General Administrative and Editorial Notes
This research proposal highlights the need for an organization to adopt digital technologies to survive the current market dynamics. The intention is to highlight some of the most advanced tourist attractions in German organizations in the tourism sector, such as Germany’s Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the Cologne Cathedral, and the Black Forest, which can be adapted to stay economically afloat. Virtual reality (V.R.) technology is presented as the more recent area of research that utilizes the most advanced research in digital technology. Modern V.R. headset projections are built on smartphone technology, incorporating gyroscopes and movement sensors for monitoring head, body, and hand locations; compact high-definition screens for stereoscopic displays; and small, inexpensive, and powerful computer processors. V.R. tourism can have an immersive experience and can be accessed globally.
Introduction
The German tourism industry faces significant challenges, including the persistence of increased pandemic-related travel restrictions, the growing security tension in Eastern Europe, and threats from climate change. Today, Germany is one of the most important tourist markets in Europe, with a total tourism revenue of around EUR 290 billion (Barišić and Cvetkoska, 2020). The German hotel and lodging industry had 495 million overnight stays by domestic and foreign customers. However, recent statistics have shown decreased tourism revenue due to fewer visitors. This research proposal explores the opportunities that V.R. technology offers as a potential solution to the growing financial challenge facing the tourism sector in Germany. In this proposal, the tourism sector encompasses firms that directly supply products or services to enable business, pleasure, and leisure activities away from the home setting. The primary aim of this project is to utilize V.R. technology, augmented reality technology, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to improve customer experience and the global tourist market.
Problem Statement
There is a growing possibility that the coronavirus pandemic will become endemic, and insecurities in Eastern Europe may limit the number of travelers. The need for government control on movement is likely to persist, affecting the prospects of the tourism sector in Germany. Currently, efforts are being made to improve passengers’ experience facing pandemic-related restrictions (Ramirez, 2022). However, the complications facing the tourism industry in Germany are beyond the travel restrictions (Kyrylov et al., 2020). The threat from climate change is also a significant factor limiting the number of international tourists due to increased air pollution associated with airplane flights. This proposal addresses some of these challenges by emphasizing the need to adopt advanced digital technologies such as the V.R. to sustain global demand. The major gap in the body of knowledge is the need to use technology to modernize tourism facilities in Germany, adopting the V.R. technology for optimum customer experience and the economic prospects of the sector.
Literature Review
Recent trends in tourism activities in some of Germany’s tourist attraction sites have shown reduced opportunities for recovery. For instance, Germany’s Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the Cologne Cathedral, and the Black Forest tourist destinations have consistently reduced tourist activity, impacting the organization’s revenue. Before COVID-19, the tourism industry had grown to be among the most significant sectors globally, accounting for 10% of global GDP and supporting over 320 million jobs. In 1950, less than 25 million individuals traveled internationally (Neise et al., 2021). There was a consistent increase in trends in Germany until 2020 when the coronavirus became a global pandemic. The following literature review is structured around the concept of digital worlds and the relationship between current economic and political realities that affect the tourism sector.
Reduced Air-travel due to Climate Change
The reduced revenues associated with the decline in the number of tourists could also be linked to the growing concerns over climate change. Some researchers have demonstrated that by 2010, Germany’s hotel and tourism industry has risen by 13%, with the travel and tourism industries expanding to nearly 7% annually (Kozina and Bogdanova, 2021). However, since the increased debate over the impact of air travel on climate change in 2011, there was a steady decline in demand of approximately 3.7% annually. The debates on climate change also directly impact the changing trends in tourism in Germany by 6.1% (Amineva, 2022). There is an apparent need to adopt new business models in the tourism sector to sustain the revenue streams and improve the customer experience.
