A local Brisbane/Qld newspaper (The Courier Mail) has been running a very interesting series of articles over the last couple of weeks entitled “Future Tourism”. The series of articles has been focused on a whole range of tourism events and activities planned for Queensland in the future, and highlight a wealth of growth potential for Qld Tourism.
Many of the traditional “favourite” tourist activities have been covered in the Future Tourism series :
- Eco Tourism – “Green” friendly walks, treks, accommodation and experiences, particularly around the Scenic Rim and Moreton Bay
- Outback Tourism – Highlighting all the amazing activities and events available throughout
QLDs regional areas - Indigenous Tourism – an increased focus on
Indigenous focused activities and tourism
What is Virtual Tourism
Essentially “Virtual Tourism” describes a whole range of technologies which allow you to “experience” an activity, location or event, from the comfort of your own home (or mobile device).
The aim of Virtual Tourism is not so much to replace the actual experience of visiting a tourist destination or event, but to give you a “taste” of the experience – and encourage you to visit it in real life.
Saying that, for those that are, for whatever reason, not able to physically visit a tourism destination, (e.g. as a result of time, geographical, financial or physical constraints), Virtual Tourism may offer a serious alternative.
The types of technologies normally associated with Virtual Tourism are primarily 360° Photos/Videos and Virtual Tours… In a previous post entitled Using 360° Imagery and Virtual Tours to Promote
These technologies can be experienced by using a Desktop, Mobile Device or even via a Virtual Reality Headset.
Virtual Tourism Benefits
There are many advantages that Virtual Tourism technologies have to offer over traditional marketing techniques :
- Innovation – Virtual Tours still provide an impressive “wow” factor – particular when coupled with aerial imagery
- Connectivity & Accessibility – Provide a “spatial awareness” which is not possible with most other forms of marketing. Virtual Tours can be used by anyone with internet access via a variety of devices (mobile, desktop, VR Headset)…
- Experiential & Interactive – Offer an “experience” based interface, where users get to Interact and actually participate. The user gets to experience what they want, when and how they want to (rather than be forced along a predefined/guided journey) and this provides a level of emotional attachment not available through traditional media (photos and video)
- Inspirational – Offer a “taste” of the experience and provide insights into what is on offer, which very often results in
a “ I want to see more” moment. - Curated Content – A Virtual Tour provides a framework which can be used to present a wide variety of other content (Images, Galleries
,. Video, Stories, Information, Links, etc…) - Recyclable – although custom 360° imagery may be required it is also possible to re-use existing assets by incorporating and referencing pre-existing content
- Extendable – Virtual Tours can very easily be updated, modified and improved to update, add or remove activities and experiences
See naturalbridge.panoview.com.au for Full Screen version
Virtual Tourism for Your Tourism Business
If you’d like to find out more about how Virtual Tourism could be used to promote your Travel Destination, Events or Activities, please give Andy a call on 0403 023 223 … or Contact Us.