360 Virtual Tours for Tourism - Part 2

What are the Real Benefits of a Virtual Tour for The Tourism Industry?

In this second article covering to the tourism sector, we review the benefits of such solutions for the various companies active in this field.
 

Creating emotion
 

As travelling for a holiday is supposed to be a pleasurable activity, people in charge of travel destinations and tourist establishments must help future travellers dream of their next vacation.

Getting people to discover a city or a tourist attraction, using a high-quality virtual tour, helps convey a place's atmosphere or a facility highlight its various benefits. A visitor's first impressions, delivered by the tour within the comfort of their home, will generate various emotions. If these emotions are positive, the person is more likely to make a booking for their next holiday.

An entire tourist guide industry has witnessed strong growth in the past decades, promoters in the tourism sector often finding it difficult to share the beauty of their destinations, sites or tourist facilities efficiently, in order to ensure their popularity. With the virtual tour, it has now become much easier for a hotel manager to promote the beautiful new spa in his hotel, or a museum director to showcase a new upcoming exhibition.
 

Help plan
 

Most people plan their holidays beforehand, and the 360 virtual tour truly provides added value in this context.

As far as destinations are concerned, future visitors can gain a good grasp of a place and of its most interesting attractions, thereby helping them plan their visits. This helps tourists based in one place, but wanting to discover its surroundings, and is a necessity for people travelling throughout an entire region, having to book accommodation in various locations. Combined with a booking system, a virtual tour helps people book well in advance, making it easier for professionals in the tourism sector to plan their upcoming activity level.

The presentation of a destination's accommodation offer is enriched using a virtual tour, making it possible for example for a hotel manager to showcase various aspects of his hotel (restaurant, spa, business centre, ...). In the same way, hotels may use the virtual tour to explain usage of their facilities, helping guests discover the features in an interactive and natural manner. People wanting to make a booking will therefore have a better idea of an establishment, thereby reducing the time spent during the booking process. Lastly, a good quality virtual tour serves as a guarantee for guests, allowing them to explore an establishment and its surroundings before booking. This helps avoid traps such as the hotel with a view on the local landfill, or worse...
 

Impossible locations
 

Access to some valuable tourist locations is sometimes restricted due to their popularity or for security reasons.

In some cases, this involves protecting monuments or natural sites from mass tourism, in order to maintain such places for future generations. This is for example the case of the Grotte de Lascaux, in which the prehistorical wall paintings were starting to decay with the visitors' breathing, resulting in the authorities opening a replica of the cave next to it.
Using virtual tours helps keep visits to such locations "open", while protecting them from tourist presence.

Other interesting places may be difficult to reach or dangerous. As most people aren't Mike Horn or Bear Grylls, visiting such locations is made possible using a virtual tour.