‘The next best thing to being there’ – participant perceptions of virtual guided tours offered during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, many tourism providers were unable to offer traditional tourism activities. A temporary solution for some of them was to offer virtual guided tours on Zoom or other streaming platforms. This study investigates how participants experienced these tours by analyzing 3661 TripAdvisor reviews written by participants of virtual guided tours offered from Europe and North America between March 2020 and November 2021. Findings suggest that virtual guided tours were important to participants during the pandemic. The tours were used to stay entertained and socialize and often had a positive impact on the participants during challenging times. Reviewers also identified several other benefits of joining a virtual guided tour rather than a physical one, including covering more ground, paying less, and being able to participate in less physically demanding tours. While most participants viewed virtual guided tours as good but temporary substitutes for physical travel, some wrote that they hoped virtual guided tours would continue after the pandemic was over. This indicates that there is a potential market for virtual guided tours after COVID-19 as well, but that this market is smaller than it was during the pandemic.