10 How do augmented and virtual reality influences visitor experiences: a case of heritage tourism sites in Rajasthan
Vikas Gupta · 2023
Although technology has evolved quickly, it is still incredibly underutilized in many sectors. The new status quo has, nevertheless, increased awareness of technology across many industries, particularly travel and hospitality. As a result, technology is being used in more inventive and profitable ways that help both businesses and consumers. The travel and leisure business is being impacted by technology like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) in a wide range of ways. Virtual tours offer alternatives to the pandemic melancholy by enabling users to see locations they have always desired to visit while remaining in their own place. VR and AR solutions are increasingly being used in various tourism sectors, particularly at galleries, historical monuments, amusement parks, and theaters, in Asian cities including Tokyo, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Delhi, and Jaipur [6, 44]. The virtual world produced by these innovations is used as a cutting-edge advertising tool to draw visitors to these tourist spots and develop joint marketing destinations [6]. The availability of a wide range of AR and VR tools at the locations also aids the players in coming up with fresh ideas for revitalizing the location to enthrall more visitors and improve their overall quality of service. Therefore, AR and VR techniques are now being utilized more frequently to increase the overall experiences of tourists at a location, making a more interactive and diversified experience simpler and allowing them to engage with visitor attractions in unique ways [17]. However, until recently, relatively few studies have attempted to examine the combined significance of AR and VR approaches from the tourists’ value co-creation perspective. Consequently, this chapter looks into the potential for incorporating AR and VR into the tourism experiences at the well-known historical monuments in Rajasthan with the goal of recommending a framework based on value co-creation. This will also imply that active implementation of AR and VR at historical monuments can help co-create value for the tourist’s experiences before, during, and after their visit. This study will also present a case study on the prominent tourist destinations in Rajasthan where AR and VR technologies are being used to improve the visitor’s overall destination experience.