The impact of augmented and virtual reality for sustainable tourism

Abstract

Tourism is one of the least developed industries, in terms of environmentally sustainable practices, while at same time faces huge economic challenges, and from which communities all around the world depend on. At same time, Augmented and Virtual Reality applications are expected to grow significantly in the short-term, and impact many traditional markets. Considering that only a small portion of studies examine how the introduction of technologies can enable a more sustainable development route in the Hospitality and Tourism sector, this study aims to provide an overview on the state of literature and to uncover emerging topics, which could lead to a future research agenda for this domain. A bibliometric analysis is employed on articles from both Web of Science and Scopus databases, and findings reveal four major thematic groups for the future, in what are still at the moment, two separate, unrelated research streams. Managerial perspectives are derived, and a set of new research questions is proposed as guidance for future scholars, dedicated to the outcomes of digital disruption on sustainable tourism.