Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) tourism provides individuals with a brief, but realistic, preview of travel destinations. Despite the increasing popularity of VR tourism in destination advertising, outcomes and underlying mechanisms of virtual tours remain underexplored. Guided by the theoretical framework of spatial presence, this experiment (N = 118) investigated how VR tourism affected behavioral intention to travel to a physical destination depicted in the virtual world and people’s willingness to pay for travel in the context of destination advertising. Results revealed that VR tourism led to greater spatial presence, enjoyment, destination image, intentions to travel, and willingness to pay compared to reading an e-brochure. Spatial presence, enjoyment, and destination image mediated the impact of virtual tours on intentions to travel and willingness to pay, shedding light on the psychological mechanisms of virtual tours. Theoretical and managerial implications of VR tourism are discussed.

摘要

虚拟现实 (VR) 旅游为个人提供了一个简短但真实的旅游目的地预览。尽管 VR 旅游在目的地广告中越来越受欢迎，但虚拟旅游的结果和潜在机制仍未得到充分探索。在空间存在理论框架的指导下，本实验（N = 118) 调查了 VR 旅游如何影响前往虚拟世界中描绘的物理目的地的行为意图以及人们在目的地广告背景下支付旅行费用的意愿。结果显示，与阅读电子手册相比，VR 旅游带来了更大的空间存在感、乐趣、目的地形象、旅行意图和支付意愿。空间存在、享受和目的地形象在虚拟旅游对旅游意愿和支付意愿的影响中起中介作用，揭示了虚拟旅游的心理机制。讨论了 VR 旅游的理论和管理意义。