Tourism going virtual? Yep, that’s right!

Going on a guided tour of a historical site or a museum while you’re travelling is a great way to learn more about the world and its wonders, and a good tour guide is an invaluable resource of local information and fun trivia to tell folks back home.

Tour Guides and the Current Situation

The World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations defines a tourist guide as “a person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area which person normally possesses an area-specific qualification usually issued and/or recognised by the appropriate authority.”

Tour Guides are knowledgeable and savvy about the places they show to tourists. On tours that include sightseeing, they must be able to provide travellers with all the information they should know about the place, answer questions they may have, and adhere to a pre-designed route to avoid getting lost.

The situation with the coronavirus has decimated the travel industry, with travel restrictions imposed and the closing of many businesses. But last April, Google has revealed how its Street View app has been letting tour guides work virtually during the COVID-19 lockdown. And it’s not just tour guides who have turned to virtual tourism, but also travel agents and tourism bureaus.

Tours Going Virtual

A virtual tour guide is someone who gives a real-time tour online. These tours can be of historical landmarks, famous restaurants, and major tourist spots.

One of them is Wilfred, a virtual and personal guide in Barcelona, Spain. He is a local expert which is rented in a mini-tablet format with Bluetooth speaker. He walks together with you along the streets of the city, as if he were your personal and real guide. The tablet is oriented by GPS location and when it reaches CurioCity, he jumps to action, using videos, photos and offering explanations and curiosities of points to visit.

Given that social restrictions may remain in place for the rest of 2020, virtual tourism is likely to take root during the coronavirus pandemic, not to mention that its effect on the industry is likely to continue into 2021, according to travel experts. No wonder, virtual tours have exploded since the coronavirus outbreak, and not just on Google Street View. Companies turned to virtual reality and digital technology in some capacity to compensate for the loss of business. For instance, virtual tours and experiences are also now being rolled out by visitor gardens, museums, and parks.

Virtual Tourism after Coronavirus

Everyone is getting on it, but, will virtual tourism remain a thing even after the pandemic?

The answer is: it’s likely that they will and perhaps maintain the attention they’re receiving now.

First, virtual tourism was already becoming popular before the outbreak. Secondly, things will surely get back to normal, but unlikely for a long time. By that time, various kinds of virtual tourism may have become firmly established, gaining a familiarity that qualifies them as a part of “regular tourism” in the eyes of the general public.

Lastly, it’s arguable that tourism was heading in this direction anyway, given that people are spending an average of 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day, according to Digital 2019 Report from Hootsuite and We Are Social. Take note, that was the figure before countries imposed lockdowns and companies shifted to work-from-home set-up. Imagine how much more time we are spending online these days.

It shows that many of us have already become comfortable with the Internet and perhaps would love the ability to transform reality into a close and more pleasing representation of itself. This is exactly the kind of experience that virtual tourism provides: a consciously filtered experience that removes the disappointing aspects of the spot and keeps only the good parts.

Therefore, while many of us will always prefer physical travel, it’s likely that virtual travel a thing that will be enlisted in our “new normal”. Times are changing, and the best we can do is embrace it.