The study examines the relationship between virtual reality (VR)‐facilitated mental imagery and travellers' intention to visit a destination. A serial mediation process through travel inspiration (inspired‐by and inspired‐to) is proposed as a psychological mechanism able to explain the positive relationship of elaboration and quality of mental imagery with visit intentions. VR users were recruited through Prolific Academic. The findings demonstrate that VR‐facilitated elaboration of mental imagery increases travel inspiration and consequently visit intention. However, the importance of mental imagery quality is much lower. The paper contributes to the literature of pre‐travel VR experience by exploring the role of travel inspiration.