The Use of Virtual Reality in Tourism Destinations as a Tool to Develop Tourist Behavior Perspective

Abstract

The role of new technologies in tourism is changing rapidly, leading to the development of customer relationships through the use of virtual reality in the marketing of tourist destinations. In addition to focusing on the influence of travel intentions that has prevailed in practice so far, the use of VR is expected to have an impact on the travel experience on the spot. This exploratory research study was conducted with 824 respondents to identify the role of virtual reality in choosing a tourist destination, as well as the expectations of potential customers that could rekindle the tourism industry for a post-pandemic world. The results pointed out that highly used virtual reality applications for destination marketing aim to create a certain image for a tourist destination and to communicate this to the outside world in a consistent and coordinated manner. The findings also reinforce the importance of developing future scenarios for virtual reality as a decisive factor for strategic planning in the tourism sector.

The borders are re-opening! Has virtual reality been a friend or a foe to the tourism industry so far?

“…Finally, this is a survey-based study that focuses on multiple destinations. While this approach is similar to some of the existing studies, such as Oncioiu and Priescu (2022), it nonetheless can be improved to increase its precision. On this issue, future researchers could consider segmenting the tourists into categories to examine if different profiles of tourists would yield different findings.…”

“…(2019b), Flavián et al. (2019a), Oncioiu and Priescu (2022) pointed out that there is still confusion about what factors are influencing consumer behaviour and experience involving VR. According to Yung et al.…”

“…Firstly, given the limited number and exploratory nature of studies such as Flavi an et al (2019b), Flavi an et al (2019a), Oncioiu and Priescu (2022) pointed out that there is still confusion about what factors are influencing consumer behaviour and experience involving VR. According to Yung et al (2021), empirical studies have not yet sufficiently explored how VR affects behavioural intention, leading to various calls for substantive theory-based VR research to bridge the gaps in tourism literature.…”

“…VR tourism can stimulate positive emotions among tourists (Yung et al, 2021). Oncioiu and Priescu (2022) highlighted that tourist services are primarily shaped by visual experiences and the transmission of emotions. Therefore, the effectiveness of VR in tourism can be surmised by its ability to evoke emotional engagement among consumers.…”

“…Therefore, the effectiveness of VR in tourism can be surmised by its ability to evoke emotional engagement among consumers. When a consumer uses VR to choose a tourist destination, it is based mainly on trust in the APJML 35,7 contents and the experiences one goes through in that environment (Oncioiu and Priescu, 2022). While there have been preliminary results on this, there is still a lack of studies identifying the specific factors resulting in emotional engagement and how they influence trust (Yung et al, 2021).…”