The Emergence of the Virtual Reality Technology
In light of the current pandemic, there have been significant breakthroughs in communication technologies, including the digital technologies that support V.R.’s experience. There is a growing breakthrough in technology where users interact, play games, and have real-life experiences (Ramirez, 2022). Currently, there are countries already utilizing the technology, such as Korea, Italy, Germany, Dubai, and the USA (Mystakidis, 2022). Today, countries like China, Korea, and hotel chains are employing the V.R. technology to improve customer experience globally with growing trends.
Figure 1 shows the trends in the use of V.R. in the tourism sectors showing a consistent rise in demand between 2000 and 2018. The usage of virtual reality video in hotels is becoming more prevalent since it allows consumers to experience what a property is like and allows hotels to display their up-sell, cross-sell, exhibit value, and improve the number of direct reservations. V.R. provides interactive pictures or movies that allow the spectator to explore a scene 360 degrees making the experience desirable (Kiong, 2022). In contrast to a conventional photograph or video filmed from a fixed vantage point, a virtual reality production captures every aspect of a site.
V.R. has been widely utilized in the tourism sector to capture tourist enthusiasts that have no time to make a physical visitation. For instance, in China, Tencent and Alibaba have utilized A.R. and V.R. to flourish in the V.R.-supported markets (Kiong, 2022). The recent decision to rebrand Facebook to Meta dramatically appeals to V.R. technologies (Mystakidis, 2022). The V.R. can make a difference as the next digital phenomenon that would bring people into alternative realities that can be developed.
Studies about Use of V.R. in Tourism
In 2020, it was apparent that COVID-19’s pandemic breakout had a significant impact on the worldwide leisure and tourist industries, with international travel prohibitions impacting more than 90% of the world’s population. Studies that reflected on the need for V.R. technology noticed that the fast advancement of AR/VR technology and its efficacy in simulating real-world events enables the creation of virtual vacations, mainly when actual travel is not feasible (Juan et al., 2022). The function of V.R. as a replacement for physical journey during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figure 2 shows a promising trend of V.R. adoption in museums that adopted the technology between 2013 and 2017. There is consistent demand for millions of visitors, which presents an opportunity to make revenue that would be impossible without the V.R. technology. The trends have since been on the rise, with increasing demand linked to the health crisis and an increasingly technologically aware population across the globe. The impact indicates that visitors may utilize V.R. to replace traditional trips during and even after a pandemic. However, perceived danger does not seem to be a significant factor in using V.R.
Literature Review Conclusion
Today, companies work with game developers and hardware suppliers to create the ecosystem and prepare new internet service models for digital environments. The V.R. development also reinvents the way most industries run. The technology allows enterprises to use diverse elements to generate new goods, services, and platforms. In 2022, the V.R. is widely adopted as a digital environment developed with multiple technologies (Ramirez, 2022). These technologies have already gained traction within the entertainment industry. Such a pace of adoption can be replicated in Germany’s tourism sector to access a global market. This proposal aims to establish a connection between V.R. concepts and the tourism and hotel industries in Germany. The goal is to develop a path of economic growth for the tourism sector that takes into account the ideas in the concept of V.R. brand management.
Research and Objectives
Research Questions
The research phenomenological in-depth interviews are designed to respond to the research question: How can the V.R. technology be applied in rebranding the German tourism sector and provide opportunities for new business models in the context of the current external environment? The study aims to identify critical technologies necessary to tap into the opportunities presented with the large-scale adoption of the digital world. The study will respond to several sub-research questions, including;
- What is the significance of the correlation between the use of V.R. technology and the improvement in the number of virtual tourists in tourist sites?
- What technologies are necessary to utilize the V.R. technology in the German tourism sector?
- What demographic in terms of age and economic status forms the best target consumers for a virtual tour in Germany?
Research Objectives
- The study’s objective is first to give suggestions on the economic prospects of the German tourism sector by adopting the most recent technologies, particularly V.R.
- The research also intends to understand the different types of technology employed to revive the tourism sector. The study also explores the potential market size for the German tourism sector after effectively utilizing the V.R. technology.
- The objective is to explore the new business models for possible rebranding in the V.R. and the market size for the new customer base.
