Tourism, Virtual Reality and Other Realities

   

                                                                                                                                                     © Samsung [6]

                                                                                                                      

    With the advent of the Oculus Rift’s first prototype in 2013, virtual reality technology (VR) was quickly welcomed into the international market. Three years later, VR now is reality as many companies now provide their own version of VR headgear in order to compete in this new market. Thus, consequently, building and improving the technology and its many applications. With VR’s immersive 360-degree experience it can be adapted for the all facets of the tourism industry. VR gives the tourism industry an unique opportunity for a new marketing tool and as a way to enhance the customer experience.

    Destination BC was one of the first North American DMOs to invest in VR technology, in order to take advantage as this new marketing channel to market the province. In 2014, they spent $500,000 Canadian to create a VR immersive video of a BC boat tour, giving viewers a chance to get up close and personal with sea lions. Their next project, according to Destination BC CEO Marsha Walden, is to create a virtual experience of skiing in Whistler. Walden comments that Destination BC will only spend $100,000 Canadian on this project as the cost of the equipment has significantly dropped from two years ago. The current video is shown to consumer at trade shows, though it is also available on YouTube, as YouTube supports 360-degree VR video. All the viewer does is put their mobile device in the VR headgear and they are taken away to British Columbia [Business Vancouver; 1]

    The DMO for Vancouver, Tourism Vancouver, has also seen the value of investing in VR technology for marketing. They have sent VR headsets to British and Germany travel agencies in order to show potential customers British Columbia and Vancouver. [Business Vancouver; 1]

    At Facebook’s annual developers’ conference a few weeks ago, chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, gave his insights to the future of tourism and VR. Wearing an Oculus VR headset, he and another Oculus wearer were able to immerse themselves in London. They both had a chance to explore a 360-degree view London, even taking a selfie with a selfie-stick. The video demo was showed “the potential for a local tour guides to give virtual reality tours to users all over the world, without having to leave their homes”. [Globalnews; 2]

    Augmented reality (AR) technology has provided another outlet for customer experience and marketing in the tourism industry. AR does not give you a 360-degree experience, it adds layers onto what the viewer is seeing. In our opinion AR is more useful for the tourism industry at this point in time, at least from the point of the tourist. AR apps are already more abundant than VR and AR does not require expensive equipment, only one’s mobile device and a corresponding app. Something as simple as an AR city guide that gives directions and detailed information about sites, which one can access on their mobile device, is very efficient for the tourist on the go. An example of this is the Google translate app, which uses AR to scan sentences in 90 languages and translate them in real time, on your mobile device [Tom’s Guide; 3]. Where VR is about immersive promotion/marketing, AR is greatly affective for aiding/informing the customer, both enhance the customer experience in different ways.

    The newest reality idea, which was fully launched a few days ago, is the mixed reality (MR). Magic Leap, owned by Google, announced its new gear – sort of like a Google glass – earlier this week. Where VR blocks out the world to immerse you in a new one, the MR keeps the world as it is and brings the virtual reality into the real one [Business Design+Construction; 4]. The wearer will see the MR through the Magic Leap glass where the visuals become an almost real time hologram. [DailyMail; 5] Though still a young technology, MR brings a new opportunity for the tourism industry in the future, by further immersing people into the product. Potential future application for MR could be used to show customers hotel rooms or rearrange them to their liking before booking, or allowing clients to experience being surrounded by tropical fish before experiencing the real thing and deciding if they should in fact do that snorkel tour.

                                                                                                    - Contributed by Alexa Bailey and Sakshi Bheda

Sources

[1] https://www.biv.com/article/2016/4/virtual-reality-poised-transform-tourism-marketing/

[2] http://globalnews.ca/news/2638463/from-messenger-chatbots-to-virtual-reality-tourism-everything-facebook-announced-at-f8/

[3] http://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/657-best-augmented-reality-apps.html

[4] http://www.bdcnetwork.com/mixed-reality-more-exciting-prospect-virtual-reality-movie-director-peter-jackson-thinks-so

[5] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3548343/Watch-Magic-Leap-s-mysterious-mixed-reality-action-Google-backed-firm-s-latest-demo-gives-new-clues-secretive-technology.html

[6] http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/wearables/gear/SM-R322NZWABTU