We’ve all been there - it’s a fact that going through travel catalogues and browsing online travel platforms helps us escape from everyday life. But despite the glossy brochures and animated websites, the experience is still limited. What remains is our longing for sunny beach walks, staying at luxurious hotel suites, or travelling first-class to remote islands.
NB: This is a viewpoint by Jörg Trouvain, CEO at 7Travel.
For everyone who needs a quick vacation getaway, the latest virtual reality trend will change everything. With the help of state-of-the-art technologies, people can now digitally transfer themselves from their own home or a travel agency to a variety of vacation destinations.
You no longer need to rely on the heavily photoshopped hotel images in travel catalogues or online - now you can digitally stroll through the hotel lobby, look at every corner of the hotel room, and see what the spa area holds for you.
Virtual reality can be used to experience vacation destinations “up close,” and the good news is that it requires very little equipment: a pair of glasses similar to ski goggles and a smartphone with the necessary virtual reality headphones are all you need to complete the intensive 360-degree experience.
Making a reservation using glasses
VR is a completely new and brilliant way to give travel customers intensive impressions of countries and their people, historic landmarks, and accommodation facilities of every kind.
With the predicted dissemination of VR in our daily lives, it’s very likely that the new technology will also become a success factor in marketing and sales in businesses like travel and tourism, with the potential to close the gap between online and offline business.
For example, travel agents who are well informed and equipped with VR instruments now have a great tool to bring customers back into their stores. Experiencing travel destinations prior to booking will become the standard.
It should also stimulate new approaches to marketing. Stronger connections to products will make it much easier to upsell premium services. You’ll really see what you’ll be getting.
Another important step is the connected reservation option: If customers like what they see, all they have to do is press the reservation button.
VR's time has come
For many years, VR was only for visionaries. Now, however, the time has come for a playful idea to be turned into marketable applications, and 2016 will mark its breakthrough.
This was demonstrated by presentations given at leading digital trade shows including this year CES Las Vegas and last summer's Gamescom Cologne.
At these and other events, VR glasses were a runaway success. Thanks to mobile connections, the head-mounted displays (HDM) required for VR glasses have become more attractive to the general market. The applications require less power and therefore open to a broad spectrum of use opportunities.
And everyone wants to get involved: In addition to the existing major head-mounted display providers such as Google and Facebook, others such as Samsung, Sony, Razor, Zeiss, and HTC are entering the market as well.
Depending on quality, prices for VR gear range from under Euro 100 to somewhere near Euro 1,000. So is it worth investing? KPMG’s latest study shows that investments in VR will clearly rise, especially in marketing and sales.
In our opinion, the travel industry in particular will benefit from its ROI and should go with this trend because of its visual and emotional product features.
Enticing trips to new worlds
In addition to travel, many other industries, from entertainment, video, and social networks to eSports, can benefit from this technology. VR could also fundamentally revolutionize interactions on social networks. Internet users will no longer be limited to interacting with friends through writing. Soon they will be able to interact virtually – dancing, chatting, playing, flirting, or even going on trips together. Another option is simply watching movies together.
The forecasts are so convincing that VR use should make economic sense for many companies. The total market is expected to reach Euro 46 billion by 2020. In the short term, growth will be driven by the sale of hardware, while over the long term it will be driven by content and commerce offerings.
At the moment we see two fronts of VR activity in the tourism sector: players who market the technical equipment to travel agencies, for example, who use it for sales.
The other front consists of destinations, hotels, and airlines, which have already taken the first steps by developing complete VR campaigns. Some current examples are Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Shangri-La Hotels, and Etihad Airways.
The market is still in the early stages, and the new technologies have not yet been able to effectively reach the average consumer. That said, no matter which industry is dealing with VR, professional content is king and creative storytelling the key to addressing its customers. Virtual reality offers endless possibilities for promoting products, and so it can lead industries such as tourism into new dimensions.
Finally, live experiences with an intensive product experience are already possible while making a reservation. The outlook is as enticing as a trip to new and fascinating worlds and cultures.
NB: This is a viewpoint by Jörg Trouvain, CEO at 7Travel.
Related reading from Tnooz:
Virtual reality at the airport – a B2B story (April 2016)
What happens in Las Vegas is now virtual (March 2016)
Virtual reality is the new Instagram (Feb 2016)