GCC’s Tourism Industry 1
Investigating the Potential of Virtual Reality Marketing Experiences in The GCC’s Tourism
Industry
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GCC’s Tourism Industry 2
Investigating the Potential of Virtual Reality Marketing Experiences in The GCC’s Tourism
Industry
Discussion
This chapter evaluates the evidence revealed from this study by comparing and
contrasting with scholarly views in this research field reviewed in chapter two. The chapter
therefore locates the outcomes established in this study on the broader body of knowledge on the
possible use of VR to enhance marketing experiences within the touristic context of GCC. The
discussion revolves around the underlying three study objectives to illustrate how the current
results addressed each of them.
Barriers and Opportunities in Adopting VR Technology for Tourism Marketing
One of the challenges raised by the participants affecting the adoption of VR in tourism
marketing are concerns of accessibility. The respondents indicated that while it was exciting to
watch VR ads before deciding on their potential destinations, there were issues of accessibility of
the medium by marketers. The results indicated that even though VR was a valuable tool for
tourism marketing, it is not readily available as other ad formats, which raises convenience
questions. This result aligns with Slevitch et al. (2020) whose study indicated that the
accessibility challenges of VR require one to have specialised equipment and skills in order to
effectively use this technology. As a consequence, the respondents had concerns that depending
on VR to make travel planning decisions might be ineffective due to its less accessibility
challenges relative to conventional ad formats. For this reason, tourism stakeholders would rather
utilize traditional ad formats owing to their easier accessibility and availability for a broader
audience.
GCC’s Tourism Industry 3
However, the VR technology has diverse opportunities that it can seize in the tourism
industry. For instance, marketers within the tourism industry can use VR ads to enhance the
emotional depth of their adverts. Indeed, the results of this investigation revealed that compared
to traditional ad formats like the 2D, VR ads had more subjective and profound emotional
reactions. The participants who viewed the VR ad said that they experienced a stronger
individual connection to the displayed scenes coupled with a more vivid emotional engagement.
This finding is consistent with Wang et al. (2023), Jin et al. (2021), Kulkarni and Kolli (2023)
and Mkedder et al. (2024), who argued that the immersive features of VR marketing deliver
emotionally-engaging experiences such as curiosity, excitement, empathy and fear, which
supersede the capabilities of traditional marketing formats to elicit such intense emotional
responses. This result implies that tourism marketers can use VR ads to evoke more in-depth and
emotional responses from their prospective customers owing to the immersive nature of this
technology. This aspect would ensure that the viewers leverage a more competitive experience
compared to those exposed to conventional 2D ads that elicit more cognitive responses.
Religion is also a critical aspect of cultural and social constructs in various countries
across the GCC. The study by Hady (2023) aligned with this view by stating that Islam has roots
in influencing the values and customs of the whole region. While the GCC has been largely
attributed to being a conservative due to its rich heritage in cultural and religious beliefs, it has
not affected its journey to becoming a thriving tourism destination. This aspect means that the
region has a greater opportunity to use VR to deliver incremental value to the tourism industry
by influencing more people to visit GCC. The region has attracted many tourists by leveraging
its spiritual and cultural identity with modernity. Consistent with this view, Hady (2023) argues
that the Qatar World Cup is a leading instance where over 1.4 million tourists visited the region,
GCC’s Tourism Industry 4
bringing increased economic benefits and other global recognitions. Such a milestone implies
that the rich GCC cultural conservatism does not affect its ability in tourism but rather creates
value-addition to leverage tradition and modernity to bring forth more tourists.
Actionable Insights to Inform and Guide Tourism Marketing Officials in The GCC Region on
Developing More Effective Marketing Strategies
The outcomes of this study revealed that ads can have more profound marketing effects if
their formats resonate with the informational needs of the target audience. The results
underscored that prospective tourists require much detail concerning their destination countries
to enable them to effective draw pre-travel plans and assess the possibility of going to the GCC
region. This result corroborates the study by Nguyen et al. (2023), which argued that tourism is
an integral aspect of global economic enhancement and cultural heritage since it is usually
influenced by the spirit of adventure, which encompasses the need to witness various
environments, cultures, and other ways of life across the globe. Notably, the respondents
suggested that it was crucial to combine audio and visual features to make an ad more
comprehensible and appealing. The results stated that establishing a reasonable balance between
visuals an audio is key to leveraging synergistic results as that eases the comprehensibility of the
ad’s content. Moreover, the results suggested that background sounds should be paired with the
scenes to communicate effective information, make the message clear and ensure that the content
is more engaging. Consistent with this result, Kim et al. (2018) contend that the Stimulus-
Organism-Response (SOR) model is an integral theory that determines consumer behaviours as
influenced by emotional responses. The model states that stimuli can generate certain emotional
responses that necessitate tailored behavioural results, such as heightened travel aspirations.
