Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism

Yubing Huang; She Lyu

doi:10.1145/3788731.3788737

Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism

Yubing Huang
, She Lyu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Communication

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference proceeding › peer-review

Abstract

This study investigates how embodied intelligence technologies—Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—reshape tourist perceptions across the travel journey. Using computational social science methods, we analyzed 53,427 user-generated reviews from eight heritage destinations collected between 2020-2025. Our findings reveal that: (1) VR pre-trip previews increase actual visitation rates by 25.9Cohen's d = 0.42); (2) AI-driven AR personalization boosts exploration diversity by 455 (3) AR historical scene reconstruction deepens comprehension, with 290 (4) technology serving as an assistant (rather than a showpiece) maintains long-term favorability 0.88 points higher on a 5-point scale. Employing natural language processing, computer vision, and large language models (GPT-4), we demonstrate that technology-mediated embodied experiences effectively enhance presence, understanding, and engagement when designed with a content-first philosophy. This research contributes to embodied cognition theory by validating virtual embodiment effectiveness and proposes a "Technology Role Boundary" framework for human-centric intelligent systems in tourism.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025
Place of Publication	New York, NY, USA
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages	39–43
Number of pages	5
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400722301
ISBN (Print)	9798400722301
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3788731.3788737
Publication status	Published - 14 Feb 2026
Event	EILM 2025: 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models - Chengdu, China Duration: 19 Dec 2025 → 21 Dec 2025

Publication series

Name	EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery

Conference

Conference	EILM 2025: 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models
Country/Territory	China
City	Chengdu
Period	19/12/25 → 21/12/25

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

User-Defined Keywords

Augmented Reality
Computational Social Science
Embodied Intelligence
Heritage Tourism
Large Language Models
User-Generated Content
Virtual Reality

Access to Document

10.1145/3788731.3788737

Cite this

Huang, Y., & Lyu, S. (2026). Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism. In Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025 (pp. 39–43). (EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3788731.3788737

Huang, Yubing ; Lyu, She. / Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism. Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025. New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2026. pp. 39–43 (EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference).

@inproceedings{4277a8398d4b4cbb930bceea80508351,

title = "Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism",

abstract = "This study investigates how embodied intelligence technologies—Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—reshape tourist perceptions across the travel journey. Using computational social science methods, we analyzed 53,427 user-generated reviews from eight heritage destinations collected between 2020-2025. Our findings reveal that: (1) VR pre-trip previews increase actual visitation rates by 25.9Cohen's d = 0.42); (2) AI-driven AR personalization boosts exploration diversity by 455 (3) AR historical scene reconstruction deepens comprehension, with 290 (4) technology serving as an assistant (rather than a showpiece) maintains long-term favorability 0.88 points higher on a 5-point scale. Employing natural language processing, computer vision, and large language models (GPT-4), we demonstrate that technology-mediated embodied experiences effectively enhance presence, understanding, and engagement when designed with a content-first philosophy. This research contributes to embodied cognition theory by validating virtual embodiment effectiveness and proposes a {"}Technology Role Boundary{"} framework for human-centric intelligent systems in tourism.",

keywords = "Augmented Reality, Computational Social Science, Embodied Intelligence, Heritage Tourism, Large Language Models, User-Generated Content, Virtual Reality",

author = "Yubing Huang and She Lyu",

note = "Publisher copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; EILM 2025: 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models ; Conference date: 19-12-2025 Through 21-12-2025",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

day = "14",

doi = "10.1145/3788731.3788737",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798400722301",

series = "EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",

pages = "39–43",

booktitle = "Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025",

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}

Huang, Y & Lyu, S 2026, Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism. in Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025. EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, NY, USA, pp. 39–43, EILM 2025: 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, Chengdu, China, 19/12/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3788731.3788737

Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism. / Huang, Yubing; Lyu, She.
Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2026. p. 39–43 (EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference).

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference proceeding › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism

AU - Huang, Yubing

AU - Lyu, She

PY - 2026/2/14

Y1 - 2026/2/14

N2 - This study investigates how embodied intelligence technologies—Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—reshape tourist perceptions across the travel journey. Using computational social science methods, we analyzed 53,427 user-generated reviews from eight heritage destinations collected between 2020-2025. Our findings reveal that: (1) VR pre-trip previews increase actual visitation rates by 25.9Cohen's d = 0.42); (2) AI-driven AR personalization boosts exploration diversity by 455 (3) AR historical scene reconstruction deepens comprehension, with 290 (4) technology serving as an assistant (rather than a showpiece) maintains long-term favorability 0.88 points higher on a 5-point scale. Employing natural language processing, computer vision, and large language models (GPT-4), we demonstrate that technology-mediated embodied experiences effectively enhance presence, understanding, and engagement when designed with a content-first philosophy. This research contributes to embodied cognition theory by validating virtual embodiment effectiveness and proposes a "Technology Role Boundary" framework for human-centric intelligent systems in tourism.

AB - This study investigates how embodied intelligence technologies—Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—reshape tourist perceptions across the travel journey. Using computational social science methods, we analyzed 53,427 user-generated reviews from eight heritage destinations collected between 2020-2025. Our findings reveal that: (1) VR pre-trip previews increase actual visitation rates by 25.9Cohen's d = 0.42); (2) AI-driven AR personalization boosts exploration diversity by 455 (3) AR historical scene reconstruction deepens comprehension, with 290 (4) technology serving as an assistant (rather than a showpiece) maintains long-term favorability 0.88 points higher on a 5-point scale. Employing natural language processing, computer vision, and large language models (GPT-4), we demonstrate that technology-mediated embodied experiences effectively enhance presence, understanding, and engagement when designed with a content-first philosophy. This research contributes to embodied cognition theory by validating virtual embodiment effectiveness and proposes a "Technology Role Boundary" framework for human-centric intelligent systems in tourism.

KW - Augmented Reality

KW - Computational Social Science

KW - Embodied Intelligence

KW - Heritage Tourism

KW - Large Language Models

KW - User-Generated Content

KW - Virtual Reality

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031783968

U2 - 10.1145/3788731.3788737

DO - 10.1145/3788731.3788737

M3 - Conference proceeding

SN - 9798400722301

T3 - EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference

SP - 39

EP - 43

BT - Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

CY - New York, NY, USA

T2 - EILM 2025: 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models

Y2 - 19 December 2025 through 21 December 2025

ER -

Huang Y, Lyu S. Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism. In Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Embodied Intelligence and Large Models, EILM 2025. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2026. p. 39–43. (EILM: Embodied Intelligence and Large Models Conference). doi: 10.1145/3788731.3788737

Embodied Experiences Reshape Tourist Perceptions: A Computational Analysis of VR, AR, and AI in Heritage Tourism

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

UN SDGs

User-Defined Keywords

Access to Document

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