Flow Experiences and Virtual Tourism: The Role of Technological Acceptance and Technological Readiness

Abstract

Virtual technology has brought new development opportunities to the tourism market and is expected to help the tourism industry cope with the challenges issuing from the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this context, in this study, we propose and test a model based on the SOR architecture, which includes tourists’ experience of virtual tourism, technical readiness (TR), technical acceptance (TA), and tourists’ virtual tourism intentions and the variables of flow experience, technical optimism, technical discomfort, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, adoption intention, and consumption intention. To this end, data were collected through a questionnaire survey of Chinese tourists (n = 542). Then, we used a structural equation model (SEM) to test the hypothetical relationships between potential variables. The results showed that the flow experience delivered by the virtual tourism experience affects tourists’ tendencies to use and intentions to consume virtual tourism. Second, flow experiences can make tourists more optimistic about virtual tourism technology, reduce tourists’ technical discomfort, and enhance tourists’ perceptions of usefulness and ease of use. We also found that tourists’ intentions to use virtual tourism technology affect their intentions to travel on the spot. These findings provide useful insights for tourism practitioners, suggest new ideas for marketing and sustainable development in the virtual tourism industry, and verify the application of the integrated SOR and TAM framework in the field of tourism consumption.