REFLECTION OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON TOURIST TYPOLOGY: VIRTUAL TOURIST

Abstract

With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the world entered a digital
transformation process and societies were closely affected by this transformation. One of the areas
affected by the digital transformation has been tourism, and this transformation has caused the
tourism activities of the tourists and the tourism experience they gained to be transferred to the
digital world. This situation has also changed tourist practices and eliminated the need for tourists to
travel far from their homes in order to participate in tourism. All these developments in the field of
tourism have brought the consepts of virtual tourism and virtual tourist to the agenda. In this study, which is prepared from this point, it is aimed to introduce the concept of a virtual
tourist to the literature, based on the reflections of the digital transformation in tourism on tourist
experiences. In this context, this study has been conducted from a conceptual point of view, and the
data have been obtained by reviewing the literature. Reviewing has been carried out in the context
of the concept of digital transformation, the digital transformation process in tourism and the virtual
tourism experience. The data obtained from reviewing have been evaluated with a holistic
approach. At the end of the study, it has been suggested to use the concept of virtual tourist for the
virtual tourism participant in the literature and a definition trial has been made for this concept.