The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of periodically analyzing the data obtained from the technological sources used by customers, such as user comments on social networks and videos, using qualitative data analysis software. This research analyzes user sentiments, words, and opinions about virtual reality (VR) videos on YouTube in order to explore user reactions to such videos, as well as to establish whether this technology contributes to the sustainability of natural environments. User-generated data can provide important information for decision making about future policies of companies that produce video content. The results of our analysis of 12 videos revealed that users predominantly perceived these videos positively. This conclusion was supported by the findings of an opinion and text analysis, which identified positive reviews for videos and channels with many followers and large numbers of visits. The features such as the quality of the video and the accessibility of technology were appreciated by the viewers, whereas videos that are 100% VR and require special glasses to view them do not have as many visits. However, VR was seen to be a product which viewers were interested in and, according to Google, there are an increasing number of searches and sales of VR glasses in holiday seasons. Emotions of wonder and joy are more evident than emotions of anger or frustration, so positive feelings can be seen to be predominant.
Keywords: LDA; MaxQDA; sentiment analysis; sustainable tourism; text mining; virtual reality.