The world is getting smaller every day due to the travel and tourism industries booming. Add to that lowcost flight tickets, cheap bus rides, etc., and the entire planet seems to become a next-door adventure for people.
However, even despite the comparatively low travel prices, sometimes you can't travel to a place of your dreams - whether because of the budget or because of work responsibilities or, perhaps, you can't do it for health issues.
Should you give up on your dream to travel? Nope.
Helping you achieve your dream is where the travel and tourism agencies can take full advantage of the Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies and offer a whole new layer of services to the customers.
Virtual World at Your Feet: Travel with AR/VR
Travel and tourism are industries that are evergrowing. People like to travel, see different places, and experience new things. According to the World Travel Tourism Council, in 2017 alone, travel and tourism companies had contributed US$8.3 trillion(10.4%)of theglobal GDP. Needless to say that the figure is expected to grow.
In practice, this means that Travel & Tourism companies are continually expanding into new uncharted territories whether it is physical or conceptual realms. And travel businesses always have to care for the customer experience, or else there will be no customer. Coincidentally these two features to which Virtual and Augmented Reality can significantly contribute.
Given the fact that the majority of AR & VR travel apps are offering things that can be implemented into tourist experience in one way or another - more direct ties with the travel industry and a combination of effort can be a saving grace for VR & AR industries.
The thing with travel as a business is that it is a constant state of experimenting with the content - whether it is guided tours, particular experiences, or just hotel service - there is always an element of testing something new. In this context, VR & AR seems like an ultimate test subject as it is capable of being implemented in a variety of ways.
Let's see how VR & AR can enhance the travel experience.
What can Augmented Reality add to Travel Experience?
Augmented Reality Navigation & Routes
The easiest way the Augmented Reality can fit into the tourist experience is via routing and navigation solutions. The reason is simple - AR is capable of solving the problem in a more efficient and what is more convenient manner.
Maps and routing tools are indispensable tools for any traveler, and the addition of AR elements can greatly simplify navigating within a foreign place.
Sure, navigation is something every person needs once in a while, but for the tourist, the navigation on foreign soil is always a challenge. It is easy to get lost in a place you don’t know, even with the map at hand. And getting lost often leads to getting into some trouble which is a headache of its own in foreign countries.
AR also comes in handy when it comes to emergencies abroad. While this is uncommon, there is a chance someone will need to get to the closest hospital, and an AR solution might help guide towards it.
The same thing can be said about the other emergencies that require getting back to the hotel or foreign embassy or police station.
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TheAppSolutions company developed our own AR Navigation app -AR Places Map.It is designed specifically to simplify movement in the city and navigate in the different leisure opportunities. You can read about it here.
Features include:
- Locations of interest (restaurants, cafes, and other points of interest) on the map and in Augmented Reality mode
- Information about restaurants, art galleries, parks, and more
- Navigation and direction to the other locations
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Augmented Reality Guided Travel Tours
Guided tours are amongst the most popular tourist options. You know the drill - you go through different places and listen to some interesting stories about that.
One of the critical elements of such experience is the delivery of the guide, and that is one of the most challenging parts of the service as there is barely a chance to have a one-size-fits-all option that will be satisfying to the majority of the customer.
However, implementation of Augmented Reality offers an exciting thing - much more customized and personalized guiding experience. Not only the tourist would be able to choose the style and content of guiding, but they can also customize so that it will cover the topics they are interested in — for example, one type of narration for kids and the other for adults.
On the other hand, there is a possibility for the tourist of making their customized tours filled with comments and routes of their own distributed via the interest-specific network. While it seems far-fetched, it is something that will probably occur somewhere down the line with the development of the technology.
Virtual Reality Travel Industry Advantages
Visit Before You Go
Visit before you go is a travel edition of the famous "try before you buy." Selling a journey or tour can be a challenge, and it needs as many convincing arguments as possible. Customers are always cautious and tend to double-check every word and picture thrown at them. However, there is a way to ease the whole “selling” process for both parties.
Enter Virtual Reality Travel.
“Try before you buy” option is probably the most apparent use of VR in the Travel and Tourism industry. VR travel experience is the ultimate mean of giving the most immersive and engaging presentation of the proposed journey. With sight and sound and even interactivity to a certain extent - VR videos can provide everything a customer needs to know to make his mind.
