Virtual Reality: A Technological Tool for Preserving Built Heritage

Abstract

Due to the natural degradation as well as the overcrowding effect, heritage preservation efforts are becoming very crucial to support the sustainability of heritage sites. In response to the problems, Virtual Reality (VR) can offer useful applications for heritage preservation. However, VR may provide an alternative form of accessing heritage sites that lessen the impacts of visitors’ overcrowding effect, while heightening the overall experience. The research was applied five point Likert scale to explore the tourists’ acceptance of the usage of VR technology. The study aims to investigate the perception of heritage conservation as well as the acceptance of virtualizing heritage sites for both domestic and international tourists, as heritage attractions need to be sustainable because they have significance value and lack duplication. The study explored the factors that may affect the tourists’ acceptance of using VR technology. The sample consisted of two hundred and fifty tourists (domestic tourists = 107; international tourists = 143), questionnaires were distributed in four tourism destinations in Egypt; these destinations contain heritage sites that were designated at the World Heritage list by UNESCO. The results showed a significant difference by demographic characteristics concerning their overall acceptance of virtualizing heritage sites. Frequencies of visitation, VR experience and tourist perception of heritage conservation were influencing the degree of their acceptance.