1. Impacts of COVID 19 on society
The Covid pandemic 19 and confinement have severe impacts on businesses and employment, household income and consumption, but also impacts on the physical and mental well-being of societies.
1.1 Impacts on the global economy
In summary, we can mention the following impacts of Covid 19 on the global economy in 2020:
a) Around 25 million people went into unemployment worldwide;
b) Worsening social inequalities;
c) The most affected are the elderly and older workers, especially the elderly confined to retirement homes;
d) Many workers were forced to stop working to support their families after the closure of schools, kindergartens and other services;
e) The combination of high uncertainty about the future, the destruction of jobs with the drop in disposable income, resulted in a sharp reduction in consumption, especially in tourist consumption;
f) There was a sharp decline in the number of face-to-face purchases, but online purchases fell less (World Labor Organization),
g) An increase in take-away service in the restaurant sector, telework and distance learning.
h) With regard to the air transport sector, most airlines recorded losses of millions of euros in the first half of the year and adopted a strategy to combat the crisis focused on cutting costs (especially spending on wages) and curbing the investments (Eco News). Thus, major European airlines, such as Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways, have announced that they are going to cut tens of thousands of jobs and do a downsizing. Low-cost airlines EasyJet and Ryanair also plan to lay off thousands of workers (EuroNews). In short, with countries advising against travel and forcing, in some cases, a quarantine period for those traveling, the prospects for the air transport sector are not positive.
1.2. Psychological impacts on society
The World Health Organization states that COVID-19 is generating the following psychological effects (UN NEWS):
a) Stress in the population affected by the risk of contamination, specially among the elderly;
b) Uncertainty;
c) Social isolation; and
d) Unemployment.
The uncertainties caused by COVID-19, the risks of contamination and the obligation of social isolation can aggravate or generate mental problems, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), such as:
Prolonged social isolation → loneliness → depression.
These psychological impacts affect mainly the elderly.
Concluding, among adults, the Covid 19 pandemic increases the risk of physical and mental illnesses especially in the elderly segment, which is the group most at risk.
This is aggravated also because many families abandoned their elderly in hospitals and in nursing homes, either due to isolation measures enforced by law or to worsening of economic conditions. This means that a substantial number of elderly people were abandoned and isolated from their families and friends, bringing anxiety and loneliness and depression altogether. The situation in nursing homes in many countries, such as Portugal, becomes a priority, especially due to the lack of sanitary conditions and medical assistance for elderly residents in nursing homes, sometimes leading to mass evacuations.
2. Tourism Trends, the pandemic, and the seniors      
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reinforces the importance of a coordinated global approach to recovery, in order to improve the current travel experience, support the integration of new technologies and implement global health and hygiene protocols to regain the confidence of tourists.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), among the main macro trends in the recovery of world tourism, we highlight the following: innovation & digitalization and health & hygiene.
Digital technology makes it possible to create and commercialize innovative and sustainable digital experiences that link travelers to nature and the creative industries, empower communities and promote safe travel through technology, such as for seniors unable to travel.
The 8 most important technological innovations in the tourism sector are as follows: Mobile Technologies; Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs); Virtual or Augmented Reality; Internet of things (IoT); Virtual assistants; Big data; Blockchain; and 5G technology.
 
2.1. Seniors and Virtual Reality
 INTRODUCTION
When we think of Virtual Reality (VR) we don't immediately associate it with the elderly, but its application to this segment has grown exponentially.
There are a number of applications that make it an indispensable tool today, with applications to the elderly in areas such as: tourism, medical care, tourism marketing, well-being, among others, as we will see throughout this presentation.
 
 
2.1.1 Definition of Virtual Reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that produces visual and sound effects, using 3D graphic resources or 360º images, allowing total immersion in a virtually simulated environment, the so-called virtual environment. Unlike a normal video image, which is filmed from a fixed point of view, VR captures all angles of a location. It is mainly characterized by being a human creation and allowing interaction
Source: (https://immersionvr.co.uk/about-360vr/vr-for-tourism/).
 
2.2. Virtual Reality (VR) applications for seniors    
For example, in the Tourism and Travel Industry, virtual reality can be used to capture images of tourist destinations in a unique and engaging way, using specialized equipment and software. The objective is to recreate the sensation of “reality” as much as possible, allowing interaction with virtual objects, in real time, without connection with the physical environment.
It can offer a "try-before-you-buy" experience, meaning being able to get to know the destinations before deciding on the trip, which will arouse the curiosity of traveling again, thus leading to an increase in the number of vacation reservations.
      
