When virtual reality experiences make you want to travel...

According to the World Tourism Organization, 95% of the world's tourists are concentrated in 5% of the world's land mass. This is not without risks: saturation, pressure on infrastructures, difficult cohabitation with local residents...

Yasmine Hashish, Cairo University and Marie-Christine Lichtlé, University of Montpellier

On the other hand, many areas remain deprived of the benefits of tourism. These, however, seem to be benefiting from the health crisis. Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, travelers have favored domestic tourism and less-frequented regions. Research of authentic experiences in the heart of nature and outdoor activities, have been in demand for summer 2020.

In France, for example, the Aveyron département recorded a 14% increase in tourist numbers in July, compared with 2019; in the Creuse, visits by French families jumped by 23%.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, these trends will persist in the short term. This new interest on the part of tourists opens up new prospects for territories that have been little-visited until now. In this respect, our work suggests that new technologies can help them boost their appeal.

Monuments, landscapes, but few visitors...

Our study focused on the Egyptian city of El Minya, which ranks third after Luxor and El Giza in the list of places rich in monuments. There are Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Islamic and Coptic buildings, as well as museums and castles. Visitors can also enjoy the alternating landscapes of urban sites, farmland and desert, which can be explored by boat on the Nile.

Despite these assets, the governorate of El Minya is not well publicized in Egypt and abroad, and the area remains little visited.

Our quantitative survey was conducted in 2019 among 341 Egyptian nationals, to identify the conditions under which having a virtual experience of the place is effective in deciding individuals to visit.

Each of the respondents visited one of the six versions of the websites created for El Minya. These differed only in their degree of interactivity and liveliness. Photos or videos or 3D virtual tours of tourist attractions were sometimes included.

Experience the atmosphere

What emerges is that tourists seem to appreciate a virtual experience before choosing a destination.

Admittedly, experience can vary from one individual to another: personal characteristics (e.g. preference for visual information, commitment to travel, familiarity with technology...) influence the intensity of this experience. One trend does emerge, however.

By creating a "telepresence" experience, interactive videos and 3D virtual tours trigger positive affective states, positively influencing the perceived value of the destination and increasing the intention to visit. Conversely, sites presenting only 2D photos generated little desire to visit the destination.

To go a step further, semi-directive interviews were used to identify the reasons behind the preference for virtual tours. Various advantages were highlighted by respondents:

"With 3D, you travel around the site without leaving your home."

"3D shows us everything that will happen on site. Thanks to 3D, things are more concrete, as if they were real."

"The 3D tours are very useful, because you can imagine yourself practicing the activities available. If I feel happy during this online experience, of course I'll visit this destination."

Experience the sensations of a walk in the great outdoors, on the sea or in a rural setting, or experience the atmosphere of local product production through 360° videos or 3D tours, all of which facilitate decision-making.

New perspectives

The use of such tools is growing, and according to a Bloomberg report published on February 13, 2020, virtual reality and augmented reality products will represent a global market of over $571.42 billion by 2025.

Even if it's difficult to predict tourist behavior in the wake of the health crisis, it seems essential for the sector to capitalize on recent changes in behavior and move towards greater use of digital technology.

Sales of virtual reality tools are currently on the rise. They reflect the growing interest of tourists worldwide in immersive experiences, and open up new prospects for less-visited tourist destinations.

Many countries now have policies and plans in place to develop the sustainable tourism to 2030. Le "sub-tourism has even become a tactic of growing interest to marketers. The aim is to encourage travelers weary of crowded destinations to choose less crowded tourist destinations as an alternative. Our work shows that virtual reality appears to be an effective means of achieving this.

Yasmine Hashish, PHD- Lecturer at Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, Cairo University and Marie-Christine Lichtlé, Professeur des Universités, University of Montpellier

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.