Virtual reality and modern tourism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight as to how recent trends in virtual reality (VR) have changed the way tourism and hospitality industry communicates their offerings and meets the tourists’ needs. Design/methodology/approach The approach is based on systematic literature review, where the relations between focal concepts are given to analyze potential future developments concerning VR. Findings The paper identifies and analyzes how VR technology affected tourism and hospitality industry through three main touch points – future tourism planning and management, technology-based marketing of tourism destinations and VR potential in changing consumer requirements. These concepts were analyzed to identify changing forces and suggest potential paradigm shifts that tourism and hospitality suppliers and marketers need to consider. These included realistic virtual travel replacements, the importance of interactive experiences and innovation in future tourism systems. Originality/value While there has been increasingly larger number of discussions on how tourists and tourism and hospitality industry have been using information and communication technology recently, there is little evidence of scholars and practitioners applying such methods. This paper used systematic literature review to illustrate means in which VR could be ingrained into tourism and hospitality services to meet the needs of tourists. It suggests that VR can and probably will fundamentally change the way in which tourists’ experiences and requirements are managed entirely.