About maldivesvirtualtour.com: Endorsed by Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Virtual Tour enables travelers across the globe to take breathtaking 360° virtual tours of Maldives. Set to host over 2000, 360° VR panoramic tours (video photos) of more than 150 islands.
Maldives Virtual Tour is a project by Travel Trade Maldives (TTM), the leading travel trade business resource of Maldives. Contact maldivesvirtualtour.com at ttm@traveltrademaldives.com
Tourism is a technology-oriented industry. In order to withstand the competition, tourism organizations always try to incorporate various tech tools to adapt to the new technologies. Since the introduction of internet, emails, web-based photography, videography and lately digital marketing platforms play a vital role in tourism marketing. Virtual reality technology is the latest addition to tourism marketing tools.
Virtual reality or virtual tourism is the use of technology to artificially enhance or create a tourism experience. In recent years, a growing number of tourism businesses have adopted virtual technologies as a means of enhancing the tourism experience. Virtual tour is the most common type of virtual reality used in the hotel industry. Hotels use virtual technology to provide virtual tours of the hotel and hotel facilities to their potential tourists.
Try-before-you-buy Experience for Travelers
Most of the time selecting a hotel is a difficult process for travelers. According to research, travelers spend an average of 5-10 hours on the internet to check their preferred accommodation before they eventually make the actual booking. Virtual tours allow tourists to see hotel accommodation and other facilities before they book the hotels. It allows tourists to have a virtual “try-before-you-buy” experience. It makes travelers’ hotel selection decision easier by allowing them to accurately judge the décor, size and amenities before they make a booking.
Interactive Marketing Tool for Hoteliers
For hotels, virtual tour is a medium to let their potential tourists to experience the hotel facilities. It allows hotel owners to promote their accommodation via an interactive marketing experience. Virtual tours inspire tourists by allowing them a 360-degree walk-through of hotel room options and facilities. It allows potential tourists to fully immerse themselves in the property, moving within the rooms as if they are actually inside them. It provides a more realistic image of the hotel rather than regular photos and videos.
Drive More Traffic to Website
Moreover, virtual tours often lead to direct bookings to the hotels. Enhancing your website with a virtual tour helps to attract traffic to the website and visitors stay longer in the website by walk-through virtual tour. It excites potential tourists and increases tourists’ willingness to book with your hotel. According to the research, hotel websites with virtual tours get 48% more bookings than those who don’t have it.
Tool for Travel Agents
A virtual tour is a tool for travel agents to effectively market hotels, for the potential tourist without visiting the hotel. In order to promote hotels most effectively, travel agents need the hotel experience. Therefore, often travel agents visit the hotels for inspection tours to experience hotel facilities and services. This is both costly and time consuming for both hotel and travel agents. Virtual tours of the hotel allow travel agents to share 360-degree walk-through tours of the hotel to the potential tourists. It offers more transparency than standard images of the hotel and its facilities.
