Abstract
The role played by technologies of information and communication, ICT, has become increasingly important in the way of life of societies. As well as technologies to revolutionize or everyone's way of life, it also brings a sense of alertness to match. This chapter aims to present a reflection on the importance of virtual tourism in the pandemic scenario (new coronavirus) and the main challenges in the post-pandemic period. The tourist sector must continue to communicate with clients in order to retain them. In this way, several companies choose to enter into a partnership with digital influencers, seeing that they are presented as a link between the company and the customers. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the chapter presents contributions to marketing, (virtual) tourism, and pandemic management.
Top1. Introduction
Technologies are increasingly present, as a part of the society in which we are inserted which, in addition to revolutionizing the way of life of all of us, has also caused great changes in the tourism context, with the emergence of new market niches. The internet has become one of the main media, facilitating travelling to any part of the world in just one click. The recent global pandemic, caused by the Covid-19, has changed not only the way we currently travel, but it has also highlighted the important role played by Virtual Tourism and Gamified Virtual Experiences. Faced with this scenario, several companies in the tourism sector had to reinvent themselves, using virtual environments and digital tools, as an opportunity to maintain and expand their business (López García et al., 2019). The need to invest in marketing and communication strategies was also highlighted, in order to adapt to the new consumer’s behavior, which arose during the pandemic crisis and that will possibly endure. We live in the Age of Influence, in which the majority of the world's population is connected to the web. New segments and market niches are generated by the use of ICT, meeting and adapting to the needs of new generations, leading to the burst of new business models. So, technology, covid-19 and new consumer behavior have brought to light a new type of tourism – Virtual Tourism.
Tourism, assumes itself as a multifaceted and geographically complex activity that increasingly generates new (and different) market segments with different individual interests (Sousa, Magalhães & Soares, 2021). The term niche, in a marketing perspective, refers to two key interrelated ideas: that there is a place in the market for the product, and that there is an audience for that same product. This refers to a specific product capable of keeping up with the needs of a specific market segment (Santos et al., 2021). In this chapter, we propose to study this tourism segment and its role, to mitigate the impact of Covid 19, both in tourism enterprises and tourist consumption. The main objectives of this work are: Conceptualize Virtual Tourism; Understand the impact that new technologies have on the design of new products and services in Tourism; Study the analogy between Tourism Marketing and Virtual Tourism; Analyze the impact of Virtual Tourism and Gamified Virtual Experiences in Pandemic time; Understand the potentialities and limitations of this tourism segment.
This Study is divided into different themes that are related to others, namely, Tourism and ICT; Marketing, Internet and Tourism and Virtual Tourism., We start by realizing the Impact of virtual tourism in pandemic time and In the end, we describe the final considerations about the limitations of the study and present what future studies can be carried out, based on this study.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social media: Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.
Digital Marketing: Is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, but also including mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.
Consumer Behavior Online: The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services, including the consumer’s emotional, mental and behavioral responses that precede or follow these activities in the online environment.
Social Networks: Is a social structure composed of persons or organizations, connected by one or several types of relationships, which share common values and goals.
Online Relationship: Is an integrative and multidimensional concept, such as relationship quality in an offline context.
Virtual Tourism: Is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos or still images. It may also use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, and text. Virtual tourism is essentially a hybrid concept- it combines both the notions of virtual reality and tourism. In essence, virtual tourism facilitates a tourism experience, without actually having to travel anywhere. Virtual tourism takes many different forms and comes in vary degrees of technological capability.
E-Satisfaction: The contentment of a consumer with respect to his or her prior purchasing experiences with a given retail-oriented website.