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30/06/2022
What is the future of Metaverse Virtual Tourism?🚀
The tourism industry employs 330 million people worldwide and contributes 10% to global GDP. Nevertheless, it is one of the sectors that has been hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Approximately $320 billion has been lost due to containment measures and border closures, according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
⭐Disney, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta (formerly Facebook) have already launched their own metaverses. Companies like Equinox and Delta Reality, which develop augmented, virtual, and mixed reality content that highlights various destinations, are interested in working with tourist agencies.
Seoul became one of the first major cities to announce plans to go "meta" by 2023 in September 2021. In its metaverse platform, tentatively titled "Metaverse Seoul," several of the city's top tourist attractions will be featured. A Virtual Tourist Zone will allow tourists to experience Gwanghwamun Plaza, Deoksugung Palace and Namdaemun Market through a virtual experience, without the hassles of in-person travel. In the metaverse, they can even "attend" Seoul's biggest festivals, including the breathtaking Seoul Lantern Festival, surrounded by thousands of sparkling lights without crowds.
It is possible for virtual tourism ✈to lead to in-person tourism. Madrid launched a free, 360-degree virtual tour in Spanish and English early in 2022 to inform potential guests about what to see when they arrive in person. Around 40 attractions in the capital's most popular tourist areas are included, so users can learn about its plazas, museums, gardens, cultural institutions, and cathedrals.
While the travel industry did suffer during the pandemic, the possibilities of virtual travel may create an entirely new subsectored reality metaverse platforms might start a traveller off with trip research before they book an in-person experience.
However, the technology might ultimately lead to fully immersive experiences🔮 or to landmarks frozen in time, such as the Colosseum at the height of its glory or Pompeii prior to the catastrophic eruption. This is just the beginning.
Tourism activities have been moved online or into virtual reality thanks to digitalization. Please let me know if these technologies are changing the tourism industry for the better or if they are just temporary replacements.