Virtual Tours: The Effect of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Virtual Environments on Behavioral Intention toward the Tour and the Tourist Destination

Abstract

This study identifies the effect of applying different artificial intelligence (AI) tools in a virtual destination tour on the behavioral intention of potential tourists toward the virtual tour itself and toward the destination recreated in it. To fulfill the proposed research aims, a true experiment was conducted, based on one factor (technology type) and two treatment levels: 1) a virtual tour based on AI and 2) a virtual tour based on an intelligent virtual environment (IVE), representing lesser vs. greater technological sophistication, respectively. A static virtual tour using only 2D images (the simplest level of technology, involving neither VR nor AI) constituted the control group. The fieldwork was based on a final sample of 477 valid cases. The results show that both AI-based virtual tours and those based on IVE technology exert a positive and significant influence on behavioral intention toward the virtual tour itself. Furthermore, IVE-based tours exert a significant and positive effect on intention toward the destination recreated in the virtual tour, and they also make a greater impact than AI on both types of behavioral intention (virtual tour and destination).