Why Tourism Boards Need a Virtual Tour
Tourism and virtual tours are the perfect match! In this day and age, tourism boards and travel companies are having to compete on a global scale in order to attract more customers. Some destinations will naturally be able to attract millions upon millions of tourists, while others will have to work really hard just to get one million tourists. Whatever the case is, ALL tourism boards need a virtual tour!
By including a virtual tour in your content and marketing efforts, you will see benefits such as increased engagement, boost accessibility, and even revenue opportunities. In this article we will go into full detail on why a tourism board needs a virtual tour and their benefits.
What is a Virtual Tour?
We have a full in-depth article on virtual tours, which you can view here. A virtual tour is a form of media content that provides a 360-degree view of location, allowing users to interact and move at their own pace. Certain elements can be added into your virtual tours such as sounds, 2D pictures and videos, and info points.
Check out this mini virtual tour of New Orleans below to the power of this form of media. Click and drag image to look around.
Why a Tourism Board Needs a Virtual Tour.
Allows you to tell an interactive and engaging story
The number one driver of tourism is a destination's story. Tourists visit certain destinations to physically immerse themselves in that story. Virtual tours provide an excellent way for prospective tourists and travelers to interact and digitally immerse themselves in your destination’s story.
Shifts in Traveler Media Consumption
Gone are the days of fancy brochures with beautiful sunset imagery, today almost all traveler search inquiries begin and end online. By having a virtual tour you provide prospective travelers a more impactful way to answer some of their biggest questions. In addition, they are more likely to interact with your brand and website directly. Which leads to our next point.
Increased Engagement
Virtual tours are usually embedded directly on to a website. Meaning that web visitors will spend much more time on your website and directly engaging with your brand.
Can be used on multiple devices
Virtual tours can be viewed on almost every device, including mobile, tablet, desktop, and VR. Making them easily viewable and accessible to millions of prospective travelers online. We have a full breakdown on the virtual tour experiences on the different devices, which you check out here.
Direct Revenue from the Virtual Tour
Yes, virtual tours can be an asset that brings in revenue directly to your agency! Here is a quick snapshot of how.
Sponsored: Because you can add imagery into a virtual tour, this means that you can add branding. While you can definitely add your own logo, this also provides the opportunity for your virtual tour to get a paid sponsor from another aligned brand.
Affiliate Links: Because you can make purchases directly through a virtual tour, let’s say you include a tour company into the tour; by adding an affiliate link your agency can gain a commission from that purchase.
For context, Virtual Tours can provide revenue directly or indirectly; but whatever the case the tour should provide the most amount of valuable possible and offer a great user experience.
Avoid these Virtual Tour mistakes
We have a full article that goes into the biggest virtual tour mistakes. However, specifically for travel companies these are the three most important mistakes to avoid.
Bad Placement on Your Website
We see this mistake far too often. A good amount of tourism boards for large cities already have virtual tours. However, they are way too hard to find! To make it simple for you, your virtual tour should either be on the home page and/or have its own dedicated tab.
Avoid Cloudy Weather
Remember how I talked about brochures using sunny pictures? Well the same still holds for virtual tours! Sunny virtual tours simply make a destination look better and appear more inviting.
Not using Aerial Panoramas
Aerial panoramas are easily the best way to show off a destination. As they provide great imagery, and allow for an easier and intuitive mode of navigation. We have plenty of examples of aerial panoramas, which you can view here.
Conclusion
Tourism boards with virtual tours, are a form of media that should not be missed out on! By following our tips in this article you can be sure to get increased awareness, engagement, and bookings.
Experience a Virtual City Tour Today
Check out our full virtual tour of Sitka, Alaska, which you can do by creating a free account on our website. This virtual provides a wonderful example of the power of having a virtual tour.
