The FH Salzburg team contributes to at the world’s leading conference on information and communication technologies in tourism – ENTER eTourism Conference 2019 @ Nicosia, Cyrpus.
Ashelle McFee, Tanja Mayrhof, Andrea Baratova, Barbara Neuhofer, Mattia Rainoldi and Roman Egger presented their paper ‘The Effects of Virtual Reality on Destination Image Formation’, which is published in the conference ‘Information and Communication Technologies 2019’.
Student – Professor Co-Creation & Co-Authorship
The paper was the outcome of a masters eTourism research project of two years – from first idea seeds, research development, prototyping, completion and final publication. The Conference took place from 29thJanuary to 1stFebruary in Nicosia, Cyprus! Check out the papers/ publication: Springer!
McFee, A., Mayrhofer, T., Baratova, A., Neuhofer, B., Rainoldi, M., Egger, R. (2019) The Effects of Virtual Reality on Destination Image Formation.
What is the paper about? See our abstract!
The mental image potential visitors have of a destination is a critical factor when making travel decisions. Research has shown that destination image formation correlates with users’ involvement with a device or platform, such as virtual reality (VR). While the impact of VR on the formation of a destination image has only received limited attention, literature suggests that the use of VR could have a positive influence on destination image. This study set out to examine the impact of VR on the formation of a destination image in comparison to an identical video viewed on a computer. An experiment with a post-user survey was conducted. The analysis confirms that the higher levels of involvement through using VR goggles do have a positive correlation with destination image formation. For destination marketing, this study suggests VR as a tool to positively influence the image of a destination.
Access the paper here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-05940-8_9?fbclid=IwAR09tpjJYOUptnkGEE_08Qwm9yGugzRvOeVqL-fG-LORQaOqnSFTbb6ujgc