All that gives a better understanding of an offer to the customer and as such can be an invaluable tool in making deals without excessive sugar coating.
Historical Reconstruction
History is a fascinating thing. Walking on the remnants of the things long past is an incredible experience. But what if we take a step further and attempt to recreate the events of the past? Even better, right? Historical reconstructions are always popular, and at times it offers a much more profound second-hand experience of a recreated era. And Virtual Reality can make it even more effective.
Historical reconstructions don’t need virtual reality per se, but historical reconstruction in virtual reality can be an experience of its own with a very different substance — a time travel experience of sorts.
There are two ways of implementing Virtual Reality to historical reconstruction tourism:
- Ambient Reconstruction
- Direct Recreation
Ambient Reconstruction is a kind of reconstruction is not centered around historical events but rather the everyday life and its struggles in a certain period. Sure, due to limitations to visual and sound elements the experience is not as immersive as in real life - but it can offer a more detailed and diverse look at the way people lived in a certain age with interactivity to a certain extent. Think of all the things you can do in Bethesda’s “The Elder Scrolls” game settlements, and you get the point.
The other approach is a direct recreation of a certain historical event. In this case, the experience is more of a guided tour with limited interactivity. In some instances, tourists can be just spectators of past events (launching of Apollo 11), in other cases, tourists can actively participate (D-Day or any other battle). Both approaches take a page from the video games playbook and offer affordable and diverse experiences without travel discomfort.
Something Completely Different: Virtual Travel to Unreal Places
The other potentially industry-changing way of implementing Virtual and Augmented Reality solutions to Travel & Tourism got nothing to do with actual traveling. It completely ditches the whole thing for a completely different thing that cannot be experienced in any other way. VR vacation is the next big thing down the line. Here’s why.
Imagine traveling to Parts Unknown straight out of the mind of some artist or doing some exploratory space travel. Or imagine going to Middle-Earth or some Star Wars planet - looking at its “historical” sites and living out the lives of its inhabitants. For years these places were relegated purely for imagination and partially recreated in video games and illustration.
Now it is possible with a more significant extent of immersion and a bigger level of engagement. Think about “Total Recall” and its concept of living out incredible adventures.
However, there is a challenging part. Given the fact that this kind of experience will be completely original, creating VR scenery will require deeper involvement from the artists and more broad conceptualization than a simple recreation of already existing sites.
Visits to the Off-Limit Areas
Visiting off-limit areas can be considered as another variation of reconstruction. It makes a lot of sense since some places are way too dangerous for tourists or extensive human presence can be damaging to the environment. In any case, such a thing is a viable option, and it is a good case for using Virtual Reality.
The challenge comes with the immersion. While historical reconstruction gets the benefit of having some form of action going on that can immerse a tourist deep enough to suspend disbelief, the same can’t be applied to off-limit reconstruction due to a fact that it is likely not much going on.
As such, there must be other means of immersing the tourist in the environment, and that might involve some additional solutions that limit such use of VR to VR-cafes or related places.
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Museum Experience with Augmented & Virtual Reality
Museums and AR seem to be another natural match. It is effortless to figure out where and how AR and VR solutions can be implemented into the museum experience.
First of all, it can be incredibly beneficial for guided tours. Museums often suffer from a lack of trained personnel and visitor overflow. The other problem is that the museum excursions are overly general, lacking much detail, and simply moving too fast. All these problems can be solved with a little help of Augmented Reality. Here’s how.
We’ve already covered the case for AR guided tours and museums are perfect for these things. Just think about getting a much more profound guided tour over an exhibition with lots of comments and references popping up on the screen revealing a sea of worthwhile information. That’s an entirely different experience.
For instance, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum is now testing an AR app that will provide informational support for the photographic documents. An app will offer more insights into the images - background context and key facts that will help visitors to construct a more cohesive understanding of the depicted events.
On the other hand, the Virtual Reality app can turn the museum into an elaborate interactive environment where visitors can experience a very different kind of art. Virtual Reality can make a case for creating a VR-only museum with digital recreations of artworks or VR-specific artworks.
