Between Dreamy and Dreary

Digital tourism is giving people the opportunity to experience and explore a diverse set of destinations before visiting the actual, physical place. In order to attract more potential tourists, the tourist areas are actively producing their promotional digital contents by using emerging technologies such as Virtual Reality or 4K promotional film. People can explore their destinations through the highly realistic sensory experiences that give almost dreamy feelings. However, when people visit the locations the experiences are not the same as they have known. People find that the reality is not dreamy, it is dreary. The sky seems less blue and the excitement of the activities are not as extreme. More exposer of the advanced digital tourism often turns people down to see the gaps. This leads people’s disappointment or disrealisation of the reality which questions what is ‘reality’? What do we prefer to explore in the new destination?