Virtual and Space Tourism as New Trends in Travelling at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The first European COVID-19 infection was recorded in February 2020, and Poland followed in mid-March. Restrictions were imposed on traveling between states and using public space. These movement restrictions forced a search for new, often innovative, forms of tourism. Google Earth virtual reality (VR), Google Street View, and the Chernobyl VR Project are just some of the selected opportunities to create virtual tours. Different activities using VR mean that people can experience the illusion of travelling in time and space, outside of their everyday surroundings, in a digitally constructed three-dimensional (3D) environment, for cognition or entertainment. Therefore, this study aimed to present virtual and space tourism as new traveling trends during various crise,s such as health, economic, etc. A diagnostic survey with a developed questionnaire was conducted in June and July 2021 in Poland. A total of 564 fully answered responses were collected from randomly selected respondents. We found that around 82% of Polish people were aware of VR technology, and 70% believed that new technologies determine VR tourism development. VR presents the possibility of travelling to places that no longer exist in their original form, but have been reconstructed only in VR. Around 75% of the respondents agreed that VR tourism plays an essential role in tourism promotion in Poland and throughout the world. Moreover, VR and augmented tourism lets us visit fictitious and dangerous, politically restricted, and geographically as well as economically difficult destinations. For example, our results revealed that many people want to experience North Korea, the USA, Antarctica, Syria, etc. At the same time, people recommended the NASA space station as a visiting destination using VR and augmented reality. VR offers an alternative form of tourism during crises and pandemics such as COVID-19. We found over 26% of the respondents were satisfied with contemporary tourists’ cognitional needs during VR sightseeing. More than 87% of the respondents believed that VR tourism cannot substitute real-world tourism in the long run. However, VR tourism will be more beneficial for developing countries facing difficulties in economic aspects, and easier than attaining visas to enter developed countries. Furthermore, virtual sightseeing may also constitute an alternative for people who are disabled or sick, and who cannot undertake the effort of active tourism and explore tourist resources of the world on their own.

A Theoretical Concept of an Innovative and Sustainable Product Based on an Unconventional Approach to Design Development

“…Although virtual tourism has alleviated people's frustration during lockdowns, studies [34][35][36] have shown that it cannot replace inperson tourism in the long run; thus, new tourism provides destinations an opportunity for renewal. Currently, predominant trends include the increasing advancement of extended reality systems, condensed experience-seeking, and interactivity, since new and innovative forms of tourism have emerged as a result of the travel restrictions of 2020 [37]. Extended reality (XR) includes all immersive technologies.…”

Travel Motivation during COVID-19: A Case from Nepal

“…COVID-19 pandemic has created and altered different trends in the tourism industry. For example, Polish people use virtual glasses and experience different destinations virtually [14]; real-time on-sight emotional experiences in China [15]. Many people travel in order to get COVID-19 vaccination where they can quickly get it in the early stage of vaccination [16,17].…”

Metaverse-based virtual reality experience and endurance performance in sports economy: Mediating role of mental health and performance anxiety

“…The increasing technical advancement of cyber-physical systems is driving this trend. There have already been a number of initiatives using VR technology to experience and appreciate activities that are either expensive, risky, or geographically unavailable (1).…”

“…For the aforementioned reasons and the found vacuum in the existing literature, the current study intends to fill the indicated gap by examining the mediating impact of mental health and performance anxiety on the link between virtual sport experience and endurance performance. Therefore, in line with the gap highlighted and issues broached in the above study, the authors have planned to achieve the following research objectives: (1) To examine the role of Metaverse-based virtual reality sporting experience in determining endurance performance of Chinese athletes; (2) To examine the mediating role of performance anxiety in the relationship between the Metaverse-based virtual reality sporting experience endurance performance of Chinese athletes; and (3) To examine the mediating role of mental health in the relationship between the Metaverse-based virtual reality sporting experience endurance performance of Chinese athletes.…”

“…The increasing technical advancement of cyber-physical systems is driving this trend. There have already been a number of initiatives using VR technology to experience and appreciate activities that are either expensive, risky, or geographically unavailable ( 1 ). VR horse riding simulators, for example, are constantly being developed for educational purposes ( 2 ), and anyone can now safely participate in extreme activities such as mountain biking and skydiving by using VR ( 3 ).…”