Travel Brands Experiment With Virtual Reality as Consumer Adoption Lags

Interest in virtual reality (VR) content is surging in hospitality and tourism in 2016, even though very few travelers have access to quality VR equipment. That is anticipated to change over the next few years as headset prices decrease and the volume and variety of VR content increases. More consumer awareness will also spur demand as more people experiment with the technology. Presently, according to a Marketing Week poll last month, 43 percent of men and 50 percent of women “can’t see any practical use in VR.” For those people who are interested, also according to the same poll, travel is the most preferred type of VR content that they want to consume Among the companies leading the development of immersive video in the travel sector, YouVisit and Matterport are developing new virtual reality and 360-degree/3D video platforms for travel brands targeting both leisure travelers and conference planners. For people without a VR headset, 360-degree videos and 3D immersion videos work on any mobile and desktop device. With those interactive content formats, viewers can move through the video in any direction, side-to-side and up-and-down, to explore the entire scene in a self-directed manner by scrolling over the video frame. The 360/3D experiences are produced with the same cameras that create VR content, using multiple lenses facing different directions to take thousands of photos simultaneously, which are then stitched together with VR software. Some brands are launching both formats, while others are publishing 360/3D videos with plans to convert them into VR in the future as adoption rates grow among consumers. Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, for example, launched both VR and 360 videos through its Vegas VR app in March 2016. To date, IOS and Android versions have been downloaded 4,114 and 3,311 tim