Virtual Tourism: An Evolving Industry

Since the global covid-19 lockdown, the national and international tourism industry did experience a massive setback. On another side, the global virtual tourism industry has noted a significant jump in its user base and growth. As per PR News Wire, the global virtual tourism industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 31 % to reach US $6.5 billion by 2030 from US $448.10 million in 2020. The virtual tourism industry has opened the doors for many people to visit any place globally.

What is virtual tourism?

The virtual tour of landscapes, mountains, architecture, monuments, beaches, and other tourist destinations is called virtual tourism. Virtual tourism is not seeing pictures and videos of tourist spots on the internet. It is more dedicated to bringing the true-to-life experience of a tour with the help of advanced accessories. Virtual tourism still hasn’t grown completely, but virtual tourism has a high potential to overtake the physical tourism industry.

Virtual tourism opens multiple options for the tourist to look for his dream destination. Virtual tourism combines sceneries and 3D visualisation of the tourist spot, which anyone can access through accessories, like a VR headset and others, to experience all the natural modalities, including visual, haptic, auditory, olfactory, and somatosensory.

What are the benefits of virtual tourism?

Virtual tourism has observed a significant growth during the pandemic and lockdown. Virtual tourism has opened the way for people to visit various tourist attractions virtually with the help of VR headsets and gear. Virtual tourism benefits the user in many ways. A few prominent benefits are as follows-

Virtual tourism does not require your physical presence.

It means a traveller experiences the same feeling in a virtual tour as they might have experienced in reality. Every virtual tourist travels to the desired destination and senses the same thrill virtually.

Virtual tourism secures you from substantial problems.

Virtual tourists avoid problems that occur while travelling with ease. For instance, you don’t have to search for flights, hotels, taxis, weather conditions, the closing of tourist spots, heavy crowds, and many other things.

Virtual tourism promotes actual tourism.

It gives earlier experiences of the place through virtual tours of the tourist spot. Virtual tourism makes people familiar with tourist places, which helps people during the actual travel.

Virtual travellers can visit any country and tourist spot without travelling and get an as-it-is view by comfortably sitting at home using virtual reality headsets and simulators

What are the main segments of virtual tourism?

Virtual tourism can be categorised into two segments based on the slight difference in their visuals.

The first segment is the simulation of augmented sceneries.
The second includes simulating 3D immersive virtual views.

The Metaverse has extensively worked in the mix-up of virtual and augmented reality.

The virtual tourist spaces are easily accessible through accessories, like, computers, laptops, and smartphones. However, for the best near-to-real experience, a user can use VR headsets and controllers.

How is Metaverse revolutionising the virtual tourism industry?

The Metaverse is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, working in almost every domain, from gaming to shopping and social networking to travel and tourism. The Metaverse takes you on a 3D virtual tour of the spot with an immersive experience. The 3D tour and travel industry is the leading segment in virtual tourism. According to the same report of PR News Wire, the 3D tour and travel segment is growing at a rapid rate of 30.4% to reach US $2.81 billion by the end of FY 2030.

Conclusion

The virtual tourism industry is an evolving domain. Virtual tourism has evolved as an alternate option for those who cannot afford to go to new places frequently because of financial and time constraints. Virtual tourism gives the exact sensation of an actual tour experience. Many companies like Zepverse are working to build an immersive tourist environment.