DEMO TOUR - TOUR PRIOR TO TOUR; A NEW APPROACH ON VIRTUAL TOURISM

*E Joshu Ajoon
Student, Bachelor of Travel and Tourism Management,
Pazhassi Raja College (Affiliated to Calicut University),
Pulpally, Wayanad, Kerala,
India - 673579

Mailing address:
16/296, Edakkott House,
Cherukunnu, P.O. Othukkungal,
Malappuram, Kerala,
India - 676528

Email address:
ejoshuajoon@gmail.com

Phone number:
(+91) 8547010389
ABSTRACT
Virtual reality is not a new word for the digital world. As digitalization makes revolutionary
changes all over the globe, virtual reality is going along, as virtualization is one major part of digitalization.
Digitalization plays a vital role in the life of every individual, from booking and reservation of services and
tickets to literally everything required in day to day life. Before buying a product or service, before joining
an institute or company, before travelling or undertaking anything, people browse about it for a virtual idea
which lets them know what it would be like and hence can decide to either go ahead or turndown.
Curiosity is inherent to humans and hence we show a tendency to understand things prior to its
happening, this is why we always tent to watch videos or images of things we purchase or, institutions or
destinations we join or visit. Even the promos or trailers will be watched before the cinema because we
want to know what it is before it happens. The Curiosity, this is what led mankind from an era of walking
miles for food to an era where a computer has the capacity of the human brain.
This paper is a study on the need and importance of virtual tourism by bringing a new approach.
The ‘Demo Tour’ is basically, taking a virtual tour before the actual tour, thereby satisfying the curiosity.
This paper explores the potentiality of demo tour in present and for the future, as well a study on how it
improves tourism industry and foster tourism experience.
Key Words: Demo tour, Virtual tourism, Virtual reality, Digitalization, Human curiosity.
INTRODUCTION
Over the years tourism has grown significantly as well as information technology, these two are
the major economic developing sectors of most countries. Information technology and tourism help in the
development of a nation. With the advancement in technology new innovation has come up, Virtual Reality,
this is a technology where a computer can artificially create a real environment or object visually. On
analyzing the potential of virtual reality technology many sectors have started installing it like military,
education, business, training, etc. and found to be cost effective.
Virtual Tourism is a term coined with help of Virtual Reality. In Virtual Tourism an individual can
view a destination or place from all the dimensions without actually going to the place physically. Many
educational institutions and business firms have added this into their online platform providing users with
an opportunity to virtually visit these locations without travelling to the location.
Demo Tour is a term built from Virtual Tourism, it is a new approach to Virtual Tourism. Demo
tour demonstrates the destination to an individual thereby giving a clear information about the destination
prior to visiting. This paper determines the impacts of Demo Tour and how it can be used to foster tourism
experiences.
Finally, this study on Demo Tour which is a new approach to Virtual Tourism determines the
positive impacts created to foster tourism experiences for tourists as well as for the individuals who are
inaccessible to make a tour. The impacts determined from the study states the importance of Demo Tour,
which is travelling virtually before physically travelling.

NEED FOR STUDY

Technology has become an inevitable part of the human trait, innovations in technology are widely
accepted and adopted as it advances living. Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed
Reality (MR) are protruding and included into many industries like real estate, hospitality, educational
institutions, and business firms. As VR, AR & MR are the trends and has the potential to innovate tourism
industry, it has to be included in tourism.

OBJECTIVES
This paper on ‘Demo Tour – Tour prior to tour; A new approach on Virtual Tourism’ is a qualitative
paper which describes Virtual Reality and Virtual Tourism and from these study, the paper introduces a
new term - ‘Demo Tour’ which is a new approach on Virtual Tourism. The main objective of this paper is
to determine the potential of demo tour and how it can foster tourism industry and improve tourism
experience. It also aims to:

