The impact of virtual reality tours with “VR” technology on visit intention: A study on undergraduate tourism students
Abstract
This paper examines the relationships between virtual reality (VR) tour experiences, perceived telepresence, mental imagery and visit intention among undergraduate tourism students. The study was designed as a single-group, cross-sectional, quantitative investigation; it is not a controlled experiment. The research population consisted of tourism students, and the sample comprised 83 students enrolled in the tourism management undergraduate programme at Giresun University. All participants were shown the same five-minute 360° virtual tour of New York City using a Meta Quest Pro headset in a quiet classroom environment after receiving standardized verbal instructions; researchers also took descriptive observational notes during the sessions. Participants then completed a 21-item questionnaire covering telepresence (14 items), mental imagery (3 items) and visit intention (4 items), each measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Analyses included exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlations, and simple and multiple linear regression. Telepresence, mental imagery and overall VR-tour engagement each showed positive and significant associations with visit intention (r = .550–.605, p < .001). When telepresence and mental imagery were entered jointly, the model explained 40% of the variance in visit intention (R² = .40), with mental imagery emerging as the stronger unique predictor. Because the design does not permit causal inferences and 84% of participants had no prior VR experience, the results are interpreted cautiously in terms of association and explained variance rather than effects. Practical implications for destination marketing and limitations relating to sample, single-destination focus and potential novelty effects are discussed.
Keywords
VR Technology, Virtual Reality, Tourism, Visit Intention, New York
Ethical Statement
Ethics & Conflict of Interest
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethics Committee: Giresun University Social Sciences, Science and Engineering Research Ethics Committee
Approval Date: 2025-01-07
Decision No: 01/12; E-50288587-050.01.04-60782
Declarations
Funding: This research received no financial support from any institution or organization.
Data Availability: The anonymized data supporting this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to ethical and confidentiality requirements.
AI Usage Statement: No generative artificial intelligence or AI-assisted tools were used at any stage of this study. All academic, ethical, and legal responsibility for the manuscript, including its content, analysis, and conclusions, rests entirely with the human authors. No AI tool generated or fabricated data, results, analyses, references, or citations.
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