The Popularity of Virtual Tour in the Pandemic Outbreak
- Ms. Aulia Asri
- Dec 20, 2020
- 5 min read
As we can’t expect that coronavirus 19 diseases originally came from Wuhan now has become the main cause of the global pandemic. “Stay at Home” is one of the actions that expected can decrease the pandemic case. As we know that as time goes change, unfortunately in various countries, covid19 has been handled worse which indicates through increasing of the active case every single day. People are afraid to go out and they leave their home for urgent matters such as grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy, going to bank, et cetera. During the pandemic, many economic sectors underwent deterioration which one of them is the tourism sectors. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labor-intensive sectors of the economy. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, international tourism down 22% in Q1 and could decline by 60-80% over the whole year.
Tourism marketers are responsible for implementing the right marketing strategy to ensure their destination remains competitive. Digital technologies influence change in consumer behavior including the way people search for, access and experience tourism-related content. Alongside rapid technological advancements, mass media attention has brought virtual reality experiences into focus, leading to predictions that this technology will significantly influence the tourism sector. Virtual reality allows for the simulation of places, and over the past few years, industry usage has rapidly increased in destinations around the world. Virtual tours allow for a unique and immersive way to explore destinations and hotels, while virtual walk-throughs of heritage attractions permit people to explore inaccessible sites as well as cultural preservation. This allows tourism marketers to communicate their intangible tourism experiences to potential travelers, which influences the customer’s decision on whether to visit the destination or attraction in real life.
What is virtual tour.
To begin, it is important to differentiate between the terms virtual experience (VE) and virtual reality (VR). According to Steur (1992), a virtual experience is essentially a human experience, which makes use of technology, as opposed to being a technological hard-ware experience. Cho et al. (2002) define a virtual experience as: ‘The experience in the virtual environment using a computer-mediated environment and is based upon the concept of telepresence’ Shih (1998) expanded on this, describing a virtual experience as: ‘The extent to which consumers feel their existence in the virtual space’.
Whilst there are academic studies surrounding the notion of VR and VE in general, there are few that have honed in on the concept of virtual experiences within tourism. As such, there is no universally accepted definition of the term virtual tourism. According to IG Global, the definition of “virtual tour” is an ICT-based tool that uses digital images and sensory feedback to simulate tourist attractions available at remote destinations.
History of Virtual Tour
The origin of the term 'virtual tour' dates to 1994. The first example of a virtual tour was a museum visitor interpretive tour, consisting of 'walk-through' of a 3D reconstruction of Dudley Castle in England as it was in 1550. This consisted of a computer controlled laserdisc based system designed by British-based engineer Colin Johnson. One of the first users of a virtual tour was Queen Elizabeth II, when she officially opened the visitor centre in June 1994. Because the Queen's officials had requested titles, descriptions and instructions of all activities, the system was named and described as: "Virtual Tour, being a cross between Virtual Reality and Royal Tour." Details of the original project can be viewed online. The system was featured in a conference held by the British Museum in November 1994 and in a subsequent technical paper.
Advantages and Disadvantages.
The existence of a virtual tour calling out all pros and contras. The tour guide also facing various obstacles conducting virtual tour as follow slow internet connection, minimum interaction between the guide and participants and gadgets are among the challenges faced by the organizer when conducting virtual tours, especially as not all tour leaders know how to operate laptops, let alone use Google Street View and YouTube in their presentations.
In the pro side we know that virtual reality tourism is dynamic, interactive, and capable of retaining the attention of the audience within seconds. Through virtual, the audiences can get all types of information in that tourist object. The audiences can feel the 3D sensation without touching them. Virtual reality can help with planning sightseeing. Virtual reality in tourism allows visitors to learn the names and locations of all the significant sights in a town ahead. Visitors can get the most out of their sightseeing experience.
Meanwhile, the disadvantages such as people cant feel complete sensations such as hear, smell, and touch are missing. It can deteriorate human connection as virtual reality is quite different, It is you and the software and nothing else. Moreover, virtual tour needs proper application and also stronger internet connection.
Will online virtual tour replace onsite tour?
The coronavirus is changing how we travel, but will virtual reality – a welcome escape from the pandemic – will ever be a substitute for the real thing? In the aftermath of Covid19 outbreak, virtual reality is one immerse technology that could help accelerate the travel and tourism industry’s comeback. Ralph Hollister, a tourism analyst at Global Data and author of a report on the VR travel industry said that For years, airlines, travel agencies, and tourism boards have used VR technology to market destinations to potential customers. Now, the impact of COVID-19 may allow [virtual reality] to shake off its image of being a gimmic. Virtual travel experiences are seeing a surge in popularity. Valeriy Kondruk, CEO of VR travel company Ascape, has seen app downloads grow 60 percent from December (traditionally the busiest month) and double since January. The company has fielded increasing interest from educators and those working in nursing homes, even as the airlines and travel agencies that usually license Ascape’s VR content have paused their accounts.
The impact of virtual reality on travel will be determined by the evolution and application of new technologies. So far, advances have been incremental—and not at a scale that is likely to disrupt the travel industry or support a drop in travel-related carbon emissions after the pandemic has ended. But just as travel platforms, from print to social media, offer some of the discoveries of actual exploration, virtual reality might bring faraway places closer—and in so doing encourage travelers to embrace sustainable practices wherever they choose to go (or not go) in the future.
Lastly, according to Dr. I Gusti Bagus Rai Utama, a tourism lecturer at Universitas Dhyana Pura in Bali said that virtual tourism will benefit the tourism micro businessmen such as VR tourism application provider through access service sales, meanwhile, in general, the business in macro-scale will get the real impact on tourism destination as this business service something that virtual tour can’t afford. Virtual Tour only provides the impression but not able to provide the taste, smell, emotion, satisfy, and loyality.
Source:
- https://www.balipuspanews.com/virtual-tourism-strategi-recovery-pariwisata-bali-pasca-covid-19.html
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