VR & Travel in COVID-Times: Interview with Daniel Sarkady

It is a question that many of us have already been studying and researching for a long time: Has Virtual Reality the potential to substitute real, physical travel? Now, an additional and interesting variable might have changed or at least might have influenced this question: COVID-19.

Since the beginning of 2020 we have been experiencing special circumstances, all over the world. The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 has not only led to restricted physical contact, but has especially affected the leisure and tourism industry as a whole. Travel restrictions have had an enormous impact on tourism providers as well as on the individual tourist, who has not been able to travel physically anymore or only under very strict regulations and restrictions. According to the OECD, “the tourism economy has been heavily hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and measures introduced to contain its spread. Depending on the duration of the crisis, revised scenarios indicate that the potential shock could range between a 60-80% decline in the international tourism economy in 2020.” How has COVID-19 influenced the acceptance and use of VR and virtual travel? 

Interview with Daniel Sarkady

Julia invited Daniel Sarkady to share his insights on the topic of VR and travel in COVID-times. He wrote his master thesis at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg on the topic of virtual travel and investigated the question, if VR has the potential to substitute physical travel. For the purpose of his study he applied the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), with the additional variable of risk perception. Daniel conducted a quantitative study with 195 participants. To learn more about his study and the findings, we invite you to watch the interview with Daniel:

Thank you Daniel, for sharing your insights and thoughts with us.