Virtual reality in heritage preservation

Abstract

Endangered natural and cultural sites are commonly visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Although, tourism does provide necessary funds to maintain heritage sites, these cultural and natural symbols are constantly under mechanical wear resulting shifting in their original form. The subject of this research is to uncover how virtual reality can be beneficial in preserving and rescuing endangered heritage sites. The work deals with such issues as the definition of virtual reality, the effects inflicted on endangered world heritage sites by tourism, examples for virtual traveling as well as existing solutions and whether virtual reality can be a substitute for traveling and visiting world heritage sites.