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Exploring the Impact of Multisensory VR on Travel Recommendation: A Presence Perspective

  • Jasmin HopfEmail author
  • Melina SchollEmail author
  • Barbara Neuhofer
  • Roman Egger
Conference paper
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Abstract

The rapid development of Virtual Reality (VR) technology offers new opportunities for the promotion of tourism products and experiences. VR provides potential tourists with a compelling imagery and a chance to get a first impression of what it feels like to be at a destination. Previous studies have mostly focused on visual and auditory VR experiences and have rather neglected the possibility of adding additional sensory stimuli, i.e. haptic and olfactory feedback, to a VR experience. This study is novel in that it takes a multisensory approach to VR and examines its impact on the intention to recommend a destination through the lens of presence. A multi-stage laboratory experiment with 64 participants was conducted. The analysis reveals that the stimulation of additional senses does not lead to a significant enhancement of the user’s sense of presence. However, a significant increase in the user’s intention to recommend a destination can be observed. For destination marketers, this study proposes multisensory VR as a novel and effective tool to positively influence travel recommendations.

Keywords

Virtual Reality Presence Travel recommendation 
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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of Applied Sciences SalzburgPuch/SalzburgAustria

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