DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

РАЗВИТИЕ ВИРТУАЛЬНОГО ТУРИМЗА В ИНДУСТРИИ ГОСТЕПРИИМСТВА

Научная статья

Рогова А.В.*

ORCID: 0000-0001-9868-6028;

Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, Белгород, Россия

* Корреспондирующий автор (rogovaanna[at]mail.ru)

Аннотация

Туристический рынок онлайн-услуг увеличивается с каждым годом, что напрямую связано с использованием цифровых видов туризма в индустрии гостеприимства. Виртуальный туризм становится главным направлением развития международного туризма и гостиничного бизнеса в регионах, позволяющее туристу самостоятельно планировать свое путешествие. В статье рассмотрены проблемы цифровой глобализации туристской индустрии, приводится статистика по использованию туристами информационных технологий. Анализируются перспективы развития технологий виртуального информационного пространства в туризме. Представлены виды виртуального туризма и описывается их влияние на спрос потребителей туристских услуг в индустрии туризма.

Ключевые слова: виртуальные технологии, виртуальный туризм, цифровая глобализация, трансформация, информационные технологии.

DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL TOURISM IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Research article

Rogova А.V.*

ORCID: 0000-0001-9868-6028,

Belgorod State University, Belgorod, Russia

* Corresponding author (rogovaanna[at]mail.ru)

Аbstract

The online travel market is growing every year, which is directly related to the use of digital tourism in the hotel industry. Virtual tourism is becoming the main direction of the development of international tourism and hotel business in the regions, allowing tourists to independently plan their trip. The article discusses the problems of digital globalization of the tourism industry, provides statistics on the use of information technologies by tourists. The perspectives of development of technologies of virtual information space in tourism are analysed. The types of virtual tourism are presented and their influence on the demand of consumers of tourist services in the tourism industry is described.

Keywords: virtual technologies, virtual tourism, digital globalization, transformation, information technology.

Introduction

The development of the global tourism industry in the 21st century is directly related to the introduction of new information technologies. Thus, the existence of modern tourism takes place in a digital economy. The revolutionary growth of information and virtual technologies has led to the creation of a completely new direction, called «digital tourism», which is the use of digital tools and technologies to prepare, organize, control and entertain the tourism industry.

The relevance of the research is the formation of virtual culture and the development of virtual travel in the hospitality industry. Virtual tourism replaces both real travel and real tourism. «Virtual travel» opens up vast expanses of cultural space, and the only means of transportation in the travel space is a computer mouse.

Virtual tourism replaces both real travel and real tourism. Such a «tourist trip» is more comfortable and convenient, safe, as it is carried out within the home. «Virtual travel» opens up vast expanses of cultural space, and the only means of transportation in the travel space is a computer mouse.

The development of the virtual information space helps to ensure a situation where customers are satisfied with the provision of services, and the owners of travel companies receive high income.

Results and discussion

The use of new types of information and virtual technologies has brought a lot of profit to the tourism sector, especially in relation to the provision of services that are in line with the contemporary issues of the tourism industry. The use of digital technologies in the 21st century has reached its maximum, and more and more people spend a lot of time on the Internet, realizing their opportunities in this space. The number of Internet users in the world has grown to 4.54 billion, which is 7% more than last year (+ 298 million new users compared to the data for January 2019). In January 2020, there were 3.80 billion social media users in the world, the audience of social media grew by 9% compared to 2019 (that's 321 million new users per year). Today, more than 5.19 billion people use mobile phones - an increase of 124 million (2.4%) over the last year [6, P. 39].

According to the McKinsey organization [4], due to the global pandemic in 2020, travel bookings were online and exceeded $ 800 billion worldwide. At the same time, it is predicted that by 2023, 700 million users will search for the ideal place on the network.

The digital economy as a type of business differs in that information becomes a key resource in it, as well as information management methods in all spheres of production, exchange, distribution and consumption, is based on the use of new technologies, which include the types of virtual tourism presented below (see figure 1):

 - virtual tour;

 - virtual panorama;

 - virtual reality.

1. Virtual tour. Since virtual travel has become an actual cultural practice and is in demand in modern society, a fairly large variety of their types has appeared. That is why there is a need to structure and classify virtual tours, but this, in turn, is today a fairly extensive field for further research. It should be noted that some typologies of traditional tours are perfectly appropriate, in particular, and on virtual ones, nevertheless, the latter, of course, have their own characteristics, according to which they also need to be differentiated [2, P.88].
2. Virtual panorama. Virtual panoramas are a photo-virtual method of demonstrating a volumetric space. Unlike conventional digital photographs, virtual panoramas allow you to create a «presence» effect. This means that the tourist at his own discretion can choose the direction of view from the point of observation, and, thus, observe the filmed space in different directions. When viewing a virtual panorama, this is expressed in the fact that the observer rotates around the observation point a specially captured and edited image, a part of which is displayed in the viewing window. Thus, by rotating, you can choose the direction for observation [3].
3. Virtual reality.