Purpose of the Study
This qualitative study is based on in-depth phenomenological interviews that explore the potential of German tourist attraction sites developing solutions in the V.R. platform. Developing solutions in such platforms is necessitated by the growing concerns that the tourism sector in Germany is declining, affecting several families’ economic prospects. The target population must access the virtual reality headset and stable internet. This proposed research addresses the existing distress that entrepreneurs and employees in the tourism sector face due to the increasingly dynamic external environment.
Definitions of Key Terms
The study investigates the convergence of the tourism sector and digital technology platforms. Critical terms include V.R., A.R., and virtual worlds. V.R. is a term that refers to the use of computer modeling and simulation to allow a person to engage with a three-dimensional (3-D) visual or another sensory world that is created artificially (Ramirez, 2022). A.R. is a developing trend among businesses interested in mobile computing and, more specifically, business apps. These platforms have concepts that can impact the tourism sector with the effective implementation of digital solutions.
Research Method and Design
This research proposal adopts a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design with two distinct phases. First, the quantitative secondary data is collected from companies that have already used V.R. in the tourism sector, followed by qualitative research based on the in-depth interviews of select participants. The dataset would be analyzed based on the means and correlations between change growth in revenue in select companies based on R data analysis platforms (R-Studio). The study will survey 100 random people online with over three years of experience using different platforms. The select platforms include Facebook’s Meta, Apple Head-Mounted Display (HMD), Oculus Rift headsets as gadgets and platforms for content creators and companies, and Roblox Corporation games. At least 15 companies that have already invested in V.R. technology on tourism would be contacted. The variables would include the adoption rates of V.R. technology, the attitude towards the technology in the context of tourism in Germany, and the V.R.-based company revenue growth trends.
At least 13 developers will also be interviewed on the technology and procedures of implementing the V.R. technology within the tourism sector. Some of the variables in the study would include any increased interest in tourism, satisfaction levels based on the Likert scale, Length of time used to engage on the V.R. platforms, and the reviews based on the Likert scale. This research will employ qualitative analysis as the methodology emphasizes ethical issues (Wojnowska-Heciak et al., 2022). This qualitative study elicits deeper insights into the design and explores test-takers perceptions and changes in the financial prospect of the companies. Some disadvantages include limited sample size and a lengthy process.
Phenomenological In-depth Interviews
The study uses the phenomenological technique in interviewing to establish an in-depth, contextualized research on participants’ ideas, financial commitment, and experiences. The interview employs the most flexible qualitative research technique and is helpful in ethnographic investigations (Neise et al., 2021). It is a technique for eliciting information about participants’ perspectives and ideas. This research investigates the meaning of a V.R. phenomenon and its prospects in companies that have already adopted the V.R. technology.
Data Collection Strategy
The research adopts online interviews and secondary data search for revenue trends in V.R. companies in tourism as the most preferred data collection strategy. The data gathered during interviews explain and investigate the study respondents’ ideas, behavior, experiences, and revenue trends (Hassan et al., 2022). Interview questions are typically open-ended in nature to elicit detailed information. Online interviews aid in the screening and managing of data more precisely. In online surveys, it is possible to evade screening questions. Secondary data would be accessed on revenue trends on companies invested in tourist-based V.R.
Method of Data Analysis
This study adopts the descriptive analytics approach to explore current uncertainty and shifting situations. The descriptive analysis would be considered using the R program on R-Studio. The approach can develop a more nuanced knowledge of the possibility of worst-case outcomes and prepare appropriately. Descriptive analytics approaches include optimization trends based on data synthesis necessary in decision-making (Mahalle et al., 2022). This study’s cornerstone of a descriptive analytics approach is built on understanding the means and variance in consumption trends.
