During the pandemic, we learned to do virtually everything, well, virtually. By far one of the best experiences you can have online is virtual travel to places all over the world that you may not have an opportunity to see in person. Leave the reservations, money and luggage out of the equation. Put your feet up on your sofa in your comfiest clothes with some popcorn, a beverage, and maybe a friend, and transport yourself to exotic locales – without a TSA agent or a speed trap in sight!
According to CVENT, a software solutions and event planning company, “virtual tourism presents you with an immersive experience of an activity, location, or destination through the use of technology. There are tons of different types of virtual tourism offerings, but there’s usually a combination of virtual reality, still images, video, audio, narration, interactivity, and other multimedia formats to provide an experience of a destination that a user cannot get through images or websites alone.”
With Trailblazer Broadband’s high-speed internet, virtually unlimited trips are only a few clicks away! The content is available on the internet just like streaming services for movies and shows. To find your dream designations, simply type “Virtual Travel Destinations” in your browser, you can visit cities, resorts, historical sites, natural wonders, and even museums. Many options are free and all are a fraction of what you would pay to visit in person! You can view the content on a normal computer or even a mobile device, or consider a virtual reality headset for a more immersive experience.
Virtual vacations give you the freedom to explore in most cases because not only can you imagine yourself in the scene, but you can also control what they see of a destination, experiencing 360 degrees of a location. All aspects of a destination can be showcased in high resolution.
When traveling virtually, you aren’t limited by available flights, travel logistics, safety concerns, and whether destinations are open. There’s no need to think about time zones or weather conditions, much less masks, germs or physical limitations.
The other huge benefit is cost. Virtual tourism makes destinations accessible to millions of people who may otherwise not be able to afford to travel to them. Hotels and destinations love highlighting their locations and amenities virtually in the hope that some if not all virtual viewers will want to visit the locale in the “real world” someday. Before making your final decision on where you’d like to actually go, you have the chance to check everything out in advance without safety and health concerns, worrying about whether destinations are open, weather conditions, or time zones. You can enjoy the gorgeous Hawaiian sunset at 3:00 AM in your living room!
This technology is great for showing hotel interiors, artwork, museum exhibits, and anything that can be fully experienced without motion or sound.
Finally, fully immersive VR experiences let you get in on the action by interacting with the environment and discovering more through your actions. This is often a personalized experience focusing on one aspect of the location, like the food scene, music, history, or art. Virtual reality yoga classes, nature walks, stargazing, and bird watching have all become popular ways for a location to show off everything it has to offer.
“A true gift of virtual travel is that we can safely and efficiently access experiences we’ve always wanted to access,” Dennis Watkins, owner of The Magic Parlour in Chicago, said in an article for marthastewart.com. “People separated by oceans can look each other in the eyes and share stories, cultures, and ideas. When I do a show for a single family who logs in from London, Leeds, Norway, or Chicago, I start to see the power of the virtual space … and I think we’re just now starting to understand and leverage that power.”
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any of the listed companies, the views they express or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/