The COVID-19 pandemic has deprived travelers of the right to continue their travel or leisure activities, while creating concerns about the safety of travel. In view of the great impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travelers, we discussed the impact of virtual reality on travel anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, and considered the regulatory effect of blockade intensity. In order to explore the relationship between virtual reality and travel anxiety in depth, this study conducted a questionnaire survey on 299 Chinese tourists who had experienced virtual reality activities related to travel, and empirically analyzed the questionnaire data using SPSS 26 software. The results show that virtual reality has a significant negative effect on travel anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., virtual reality technology can provide a safer virtual travel experience for people and reduce their travel anxiety. At the same time, the relationship between virtual reality and travel anxiety varied to some extent depending on the intensity of the lockdown in each region, with the mitigating effect of virtual reality on travel anxiety being enhanced by high levels of lockdown. Therefore, we believe that although lockdown policies are necessary for some time to come, travel companies need to make further efforts to provide more convenient virtual reality services to alleviate travel anxiety caused by COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown to tourists. At the same time, virtual reality opens up new ideas for travel businesses under the impact of COVID-19 and contributes to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

The development of the cultural industry cannot be isolated from the efficient integration with the digital economy and digital technology at the current stage of the technological and industrial revolution. This paper constructs an indicator system to measure the sustainable development of the cultural industry and tests the relationship between the digital economy and the sustainable development of the cultural industry using an OLS model based on China’s provincial panel data from 2011 to 2021. The findings of this study suggest that the digital economy can significantly aid in the long-term growth of cultural companies. The process of promoting sustainable development of the cultural industry through the digital economy has also advanced thanks to the government’s strong support. This report also suggests governmental recommendations based on these findings for the sustainable development of China’s cultural industry in the age of the digital economy. This paper theoretically elucidates the mechanism of the role of the digital economy on the sustainable development of the cultural industry, constructs a system of indicators to measure the sustainable development of the cultural industry, and tests the impact of the digital economy on the sustainable development of the cultural industry.