Virtual Reality in Tourism and Sustainable Community Development: A Decolonial Governance Framework

Abstract

Although Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in tourism, its role in sustainable community development remains insufficiently theorized. Through a conceptual synthesis of literature on VR tourism, sustainable community development, digital sustainability, tourism imaginaries, and decolonial tourism, this paper develops a community centered VR sustainability framework. The framework examines how VR may support economic resilience, cultural preservation, social inclusion, and community authority in tourism contexts. Rather than treating VR as a self-evident solution or simply as a substitute for physical travel, the paper argues that its community value depends on how VR initiatives are designed, governed, owned, and distributed. The framework positions VR tourism functions as conditional pathways rather than automatic benefits Without these conditions, VR may reproduce economic leakage, cultural commodification, digital exclusion, platform dependency, and outsider-controlled representation. Through a decolonial lens, the paper reframes VR tourism as a question of community authority rather than technological novelty.