Imagine starting your day in the rainforests of Brazil, wherever you look, in any direction, all you can see are thick brown tree trunks covered with moss, above you a thick green canopy of leaves. Sunlight is hardly penetrating the leafy rooftop, birds native to the Brazilian rain forest are cooing in your ears. Suddenly, you hear a low growl of crouching jaguar, somewhere hidden in the shrubs. Your heartbeat starts to rise, you can feel sweat running down the side of your temple, anything might happen a second and lo, with the push of a button, you suddenly realize that you are sitting in your drawing room, surrounded with all the modern amenities and no sign of that Brazilian rain forest you were roaming in a few moments ago…
This may look like a scene from a fantastical sci-fi movie, but all of this is reality. IT has been made possible with the help of technologies such as VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Right now, the whole world is suffering through a pandemic, COVID-19. Along with disrupting the day to day functioning of societies all over the world we are facing the destruction of many industries. The tourism and hospitality industry, unfortunately, is one such industry. We need to understand the gravity of the situation, as the economy of many countries depends directly on Tourism and Hospitality. Along with this, Tourism also helps not just to preserve certain cultures, ecosystems, and biodiversity of certain landmasses by raising awareness but is also a powerful tool to understand not just the glorious past of human history but also the different cultural and societal fabric of different nations.
At present we are facing a lockdown, not just within our country but also on an international level. The aviation industry, civilian navel industry, railways, and the other modes of mass transportation currently are at a halt. As the situation will get better over time, we may expect growth in at present sunken tourism industry. But this growth won’t be enough to cover the losses that we have already suffered. Also, this pandemic has made us aware to think of an alternate mode of tourism, one of such process is Virtual Tourism.
As we had said, Virtual tourism is no more a concept from science fiction. It can be explained as a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos or still images, combining them with technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, we can create an experience for the user which can be very close to real experience if not better.
As explained, Virtual Tourism is a reality in its own right, many of the world’s most renowned tourists sights and art galleries and museums are using the technology such as :
1.The Great Wall of China: We can go on a hiking tour on the great wall fo China. The Tour expands six and a half miles of the wall between Jinshanling and Simatai, a stretch known for some of the best views from the wall.
2. 30 World Heritage Sites: Google Earth is offering 3D virtual tours of Wolrd Heritage sites, such as TajMahal, Stone Henge, and Shiinxand the great pyramids.
3. 3D virtual tours of 31 National parks: Google earth is also offering 3D virtual tours of national parks around the world from Acadia to Zion. The process and technology are similar to Virtual Tour of World heritages.
4. The virtual trip across Japan: Japan National Tourism Organisation developed a 360-degree VR Movie that takes you on a tour from bamboo forests to sushi-making classes. examples are Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan National Stadium, and JNTO Japan Virtual Tour (VR).
Above are the few examples of Virtual Tourism. Just like any other industry, the idea to provide service to the consumer without him leaving his couch, i.e. allowing the consumer to enjoy the service with minimal effort is the one which is going to win the rat race. We need to realize and agree that there is still a lot of work to be done, not just on the technological level, but also to create awareness among masses before we can promote virtual tourism to the mainstream industries, but there is no denying in the fact that Virtual tourism is the future of Tourism and Hospitality industry.
Now, as Virtual tourism is not a very common topic to be discussed among masses, as most of the people still believe in the traditional method of tourism and travel, we need to create awareness among the masses before we can rely on or believe in it as an industry to generate revenue. As the USP of virtual tourism is that a tourist or a consumer can experience any tourist locations without leaving his couch, the spread of awareness or promotion of the industry should also be done in the same manner. We can use digital marketing to spread awareness of virtual tourism. Various tourist spots can create and run campaigns or ads on social media platforms to promote themselves. Various art galleries and museums can also create and promote themselves over social media platforms. We need to promote the methods of booking and organizing such virtual tours so that more and more crowds will be attracted to the same. There is some stigma among the older generation as they still prefer the traditional methods of tourism, we can work with them, make them take a small experience of virtual tourism, make them aware of the educational benefit of it along with the benefit of not wasting time or losing the comfort of home to enjoy the culture or scenic view of some exotic location or roam in a museum, enjoying the masterpiece of some great artist. Virtual tourism still has a lot of scope of development and digitalization can help us achieve the same.