In any case, the implementation of VR & AR will help to improve the museum experience and bring it to another level.
Match Made in Heaven?
Augmented and Virtual solutions are a great way of exposing new people to technology and establishing it as something worthwhile and worth returning to by connecting it to familiar experiences. At the same time, the travel and tourism industry offers a set of solid business models to lean on which is very important for Virtual Reality technology at the current moment.
A match made in heaven? We think so.
READ ALSO:
BENEFITS OF USING AUGMENTED REALITY FOR BUSINESS
AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY IN EDUCATION
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Let's talk!FAQs
How is augmented reality used in the travel industry? ›
Thanks to this experience, a tourist can walk down the street and get instant information about the surroundings with just his smartphone. The web AR allows, among other options, to locate the most interesting points and access updated information on transport, restaurants, museums and any cultural activity.
What are two ways that VR can be used in the tourism industry? ›Other potential uses for VR in the travel industry include: Trial runs of attractions, hotels, and places of interest. Travelers can check out accommodations and locations before they book their trips, to see if destinations are worth the investment. In-flight entertainment.
How AR and VR helps in business? ›By using AR/VR, businesses can create a virtual environment that allows customer service representatives to interact with customers in real-time, regardless of location. This doesn't just reduce costs, but also provides a better customer experience by allowing customers to get the help they need quickly and easily.
Why augmented reality is important in tourism industry? ›The Importance of Augmented Reality For the Travel Industry
This is primarily because it enables hotels and other businesses operating in this field to enhance the physical environments they are actually trying to encourage customers to visit, including local sights and hotel rooms.
AR VR in travel and tourism ecosystem is used for improving travel convenience, navigation, and for creating menus with an interactive 360-degree view of the food and the ingredients used in it, and others.
What are the benefits of VR in tourism? ›To sum up, VR in tourism helps: Create VR travel experiences; Create interactive content for websites and social media; Create VR hotel and tourist attraction tours.
What industries are currently benefiting from VR? ›- Construction.
- Rescue operations.
- Furniture.
- Real estate.
- Entertainment.
- Education.
- Health and wellness.
- E-commerce.
- Healthcare. The most important way VR is modernizing healthcare is through training. ...
- 2. Entertainment. ...
- Automotive. ...
- Education. ...
- Space & Military. ...
- Architecture. ...
- Digital Marketing. ...
- Occupational Safety.
- Automotive industry. VR allows engineers and designers to experiment easily with the look and build of a vehicle before commissioning expensive prototypes. ...
- Healthcare. ...
- Retail. ...
- Tourism. ...
- Real estate. ...
- Architecture. ...
- Interior design. ...
- Gambling.
The advantages of augmented reality include higher user engagement, unique user experience, increased sales, boosted employee satisfaction, brand awareness, and the opportunity to stand out from the market.
Why is augmented reality good for business? ›
Firstly, AR can help customers visualize and understand complex processes or mechanisms. For example, Toyota and Hyundai have leveraged AR to demonstrate key features and innovative technology in their new car models. Secondly, AR can be used to provide directions or help customers navigate in stores.
How AR used in current business? ›AR allows companies to develop training that's consistent for each employee and enables the employee to develop competence and confidence in their role. Example: A company could develop an AR application to onboard employees, training them quickly with minimal risk to the employee or to workplace operations.
Why is virtual reality become important in the hospitality and tourism industry? ›Within the hospitality industry, VR has become particularly important, because of the amount of information the average customer needs before they will actually book a hotel room.
What are 3 augmented reality applications? ›- Houzz.
- IKEA Place.
- YouCam Makeup.
- GIPHY World.
- Google Lens.
- Augment.
- ROAR.
- Amikasa.
- Medical Training. Medical Training – AR technology has a major application in Medical Studies. ...
- Interior Design and Modeling. ...
- Classrooms for Education. ...
- 4. Entertainment. ...
- Retail Industry.
One of the most common use cases of VR in tourism is creating virtual hotel tours. You can invite your potential guests to a virtual experience to present your rooms, amenities, and location. You can easily use 360-degree photos or videos and add them to your website.