Sources:
https://immersionvr.co.uk/about-360vr/vr-for-tourism/
https://www.royaltrinityhospice.london/news/trinity-research-into-virtual-reality-therapy
https://www.nextavenue.org/virtual-reality-travel/
 
2.2.1. Virtual Reality and Senior Tourism
Immersive tourism, where technology turns travelers into protagonists of the experience, will be a reality. In addition, augmented reality (AR) or 360 ° video will be more ubiquitous and accessible.
Will virtual reality replace travel for seniors?
VR is great for creating moments of immersion, but it still cannot replace complete immersion combined with physical permanence in a real space.
In fact, a recent study by the European tourism company Italy4Real, allows the following conclusions to be drawn: 81% of adults said that VR cannot replace travel; 92% said that visiting an RV destination is not equivalent to visiting it in real life. In addition, 77% said that sampling local cuisine was very important to them.
Other disadvantages of virtual tourism include the inability to smell and live the environment created by people and animals. Although VR technology is progressing at a rapid pace, we can say that virtual reality will not completely replace travel anytime soon.
 
2.2.2. Virtual Reality and Mental Health for Seniors
Viarama, Scotland's first virtual reality company and the world's first virtual reality social company, founded in 2015, is working on an VR tool designed to help people with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, hospitalized in hospices. The company provides a unique experience to seniors in assisted care at the end of life.
Billy Agnew, Viarama's chief executive, says that in a hospice RV offers people the chance to travel around the world: for example, to places where they got married, or where they did military service, and to places they never thought that they would be able to see. Viarama accomplishes this by using HTC Vive headsets, Google Earth VR software and powerful computers. But, note that although the experience is virtual, the emotions involved are real.
 
Reliving the Past – Memories
A Reminiscence therapy, defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as "the use of life histories – written, oral, or both – to improve psychological well-being, is often used with older people."[4] This form of therapeutic intervention respects the life and experiences of the individual with the aim to help the patient maintain good mental health
Source: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscence_therapy).
This therapy uses VR to revive the memory of seniors, especially those affected by mental illnesses, promoting “trips” to the past keeping alive the memories of seniors, transporting them to experiences linked, for example, to the houses where they lived, to the places they visited in his childhood, family memories, among other examples.
In an article on virtual reality for seniors, Kahana says that "Seniors want entertainment". Researchers have learned that, for example, listening to music from the 1930s or 1940s can reactivate the memories of patients with Alzheimer's and dementia. The elderly people with whom Kahana spoke simply missed the everyday experiences that they could no longer physically enjoy: museums, shows, tours.
Source: (https://www.wired.com/2017/04/vr-for-seniors/);
“Lessen cognitive decline and improve memory functions” 2010 (Optale et al. 2010).
VR was used to assess memory loss related to common objects, recent events, expression and understanding of languages, and the ability to accurately and similarly recognize anomalies in order to detect Alzheimer's presence. Studies have found that VR is better suited for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease compared to traditional verbal memory detection tools.
 
2.2.3. Virtual Reality and Tourism Marketing
COVID-19 and current panorama
With the current situation of travel restrictions due to COVID-19, we are seeing an increase in demand for virtual tourism. In fact, there are already some apps available to help satisfy those who wish to travel and cannot, as is the case with many elderly people. The simplest application is Google Earth VR. For an even more stunning experience, there is IMMERSE from The Hydrous, a 360 degree tour of the world's oceans. This is not only an educational experience, but one that most people would never have the opportunity to do in real life.
Currently, RV in tourism is more used in the marketing of tourist destinations and tourist companies, such as, for example, travel agencies, hotels and airlines.
Travel agencies
Travel agencies can promote destinations and inspire customers to travel through 360-degree videos and virtual reality cinematographic productions, such as the example created by Travel World VR, for travel agents to market travel experiences.
 
Hotels
The way hotels advertise their offer to their customers has remained the same for several years. Virtual reality offers a new way to engage travelers, allowing hotel owners to promote their offering through an interactive virtual marketing experience.
Airlines
Russian airline Skylights has been offering VR experiences during the flight and in the waiting room since 2016 - it was the first company to implement VR as a means of entertainment for its passengers. British Airways, Air France and Garuda Indonesia are just a few of the airlines that have used RV technology in the past. Once the global crisis has passed, virtual entertainment could be an element of brand differentiation for airlines that need to attract passengers.
2.2.4. Virtual Reality and Physical Health for Seniors
VR can also stimulate seniors to exercise without even realizing they are doing it. Rendever's Balloon Popper is an application developed for this purpose. The elderly try to touch virtual balloons with their nose to get the highest score.
Adherence to self-training through video games for post-stroke rehabilitation is superior compared to traditional training methods in elderly patients (Rand et al., 2017).
 The examples above show how Digital Physiotherapy is increasingly promoted through VR.
A low cost active balance rehabilitation system measured balance performance of seniors over 15 sessions. Although there were no statistically significant differences between the left, central and right positions, the results indicated an improvement trend, mainly in the left and right oscillation, important to avoid the risk of falls.
They used an RV rehabilitation program for motor recovery of stroke patients. All participants showed improvements in hand function and recommended the program to other stroke survivors.
 
