The Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Travel

Anton Vorina – Celje School of Economics, Higher Vocational College, Mariborska 2, 3000 Celje, Slovenia

Gašper Krže – Erudio School of Sustainable Tourism, Litostrojska cesta 40, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract: This article explores the concept of virtual tourism and address­es four key questions: What is virtual travel? Can virtual travel replace real travel? What are the benefits of virtual travel? And what is the future of vir­tual travel?

Virtual travel has been around in various forms since the 1850s when pictori­al materials such as postcards were used to invite people to a destination. To­day, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of virtual re­ality technologies that attempt to replicate the tourist experience. However, while virtual tourism offers a sustainable alternative to traditional travel, it cannot provide a full sensory experience. Despite predictions that the virtu­al tourism sector will grow to $19 trillion by 2027, it is unlikely to replace real travel entirely. Nevertheless, virtual tourism has significant potential benefits, including a 94% reduction in carbon footprint, increased advertising oppor­tunities, and improved accessibility for people with mobility impairments.

7th International Scientific Conference – EMAN 2023 – Economics and Management: How to Cope With Disrupted Times, Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 23, 2023, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; ISBN 978-86-80194-69-1, ISSN 2683-4510, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/EMAN.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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Additional reading

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