 Analyzing the importance and impacts of Virtual Reality

 Study on Virtual Tourism

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Virtual Reality
Virtually creating the real world with help of technology is termed as Virtual Reality technology,
it provides an interactive experience with audio, video and sensory stimulation. It can virtually create the
real world into a limited environment and experience it as if the person is present in the real environment.
An individual who uses VR equipment can look around the artificially created real world from within his
premise.
The term virtual in computer-world means something made to appear with help of software and
hardware and is not existing physically (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Most major companies have
started researching and installing VR technologies. In 2007 Google introduced ‘Google Street View’
(lardinois, 2010), it provided a panoramic view of streets and by 2010 they adopted the 3D mode which
enabled a 3-dimensional view of streets in panorama view. Later, in 2017 Google introduced Google
Cardboard by which a user can insert his smartphone in the phone holder of the cardboard and take a virtual
experience (Pierce, 2015). By the end of 2017 all major companies like Google, Apple, Facebook,
Microsoft, Amazon etc. have started researching on Virtual Reality so as to enhance the experiences for its
customers virtually by knowing the scope of virtual reality in future.
Virtual reality videos are created using cameras that can shoot in 360 degrees angle, that is
capturing images from all directions (Orellana, 2016), hence user can view the product or place from all
possible direction (Imajize, 2017), it is very similar to viewing a product physically from a shop without
actually being present in shop and thus virtual reality is gaining familiarity in all sectors.
Virtual reality techniques are mostly applied in gaming, sports, and cinema to give more thrill and
entertainment, lately, theme parks have equipped this technique to give more visual experience for the
people (Kelly, 2016). It is also used in social science (Groom, Bailenson, & Nass, 2009), in psychology
(Gonçalves, Pedrozo, Coutinho, Figueira, & Ventura, 2012), in medicine for treatments and rehabilitation
(Holbrey, 2004) (Forbes, Pan, & Hamilton, 2016). As virtual reality can create a real environment
artificially it has been adopted into education (Hongo, 2016), military training (Bymer, 2012), astronaut
training (Unimersiv, 2016), pilot training (Dourado & Martin, 2013), vehicle driving training (Swarnkar,
Chug, Bagwan, & Thorat, 2015). Virtual Reality has claimed to decrease cost immensely over physically
involving in many activities including training (Bukhari, Andreatta, Goldiez, & Rabelo, 2017).
Since virtual reality is being very helpful for any individual, it is widely accepted into many sectors
and has seen success as well as cost-effectiveness. Virtual Tour is now getting into the trend, providing the
visuals over the internet without the need for the user to actually visit the place physically has many benefits.
Many institutions, business firms, tourist destinations, and theme parks have already installed virtual reality
thereby helping every individual access the destination from anywhere around in the world.

Virtual Tourism
Ever since the widespread accessing of information technology people started depending on the
internet to attain information on destinations or places they plan to visit or recommend to others for visiting.
The main reason is the cost and time-saving. With the help of Virtual Reality a person can view the
destination from all dimensions just like physically visiting, it saves money and time of travelling as well
as anyone who is physically disabled to travel can view the place from their own comfort zone.
Curiosity is an inherent ability of human, we tend to be curious about what happens next, hence,
anything that can satisfy this curiosity will be accepted by mankind. Virtual Reality has the potential to
satisfy curiosity by visually providing an idea of the thing an individual plan to experience physically.
Virtual Tour is same, the curiosity of ‘how that place will be’ can be satisfied by taking a virtual tour.
Virtual Tour gives a clear idea of the geography of any destination an individual prefer to visit. It enhances
the accessibility of tourism destination for elders, people with physical and mental disorders and as well as
for people who are busy in work and family responsibilities.
 A technology adopted into Google map – ‘Google Street View’ has initiated the massive acceptance
of virtual tour. It allows a panoramic view of streets from any direction (lardinois, 2010), it gives a feeling
of actually visiting the place. Using Google Street View user can explore and discover tourist destinations,
locations, restaurants, museums, institutions, and business firms.
The virtual tour is now on the trend list, visiting a place without physically visiting a destination is
now growing attention from people all around the world. Many educational institutions have added virtual
tour in their website (Taylor's University Virtual Tour, n.d.), thereby providing students and parents with
an opportunity to visit the college campus. This, to an extent, helps students to decide among alternative
colleges, this decreases the need of visiting the college before joining to understand the surrounding.
Similarly, in the case of business firms, the virtual tour provides an idea about the location and workspace
of the firm.

