African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (Mar 2020)
Tourism and Virtual Reality (VR) in Developing Nations
Abstract
The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in tourism sector is gaining grounds across the globe. VR is an efficient persuasive marketing promotion tool for tourism stakeholders but its use in developing nations has raised some concerns especially in a ‘growing-tourism’ nation like Nigeria. Can VR replace the alluring, scenic and captivating tourist sites in Nigeria? What are the factors in favor and against the use of VR in Nigeria tourism sector? Possible answers to these questions necessitated this study. Secondary data were the principal means of data generation and the results were analyzed thematically. The study revealed that a developing nation like Nigeria’s adoption of VR into its tourism sector comes with gains and losses respectively. Tourism planning and promotion, preservative and conservative values, insecurity challenges and the tainted image of Nigeria favor the use of VR in the sector but economic losses via reduction in dwindling-poor-tourists traffic, decline in patronage of existing destinations stifle development of unidentified potential tourists site, discourage the application of VR in the nation’s tourism. VR application in Nigeria holds dual stand of which in-depth investigation is imperative before its application to Nigeria’s tourism sector. The need for Nigeria’s apex tourism organization (NTDC) and other state owned tourism ministries and parastatals to study VR pros and cons in tourism is a probable right path in the 21st Century. The study serves as a pointer to policy makers and academia of the vicissitudes of VR application in developing nations, with attendant value to neighboring countries and nations with interest in tourism due to the unpredictable future of VR which keeps evolving daily.
