How virtual reality adds value to travel technology and tourism industry?

Travelling is all about the experience. So while planning a vacation, people tend to search in social media to get an idea of the feature each destination has to offer. They scroll through the images in Instagram posted by the resort or glance through the images uploaded by friends in Facebook. This has a positive impact on the behaviour of the traveller and helps them to make wise decisions regarding holiday packages, airline reservations, car hire or bus ticket booking on various OTA portals. The virtual experiences their friends share has a great significance in making the travel decisions by many travellers.

Travel Technology with VR

What’s the importance of virtual reality in the travel market?

Virtual reality (VR) is providing an entirely new experience to the travellers. In the video gaming industry, it has already become mainstream by rapidly increasing the spending behaviour of the consumers. With the help of VR headsets, people indulge in the travel experience offered by 360-degree video, sensory elements and panoramic photos.

In the same way, Virtual Reality hype has affected travel market. It brings real-time experience to the travelers and help them in exploring everything in one go. It can be a business class airline lounge or the Niagara falls, the virtual experience is spellbound. People spent a lot of time researching on the places they like to visit and the activities they can experience there. But most of the times, the expectations don’t meet the reality. In order to avoid this contingency, virtual reality is really helpful in the travel market sector.

Impact of Virtual Reality on Travel Market

Qantas Airways and Marriott Hotel have already adopted virtual reality. In September 2014, Marriott Hotel adopted 4D sensory experience using Oculus Rift Technology to support the marketing campaign. This enabled the users to enjoy the VR view of London and Hawaii and improved the customer interaction with the website. Meanwhile, Qantas Airways launched 3D technology experience on long-haul flights. It was made available to the users in Sydney and Melbourne to have a virtual experience in the first class cabins of A380 Boeing. This helped the viewers to enjoy the virtual reality of Hamilton Island and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Factors Travel Agents Need to Know

Many travel agents have started using VR to give make them stand out from the crowd. Travel agent can provide VR experience to the clients before they fly. This really helps them to finalize with their right choices. Also, this vivid experience can motivate them to make their future travel plans according to the feel they gain from videos or photos.

A major advantage of this technology in travel, is that it enable the travellers to explore the places with not many top-tier attractions. Also, the customers will be able to manage the hotel bookings by making a virtual journey through the lobbies, rooms and pathways of the hotel they wish to stay. It is much better experience offered by photographs of the same place.

Travel Software

In 2016, VR experience has popularized like never before. It is expected that virtual reality will replace the travel experience delivered through social media. Most probably, 360-degree videos will replace the vacation selfie soon. Travel agents and travel technology market to keep pace with this recent development to have their own market space.

Which is the top GDS, travel APIs for airline reservation system?

Flight suppliers are the resources which can offer their customers wide range of flight inventories with both GDS and external connections as well as real-time availability on more than 500 + Airlines. Some of the flight suppliers which provides best in class solution for various flight based travel portal are: Amadeus, Travelport, Sabre, Abacus, Expedia, Travelocity, Mystifly, Travelfusion, TBO, Arzoo etc.