A second life based virtual community model for enhancing tourism destination accessibility in developing countries
Arunasalam Sambhanthan, Alice Good · International Journal of Collaborative Enterprise · 2013
This paper rationalises a second life based virtual community model for enhancing tourism destination accessibility in developing countries. Firstly, the paper reports a literature review on the existing virtual world based community models used in industries such as entertainment, education, nursing and health. Ten cases were selected from the literature and evaluated using the typology of virtual communities propounded by Porter (2006). Secondly, a meta - content analysis of second life based tourism groups and places has been undertaken to investigate the level of usage of second life in tourism related endeavours in a global context. Nine places and 20 groups were identified in second life which are focusing on tourism related information and experience sharing. Finally, a second life based virtual community model to increase the destination accessibility of tourism products has been rationalised. Implementing the proposed community model is expected to enhance the tourism destination accessibility for users of different categories.