Virtual tourism: A new way of travelling and a new traveller profile

Abstract

The evolution of technology makes it possible to discover destinations in an immersive way without the need to travel. Through fieldwork based on 415 surveys, this study determines the relationships between the socio-demographic profile, the respondent’s self-assessment of the use of technology, video games, virtual reality and the metaverse, with the willingness to carry out different immersive virtual tourism experiences. Using an artificial neural network of the multilayer perceptron type, it was found that youth and prior knowledge of online video games and virtual reality have a decisive influence on the willingness to engage in immersive virtual tourism activities.