What if a 10-minute virtual escape could help you recharge during the working day?
That is the question being explored by Griffith University PhD researcher Minh Nhan, who is investigating whether short, immersive virtual tourism experiences could provide some of the restorative benefits of travel – without leaving the workplace.
Imagine walking through a World Heritage-listed forest or relaxing on a beach in your dream island destination. Ten minutes later, you remove the virtual reality headset and return to work.
Minh describes this concept as ‘microdosing tourism’ – experiencing short bursts of virtual travel regularly, rather than taking part in one long virtual reality experience.
Travel has a unique way of helping us recharge, learn new things and come back feeling different.
“What if we could bring some of those positive experiences to people who can’t travel frequently due to time, money, or other constraints? That curiosity led me to my research.”
A new role for virtual tourism
While virtual tourism has traditionally been explored as a way to preview destinations or provide an alternative to physical travel, Minh is investigating whether it could also have a role in everyday wellbeing.
His PhD research examines the experiences and wellbeing of full-time workers as they engage with a series of immersive virtual reality tourism experiences over time.
The research is still underway, so evidence of its impact is emerging. However, Minh hopes it will help identify how virtual tourism could be designed and applied as a workplace wellbeing approach.
“It creates opportunities for the tourism industry to position and develop virtual tourism as a wellbeing-focused product.”
The concept is not intended to replace physical travel. Instead, virtual tourism could complement everyday wellbeing, particularly for people who have limited time, resources or ability to travel regularly.
Shorter experiences may also help address some of the challenges associated with longer virtual reality sessions, including cybersickness.
“Since work is such a central part of our lives, even small improvements in how people feel at work could have a real impact on individuals, organisations and society.”
Exploring what tourism could become
Minh’s research brings together tourism, wellbeing and emerging technology to explore a relatively new question: can the positive effects associated with travel be experienced in small doses, wherever we are?
For the tourism industry, it could open new possibilities for developing immersive experiences focused not only on destination discovery and entertainment, but also on wellbeing.
“What excites me is that this is still a relatively new area, with many opportunities to work closely with industry to explore new applications.”
Minh is undertaking his PhD in the Department of Tourism and Marketing at Griffith University under the supervision of Associate Professor Anna Kralj and Professor Brent Moyle, members of the Griffith Institute for Tourism, with Associate Professor Sebastian Filep as an external supervisor.
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