Take a Virtual 'Test Drive' Before You Take the Trip Jane L. Levere - The New York Times
go to original February 13, 2017

From raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to rolling out a new airline business class service, travel companies and tourism boards are increasingly turning to virtual reality to expand their reach and entice prospective clients.

In November, for instance, the Tourism Authority of Thailand released four 360-degree videos, including one on an elephant sanctuary near Chiang Mai and another on the Khao Luang Cave in western Thailand.



“With social media and distribution channels so fragmented, we have to appeal to the senses of consumers,” said Steven Johnson Stevenson, the authority’s marketing manager for the Eastern United States. “We want them to be able to touch, feel, see and hopefully one day smell Thailand.”

Virtual reality, he added, “allows consumers to interact with us in a way they never have before.”



Cathy Tull, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said virtual reality let consumers “test drive” a destination. The most popular of the 30 360-degree videos that the Las Vegas authority has released since March is an actual drive down Las Vegas Boulevard.

“They get to experience a destination,” Ms. Tull said. “It allows them to make a decision to come.”

Read the rest at The New York Times

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!