Future of Virtual Reality Tourism Posted May 26, 2022
The tourism sector might bear witness to the fact that it was one of the worst-hit industries in the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021. With the closure of businesses and limitation of movement, it was a nightmare scenario for anyone in the tourism sector. Many people lost their jobs as a result, and the tourism industry is still reeling from the damaging effects of the pandemic left.
What was clear from this experience was that the tourism industry needs to find ways to keep afloat when faced with such a crisis in the future. Unlike sectors like gambling, where the online alternative was and still is adequate enough for gamers in the place of land-based gambling, the situation is a bit more complicated for tourism. Let’s paint a quick picture; for gambling, it’s as simple as signing in on a platform where you register on an online casino, like Ice Casino login steps will follow, and you can effortlessly enjoy yourself. And if you yearn for the in-person interaction offered by brick-and-mortar casino gambling, there are live casino games that provide real-time action.
Conveniently, the idea of virtual reality tourism recently popped up. A concept, if well-executed, may very well see it take center stage in the tourism sector in the coming years. Even a global pandemic that forces global populations to stay indoors will not be enough to prevent people from soaking in the beauty of their favorite destinations. Better still, as is the case with the likes of gambling and shopping, VR tourism will eliminate the need for you to leave the comfort of your home. So, pandemic scenarios aside, relishing experiences will be possible wherever you are. But first things first, do you even understand how virtual reality in tourism works? Find out more in the next section.
What Is Virtual Reality in Tourism
Imagine a setting where you can see and explore scenes and settings in a lifelike 3D dimension with a 360 degrees point of view while being part virtual environment yourself and interacting with the objects you encounter. This is what virtual reality is all about – viewing and interacting with objects and settings from a more expansive vantage point than the traditional fixed points.
How can this be integrated into tourism? Think of all your favorite vacation places, the beach, the aqua park, or even a historic building, and how you can view them in a more immersive or expansive way without a physical visit. Now, that’s virtual reality in tourism. It is brought to life with the help of enhanced software and camera rigs that enhance that VR experience for you. If you think about it, the future of virtual reality in tourism is indeed a bright one. So, let’s take a look at some of the aspects in which VR technology will take a prominent role in the tourism industry.
Enhanced Tourism Videos
Tons of fancy tourism videos are already available online today. However, with VR tourism content, you can explore the scenes in a more interactive environment. Virtual cameras are set so that they can capture every angle in view.
What does this mean for you, the viewer? First, you can rotate the view to enjoy the experience from different angles. For instance, if you are in a zoo, you can adjust the view to take in all the angles as you would if you were there in person.
From the Sofa to Safari
There’s been a lot of progress made in the VR tourism sector, and many new concepts have come to life, mainly thanks to the advancement of VR hardware. For example, the virtual headset company Oculus launched its Quest 2 headset in October 2021. The headset allows you to take a tour to all the places you would have dreamt of touring, for instance, Antarctica the Everest, or you can even navigate the desert feel of Egypt as you explore the pyramids.
It feels a lot like the teleporting experience we see in movies and is enabled by different apps that seamlessly catapult you from your couch to different parts of the globe in a split second. It could be the Taj Mahal, the Empire State building, or The Louvre, among many other places worldwide.
What Does the Future Hold for VR in Tourism?
Baby steps would be the adequate answer to this question. While advances are taking place faster than ever before, we still need to be patient if we are to see the full potential of VR tourism. For now, however, we can just have to make do with what’s available. So, when you can, take in the beauty of 3600 videos that are in plenty on platforms like YouTube to enjoy the basics of what VR tourism could be upon maturity.
It’s also pretty encouraging to see the governments of different countries taking the initiative and jumping into the VR tourism bandwagon to promote their local sceneries worldwide. An excellent example of such a pioneer country is Germany, whose national tourist board has unveiled various immersive 3600 video projects since 2017.
