Virtual tourism experiences: adoption factors, participation and readiness to pay

Abstract

Ubiquitous digitalization combined with recent crises has increased the drive to develop new virtual tourism (VT) offerings. However, the factors influencing end-users’ adoption, participation and, most crucially, their readiness to pay have yet to be sufficiently investigated. In the paper, we test behavioral intentions regarding VT experiences and their actual use. We integrate the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) with perceptions of travel risk, past behavior and measurement of actual behavior–the decision to participate and pay for a VT experience. Data were collected from 660 participants, half of whom were offered the virtual tourism experience for free and the other half for a payment. The results show a strong overall intention to use virtual tourism and that the UTAUT2 extended precedents predict it well. Still, once the user is asked to pay for the virtual experience, actual participation rates drop significantly, and strong behavioral intentions are not good predictors of actual behavior. While free virtual tourism experiences might see wide use, ones that are paid for must be carefully crafted.