What is VR or AR in hotel industry? ›Augmented reality has emerged as an important concept within hospitality management in recent years, because it allows hotels and other related businesses to enhance the physical environment they are selling (i.e. their hotel and its rooms), or enhance the experience of exploring the surrounding area.
How VR can be use in aviation industry? ›Aviation maintenance
Today, VR and AR training simulators allow aviation mechanics to learn and inspect parts of an aircraft remotely in a completely immersive environment. Airbus mechanics, for example, are using VR technology via a VR headset, touchpads and infrared cameras to inspect and repair their aircrafts.
- Increase knowledge area.
- Active experience rather than just passive information.
- Helps to understand complex concepts, subjects, or theories.
- No distractions while the study.
- Boosts students creativity.
- Expands learners efficiency to gain knowledge.
Advantages of online travel agents
It's a low cost way to list your property and its rooms. Reductions in your online marketing spend. OTAs will invest in marketing and advertising to attract potential international customers. A reduction in your website costs.
Which industry is investing most in augmented reality technologies? ›
Since the introduction of AR and VR technology, the entertainment sector has been their area of application. In this sector, these technologies are used in the production of gaming, movies, sports, travel, and other platforms.
Which country uses VR the most? ›China spends the most on VR.
However, the U.S. and Western Europe are close behind China and are expected to start catching up by 2024, thanks to five-year CAGRs of 75.1% and 72.8%, respectively.
iTechArt (New York, USA)
Oculus VR (California, USA) HTC (North Conway, USA) Samsung (Suwon, Korea) Microsoft (Washington, USA)
The target audience of a VR venue
According to a study carried out by us last November, the age groups that come the most in VR gaming rooms are 12 - 15 years old and 30 - 40 years old. The representations of the sexes are 50% for women and 50% for men.
The AR/VR devices of the future will provide personalized, accessible and well-designed experiences. As these elements take hold, a platform shift is imminent. In my opinion, in three years we are going to see new AR glasses with LTE capabilities that will become an alternative to the smartphone.
Which industry uses AR? ›Manufacturing
AR has wide applications in manufacturing. The technology lets workers visualize and use data in real-time, enabling them to make timely data-driven decisions.
- New York Times: Using VR Tech for Storytelling. ...
- GSK: Migraine Experience. ...
- Adidas Terrex: Delicatessen. ...
- Thomas Cook: Try Before You Fly. ...
- McDonald's: Happy Goggles. ...
- Volvo: Virtual Reality Test Drive. ...
- All Nippon Airways: The Room.
VR aims to create a sensory experience for the user, sometimes including sight, touch, hearing, smell, or even taste. The industry is growing at a fast pace, with the global VR market size projected to increase from less than 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to more than 22 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.
How is VR used in logistics? ›Onboarding. Every new hire needs to get up-to-speed as quickly as possible so they can contribute to productivity. VR training gives logistics employees hands-on learning and realistic decision-making practice, which is incredibly valuable for onboarding proficient employees.
What are two examples of companies that are using AR? ›Home Depot isn't the only home furniture store to use AR to create value for their users — IKEA has similar AR technology built into its app.
Which industry first uses AR for commercial purpose? ›
Commercial augmented reality experiences were first introduced in entertainment and gaming businesses. Subsequently, augmented reality applications have spanned commercial industries such as education, communications, medicine, and entertainment.
What is the future of augmented reality? ›The augmented reality (AR) market is expected to reach over $97bn by 2028, bringing with it a dizzying change in the way we interact with the world and tech.
What companies will benefit from augmented reality? ›- Snap. Snap developed the popular social media app Snapchat. ...
- Etsy. Etsy is an online marketplace where people can buy and sell a variety of handcrafted products. ...
- Alphabet. ...
- Apple. ...
- Nintendo. ...
- Qualcomm. ...
- Nvidia.
...
Augmented Reality Market Is driven by Digital Transformations and Industrial Automation.
A regular tourist map can come alive with AR technology allowing guests to see places of interest, restaurants, bars and more. Your hotel restaurant can even use AR to allow guests to view the menu and ingredients in a different way seeing the dishes from their smartphones in 3D.
What is the role of virtual worlds in travel? ›Virtual tourism has a handful of other benefits: The immersive experience allows the viewer to imagine themselves at a travel destination. The viewer can control what they see of a destination, experiencing 360 degrees of a location. All aspects of a destination can be showcased in high resolution.
