The emergence of virtual reality in the tourism sector: Opportunity or threat for museums?

Abstract

This research study aimed to investigate the impact of a virtual reality museum tour on individuals' future intention to visit the physical museum. The study aimed to challenge the widely held belief that virtual reality technology is beneficial for the tourism industry and to explore its potential to replace the physical museum visit. A quantitative research design was used, and an experimental study was conducted using a virtual reality headset to visit the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam (Netherlands). After the virtual tour, an online survey was conducted to collect the data required to analyse the hypotheses formulated from the literature. The study suggests that immersion in a virtual environment has a considerable impact on the user's perception of authenticity, and the perceived realism increased as the immersion level increased. The study suggests that a prior Anne Frank House museum visit does not impact the user's ability to perceive the realism of the virtual environment. The study also suggests that virtual reality tour facilitates individuals to visit the museum whenever they want, without worrying about crowds and long queues at the entry, and this positively impacts their perceived convenience of such tours. However, the study also highlights that the perceived convenience of virtual tours could negatively impact individuals' future intention to visit the physical museum. The study also suggests that the perceived risk of a virtual visit is lower than that of a physical visit, and this impacts individuals' intention to visit accordingly. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the impact of virtual reality on museum visits and highlights the need for further research to fully understand the potential of this technology. This study finishes with an overview of the important implications and limits of this research.