Tourism and Virtual Reality: User Experience Evaluation of a Virtual Environment Prototype

Tourism is one of the largest industries and one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. At present and due to accessibility and improvement of technology, the tourism industry has been using experiences based on Virtual Reality, because they offer immersive experiences that absorb the user through sensory stimulation like sight and sound. The game, plays an essential role in the imaginary constructive process. By engaging fascination through interactivity, digital games introduce a sense of experimentation that facilitates immersion. In this context, the present preliminary study sought to assess the user experience through development of an immersive virtual reality game, to share the cultural aspects of Sao Tome island and engaging the participants to visit the island. The goal of this study is to evaluate usability and user experience in a three-dimensional virtual reality environment prototype of a beach place, in a traditional hostel. Concerning usability, we evaluated the participants interaction in virtual world through their behavior, and responses to questionnaires of presence and simulator sickness. To evaluate the user experience, we evaluated emotions through use of a scale of valence and arousal (SAM) and categories of emotions elicited by the VR simulation using the Geneva Emotion Wheel. The results reveal that the three-dimensional virtual reality environment prototype provided high level of immersion, the control and sensory factors also present high value, while the distraction factors recorded reveal that they were not significant, and participant also felt that the experience had a high level of realism. No significant simulator sickness problems were reported. User experience was emotionally positive with high values of pleasure and contentment. In conclusion, the 3D virtual reality environment prototype was able to engage the participants and provide interactive experiences capable to seducing and arousing interest in the Sao Tome and Principe islands.