The Value of Experience: Virtual Reality as a Form of Barrier-Free Tourism

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) has dominated technology headlines in recent years with its ability to immerse users in a virtual world. This technology is changing the tourism industry dramatically. Previously, VR has been used mainly as a marketing tool to promote services and tourist destinations. But nowadays, VR is almost an essential technology, used in many tourism organizations to provide customized services and add value to tourism experiences. VR enables people to travel and visit the most remote areas on the planet from the comfort of their homes.There is an indication that VR contributes to creating a more resilient tourism model.Therefore, this study aims to investigate how value is perceived in VR travel and how the perceived value can promote barrier-free tourism. This paper contributes to the existent literature on consumer value theory in virtual reality experience. Although, several existing literatures focuses on how VR creates an innovative way of tourism, very few academic studies analyze the customer perceived value during the virtual travel experience.