Virtual Reality Technology in Tourism

Thanks to new virtual reality technology in Tourism, travelers can visit far-away places with a lots easier and more affordable ways. The Imagine traveling of virtual reality make it possible to see famous sites and landscapes and get the knowledge of travel destinations in the world all from the comfort of your living room.

Virtual reality travel makes huge changes, making tourism more accessible than ever. Walking in the great Rome Colosseum, running on the Great Wall in china and passing the most romantic Eiffel Tower, it create virtual experience that tourists may accept as substitutes for real visitation to threatened sites.

Virtual tourism is already a thing now. Helmut Havocs at the University of Vienna has developed virtual headset that allows people to strap themselves, allowing that people to virtually visit any number of destinations. Cameras attached to the drone let you see things from the drone's point of view, taking you on a trip you couldn't even get if you physically went there.

"From a flight, you could get a very good impression of the site, things you would not normally be able to see if you were walking through the ruins," says Antonio Gentile, founder of Inform Amuse, one of the researchers who worked with Hlavacs on the system.

As VR technology continues to develop, there is numbers significance of applications of VR in tourism. For instant, recently there is a program that proposes a plan, which is combining the virtual reality glasses with treadmill to provide the virtual view of tourism destination. The program intends to provide travelers who are waiting in airport and train station the service of virtual feel of the destination with moving you body on treadmill to spend the boring waiting time. This application of virtual reality technology created a new and excited experience of tourists before they arrival at the destination, and keeps tourist a walking condition, which can also train their body.

     

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature showcased a new VR experience that took festivalgoers on a journey on-board an Emirates A380 and around key A380 destinations using Oculus Rift technology with inbuilt Google Street View. This application makes the journey of passengers more fun and enriches the experience and enjoyment on the plane.

Virtual reality technology benefits management, marketing, entertainment, education, accessibility, and heritage preservation in tourism. Virtual tourism benefits those who don't have the resources, time, money or physical capabilities of indulging in real travel. Virtual reality technology also enhance the development of tourism and verify the form of tourism.

Yuanyuan WU

Jingyao ZHU