The Future of Travel: VR Hire for Tourism

Is Virtual Reality the future of travel?

Instead of hiring cars, will we be hiring virtual reality headsets in the future, in order to go on holiday?

It’s winter here in the UK. The days are depressingly short and dark, and the summer holidays are a very long way away. But the good news is that I do have a VR headset! And if you don’t own one, you can hire one to give it a try.

Virtual reality is replacing business travel, with colleagues meeting as avatars in virtual meeting rooms. But what about travel for pleasure? What is the role of virtual reality in the tourism industry? VR is already being utilized for the pre-holiday planning stage. Viewing 360 VR tourism videos of a hotel, a city, or resort can awaken longings to travel there. Some travel companies, such as Igoroom, are using tourism presentation systems based on virtual reality, where images of the hotels and resorts are captured in 360, to help customers choose their getaway.
The question remains as to whether virtual travel can replace real travel. So I am going to conduct an experiment. In order to imagine the future, let us first explore what is possible in the present. Whilst snuggled up in a blanket on my sofa, I am going to use my headset to go in search of adventure, the exotic and sunnier climes. My question is…

 

Can I get that holiday feeling by visiting a place in VR?

Or will my wanderlust be even worse, and the summer feel ever further away than ever? Come along with me and find out!

There are three main ways to “travel” in VR – in 360 video, in apps, and in social VR. Let’s try them all!

 

VR 360 Video

A 360 video in VR appears all around you, as well as above and below you.

I pop on my Quest headset and make my way to YouTube, where there are so many travel VR videos that I am spoilt for choice – “Istanbul, Turkey Guided Tour in 360 VR” ; “Venice, The Floating City: A Guided VR Tour” ; “Underwater Life, Marsa Alam, Egypt”; and even a “360 VR Space Safari” .

I opt for “360°, Chengdu Panda Base, China, 8K aerial video” , and fly into a giant panda sanctuary in the Chinese province of Sichuan. I hover just above a group of these adorable animals, in their spacious open enclosure. I smile as the roly-poly bears lazily munch on bamboo, being irresistibly cute. Sometimes they tumble playfully together or climb trees. I learn interesting facts such as that the newborn is 900 times smaller than the adult giant panda. I turn around to look behind me, and see Chinese families gazing adoringly at these “bamboo bears”, one of the 20 names they have for the species, including “big cat bear” and “spotted bear”. I ride around the modern, well-kept park in an open-sided shuttle bus.

Watching the 360 video in VR definitely made me feel much more present with the pandas than watching the same video on a flat screen. My visit has been delightful, and I have felt a fluttering of the “holiday feeling”, but the resolution of the 360 video is not sharp enough to give me the feeling of actually being there, unless I have gone on holiday and forgotten to take my glasses. Instead, this video has made we want to visit the pandas of Chengdu in real life.

But 360 videos are only 3-DoF experiences (three degrees of freedom), meaning that they are stationary – you can only move your head, and cannot walk around the space, nor interact with anything. In order to move around the environment and interact with objects within it, I need a VR experience with 6-DoF. VR apps offer six degrees of freedom.

 

VR Apps

“Google Earth VR” is the most comprehensive of the VR travel apps, and has a 3D digital model of most of the whole world – an incredible feat! “National Geographic Explore VR” lets you kayak in Antarctica in search of emperor penguins, or wander around an Inca citadel and pick up objects in Machu Picchu. “Mission: ISS” allows you to experience weightlessness in the International Space Station. Virtual reality travel also enables you to visit places that have been damaged or destroyed, such as Notre Dame and Pompeii .

I embark on “Surviving Africa with Ed Stafford” , a 360 documentary with interactive 6-DoF gaming elements, where the explorer and survival expert leads me across stunning but unforgiving landscapes. We encounter elephants, buffalo, and giraffes. “Find food. Don’t be food.” Ed exhorts. Ed is great company, with his reassuring skillset and down to earth humour. He points to a small hole in a bank, and wonders if we might find an egg inside. We are hungry, but it’s risky. “You know what they say – if you wouldn’t put your willy in it, don’t put your finger in it,” he quips. Ed barbecues scorpions and we sleep in a tree to avoid being eaten by hyenas. There are interactive moments when Ed entrusts me to carry out tasks such as killing guinea fowl by throwing a knife, and lighting a fire in a cave.

It’s an immersive and exciting adventure, and I do feel, on some level, that I have “been” to Africa.

 

Social VR

Social VR is when people visit platforms such as Engage, RecRoom and VRChat and get together to play games, explore and socialize in 6-DoF worlds. You are embodied as an avatar, and your own voice comes out of it when you speak.

In search of a vacation vibe, I head to Azure Beach in VRChat. The turquoise sea and yellow sand immediately lift my spirits, and the sound of the sea and birds is relaxing. I explore the island, chill on the beach for a while, then pick up litter and am rewarded with the opportunity to swim with sharks! Fantastic fun! And I do feel as if I have had a short break.

For my final trip, I have booked to go on a group tour with VR Japan Tours entitled “Under the Autumn Moon” as part of the Raindance Immersive Festival . I find myself in a beautiful Japanese garden with orange autumn tints, amid a group of eclectic festivalgoers. Our Japanese guide, an anime-style lady with pink hair and an exquisite kimono, teach us about “kouyou”, autumn leaves, and the traditional pastime of “kouyou-gari” – autumn leaves hunting, going for walks to admire the seasonal hues.

