Elderly Tourism Using Virtual Reality: Verification of Strategies to Build Loyalty Using the Loyalty Chain Stages Theory

Purpose: Among the various approaches enabled by virtual tourism, AR and VR are the most effective; VR operates in a completely artificial environment presenting an independent or separate artificial world, while AR integrates features of both artificial and real environments. Against this backdrop, this study aims to provide implications for VR/AR tourism for older people by integrating VR and AR technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework presented in this study includes the four attributes of VR and the loyalty chain stages theory. A total of six hypotheses are presented to explain the process by which the attributes of VR build loyalty toward senior tourism using VR. To ensure research objectivity, the study utilized a quantitative approach through empirical analysis, employing SPSS and AMOS for frequency, factor, and correlation analyses. Findings: The results of the empirical analysis showed that presence, conceptual understanding, and human sense built significant loyalty toward VR, while embodied interactivity did not. The results of this study prove the necessity and importance of senior tourism using VR at this point where there is a continuous increase in the elderly population, and also highlight the fact that the attributes of VR build loyalty toward VR. Research limitations/implications: This study has the following limitations. First, all respondents are nationals of South Korea. Second, this study primarily focuses on tourism for older adults using VR. Third, older adults were considered as a uniform group regardless of gender, income, or educational level. Originality/value: In today's society, a growing desire for travel exists among older people, although they face difficulties in actually traveling due to various physical, economic, and cultural constraints. Therefore, virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are expected to play a useful role in providing travel experiences to older tourists.