The impact of smart technologies on tourist wellbeing: The moderating role of need-for-cognition Carrasco García, Patricia María Frías Jamilena, Dolores María Polo Peña, Ana Isabel Artificial intelligence Virtual reality Intelligent virtual environment Need for cognition Overall wellbeing The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research of this article: Grant TED2021-1320788-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR; PID2019-110941RB-100 funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of Spain and A-SEJ-462- UGR20, funded by the Consejería Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad of Junta de Andalucía. The purpose of this empirical study is to examine how the use of smart technologies—virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent virtual environments (IVEs)—impacts tourists’ overall wellbeing in the context of a virtual destination tour. It also aims to explore the direct and moderating effects of tourists’ need-for-cognition (NfC) in the pre-stay phase. Two factors were examined in an experimental setting. The first factor, technology-type, was manipulated using four treatments reflecting four levels of sophistication: 1) static virtual tour (2D images) as a control group; 2) virtual tour with VR (360° images); 3) virtual tour with AI (intelligent chatbot plus 2D images); and 4) virtual tour with IVE (intelligent chatbot plus 360° images). The second factor, NfC, distinguished between individuals with high versus low NfC. The results indicate that (i) virtual tours enhanced by VR, AI, or IVE technology exert a positive and significant effect on tourists’ wellbeing during the pre-stay phase; (ii) NfC exerts a positive and significant effect on tourist overall wellbeing; and (iii) NfC moderates the relationship between a virtual tour with IVE and tourist overall wellbeing. 2025-11-25T11:44:37Z 2025-11-25T11:44:37Z 2025-05-15 journal article Carrasco-García, P. M., Frías-Jamilena, D. M., & Polo-Peña, A. I. (2025). The impact of smart technologies on tourist wellbeing: The moderating role of need-for-cognition. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13567667251339839 1356-7667 1479-1870 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/108323 10.1177/13567667251339839 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Sage Journals