Virtual Reality (VR) has become one of the most popular commercial and research topics. Recently, the Image-based VR became more cost effectively with less time consuming for constructing the VR environment. Without having very expensive equipment, in the travel industry, hotels, theme parks, museums and some historical sites have brought this VR technology through the Internet to establish B to B type or B to C type E-commerce. Compared with the Geometry-based VR, the Image-based VR has the advantages, including the low cost and the quality. The Image-based VR is quite real because the virtual world is built from the real and the reappeared natural objects in the image-based VR are better than the ones in the Geometry-based VR. In additions, the rendering speed of the Image-based VR and the scene are independent. No matter how the complexity of the scenery, it would not have any effect for virtual world. An Image-based VR system is proposed in the thesis. In this study, the history, definitions and classifications of Virtual Reality will be illustrated. Secondly, the applications of VR used in the both general research area and travel industry will be explained. Thirdly, a comparison will be made among Image-based VR, Geometry-based VR and Hybrid VR. The panoramic images are generated by arranging some photographs taken at School of Tourism, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan around a rotational axis. This study then will analyze the current applications used in the travel industry in terms of the software usage, platform, advantages and disadvantages of the VR software for creating Virtual Reality in the travel industry. Finally, an interesting question will be discussed: in a more futuristic sense, can VR as a substitute for travel?