What is the most important benefit of virtual tour Why? ›Virtual tours allow you to track viewers and their behavior on your website through the use of code that is added directly onto the tour page! This helps with conversions, as it allows you to see which parts of your virtual tour are most effective for getting more leads.
What is augmented reality Give 5 examples? ›- IKEA Mobile App. ...
- Nintendo's Pokémon Go App. ...
- Google Pixel's Star Wars Stickers. ...
- Disney Coloring Book. ...
- L'Oréal Makeup App. ...
- Weather Channel Studio Effects. ...
- U.S. Army.
Augmented reality uses the existing real-world environment and puts virtual information—or even a virtual world—on top of it to enhance the experience. For example, think of Pokémon Go, where users are searching in their real-life neighborhoods for animated characters that pop up on their phone or tablet.
What are the examples of AR and VR? ›Augmented reality (AR) adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone. Examples of augmented reality experiences include Snapchat lenses and the game Pokemon Go. Virtual reality (VR) implies a complete immersion experience that shuts out the physical world.
Where is augmented reality most used? ›
Today, augmented reality is an effective business tool. Across a number of different industries like retail, business, gaming, healthcare, and even the military, augmented reality is used for solving various business challenges.
Which is the most famous application that uses augmented reality? ›Blippar serves as an alternative to google Lenses as Blippar is an AR-based image recognition technology that provides accurate search results. It supports both Android and iOS devices.
Who owns metaverse? ›In the case of the Facebook Metaverse, it is owned by the company founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
How are augmented reality apps reshaping Travel and Tourism? ›Augmented Reality travel apps ensure that travelers never get lost in a foreign city or in a remote location regardless of the language barriers. Instead of asking for directions, visitors can use AR-based navigation apps to easily reach their destinations.
How are hotels using augmented reality? ›Many hotels are seeing the benefits of using augmented reality to make the hotel environment more enjoyable to spend time in. For example, Holiday Inn created an augmented reality hotel experience, which allowed guests to point their smartphone and see realistic virtual depictions of famous celebrities in the hotel.
What is augmented reality in aviation? ›Augmented reality has the capacity to make the air-traffic visualization more effective. Pilots will be able to have a 360-degree view with statistics and virtual images that make air traffic clearly visible to them. As a result, pilots can keep an eye on the air traffic and fly safely.
How is augmented reality used in pilot training? ›Augmented reality: AR involves providing the pilot, for example, with real-time data and digital elements on condition such as terrain, weather, navigation and traffic—all via a headset. This technology can significantly improve aviation safety during takeoff and landing.
What is the latest technology trends used in the travel industry? ›Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Interactive ads with engaging information are augmented reality experiences that are revolutionising the travel industry like never before.
The best applications of artificial intelligence in the travel industry can be found in travel chatbots, voice assistants and robots, facial recognition software, systems for crafting personalized recommendations, sentiment analysis, luggage handling, and flights forecasting.
What software do most hotels use? ›What property management system do most hotels use? The most advanced hotel PMS software vendors include vendors like RoomRaccoon, Cloudbeds, RMS Cloud, and Little Hotelier (by Siteminder).
What are 3 types of augmented or virtual reality? ›
There are 3 primary categories of virtual reality simulations used today: non-immersive, semi-immersive, and fully-immersive simulations.
What skills does AR VR need? ›- Proficiency in programming languages such as C++, JAVA and C#
- Ability to use 3D tools like 3D MAX and Autodesk 3D.
- Video/sound production skills.
- Strong UI/UX skills.
- Game development.
Augmented reality (AR) involves overlaying visual, auditory, or other sensory information onto the real world to enhance one's experience. Retailers and other companies can use augmented reality to promote products or services, launch novel marketing campaigns, and collect unique user data.
What are the 4 difficulties in using augmented reality AR in education? ›Technical Issues With Augmented Reality Training (e.g. hardware, content, and user difficulties) Limited Augmented Reality Training Content Capabilities. Vendor Issues When Outsourcing Extended Reality Training. Augmented Reality Training Can Be Less Immersive Than Other Modalities.