The inspiration of future tourism industry -- Virtual Reality technology

    Although Virtual Reality technology has only recently been developed for mass production for entertaining purposes, but as recent presentation by Mark Zuckerberg at MWC 2016 during Samsung Galaxy S7 launch, he gave his version the future of VR technology – the next platform.

    As many topics have been raised within video game industry, more and more attention also has been drove into tourism industry.

    Virtual reality technology that made to connect to computers and mobile devices, it gives users a 3D experience and allows them to feel like they’re walking around inside a virtual world. Using VR technology, you could one day virtually visit a museum, explore a theme park, and even take a hike through one of our national parks. Tourism destinations also could use the new technology to give a taste of what they offer, as well as venues could attract more tourists. One of the first corporations to use virtual reality to promote tourism destination is British Columbia, Canada, which virtual reality tech allows users to hike, boat and ride through several of the country's national parks (video link as below). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SkHdRvPbv4

    Another example of this comes in the form of virtual tours, which will allow travellers to experience a holiday destination before booking their trip. In January 2015, U.K. travel agent Thomas Cook partnered with Samsung and virtual reality filmmakers Visualise to create a series of short films of several destinations. Customers visiting stores in the U.K., Germany and Belgium could then try these taster experiences using the Samsung Gear VR headset.

This technology is a serious opportunity for brands to rethink how they could develop and create real life experiences, and how to bridge the gap between digital and reality. From another side, due to the characteristic of tourism product, it’s intangibility. There was no way for any tourists to taste their destination decision, hotel booking, tour reservation before they exactly there. Now the VR technology has showed us the possibility, and more important is that with VR technology it will inspire the willing of traveling. And also the potential of VR technology in the tourism industry lies not only in offering the consumer virtual trips but also helping travelers reduce language barriers or other unpleasant issues when combined with wearable devices.

Reference

·          Himanshu Patel, Richard Cardinali, (1994) “Virtual Reality Technology in Business”, Management Decision, Vol. 32 Iss: 7, pp.5 – 12

·          Daniel A. Guttentag, (2010) “Virtual reality: Applications and implications for tourism”, Tourism Management, Volume 31, Issue 5, October 2010, Pages 637–651

·    Robin Letellier, “Virtual Reality ...
... A New Tool for Sustainable Tourism and Cultural Heritage Sites Management”