METHODOLOGY
The paper ‘Demo Tour – tour prior to tour; a new approach on Virtual Tourism’ is a qualitative
paper were researches are done by explorative and conceptual methods. Paper initially describes two basic
terms used to develop the idea of ‘Demo Tour’ that are ‘Virtual Reality’ and ‘Virtual Tourism’.
The first step was to study on Virtual reality, this section describes the term, its influences,
importance, applications and impacts in the present society. The second step was to study on Virtual
tourism, this section describes virtual tourism and its importance, impacts, and applications in society. It
also determines the acceptance and future of virtual tourism.
Finally, the paper arrives at the new term ‘Demo Tour- Tour Prior to Tour’, this section gives a
definition to the term ‘Demo Tour’, emphasizes on the scope of demo tour for the future as well as
determines how Demo Tour can innovate and foster tourism industry.

DEMO TOUR
Since Virtual Reality is widely accepted and Virtual Tourism is drawing attention from
multifaceted sectors and users, there is a potential role that can be played by Virtual Reality technology to
enhance tourism experiences. Demo Tour is a term developed from Virtual Tourism, it is very similar to
Virtual Tourism but concentrates on tourist destinations alone. ‘Demo Tour – Tour Prior to Tour’ is a tour
taken virtually before physically taking the tour. This decreases anxiety and curiosity as well as saves
money and time. It helps both tourist and travel agents or tour planners.
Demo tour captures a destination in 360 degrees with audio assistance explaining about the
destination. This has to be uploaded to the destination's website or in the tourism organization’s website
which is managing the destination for customers to view on payment. This is a way to increase the income
generated by destination for its own maintenance and development. This can also be used by tour agencies
for demonstrating the destination to the customers so as to help them in the decision-making process.

In the Demo Tour, the destination is demonstrated virtually using Virtual Reality technologies
thereby providing an opportunity for an individual to view the destination before planning to travel.
Although it cannot replace real tourism, it can enhance, promote, and support tourism experiences.
In this technology, an individual can virtually tour any destination that has been captured using a
360-degree camera so as to provide a vision to all direction. Here, physical travelling isn’t required. Fixing
a destination to tour is a big process unless it is an unexpected or adventurous trip, decision making of
tourists is a process that gets influences from many directions and depends on a variety of elements like
suggestions, recommendations, finance, need, and curiosity, etc. After deciding a destination the tourist
spends money and time visiting the place and if the destination couldn’t satisfy what the tourist wanted to
experience it creates a negative feeling of the trip. But, if the tourist can virtually visit the destination prior
to touring, he gets an idea about the geography of the destination and the tourist can proceed with the
decision making. This decreases the chances of regretting a trip after taking it.
Likewise, not all destinations are accessible to everyone, some destination requires extreme
physical fitness while some destination requires permissions and legal rights and formalities, some places
can be dangerous to travel and some destinations can be inhabitable. Under such conditions, Demo Tour
can significantly play a vital role. For example, to summit Mount Everest a person requires extreme physical
fitness but the view from the top of Everest is something that many people would love to see, Demo Tour
can provide an opportunity for any person to virtually travel to Mt. Everest. Similarly, travelling into deep
forest or restricted areas are dangerous if going physically without proper precautions, Demo Tour can
tackle this barricade by virtually taking tourist on tour to these exotic places which tend to be dangerous to
travel physically.
Demo Tour uses the similar technology used by Virtual Tourism, it captures video of a destination
in a 360-degree camera and shares this video. This all dimensions video gives the viewer a feeling of visiting
the destination as the viewer can view the destination from all direction just like physically visiting. The
latest technologies have developed cameras that can shoot 360-degree videos in high-definition which can
provide a more enticing experience.

