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

2016 : the year of connected wearables

According to Corbinball.com, 9 new technologies are very likely to take off in the meetings industry for 2016. We will pay a particular attention to the wearables because, in our opinion, they represent a real opportunity to transform a meeting into a memorable customer experience.

The “wearables” objects are one trendy innovation for namely event business industry. These are technologic objects connecting humans with their devices (mobile, computer, tablets etc.). We already know the smart watches or smart bracelets; they have little by little entered our daily life or sport activities. But they are also very useful for exhibitions and events, as well as wearable beacons - broadcasting our GPS data and used for receiving directional information in a fair or exhibition.

In view of improving, making communication quicker and visitor journey easier, these objects represent the future.

-      For attendees, with smart bracelets/watches, there is no need of having his phone in hands, no problem of battery or distraction, no problem of downloading the app of the specific event etc. These innovations represent a gain in time and convenience.

-       For event planners, it is very useful to measure the flow of visitors in real time, to know what stands/conferences are the most popular, where a reinforcement of staff is needed, what information the attendees looked for. Wearables make it easier for event planners to transmit specific information to attendees during the event and also to measure their satisfaction

In a word, according to the article, these wearables help event participants to:

• receive GPS directions
• receive directional indoor way-finding through a convention facility/exhibition hall
• open guestroom doors
• make e-wallet transactions that are faster and more secure than credit cards
• receive conference alerts
• exchange contact/lead retrieval information
• use as admission tickets
• make audience polling responses
• enable automated check-in for registration/meeting rooms
• record and track continuing education unit (CEU) credits and much more.

Convincing example of the ways wearables can disrupt the meetings industry are music festivals. In 2014, the Tomorrowland festival sent to each of its participants a connected bracelet which allowed them to exchange their Facebook profiles with people they met during the celebration by a simple contact between the devices. See promotional video of the festival below: 

For the Lab Festival, a French DJ contest, the organizers used wearables to register the audience votes. According to them, it was simpler to use, reliable technology and innovative. Thanks to these connected bracelets, participants can use them as their entry tickets but also to pay drinks or auxiliary merchandises. This simplifies the overall organization, reduces queuing lines and brings more security for payments or against ticket falsification. In the end, the data collected thanks to these wearables allow a better analysis of participants’ habits for future marketing expenses, advertisement possibilities or stock management for example.

In our opinion, this technology presents major opportunities to disrupt the event industry and transform an event as an interactive customer experience. For big events, this could guide the visitors through the stands and conferences that interest them, saving them some precious time looking at a map or downloading an app. This could also be a very practical tool to network without traditional business cards; like at Tomorrowland, participants of a business event could exchange their LinkedIn profiles or digital business cards by a simple touch. This could be used to participate during conferences; to vote or ask questions to the speaker for example like SLi.Do concept. The major advantage of this technology remains its intuitive use even for “beginners” and the multiple possibilities of use it can have. However, an obstacle to its mass development for the moment remains its high cost compared to simply using beacon technology in a mobile event app– up to US$10-15 or more per person for a rental.

Manon Gattegno

Camille Courtial-Spiroux

Sources:

http://www.corbinball.com/articles_technology/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=9236

http://helloendless.com/top-5-event-technology-trends-need-know/

http://www.commentcamarche.net/news/5866688-evenementiel-un-bracelet-connecte-pour-innover-et-dematerialiser

http://www.couvre-feu.fr/evenementiel-et-objets-connectes-top-6-des-meilleures-opes/