship locals , tourism companies, including transportation , could benefit .9 Our goal is not to create a new geolocation protocol , but to maximize the use of smartphones as a means of promoting Malqui Machay , so that tour operators also benefit with the location of the user and is traced in a map Indirectly The system we propose aims to reduce he response time In emergency cases , provides information reliable that can help identify accidents .
After the use of the application , it was found that tourists , in 40 % are foreigners , so it was suggested that an option be added so that the information , too this available in English language .
.2 TRANSFORMATION OF TOURISM PRACTICES The technology It has revolutionized the ways in which tourism communities manage their activities .From the augmented reality (Expósito-Barea & Navarrete-Cardero, 2023) , the marketing online to reservation management and communication with the travelers , the technological tools have optimized the processes and have allowed communities to reach a global audience more efficiently .Furthermore , the Adoption of destination management systems and online booking platforms has facilitated the organization and promotion of local tourist services .In the research on the use of the routes and tourist circuits intelligently , proposes to consolidate the utility of the smart tourist territory , the data visualization , access of the data in the connectivity and sensorization infrastructures within a Smart Tourist Destination model (Pulla Pesantez et al., 2020 ) 2.3 TOURIST EXPERIENCE ON TOURIST ROUTES The technology has enriched the experience of traveler by providing access to information detailed information about destinations, activities and services local (Pulla Pesantez et al., 2020) .The applications mobiles , interactive websites and social media platforms have allowed the travelers explore and discover authentic experiences offered by local communities .Furthermore , the augmented reality and virtual reality technologies haveSocial and Cultural Influence of a Mobile Application with Renewable Energy and Geolocation Technologies on the Tourist Routes of Malqui Machay, Canton la Maná ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.8 | p.1-12 | e08249 | 2024.

Florez , 2012
)( Mohsin & Aldabbagh , 2014) ( Troy Carbajal , 2016)  .Its implementation and use allows users to obtain multiple benefits such as sharing and consulting geographic information in real time, simulating bank loans through geolocation.(Palma-Jaramillo et al., 2020) obtain data on vehicular traffic in any city and what it does reference to knowledge of geographical location of places, objects or people through the use of certain technological tools , such as They are : Internet, browsers, satellites, telephony mobile , tablets, etc.The most important thing is that it has now become a powerful marketing weapon for companies.
Social and Cultural Influence of a Mobile Application with Renewable Energy and Geolocation Technologies on the Tourist Routes of Malqui Machay, Canton la Maná ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.8 | p.1-12 | e08249 | 2024.7 2.6 APP DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGIES The development of a mobile application that supports the training of the tourism area of the Tourism, Seafarers and Services Training Center.The application allows trainees and instructors in this area to perform metrics and obtain reports according to the search filters andthe parameterization of the information collected from forms, geolocation and multimedia material.Its method is focused on the conception of agile methodologies, in order to define the characteristics or environment of the application.The result of this work was the construction of an integrated system that allows access to information in real time, with permanent updating that allows decision making and serves as a guidance tool for the design of products and services in the hands of the productive sector( Gasca Mantilla et al., 2014) Social and Cultural Influence of a Mobile Application with Renewable Energy and Geolocation Technologies on the Tourist Routes of Malqui Machay, Canton la Maná ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.8 | p.1-12 | e08249 | 2024.
Social and Cultural Influence of a Mobile Application with Renewable Energy and Geolocation Technologies on the Tourist Routes of Malqui Machay, Canton la Maná ( Pita Lino et al., 2021) (Noyola Aguilar & Campón Cerro, 2016) who values and makes decisions about their products and services but has become a community.From the moment you like something and decide to share it, the rest of the people you share it with will be affected by that decision when making a decision.That is why it is so important to provide the best services in the most exclusive way.Community tourism (Orgaz Agüera, 2013) (SantistevanVillacreses et al., 2023)(SarabiaMolina et al., 2023), is a multifaceted phenomenon, which is in constant evolution, especially in the digital age.Technology and geolocation play a fundamental role in traveler experiences and have transformed the way tourists explore destinations, giving them access to accurate and personalized information about points of interest, activities and services in real time.In the context, the mobile application becomes an invaluable tool for visitors, offering them a more enriching and contextualized tourist experience.One of the important findings is the way in which the mobile application facilitates interaction between tourists and the local community, providing detailed information about tourist sites, events and local traditions, fostering greater understanding and appreciation for the culture and heritage of Malqui Machay .Castañeda , 2021) and preserve the cultural authenticity of tourist destinations( Pita Lino et al., 2021) (Noyola Aguilar & Campón Cerro, 2016).