Virtual tourism is related to the use of extended reality technologies, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, in order to generate a travel experience without the need to move from one place. Virtual reality represents one of the most interesting and promising digital technologies that offers significant benefits in numerous areas such as medicine, entertainment, training, and tourism. This research paper aims at examining the relationships between enjoyment, emotional involvement, flow, positive emotions, and VR experience on one hand. On the other hand, it investigates the linkage between VR experience and attitudes towards tourism destination. A quantitative approach is used to test the hypotheses. Simple linear regression shows that all hypotheses are accepted except for the flow state VR tourist experience that is rejected. Managerial implications will be drawn.
Top1. Introduction
Technology is being used more and more every day to make informed decisions. It has gone a step further to make virtual technology “real” by showcasing places just the way they are (Huang et al., 2013).
Virtual Reality (VR) is a topic that is improving at a very quick speed. It is significant to stay up- to- date and accumulate knowledge about the technology if one plans to grab hold in this fast-paced industry. According to statista website, virtual tourism is considered as an increasing global industry. In fact, the market size of this industry was forecasted at 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. And, it is estimated to grow continuously in the next years “totaling over 24 billion U.S. dollars by 2027” (www.statista.com)
Numerous industry leaders in VR are growing such as Oculus and HTC. The global VR report showed that “The global virtual reality devices market is expected grow from $9.48 billion in 2021 to $10.15 billion in 2022” (www.globenewswire.com).
As an example for the rapid development of VR, Guttentag (2010) wrote that sites can be re-formed with great responsiveness to point out that our hearing and visual senses can be well stimulated in a virtual experience. However, from a technical standpoint, there was still a lack of technology development regarding real-time movements and accurate sound simulation. In a virtual tourism experience, the importance of the senses is highlighted.
As VR gear becomes more accessible and less expensive, along with improvements in software technology, VR and AR show commercial benefits, from supporting to boost productivity to interacting with consumers and target markets in original, fresh and innovative ways, and ensuring that organizations are hiring the appropriate people with the necessary capabilities and competences. Additionally, VR and AR may lower expenses and boost a company's environmental reputation.
Businesses start by determining how immersive technology could be effectively implemented to transform your organization is to understand the potential impact of VR and how they operate.
Our consumer behaviors are evolving in the digital era, from how and where we get information to how we view and associate with companies (Shaikh et al., 2022). This change in behavior is having a significant impact on marketing and advertising efforts, both in terms of bringing in new audiences and keeping hold of existing clientele. By embracing VR and AR, companies can differentiate themselves from the competition and engage with customers in novel and interesting ways. Strong customer relationships may be developed by firms via experiential marketing. Customers may physically interact with brands through it, increasing brand engagement and eliciting an emotional reaction. (Fan et al, 2022)
The travel industry has made extensive use of the immersive technologies of augmented reality and virtual reality. Although effective AR/VR applications in tourism have been individually investigated in the past from numerous angles and situations, no comprehensive empirical study has come to any conclusions about the virtual tourism experience. (Fan et al, 2022)
The Covid19 pandemic contributes to make human technology interactions so frequent and repeated. People were searching for safe transactions and online atmospheres and VR devises responded to this need. According to Vardomatski (2021) Consumers bought more than 50% of VR and augmented reality devises. This shows the extent to which consumers are assigning value to virtual and innovative experiences.
Recently, VR studies have shown that VR technologies can change the way tourists perceive their tourism and hospitality experience (Godovykh & Fyall, 2022). Destinations managers adopt VR technologies to increase awareness about specific attractions and to generate positive emotions regarding them. Numerous studies have attempted to explain the impact of these tools on intention to visit (Godovykh & Fyall, 2022)