Abstract—Issues relating to the importance and purpose of
heritage preservation have been widely discussed in tourism
research. Due to natural degradation, development activities,
and the overcrowding effect, heritage preservation efforts are
becoming more critical to ensure the sustainability of heritage
sites. UNESCO’s world heritage committee listed 38 heritage
sites and properties as being in danger. In response to the
problems, numerous advancement in digital technologies such
as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) now offer
useful applications in heritage preservation. The efforts in
preserving heritage sites and objects through VR is not
something new as more and more heritage sites and objects
from around the world are rendered as 3D models and made
virtually accessible. However, a combination of VR and AR
may provide alternative form of access to threatened heritage
sites and objects that lessen the impacts of visitors’
overcrowding effect but at the same time heightens the overall
experience. As such, this conceptual paper aims to propose a
conceptual model of VR-AR technological combination as a
holistic application for heritage tourism and preservation
within the context of the UNESCO world heritage site in
Melaka as well as the framework for determining the
technology’s potential.
Index Terms—Virtual reality, augmented reality, heritage
tourism, heritage preservation, Melaka.
Kamarulzaman Ab. Aziz is with the Multimedia University, Malaysia
(e-mail: kamarulzaman.aziz@mmu.edu.my).
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Cite: Kamarulzaman Ab. Aziz and Tan Gek Siang, " Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Combination as a
Holistic Application for Heritage Preservation in the
UNESCO World Heritage Site of Melaka," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 333-338, 2014.