Ayra Jane D. Alvarado | Louis Isabelle A. Domingo | Mikaela Jennifer B. Fang | Vanessa G. Gurengad | Frances Angelica S. Malimban | Marla D. Tagure
School of International Hospitality and Tourism Management
ABSTRACT
Educational tours are one of the most awaited moments of the students, but with the presence of Coronavirus, virtual tourism became an option to ensure the safety of everyone. The researchers aim to analyze the effectiveness of virtual tourism on the learning outcomes of the tourism and hospitality students in the University of Baguio to acknowledge and present possible recommendations and solutions for the future improvement of the usage of virtual tourism in the university. The study benefits the school program administrator towards determining what the program should enhance areas to make the learning outcomes successful in preparing students in their future professions. The researchers employed a quantitative research descriptive design, and survey questionnaires were used in collecting data. The result shows that virtual tourism is effective in attaining the course learning objectives but unexpected connectivity problems such as the internet connection influence the effectiveness of virtual tourism. The study concludes that virtual tourism has been observed as effective by the University of Baguio Tourism and Hospitality students. It provided a hassle-free way of tours through the help and advancement of technology. Students prefer experience towards educational tours. However, it also shows that virtual tourism helped them, especially in the distance and online learning. Lastly, virtual tourism offers a variety of potential benefits for tourism and hospitality students, including creating informative and entertaining virtual settings, immersive and engaging virtual experiences, and contributing significantly to the course learning outcomes. This study, entitled The Effectiveness of Virtual Tourism on the Learning Outcomes of University of Baguio’s Tourism and Hospitality Students, is one of the few and new virtual tourism studies when it comes to an institution.
Keywords: virtual tourism, virtual tour, coronavirus pandemic, tourism, University of Baguio-SIHTM students
