Promotion of rural tourism through virtual reality: the impact of content richness on consumer’s perceived value and behavioral intention

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Technological innovations are significantly transforming the tourism sector and enhancing the promotion of destinations. Taking rural tourism (RT) as a research context, this study focuses to understand how virtual-reality (VR) influences tourists’ attitudes toward an RT-destination by enhancing perceived value and subsequently behavioral-intention through the lens of a Value-based-adoption-model. The study collected 504 responses selected randomly and employed Structural-equation-modelling and Artificial-neural-network approaches. The stated objective is achieved through a multi-study approach. In studies I and II, we find that varying levels of sensory-information (high vs low-end VR-devices) in VR experiences reveal significant differences in the development of mental-imagery and a sense of presence in the experience, resulting in behavioral-intention towards RT.