Ethical Considerations
The research adheres to several ethical codes of conduct that involve human participants. The ethical code of conduct includes respect for participants, informed consent, specific permission for audio or video recording, and participation is voluntary without duress. Participants and avoidance of undue intrusion are among the ethical principles identified in the study (Feinsinger et al., 2022). The engagement with the participants strictly adheres to the requirement for informed consent (Kasperbauer et al., 2022. The participants must be competent to decide the nature of the interaction and personal data collected.
Significance of the Research
The German economy is generally experiencing a decline in prospects owing to several external and internal factors. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently revised its forecast for German economic growth to 3.1 percent in 2021, from 3.6 percent (Bacoş and Gabor, 2021). The IMF anticipates that Germany’s economy will recover roughly in line with France and the United Kingdom through 2022 before falling behind in 2023. Germany’s economic weakness predates the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany’s GDP fell by 4.6 percent in 2020, according to data issued by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Environmental Policy Committees (Bacoş and Gabor, 2021). There is evidence of the need to develop digital solutions that would improve the prospects of the tourism sectors and the German economy.
In the tourism sector, competitive advantage may be gained by specialization involving physical resource investment to obtain efficiencies of scale. Historically, mainstream research on customer satisfaction has focused on destination image, attractiveness, and accessibility, which refers to the characteristics tourists value (Ramirez, 2022). Technology adoption is also informed because many modern visitors are technologically sophisticated (Dinis et al., 2022). The V.R. can alter the hotel business and reinvent the guest experience with virtual 3D hotel tours (Ramirez, 2022). This research explores the extension of technology adoption in the tourism sector and the competitive advantage of German organizations in the tourism sector.
Positive Social Change
A successful project would see the German tourism sector such as Germany’s Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the Cologne Cathedral, and the Black Forest growing globally. The German economy could also attract tourists and revive the ailing sector. Regulatory regulations have affected numerous sectors and the delivery of personal services, resulting in demand and supply-side shocks (Barišić and Cvetkoska, 2020). The German tourism sector can take advantage of the V.R. technology to transcend the challenges in the current external environment. A stable economy in the tourism sector significantly improves the quality of many families in Germany.
Timetable for the Research
Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations
This proposal is predicated on certain assumptions about nature and reality, the possibility of large-scale adoption of digital world technologies, and that the V.R. is a sustainable technology. The notion is that reality exists in the human mind as a cumulative total of its experiences in this scenario. An artist may convey a world, unlike the current physical world in the virtual world. The ontological basis of research asserts the existence of abstract notions and alternative facts. Rather than attempting to generate hypotheses regarding such complex assumptions in reality and mind subjects, this project will focus on the accomplishments of technology in the entertainment industry today.
Limitations
However, the accepted assumptions obviate several constraints that limit the validity and reliability of the technologies in the V.R. platform. The descriptive analysis methodology may also have some limitations in interpreting human behavior. Equally, in descriptive analysis, it is well-known that assigning aesthetic modes of existence to works is highly subjective and contingent on the individual’s interpretation of the reference. There is also a link with cognizing participants’ emotional and behavioral reactions.
Delimitations
The distinction is that works of art cease to exist without appropriate attention and awareness, even if the physical limits are met. However, the same result may be resurrected by applying the same amount of inventive focus to the system the artwork intends to install, thereby restoring the complimentary aesthetic design and essence. The scope of the research is one of digital technology, the experience of virtual tours on the V.R., and the perception of the experience against the physical visitations.
Conclusion
The German tourism industry faces significant challenges, including the increased pandemic-related travel restrictions, the growing security tension in Eastern Europe, and threats from climate change. There is an apparent need for the sector to adopt new technologies that make them competitive on the global stage. The V.R. is in the virtual world, accessible by personal interfaces and digital technology. The three-dimensional realm seems to be an urban setting developed along a single hundred-meter-wide avenue to its users. The museums, resorts, and different creative designs can be modeled for optimum customer experience. This proposal aims to respond to the research questions, establishing a basis on which the German government can incentivize organizations in the tourism sector to adopt technology for survival in the dynamic external business environment.
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