How Technology is Powering a New Generation of Travel Marketing - The Drum - Hotel News Resource

Excerpt from The Drum

As travel has been curtailed over the past two years, have tech solutions like VR and AR kept the dream of travel alive - and how else is technology empowering travel marketing?

Despite how novel it feels in practice, using virtual reality (VR) tech to promote travel destinations is nothing new. Newspapers including The Financial Times were using 360° videos to profile cities as far back as 2016, and travel agents were using the wow factor of well-done VR experiences to sell packages the same year.

Since then, the rise of consumer VR tech like the Oculus Quest has allowed marketers to go further still. There are any number of fantastic VR travel experiences, from the hard-hitting like Traveling While Black, to the fantastic city tours available on every piece of VR hardware.

Andrew Kiguel is chief executive officer of Tokens.com, an NFT specialist with particular interest in the practical applications of VR. He tells The Drum: "We've invested in a platform called Superworld; it takes a different standpoint in that they're saying this is virtual tourism so you can go to Mount Rushmore or the Taj Mahal, walk around at your own leisure and see what this looks like. [It's] something you might not be able to experience otherwise and there'll be other virtual tourists walking around you can talk to and interact with.

"[It's] not just like going to the real thing. This is a close second, especially during a pandemic."

The use of VR to tell travel stories lies at the heart of many of the most effective travel marketing campaigns of the past two years – provided you can do more than simply plonk a 360° camera down and call it a day. The BBC recently invested in just such a narrative-led VR series with The Green Planet Experience, in partnership with EE.

In addition to having invested in on-board VR experiences, airline Qantas has placed marketing funds in VR, with its Qantas VR app having delivered videos that attempt to communicate the feeling of being in destinations including Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef.

John Speers is head of strategy of travel marketing specialist agency Kemosabe. He believes that the role of technology is to create that desire for sensory experiences, even when the technology itself cannot replicate them: "This is travel marketing and the future of it. To replicate (or give a taste of) that experience so palpable that you can't wait to enjoy it in the real world. We're not replacing it, as I believe that is impossible, but we are using best-in-class technology to replicate some dimensions of it to 'whet the appetite.' It's marketing the experience, not replacing it.

"Whatever great experience you like, you have a visceral moment where you go, 'how good is this?' It's a sensory experience that you can't replicate digitally – the sights, smells, sensations, sounds, warmth, relationships, emotions, discomfort, whatever stimuli you pick up as a real live person from a real live situation. You just can't get this online. No matter what the metaverse produces."

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