Describing the Virtual Reality and Virtual Tourist Community : Applications and Implications for Tourism Industry

Abstract

Advances in technology have direct and lasting impacts on tourism. Recently, developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been transforming tourism in many ways, with impacts on areas ranging from consumer demand to site management. Virtual reality (VR) offers tourism many useful applications that deserve greater attention from tourism researchers and professionals. Planning and management, marketing, entertainment, education, accessibility, and heritage preservation are six areas of tourism in which VR may prove particularly valuable. The notion of community has been a central element of the Internet since its inception. An online virtual community (VC) is defined as a group of people trying to achieve certain purposes, with a similar interest under certain rules by using new information technology as their means. Since tourism is traditionally studied and examined in relation to geographic places or space, it is understandable that some tourism marketing organizations lack confidence in and basic understandings of how a virtual community can be used as a marketing tool. As VR and VC are integrated into the tourism sector, new questions and challenges clearly will emerge. However, we cannot afford to ignore the revolutionary changes information technology brings us, which inherently affect the ways we think of linking up to each other. In the current paper, a theoretical framework of the concept of a virtual tourist community based upon the core characteristics of virtual communities and virtual reality concerning the fundamental needs of community members is defined. Perspectives of how one can define and interpret virtual communities within the tourism industry are discussed and issues regarding the functions and implications of virtual communities in the travel industry are explored.