Skift Take

Most of the AR efforts, especially in travel as listed here, have bordered on gimmicks for the sake of it, without any considerations of real-life user experience. Will Google Glass break through that AR barrier?

The buzz about the opportunity Google Glass holds for travelers and the business of travel has become quite loud in the past few weeks, but up to this point the promise that augmented reality (AR) in general holds for the industry has been totally unfulfilled.

Bournemouth University’s eTourism lab collaborated with the Yahoo-sponsored Digital Tourism Think Tank on a report covering what it calls 10 “highly innovative” practices for AR in tourism, covering subjects such as auto-translation, enhanced booking, and hotel experiences.

The report says AR is “under-utilized” but other words to describe consumer behavior would be “ignored” or “avoided.” Like QR codes, AR often involves app discovery, broadband use, or a learning curve that consumers have consistently decided are not worth the investment in time or money.

Google Glass may become the first AR product and experience that resonates with consumers, which is why its worth looking at the subject now. Click through the slides above for the examples provided in the report, along with insight into their use.

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Tags: google glass, smartphones

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