ENTER2019

1. Comparing tablet and virtual
reality glasses for watching
nature tourism videos
Katja Pasanena,
Juho Pesonena
, Jamie Murphya
, Johanna Heinonen , and Jenniᵇ
Mikkonena
a
University of Eastern Finland, Finland
South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences,ᵇ Finland
Juho.Pesonen@uef.fi
Twitter: @eppuJ
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juhopesonen/

2. Virtual reality is “a real or
simulated environment in which a
perceiver experiences
telepresence”.
(Steuer, 1992)
2
© Toni Repo

3. Why videos should be used in marketing
• Informative and help customer to understand the product
better.
• Versatile, easy to consume and share.
• Search engine optimization.
• Number of marketing videos is increasing. It is estimated that by the
year 2020 their share of the online communication is 82 %
• Keeping up with the competition.
• Possibility for the personalized marketing.
• Effective conversion – makes the decision making easier.
3

4. Meaning of videos in destination marketing
• Travellers are looking for information
channels the improve the holistic experience
and reduce the risk for disappointments.
• Videos and films increase the awareness of
the destinations, can improve and change the
destination image and increase the desire to
travel to the destination.
• Videos appeal directly to the emotions and
this effects to the willingness to travel and
willingness to recommend the destination.
• Important in the videos is the
trustworthiness.
• UCG vs. destination marketing 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f88UJyCA__M

5. The advantages of virtual reality as a marketing tool
• Offers an opportunity to experience the destination before final
decision - ”try before you buy” .
• Decreases the experiences risks for buying an intangible
service.
• Can even remove the hinders for buying, when the buyer is
able to experience the service better in advance.
5
Kuva: https://www.virtuaalimaailma.fi/samsung-gear-vr-hinta/

6. The advantages of virtual reality as a marketing tool
• It creates a stronger emotional reaction,
affects more to the image of a
destination, eagerness to find more
information, desire to travel and
recommend than 2D videos.
• It can even change the attitude towards a
destination more positive.
• VR videos work the better from marketing
perspective, the stronger positive emotion
they awake and the better visual
attraction they possess. 6

7. Study of the 360° nature video user
experiences among the international
travellers
• Objective is to understand better the
meaning of 360° videos in marketing the
nature tourism and get an idea how
companies could use them better.
• Objective is to find out
• How international travellers experience the
nature tourism video watched by different
devices?
• Does the wathcing video affect the intention to
make a nature travel to Finland?
• Are the travellers willing to use the VR
technology in tourism related situations?
7
© Jarkko Pasanen

8. Collection of
data• Collected in December 2017 and January 2018 at
the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
• 221 international travellers watched the video
and answered the questionnaire .
• Half of the respondents watched the video with
Samsung Gear (n=114) and half with iPad
(n=108).
• Video had 4 different scenes.
8

9. Collection of data
• The questionnaire wanted to find answers
to following topics:
• If watching the video increased desire to
travel to the destination in the video and
participate nature activities there?
• How deep was the watching experience?
• Whether the respondents would share the
video to their own network?
• If the respondents had used VR technology
previously in the tourism related situations
and if this would interest them in the
future?
• Background information.
9
Kuvat: Katja Pasanen

10. 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90d33rTSJg

11. Responden
ts
11
© Katja Pasanen
Age % (N=218) Nationality % (N=221)
17-24 years 25.7 % UK 12.7 %
25-34 years 43.1 % France 8.6 %
35-44 years 19.7 % China 7.7 %
45-54 years 7.8 % Russia 6,3 %
55-73 years 3.7 % Germany 5.0 %
Australia 5.0 %
Other 54.7 %
Mean age 31.8
Gender % (N=220) Education % (N=218)
Male 50.5 %
Comprehensive school /
basic education
0.9 %
Female 48.6 % Secondary education 15.8 %
Other/Don’t want to answer 0.9 % Bachelor’s degree 34.4 %
Master’s degree 42.7 %
Doctoral degree 4.6 %
Other 1.4 %
How often do you do
nature/outdoor activities
(e.g. hiking, kayaking,
canoeing, mountain biking or
related)?
Weekly 22.9 %
Monthly 28.0 %
Couple of times a year 36.7 %
Once a year 7.3 %
Less than once yearly 5.0 %

12. What kind of emotions were
awaken by the video?
12
• Video was met positively – people were
impressed by the video and Finnish
nature.
• It woke a desire to travel to Finland and
try the activities presented in the video
• 23 % planned to take a nature trip to Finland
in the next two years.
• The emotions awaken by the video with
both devices were relaxation, interest,
happiness, comfort and fun.
• With VR goggles people were able to
expererience the video more deeply. © Toni Repo

13. 13
How you felt during the film. (1=at no time … 6= almost all the time) Device N Median
Independent
Samples Mann-
Whitney U test sig.
I had the feeling that I was in the middle of the action rather than merely observing VR glasses 114 4 0.072
Tablet (iPad) 107 4
I felt like I was actually there in the environment of the presentation VR glasses 114 4 0.242
Tablet (iPad) 107 4
I was fully focused to this film VR glasses 114 5 0.013
Tablet (iPad) 107 4
I was distracted by other things during watching the film. VR glasses 114 2 0.025
Tablet (iPad) 107 2
The computer generated world became the "reality" for me, and I forgot about the "real world"
outside?
VR glasses 114 3.5 0.021
Tablet (iPad) 107 3
I felt emotionally attached to the video VR glasses 114 3 0.700
Tablet (iPad) 107 3
I enjoyed watching the video VR glasses 114 5 0.022
Tablet (iPad) 107 5
I felt as if I was in the real world whilst watching the video VR glasses 114 4 0.238
Tablet (iPad) 107 4
I was aware of surroundings VR glasses 114 4 0.059
Tablet (iPad) 107 4
I felt detached from the outside world VR glasses 114 3 0.009
Tablet (iPad) 107 3
I noticed events taking place around me in the real world VR glasses 114 3 0.001

14. Preferred
video
scene by
device
14
Which part you liked the most? VR
glasses
Tablet Χ2
=7.964,
p=0.047
Lakeside, me watching the nature 24.6 % 31.1 %
Walking in the forest, me watching other
people
15.8 % 15.1 %
Boating, me on the boat with other people 44.7 % 28.3 %
Sitting by the campfire, me together with
others
14.9 % 25.5 %

15. Effect on consumer behavior
• No differences in intention to travel for
nature tourism purposes to Finland.
• No differences in word-of-mouth
generation.
• No differences in intention to
participate in the activities in the
video.
03.05.19Esityksen nimi / Tekijä 15

16. Managerial conclusions
• Despite the device, 360° videos are considered positively. The
experience is a bit different with VR goggles compared to
tablet.
• VR is much more immersive.
• But the effect on consumer behaviour is similar.
• 360 degree content works well with tablets.
• No need to be worried about producing 360 content.
• Does media richness depend on the device or the media?
• What are media richness effects with this new media?
16

17. Thank You!
Contact: juho.pesonen@uef.fi
May 3, 2019 ENTER2019 – Research Track Page 17