Porting a Virtual Reality Kayak Application Across Two Head-Mounted Displays: Presence, Usability, and Attitudes Toward Tourism

Authors

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, tourism, presence, inmersion, attitudes, attitudes towards tourism

Abstract

Tourism is an important economic activity for Chile. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have a positive impact on the reception of messages towards points of interest in tourism, influencing peoples' attitudes towards tourism and intention to visit. Building on previous research on tourism, virtual reality, and attitudes, we present a porting of a VR activity of Kayaking on a lake in Chile, to two VR devices (HTC Vive and Meta Quest 3) using the Unity Editor. Differences in perceived presence and usability of the developed software are analyzed, along with attitudes towards kayaking and tourism. Results indicate that there are no significant differences in presence, usability or attitudes between participants that used the HTC Vive or the Meta Quest 3 device. Meanwhile, the scores of presence, usability, and attitudes toward kayaking and tourism are statistically higher than the theoretical midpoint of the scales, suggesting that the virtual reality experience is associated with positive evaluations of the simulated activity. The results are analyzed and discussed in relation to the characteristics of both VR devices, as well as the methodological utility of the results.

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Author Biographies

Jorge González-Ortega, Department of Interactive Visualization and Virtual Reality, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Talca, 3460000, Chile.

Jorge González-Ortega obtained his B.S. degree in Psychology from the School of Psychology at Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile, in 2017, and the doctorate degree in psychology from the Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile, in 2025. His areas of interest include research on attitudinal change and its relationship with emerging virtual reality technologies within the context of political psychology. He is currently a member of the research team at Mauletec, University of Talca, Chile.

Agustin Venegas, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Talca, Talca, 3460000, Chile

Agustín Venegas is a 2025 graduate in Game Development and Virtual Reality Engineering from the University of Talca, Chile. His areas of interest include the use of VR Experiences and Immersive Technologies in Research, and Procedural Content Generation in Game Development.

Ismael Gallardo, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Talca, Talca, 3460000, Chile

Ismael Gallardo received the B.S. degree in psychology from the Faculty of Humanities, School of Psychology, Universidad de Santiago, Santiago, Chile, in 2001, and the doctorate degree in psychology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, in 2006. Since 2016, he has been an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Psychology, University of Talca, Chile. In collaboration with other researchers, some of these works have studied the effect of receptor variables (e.g., self-affirmation) or messages (e.g., rhetorical questions) and the incorporation of immersive technologies in classical contexts of persuasion, incorporating novel explanations for rare effects using first- and second-order cognitive mechanisms. His current research interests include the social influence and the study of attitudes and their processes of formation and change.

Felipe Besoain, Department of Interactive Visualization and Virtual Reality, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Talca, 3460000, Chile.

Felipe Besoain (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in bioinformatic engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Talca, Talca, Chile, in 2010, and the M.S. degree in free software and the Ph.D. degree in network information technologies from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, in 2012 and 2018, respectively. In 2021, he started a postdoctoral research in social psychology with the University of Talca, combining app development with current attitude change theory. He has been a researcher in various research and development projects with demonstrable experience in the development of mobile, immersive technologies (virtual reality) in industry in health, agronomy, tourism, culture, and heritage. His current research and interests include the application of persuasive technologies in intelligent contexts for the promotion of health; tourism and cultural heritage; and the use of ubiquitous computing and mobile devices, gamification, and immersive technologies for the form/change of attitudes.

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Published

2026-07-14

How to Cite

González-Ortega, J., Venegas, A. ., Gallardo, I. ., & Besoain, F. (2026). Porting a Virtual Reality Kayak Application Across Two Head-Mounted Displays: Presence, Usability, and Attitudes Toward Tourism. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 24(9), 916–926. Retrieved from https://latamt.ieeer9.org/index.php/transactions/article/view/10516