Abstract
As an alternative to live tourism, the pandemic crisis has given rise to virtual tourism. Virtual tourism content can vary from viewing scenery in still images (photo), moving images (video), or in 3D, to experiencing virtual reality travel. This study investigated Japanese and foreign tourist perceptions of Japanese photo and video sceneries. A questionnaire focused on five different scenery categories (traditional, floral, sea views, ocean waves, and fauna) was conducted on 112 subjects (87 Japanese and 25 foreigners). The questionnaire asked participants to view the photo and video sceneries and give their impressions using 10 paired adjectives and a 7-point semantic differential scale. It was found that the Japanese participants gave a greater number of positive responses for the video sceneries than for the photo sceneries in all categories, and except for fauna, the foreign participants gave a greater number of positive responses to the photo sceneries in all categories. This study highlighted the perceptual differences between Japanese and non-Japanese tourists (Asian tourists in particular) toward Japanese photo and video sceneries. These study results could be used as a reference to create targeted virtual tourism content.
