Past, present, and future of virtual tourism-a literature review

Abstract

Humanizing the tourism experience with virtual and augmented reality has gained traction, but fragmented literature delimits the holistic view. Present study bridges this knowledge gap through a comprehensive review of 1652 articles published between 2000-2021. The present study is an integrative review that encapsulates quantitative (science mapping) and qualitative (intellectual structure mapping) methodologies. Findings suggest interaction among elements of virtual tourism like smartphones, augmented reality, virtual reality, big data, and AI/ML are recasting the virtual tourism experience. The paper also offers a conceptual framework to unfold the future research directions.