Does virtual reality attract visitors? The mediating effect of presence on consumer response in virtual reality tourism
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Does virtual reality attract visitors? The mediating effect of presence on consumer response in virtual reality tourism advertising Wai Han Lo1 · Ka Lun Benjamin Cheng2 Received: 28 April 2020 / Revised: 27 October 2020 / Accepted: 4 November 2020 / Published online: 28 November 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract An experimental study was conducted to test the mediating effect of presence on the consumer response to tourism promotion using virtual reality (VR) technology. Hong Kong college students (N = 203) were assigned to three experimental groups in which they were exposed to a hotel advertorial on an online blog, a VR 360° video on a mobile phone, or a VR 360° video using Google Cardboard goggles. The results supported the hypothesis that presence plays a mediating role in the relationship between the use of VR in tourism advertising and consumer response. As one of the first studies in the tourism field to investigate the effects of a virtual depiction of a real-world environment on consumption intentions, the findings reveal how VR technology can be used to promote a hotel by generating a sense of presence. This study makes a further contribution to the VR literature by finding that the use of Cardboard goggles did not produce a significantly greater sense of presence in the experience of advertorial viewers. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of the findings for the use of VR technology in branding and promotion are discussed. Keywords Presence · Tourism · Advertising · Virtual reality · Cardboard
* Wai Han Lo [email protected] Ka Lun Benjamin Cheng [email protected] 1
Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
2
School of Communication, College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
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W. H. Lo, K. L. B. Cheng
1 Introduction Virtual reality (VR) has become an increasingly prominent tool for consumer marketing. Business analysts have suggested that the development of VR is comparable in importance with that of social media (Morris 2016), and that VR is likely to become a key medium for consumer marketing as it embarks on a new phase of development (Barnes 2016). Global communication firms have made huge investments in VR technologies in recent years. While VR technology has significant applications in many sectors, including healthcare, military, entertainment, education, and marketing, this paper focuses on the use of VR technology in the tourism field. Virtual reality (VR) tools are of particular interest to tourism advertisers because they can provide potential consumers, wherever they are located, with a realistic preview of a travel experience. The interactivity, visualization, and immersion functions offered by VR technology can give consumers virtual experiences in simulated tourism environments to assist with their trip planning and decision making (William and Hobson 1995). As providing consumers with firstperson experi
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