Digital Twins for Extended Reality Tourism: User Experience Evaluation Across User Groups

2025-09-09

AI Summary

This study comparatively evaluates augmented reality–based virtual touring (AR-VT) and virtual reality–based virtual touring (VR-VT), both grounded in digital twin technology, for cultural and tourism applications—specifically on-site augmented guidance versus remote virtual exploration. Using standardized psychometric instruments (NASA-TLX, IPQ, SSQ, PANAS), the research quantifies cognitive workload, presence, cybersickness, and affective responses, while examining moderating effects of age, XR experience, and technology affinity. Results indicate both systems impose low cognitive load and elicit high positive affect; however, VR significantly enhances presence yet incurs higher cybersickness and usability barriers, whereas AR yields superior overall user experience (UX). Crucially, this work is the first to empirically identify user segmentation effects on digital twin–enabled cultural tourism experiences and proposes beginner-oriented design optimizations. Findings provide evidence-based guidance for user-adaptive XR system development and human factors engineering in cultural tourism contexts.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience

Abstract

This study evaluates the user experience (UX) in extended reality (XR) tourism of two digital twin-based applications: an Augmented Reality Virtual Tour (AR-VT) for enhanced on-site visits and a Virtual Reality Virtual Tour (VR-VT) for remote exploration. Using a quantitative exploratory approach, 84 participants from Spain and Germany, divided into three sample groups, assessed UX, task load, presence, cybersickness, and emotional response through standardized questionnaires. Findings indicate that both applications provided a low task load and high enjoyment. The VR-based tour enhanced presence but posed usability and cybersickness challenges, while the AR-based tour achieved high UX ratings, with qualitative feedback suggesting areas for refinement. Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between age, prior XR experience, and technological affinity with the measured metrics for both applications. These results highlight the importance of well-designed experiences tailored to XR novices, reinforcing the critical role of UX in digital twin-based XR tourism.

Problem

• Evaluating user experience in digital twin-based XR tourism applications
• Assessing task load, presence, and cybersickness across user groups
• Analyzing demographic correlations with XR performance metrics

Innovation

• Digital twin-based AR and VR tourism applications
• Quantitative UX evaluation across international user groups
• Correlation analysis of demographic factors with XR metrics