We enter an elegant traditional Japanese house, and our guides invite us to try our hand at the ancient art of calligraphy. Using simulated brushes and ink, our instructors demonstrate proper brushstroke technique and explain the intricacies of “kanji” – the logographic symbols that visually encapsulate meanings rather than phonetic sounds. The sweeping lines and bold shapes have a simple yet profound beauty.

Now it’s our turn to try. The brushes are surprisingly lifelike and as the ink spatters messily across my rice paper canvas, I have a very convincing feeling of incompetence. This I appreciate, because if the virtual brush turned me into a Japanese calligraphy master, which is perfectly possible in VR, the experience would lack authenticity. Our guide writes the kanji for my name “Jo”. A fellow tourist is also called “Joe”, and we are both delighted to learn that our name is a Japanese surname and means “castle”. How cool is that!?

A magical portal is dropped before us – a swirling vortex – and we all pile through it.

We emerge in a night garden and enter a beautiful pavilion, its airy terrace opening to the inky blue sky above. Our guide explains that we have arrived in time for “Otsukimi”, the magical autumn festival honouring the full harvest moon. Then we sit down ready for a performance. Our guide teaches us words of encouragement to call out to the performers – “kawaii” which means cute, and “miyabi” which expresses the traditional Japanese aesthetic ideal of refinement, courtliness and elegance. There are several incredible performers. This is one of them

A mysterious grey figure in exquisite robes graces the stage, a mask concealing their identity, a glittering fan in each hand, one ruby red, one sapphire blue. They perform an elegant dance – stylized and courtly. Just as we settle into the hypnotic rhythm, the mask vanishes and the fans turn into flashing swords! The performer launches into a formidable warrior’s dance. The blades slice the night air, becoming extensions of the dancer’s own limbs. As the performance crescendos, they stamp their feet, and a blazing ring of fire flashes out across the floor.

The audience bursts into rapturous applause. “Kawaii!!!” “Miyabi!!!!”

I was looking for that holiday feeling, but this VR Japan Tours virtual reality travel experience has gone above and beyond, and given me something that I wasn’t expecting, and did not know was even possible – I feel with absolute conviction that I have been to Japan.

 

The Future of Virtual Reality in Tourism Industry

As we have seen from the Japan Tour, a combination of 6-DoF, social VR, outstanding world-building and superb content can already add up to an experience that feels incredibly rich and real. And the technology can only get better! Just imagine what will be possible in the future.

The desire for real travel will never go away, but VR tourism can exist alongside it.

I may want to visit the pandas in Chengdu, but when the distance is far and the cost prohibitive, VR travels in the future could be a satisfying substitute.

There is another reason for travel with VR. The World Tourism Council estimates that the tourism sector creates around 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the climate crisis, and this is rising. VR can also be a substitute for visiting places where tourism places an intolerable burden on delicate ecosystems, such as the Galapagos (which can already be visited in VR 180 video in the company of Sir David Attenborough himself.)

Virtual reality travel for seniors is expected to become a growing trend as the population ages, and mobility issues and other health concerns make real travel difficult. In VR, seniors can travel anywhere in the world, and enjoy hiking, climbing and ziplining without leaving the comfort of their chair.

Who knows how virtual reality and tourism will evolve in the coming years, and it may take longer for the metaverse to provide end-to-end travel, if it ever does. But experts in the travel industry estimate that the metaverse presents a $20 billion opportunity, and is ripe for virtual disruption.

I look forward to the journey that VR and tourism will take me on!

 

VR Travel the World

If my adventures have sparked your interest in a virtual getaway, then why not dive in?

Virtual Reality Experience (VRE) can bring the excitement of VR travels and tourism right to you.

We can provide experienced facilitators or you can simply opt for our VR hire service.

Add a unique twist to your corporate gathering, team building event, or convention. VRE offers personalized VR travel experiences to add that extra flair.

Or why not reward your team with a fun mini-break in the metaverse!

 

Sources

Istanbul Turkey Guided Tour in 360 VR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI9MS9M8yCU&t=377s

Venice, The Floating City: A Guided VR Tour

360 VR Space Safari with Helen Sharman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qh_o6ZButQ&list=PLRuCdwqLYRzFVCwhifmxMJdusxakXDxCf

360°, Chengdu Panda Base, China, 8K aerial video, AirPano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOZ5OAoI4Jo&t=26s

Google Earth VR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrkZOx5Q1M

National Geographic Explore VR https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/2046607608728563/

Mission: ISS https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=Mission+ISS&&mid=4B66988316C0CF8B48464B66988316C0CF8B4846&&FORM=VRDGAR

Eternal Notre Dame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_D-IVSW8Ls

Pompeii https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/pcvr/2716628805044056/

Surviving Africa with Ed Stafford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXlg1DBEq9M
Azure Beach in VRChat https://vrchat.com/home/launch?worldId=wrld_265ed39e-e0ce-4755-905c-c7e4738236f7

VR Japan Tours VR https://sites.google.com/view/vrjapantours/home

Japan Tours Raindance Immersive Festival https://www.raindanceimmersive.com/#/vr-japan-tours/

Kotoko Yukishiro @kotoko_VRChat

World Travel and Tourism Council https://wttc.org/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/2021/WTTC_Net_Zero_Roadmap.pdf

Born of Fire: Galapagos with
David Attenborough https://www.oculus.com/experiences/media/1508052059993789/

McKinsey & Company – Tourism in the metaverse: Can travel go virtual? https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-logistics-and-infrastructure/our-insights/tourism-in-the-metaverse-can-travel-go-virtual