COVID-19 and the emergence of virtual tourism in Indonesia: A sociological perspective

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world with devastating socioeconomic effects and the global tourism sector has been severely affected by it. A number of current studies have examined the size and form of these negative impacts on tourism but to date, there is lack of research exploring possible positive effects of the pandemic, especially in tourism. This study fills this gap as the purpose of this research is to understand how the pandemic has stimulated the development of virtual tourism and how this new form of tourism is performing. Moreover, this study aims to better understand the roles that structure and agency play in stimulating the emergence of virtual tourism. The study is largely qualitative in nature, using in-depth interviews and participant observation as methods of data collection. The study shows that the pandemic has stimulated technological innovation and the re-conceptualization of leisure-seeking behavior, resulting in the emergence of an Indonesian virtual tourism industry. Virtual tours are offered online, mostly via Zoom, where tourism images are displayed via Google Maps/Earth, photos, or short videos. By using structuration theory, this study shows that the pandemic, a single structure, plays a dual constraining/enabling role that has accelerated the emergence of virtual tourism. These dual roles are performed simultaneously; constraining traditional tourism forms and enabling new virtual forms. More specifically, these findings suggest that structures and agencies/actors represent dualism, as opposed to duality. This study shows that the structure (rules and resources) plays a dominant role in driving actors to innovate, triggering the emergence of virtual tourism.