The use of VR and AR technologies is becoming an integral part of the development of the tourism business. Virtual reality allows tourists to experience a virtual vacation in a hotel during the booking process before paying for it, in order to make the right choice for their trip. Augmented reality is commonly used through a specific phone application to enhance the tourist's view of the real tourist attraction. For example, by going to a restaurant and scanning a special code in the application, you can see customer reviews, or direct your phone to the hotel map and find the necessary information about nearby attractions [1, P.133].

The use of AR / VR handheld devices by the tourist will help to obtain real-time information about the attractions of interest in the destination he visited. Realization of the potential of VR / AR technologies presupposes direct contact of a certain brand with the target audience with a high degree of its memorability and unusual advertising [5, P. 175].

Conclusion

Deep integration of digital technologies in tourism contributes to an increase in the efficiency of communication processes of participants in the modern market of tourist services. IT, designed to make the perception of information by a person much wider and clearer, have significant potential in tourism, due to the fact that consumers, being actively involved in the virtual space, get the opportunity to purchase information, services, goods, which affects the growth of tourist traffic. On the other hand, convenient communication of tourism industry enterprises with clients contributes to an increase in the number of new clients and an increase in the loyalty of existing clients, the formation of a positive image and growth of brand awareness, achievement of goals and fulfilment of the mission of travel companies.

Конфликт интересов Не указан.

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Список литературы / References

1. Туменова, С.А. Современные тенденции развития и трансформации социально- экономических систем рекреационной сферы / C.А. Туменова // Известия Кабардино-Балкарского научного центра РАН. – 2016. – № 1 (69). – С. 133.
2. Туменова, С.А. Рынок дополненной и виртуальной реальности: состояние и перспективы развития / С.А. Туменова, Т.Х. Варквасова // Известия Кабардино-Балкарского научного центра РАН. – 2017. – № 3 (77). – С. 88.
3. Виртуальный бум докатился до России [Электронный ресурс]. URL: // https://www.dp.ru/a/2016/10/13/Virtualnij_bum_dokatilsja / (дата обращения: 14.10.2018).
4. Отчет компании McKinsey [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://www.mckinsey.com/russi/our-sights/ru-ru/ (дата обращения: 14.10.2018).
5. Krushel, E.А. Detection of the patterns in the daily route choices of the urban social transport system clients based on the decoupling of passengers’ preferences between the levels of uncertainty / Krushel E., Stepanchenko I., Panfilov A., Lyutaya T. // Communications in Computer and Information Science. – 2019. – Pp. 175-176.
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Список литературы на английском языке / References in English

1. Tumenova S.A. Sovremennye tendencii razvitiya i transformacii social'no- ekonomicheskih sistem rekreacionnoj sfery [Modern trends in the development and transformation of social and economic systems of the recreational sphere] / S.A. Tumenova // Izvestiya Kabardino-Balkarskogo nauchnogo centra RAN [Bulletin of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. – 2016. – № 1 (69). – P. 133. [in Russian]
2. Tumenova S.A. Rynok dopolnennoj i virtual'noj real'nosti: sostoyanie i perspektivy razvitiya [Market of augmented and virtual reality: state and development prospects] / S.A. Tumenova T.H. Varkvasova // Izvestiya Kabardino-Balkarskogo nauchnogo centra RAN [Bulletin of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. – 2017. – № 3 (77). – P. 88. [in Russian]
3. Virtual'nyj bum dokatilsya do Rossii [The virtual boom has come to Russia] [Elektronic resource]. – URL: https: https://www.dp.ru/a/2016/10/13/Virtualnij_bum_dokatilsja (accessed: 11.01.2021). [in Russian]
4. Otchet kompanii McKinsey [Report of the McKinsey company] [Elektronic resource]. – URL: https://www.mckinsey.com/russi/our-sights/ru-ru/ (accessed: 14.12.2020). [in Russian]
5. Krushel E.А. Detection of the patterns in the daily route choices of the urban social transport system clients based on the decoupling of passengers’ preferences between the levels of uncertainty / Krushel E., Stepanchenko I., Panfilov A., Lyutaya T. // Communications in Computer and Information Science. – 2019. – P. 175.
6. Rogova А.V. Аssessment of awareness of the population of the region about the possibilities of crowdsourcing in regional management / А.V. Rogova // Global scientific potential journal. – 2017. – № 2 (47). – 39.