Sources: “Study the effect of virtual reality exercise on quality of life in older women”, 2015. (Lee et al. 2015);
“Improve cognition, muscle strength, and postural balance” 2016 (Park and Yim 2016);
“Analysis of virtual reality versus functional training in fitness”, 2015 (dos Santos et al. 2015).
 
2.2.5. Virtual Reality and the Universities of Third Age (U3As)
Virtual reality has been increasingly used in U3As in sessions and courses aimed at senior students.
Thus, for example, the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, promotes several technological literacy courses for its senior students;
The Universidad Sénior de Málaga offers courses on Artificial Intelligence, among others related to new technologies.
In addition to teaching, many U3As are developing applied research within the digital society, such as, for example, the SELID project (Senior's Learning in the Digital Society) an Erasmus + project of the European Union, developed by Comenius University in Bratislava.
Trinity College at the University of Dublin is developing research in the field of virtual reality therapy, especially for the elderly.
Source: https://www.royaltrinityhospice.london/news/trinity-research-into-virtual-reality-therapy
An example of collaborative VR is the U3A Online initiative that created a virtual university of the third age (U3A) that offers online courses for isolated older people as well as for conventional U3A members.
Source: (U3A Online: A virtual university of the third age for isolated older people, November 2010 International Journal of Lifelong Education 21(5):414-429, by Rick Swindell)
Collaborative VR consists in joining a common space in the virtual environment to interact no matter where users' real physical space is
Sources: (Hoppe et al., 2018) cited in “Virtual Classroom’s Quality of Experience: a collaborative VR platform tested in situ”
A. D. Souchet, R. G. (2020). Virtual Classroom’s Quality of Experience: a collaborative VR platform tested in situ.
At Stanford University, researchers found that virtual reality simulations had a direct impact on how people behaved in the real world, maintaining that same impact even after taking off their headphones.
Many other examples of implementing research and teaching projects using VR can be found in the specialty literature..
 
 
 
3. Conclusions
 
There are still few studies on the education and entertainment of seniors through VR.
Most scientific articles and general publications on VR and seniors focus mainly on both senior tourism and health of the elderly issues. There are far fewer studies on VR and education and entertainment for the elderly and research on VR entertainment software aimed at the elderly. Considering the objectives of the articles selected, it is possible to identify the main applications of virtual reality for the older people, now and in the near future, namely: healthcare, rehabilitation, prevention of fall, physical activity engagement, cognitive exercises, fun and virtual travels to faraway places.
“Virtual reality for older users: a systematic literature review”
(The International Journal of Virtual Reality , 2019, 19(01): pp11-pp25.)
Rômulo Santos Silva 1, Artur Martins Mol 1, Lucila Ishitani 1
Many studies on lifelong learning and VR are still missing. Thus, AIUTA and AIUTA member U3As should promote further research on this topic and on the technological literacy of students from AIUTA member U3As and support initiatives such as the creation of Virtual U3As, especially in small and more isolated U3As, like the University of the Azores.
The virtual U3A initiative, can be used for the benefit of senior students at U3As, who can attend their courses online and for other seniors who are prevented from attending the courses offered by their U3As
Any initiative to promote VR experiences for U3A students should take into account the following aspects:
 

1. Select a target group of senior students at each University, who express an interest in participating in VR sessions;
2. Know the profile of the seniors who will be the target group of these initiatives and their preferences;
3. The target groups must be restricted and must take into account all the physical and mental limitations of the participating students;
4. It is necessary that students have some knowledge and practice of using technologies such as tablets, the internet, among others, to participate in the program;
5. Any VR session aimed at U3As students must have the participation and guidance of a specialized, skilled and multidisciplinary team;
6. The devices used in the VR sessions must be selected and adapted to the reality of each U3A and its students and must invest in innovation and quality;
7. Always keep in mind that VR sessions should be held in groups and should promote socialization and entertainment;
8. New customized VR solutions for seniors should be implemented, such as promoting interaction with the body using physical movements to interact with virtual objects, using environments familiar to seniors using verbal instructions, using a high resolution on the display, and involve seniors in the design process, among others (“Virtual reality for older users: a systematic literature review” (The International Journal of Virtual Reality, 2019, 19 (01): pp11-pp25.) Rômulo Santos Silva, Artur Martins Mol, Lucila Ishitani;
9. VR sessions for seniors should promote students' knowledge and memories, applying reminiscence therapy;

j) The VR sessions for seniors must select content, not only of virtual tourism, but also of learning and transmission of knowledge, that is, they must include a diffusion component;
k) The virtual reality projects developed by each U3a should be networked to similar projects developed in other U3as.
 
Concluding, this is the way of the future! And the current generation of senior citizens will certainly be the last to suffer a handicap in technological literacy, which we must fight back for the well-being of the current generation of seniors.