A Journey for All Senses: Multisensory VR for Pre-travel Destination Experiences

The rapid advancement of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, bolstered by cutting-edge hardware, has ushered in a new era that blurs the lines between the physical and virtual realms. As opportunities for immersive information absorption in virtual worlds grow, the tourism industry faces escalating pressure to stay competitive. Although traditional VR mainly engages audio-visual senses, this study examines whether multisensory VR in the pre-travel phase enhances users' sense of presence and technology acceptance. Employing a mixed-methods, between-subjects design, we conducted an experiment with 103 participants divided into a multisensory VR group and an audio-visual VR group. Our aim was to investigate the impact on the sense of 'being there,' technology acceptance, and the relationship between increased presence and acceptance. Results from tourism professionals reveal no significant variation in physical presence between the two groups; however, the multisensory VR group showed a notable difference in self-presence. Our findings suggest that the inclusion of multisensory stimuli makes VR more approachable and user-friendly, leading to greater self-presence and technology acceptance.