Immersive Virtual Reality, EEG Engagement and Baseline Destination Imagery in Tourism Consumer. Behaviour

This study examines whether a photorealistic, six-degrees-of-freedom virtual reality (VR) experience of a tourism destination operates as an anticipation device, increasing motivation to visit, or as a substitution device, reducing the perceived need to travel. In a preregistered single-group pre-post design with a 7-day follow-up and no control condition (N = 43), participants explored Iceland for about 15 minutes on the Brink Traveler platform while 32-channel EEG was recorded. Visit intention, desire, and booking likelihood increased after exposure (dz = 0.93, 0.82, and 0.58), and a purpose-built perceived substitution scale remained below its midpoint. Fronto-central theta was higher during the VR session than during shorter baseline sessions (dz = 0.52), a pattern consistent with active elaboration, although session length and navigation demands may also contribute. At follow-up, intention, desire, and episodic memory of the destination remained high, whereas attributed information search, concrete planning, and willingness to pay a premium stayed low. The results show no evidence of substitution at the aggregate level and describe an aspiration-action divide: the VR encounter was followed by motivational activation and a durable representation of the destination, but not by purchase-directed behaviour. Because the design has no control condition, these changes cannot be attributed to the specific properties of immersive VR. The study proposes a measurement architecture that separates anticipation from substitution, a distinction that intention measures alone cannot make.