If virtual reality as long been considered as a
fantasy, it is now a true phenomenon used in multiple areas. It is available to
the general public for example through the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality
Glasses, which are cardboard virtual reality glasses that customers can easily
build and combine with a smartphone. They are provided by companies who want to
show their products to their clients. It is a major trend in the tourism field
and even if it represents interesting opportunities it could also be a threat
for the sector. Let us show you why.
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| Google Cardboard Glasses |
The advantages of virtual reality in Tourism and especially for Destinations are numerous and they were exposed a few time on this blog by our colleagues. We personally had the chance to test the Google Cardboard Glasses at the ITB, the world’s leading Tourism Trade Show taking place in Berlin in March. We visited Mexico’s stand when we were offered Google Cardboard and asked to load the Mexico Cardboard app on our smartphone. Suddenly we weren’t in Berlin anymore but snorkeling in a beautiful lagoon, or admiring an Aztec pyramid in Mexico. This experience gave us a taste of Mexico much more effectively than any brochure or ad would be able to. A lot of other Destinations use Google Cardboard to promote themselves, like Australia, Belfast, Tokyo…
Obviously Virtual Reality is a powerful tool
for Destination Marketing Organization. If they use it the right way with
attractive films showing what the destination has to offer, it could be the
best way to attract visitors to their destinations. People want to be sure that
the destination they choose will fit their expectations and this is made
possible by these glasses that allow them to have not only an insight (with
photos) of what they really will discover, but a true experience to move and
see with their eyes the destination…at home. It is also a good solution to
compare destinations. Following the same idea, Virtual Reality can be useful
for suppliers like Hotels, Activities, and Restaurants… The goal of vacation is
to live an experience and with Virtual Realty, the experience can even begin
before the trip.
But it could potentially become a threat for
the same actors benefiting from it. People have restricted resources: time and
money. But traveling can be very expensive, from transport to accommodation and
activities. That is why some are afraid that people could use Virtual Reality
to “travel in their mind” and not move from home anymore, which could decrease
tourism flews. But travel is a full experience, not only restricted to what
people see: it is also a matter of feelings, sounds, sell, meeting, souvenirs…
People still need to leave their daily lives, thus we don’t believe in the end
of tourism.
We think that risks are elsewhere. Virtual
Reality shows an idealistic view of the product and reality may differ. Tourists
could become more demanding and hard to please because they want the reality to
be exactly the same as the one they saw with Virtual Reality. They could reject
crowded places or alteration of the hotels they choose. We already know the
Paris syndrome: people live a delusion after their visit to a city because they
had very high expectations of it, because of what they heard and saw in Films.
The same issue could happen and even give a bad reputation to the supplier, who
didn’t manage to offer a product of the same quality than in Virtual Reality
(which is difficult, as Virtual Reality presents an idealistic situation).
Another situation that may happen concerns very
expensive or distant Destinations. In this case, Virtual Reality could be a
risk: if people get the chance to see though Glasses what they dream to see in
real life, and that they know that this travel requires lot of money or
preparation, they could more easily let go the idea of going there in favor to
a more easy or less distant place. Some destinations better bet on their
Mysterious image to attract people.
But Virtual Reality is still an efficient tool
for more classical Destination who may want to show that they renew themselves;
for untraditional destination who need to show people that they have beautiful
things to see; and for suppliers who are sure of the quality of their products.
We think that this trend will revolutionize the promotion of Destination,
especially thanks to Google Cardboard Glasses, which are affordable and easy to
send to the customer and since Google provides help to build the app.
Agnès Trucco & Emilie Mika
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