Analysis of the Application of Virtual Reality in Cultural Tourism: A Bibliometric Approach

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate of Marketing Management, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University Of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran

4 Professor, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran.

Abstract

One of the most important applications of information technology is in the tourism industry, and this industry, in the classical view, requires real space and moving from one place to another. But with the emergence of new digital and information technologies, the Internet and virtual space have taken a significant share of leisure time and tourism planning in such a way that, apart from the important role it plays in advertising and providing tourism services, a new type of tourism called Virtual tourism has taken shape. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the use of virtual reality in the evolution of the tourism industry, especially cultural tourism: a bibliometric approach. For this purpose, the data of 109 studies conducted between 1997 and 2023 were retrieved from the Scopus database after applying restrictions for analysis and visualization. Descriptive data showed that the quantitative trend of articles had an upward trend from 1997 to 2018 and reached its highest level in 2019. But in 2021, this trend faced a decline, but from 2021 to 2023, it has risen again. In addition, the most cited articles, magazines, authors, universities and countries were also introduced. Two visualization analyses were performed using VOSviewer software: co-authorship analysis and vocabulary co-occurrence analysis. The findings of the co-authored analysis showed that China had the most cooperation with other countries. Vocabulary co-occurrence analysis also showed the most used words and research trends in this field. As a result, cultural tourism, virtual reality, cultural heritage, augmented reality, virtual museums, authenticity, innovation, knowledge management, tourism, information and communication technology have been among the most used words in the past years.

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Main Subjects


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