A new generation behavior intention to visit tourism destinations in perspective of post-COVID-19

This study aims to investigate the new generation’s behavior, influencing VR satisfaction and behavioral intention toward destinations. To this end, this paper investigated whether subjective norms, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and VR satisfaction of the new generation positively impacted the behavioral intention to visit actual destinations. A convenient sampling method was used to collect data from students via an online survey by many universities in Thailand. The sample has been classified as people who used VR applications for tourism earlier answering the survey. The results revealed that attitude and perceived behavioral control had a positive and significant influence on VR satisfaction and an indirect effect on behavioral intentions. Moreover, VR satisfaction positively and significantly influenced behavioral intentions toward actual destinations. This study empirically investigates the influence of virtual reality on the new generation’s behavior by using VR applications and other devices to access destinations. However, the results are valuable insight for destination marketing organizations to enhance the sophisticated technology that develops sites for new generations of tourism destinations. The current study provides specific theoretical and practical implications for further study.This article applied the theory of plan behavior to investigate the virtual reality satisfaction in tourism destinations that influences behavioral intention to visit the actual tourism destinations. The highlight of this article is to test the new generation who use virtual reality applications, particularly utilizing the VR application for hospitality and tourism destinations. The research method applied confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the empirical model in order to find the behavioral intentions of the new generation toward the hospitality and tourism context. The analysis process employed showed that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and virtual satisfaction had a positive significant impact on behavioral intention to visit actual tourism destinations. The results of this article are valuable insights into theoretical and practical implications for destination marketing organizations.