GCC’s Tourism Industry 5
Such stimuli include the VR content. Hence, as part of an actionable strategy to enhance the
value of ads, tourism marketers must prioritise audio-visual harmony. This aspect would ensure
that the ads generated are compelling and informative to the targeted audiences.
The Potential for VR to Increase Tourism Intentions
The study’s findings demonstrated that VR has a greater potential of positively
influencing the tourism intentions of travellers to the GCC region. Notably, despite the inherent
challenges, the findings of this study revealed a myriad of opportunities where VR ads can be
deployed to enhance touristic planning and overall experiences of travellers. This result concurs
with Kim et al. (2020) and Gokarna et al. (2021) whose studies found that VR had emotive
appeals to targeted marketing audiences thus generating more marketing value than rational
appeals in advertising by creating an enduring impression and engaging clients. The participants
of this study reiterated that it positively impactful to watch VR ad before making their touristic
decisions as it provided them with insightful information for pre-travel planning. Therefore, the
outcomes of this analysis underscored that VR ad is a crucial tool that tourists can use to evaluate
their potential destinations.
Moreover, technological innovations have shaped the tourism industry as the
incorporation of social media and other digital platforms have been integral to decision-making
patterns among consumers based on online destination marketing. Integrating VR technologies
into the tourism industry has been highly linked to the possible transformation of experiences
and marketing of various destinations globally. Consistent with this result, Stylidis et al. (2020)
reported that VR tools have been widely used in the tourism industry to provide previews of
travel destinations, accommodations, and desirability to prospective travellers to enhance their
preparations prior to the trip. VR tools have been strategically integrated to enlighten, excite, and
GCC’s Tourism Industry 6
foster trust among prospective visitors by generating a vivid representation of the destination
experiences they forecast. The adoption of VR technologies in marketing strategies within the
tourism sector is tailored to enhance competition for various tourists across the globe. Consistent
with this result, Statista (2024) conducted a rigorous survey that revealed that 72% of travel
agencies had adopted VR technologies to enhance their marketing strategies, emphasizing the
heightening reliance on technology. As such, the tourism industry can generate a greater value
from the market by incorporating VR technology to showcase destination sites within the GCC
region to the rest of the world, thus spurring interest for touristic flows.
In addition, the findings indicated that compared to 2D ads, VR ads sparked enhanced
interest of travellers to visit the GCC region. This result means that VR ads leverage more
competitive outcomes when it comes to showcasing the tourist features of a site, thereby
sparking interest of tourists to visit such a destination. The results of this study revealed that VR
ads produced more enthusiasm and confidence towards visiting the GCC region. This result
aligns with Guo et al. (2022) and Saredakis et al. (2020), who said that the utilisation of VR
technology in tourism marketing can profoundly yield enhanced effectiveness by compellingly
and convincingly portraying sites that can be visited within the GCC region. Overall, the findings
suggested that the immersive as well as engaging nature of VR can potentially have a strong
impact on the commitment and willingness of customers to make visits to the GCC region.
Lastly, the outcomes of this study also revealed that the utilisation of VR ads spurred
more curiosity among travellers interested in touring the GCC region compared to 2D ads. The
participants indicated that after watching a VR ad, they noticeably shifted their attitudes towards
visiting the GCC region. This result implies that VR ads spark more curiosity and intrigue among
potential travellers to the GCC region. The respondents intimated that watching a VR ad
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convinced them to leave their comfort zones in a bid to explore new areas. This result concurs
with Guo et al. (2022) who argued that VR provides prospective customers virtual tours of their
destination countries, which sparks their interest. The reason for this is that their doubts of
visiting the region were dispelled after exposure to the immersive experience of the VR ad, thus
making them more willing to explore the GCC region. The GCC region is characterized by a
tourism industry that is famous for luxury and exclusivity. The region houses notable hotels,
shopping malls, and other entertainment joints worldwide, qualifying it as a global hub for
opulent experiences. Consistent with this perspective, Stolz (2024) asserts that the GCC has
positioned its tourism industry to encompass rich heritage and traditions within the region, where
Oman and Saudi Arabia lead in dispensing various cultural festivities, historical sites, and other
museums. Luxury travellers and other high-net-worth personals are examples of notable
travellers attracted to the region. Doha and Dubai are top examples of such travel destinations
(Stolz, 2024). VR marketing tools are poised to enhance the image of these tourist provisions by
generating fascinating previews of what is in store for potential tourists to the region. An
example of a VR technology marketing strategy in the GCC is the “Dubai 360,” which offers a
fascinating virtual tour of the leading landmarks across the city. Such landmarks include the
Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. Such virtual realities send users to various attractions across
Dubai, awakening their curiosity and general excitement, poised to influence their visiting
decisions.
