Virtual reality is a rapidly evolving and cutting-edge technology with the potential to significantly impact the tourism industry. Nevertheless, its potential effect on destination marketing has not been thoroughly investigated. In particular, by performing a narrative literature review, some research gaps have been identified in the destination marketing context. First, research about VR applications and effectiveness in tourism has been mostly conceptual, with few studies providing empirical evidence about the debated concept of presence, its determinants and consequences on real-world performance. Second, the rapid evolution of VR is accompanied by the sophistication of devices providing immersive experiences. Nowadays, fully-immersive VR systems such as HMDs are available and empirical research involving them is still limited. Third, the literature has used synthetic VR content. Lastly, studies have extensively used questionnaires, which assess subjective measures, which suffer from the presence of biases. To address these gaps, the thesis investigates the impact of fully-immersive VR devices (HMDs) as a marketing tool in the pre-travel phase, formulating hypotheses on the relationships between immersion, presence, emotions and intentions in the real world. An experiment showing a realistic 360-degree tour of the city of Valencia was carried out involving 209 participants divided into two groups, each experiencing the stimuli either through VR or desktop PC. Measures were collected through the use of questionnaires and the EDA physiological measure to assess arousal. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS v28 and PROCESS macro v4.2 for SPSS.The findings show that VR has a higher effect on presence and both conscious and unconscious arousal than desktop PC. Moreover, the sense of presence mediates the effect of immersion on the emotional response and the behavioural intention (both in terms of intention to visit and to recommend the destination). The obtained results provide empirical evidence to confirm the effectiveness of VR as a marketing tool to attract potential visitors to the advertised destination. Therefore, this thesis suggests practical applications for destination marketers and businesses in the tourism industry in order to maximize profit through the creation of immersive experiences.
La realtà virtuale è una tecnologia all’avanguardia e in rapida evoluzione con il potenziale di avere un impatto significativo sul settore del turismo. Tuttavia, il suo potenziale effetto sul marketing della destinazione non è stato studiato a fondo. In particolare, effettuando una revisione narrativa della letteratura, sono state identificate alcune lacune di ricerca nel contesto del marketing della destinazione. In primo luogo, la ricerca sulle applicazioni e l'efficacia della realtà virtuale nel turismo è stata per lo più concettuale, con pochi studi che forniscono evidenze empiriche sul dibattuto concetto di "presenza", le sue determinanti e conseguenze sulle prestazioni nel mondo reale. In secondo luogo, l'evoluzione rapida della realtà virtuale è accompagnata dalla sofisticazione dei dispositivi che offrono esperienze immersive. Attualmente, sistemi VR completamente immersivi come gli HMD sono disponibili e la ricerca empirica su di essi è ancora limitata. In terzo luogo, la letteratura ha utilizzato contenuti sintetici di realtà virtuale. Infine, gli studi hanno ampiamente utilizzato questionari, che valutano misure soggettive e che risentono della presenza di bias. Per colmare queste lacune, la tesi indaga l'impatto dei dispositivi VR completamente immersivi come strumento di marketing nella fase pre-viaggio, formulando ipotesi sulle relazioni tra immersione, presenza, emozioni e intenzioni nel mondo reale. È stato condotto un esperimento che mostrava un tour realistico a 360 gradi della città di Valencia coinvolgendo 209 partecipanti divisi in due gruppi, ciascuno dei quali sperimentava gli stimoli tramite VR o PC desktop. Le misure sono state raccolte attraverso l'uso di questionari e la misura fisiologica EDA per valutare l'eccitazione. Le ipotesi sono state testate utilizzando SPSS v28 e PROCESS macro v4.2 per SPSS. I risultati mostrano che la realtà virtuale ha un effetto maggiore sulla presenza e sull’eccitazione sia conscia che inconscia rispetto al PC desktop. Inoltre, il senso di presenza media l’effetto dell’immersione sulla risposta emotiva e sull’intenzione comportamentale (sia in termini di intenzione di visitare che di consigliare la destinazione). I risultati ottenuti forniscono evidenza empiriche per confermare l’efficacia della realtà virtuale come strumento di marketing per attirare potenziali visitatori nella destinazione pubblicizzata. Pertanto, questa tesi suggerisce applicazioni pratiche per gli operatori di marketing delle destinazioni e le imprese del settore turistico al fine di massimizzare il profitto attraverso la creazione di esperienze immersive.
Virtual reality in destination marketing: how immersive technologies influence presence, emotions and intention in potential visitors
Re, Alessia
2022/2023
Abstract
Virtual reality is a rapidly evolving and cutting-edge technology with the potential to significantly impact the tourism industry. Nevertheless, its potential effect on destination marketing has not been thoroughly investigated. In particular, by performing a narrative literature review, some research gaps have been identified in the destination marketing context. First, research about VR applications and effectiveness in tourism has been mostly conceptual, with few studies providing empirical evidence about the debated concept of presence, its determinants and consequences on real-world performance. Second, the rapid evolution of VR is accompanied by the sophistication of devices providing immersive experiences. Nowadays, fully-immersive VR systems such as HMDs are available and empirical research involving them is still limited. Third, the literature has used synthetic VR content. Lastly, studies have extensively used questionnaires, which assess subjective measures, which suffer from the presence of biases. To address these gaps, the thesis investigates the impact of fully-immersive VR devices (HMDs) as a marketing tool in the pre-travel phase, formulating hypotheses on the relationships between immersion, presence, emotions and intentions in the real world. An experiment showing a realistic 360-degree tour of the city of Valencia was carried out involving 209 participants divided into two groups, each experiencing the stimuli either through VR or desktop PC. Measures were collected through the use of questionnaires and the EDA physiological measure to assess arousal. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS v28 and PROCESS macro v4.2 for SPSS.The findings show that VR has a higher effect on presence and both conscious and unconscious arousal than desktop PC. Moreover, the sense of presence mediates the effect of immersion on the emotional response and the behavioural intention (both in terms of intention to visit and to recommend the destination). The obtained results provide empirical evidence to confirm the effectiveness of VR as a marketing tool to attract potential visitors to the advertised destination. Therefore, this thesis suggests practical applications for destination marketers and businesses in the tourism industry in order to maximize profit through the creation of immersive experiences.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/214455