To travel or not to travel if already experienced it virtually?
(A2020-63701)

AUTHORS

Akos Nagy, University of Pécs Faculty of Business and Economics; Viktoria Gerdesics, University of Pécs Faculty of Business and Economics

KEYWORDS

virtual tourism; travel motivations; tourism marketing

ABSTRACT

Nowadays more and more virtual experiences can be gained in advance before visiting a tourist destination. However, the question arises: do these experiences spoil the real future experience and deter from travelling? In our research, we have aimed at investigating the relationship of virtual tourism attitude and travel intention. A sample of 114 respondents experienced a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video and answered to our questionnaire. In our proposed model, we found significant positive relationships among the latent variables (attitude towards using VR experiences, tele-presence, VR experience enjoyment, perceived usefulness, behavioural intention). Results suggest that the impact on behavioural intention is very strong and in this regard we can conclude that VR videos can have a significant influence in travellers’ decision making process, however it is not supported that these experiences and the conveyed information could ruin or even substitute the planned trip.

REFERENCES

The research was financed by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Programme of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the 4th thematic programme „Enhancing the Role of Domestic Companies in the Reindustri