DISCUSSION
As Demo Tour is a type of Virtual Tourism, it virtually demonstrates the destination to a person
who is physically in a distant place from the destination.
Table 1. Benefits of installing Demo Tour
Benefits of DEMO TOUR
Accessibility
Break the barricades of tourism Seasonality
Perishability
Mass Tourism
Better control in tourism Pollution
Destruction
Tourism experience
Destination Income
Increase
Competition between destinations
Innovations in technology
Customer dissatisfaction
Decrease Regression of chosen destination
Chance of facing adverse situations
Sustainable destination development
Promote Responsible tourism
Eco friendly

Accessibility is one barricade of tourism. Tourism destinations are of many types, few are
inaccessible to few people due to varied reasons like geography, politics, culture, tradition etc. Some
destinations require high physical strength to visit like mountain climbing. There are people who are
physically disabled to move or people who are not healthy to take a travel. There are few groups of people
who are busy with their family responsibilities and work. Demo Tour can satisfy the urge and wish to travel
of these group of people. A demo tour doesn’t require physical strength, physical disabilities are not
bothered while taking demo tour. As it is a type of tourism where an individual can visit any place by sitting
at home or anywhere comfortable. Demo tour gives a very similar experience of physically visiting the
place by visualizing the destination in 360 degrees.
Seasonality is another major barricade of tourism, most destinations are visited by tourist only
during the specific season, and this makes adorning these destinations only on those specified seasons.
Since demo tour is basically a computer stored data, it can be retrieved anytime, seasonality doesn’t affect
demo touring. An individual can take a demo tour all around the year.
Perishability is yet another major barricade, tourist destinations can perishable. This can be of many
reasons like over-exploitation, natural or manmade disasters, going beyond the carrying capacity etc.
Resurrecting cannot be always successful, hence, once a destination has perished it can never be brought
back to its old state, it can only be rebuilt to a new form. But demo tour can virtually rebuild this destination
and present it to the tourist.
Mass tourism is growing concerns to the environment. When the carrying capacity of a destination
exceeds the limit it brings unfortunate situations to the destination which can eventually affect the local
people and also result in creating the destination as a dessert or inhabitable place. Demo tour can control
mass tourism by displaying more destinations thereby decreasing tourist accumulation to one specific
destination. This can control the pollution and destruction as well.
Demo tour has a potential to increase the income earned by a destination by selling the virtual
reality videos of the destination with audio assistance. The different destination's organizations for
attracting more tourist would start competing with each other which would eventually develop of the
destination. This could also motivate the tech savvies to innovate more to the field of technology.
It is so stressful to regret the decision taken, demo tour can help in making better decisions without
feeling regression or dissatisfaction. A demonstration of the destination prior to the visit can also prepare
the tourist for the destination and decrease the chance of encountering any adverse situation.
Since the world has turned more environment conscious and there is a rise in environment activist
and eco-friendly activities, the destinations will be forced to follow the development strategies without
creating any damage to nature and surrounding. Thus promoting sustainable development, eco-friendly
activities. The tourist would be more responsible to act accordingly as they gain clear information about
the destination and environment thereby promoting responsible tourism.
There can be various reasons and interest in selecting a destination by a tourist and he spends a lot
of time and money to visit the destination. All destinations aren’t similar, different destinations have a
different taste depending upon the culture, heritage, season etc. when the decision goes wrong the money
and time spent will be wasted, there is a chance for the tour to get ruined. Demo Tour can play a vital role
in order to create such a situation, tourist can virtually visit the preferred destination prior to the actual tour
and then make a decision of visiting or altering the preferred destination to get the best experience.
The world has grown busy, work and responsibilities have raised, this makes an individual to find
leisure time as a daunting task. Though these group of people have an urge to travel, the responsibilities
and work stress depress them to take a travel due to lack of time. Such persons can find Demo Tour very
helpful as they can tour by sitting within their office rooms or the workplace and have a view of their dream
destinations from all dimensions.
Disabilities are common, it can be due to verities of reasons. But it cannot stop the urge to travel,
people have started finding alternatives to travel for the disabled. One such alternative can be Demo Tour.
Physical disabilities cannot be a barricade for taking demo tours as physical activities are not necessary
instead visualization is targeted in demo tour, it visualizes the surrounding of the preferred destination to
an individual.

CONCLUSION
This is a qualitative paper which followed explorative and conceptual research methodology. It
describes a new approach to Virtual Tourism which has immense potential in the present world. The paper
has first described Virtual Reality which is a technique used to visualize the real world with help of
technology. This has found success in all sectors and is being installed to many aspects like medicine,
military, education, tourism etc.
Virtual Tourism is a technique used with Virtual Reality technology where a real environment is
artificially created and viewed over the internet. Special cameras that can shoot at a 360-degree angle are
used for capturing the scenes. It gives a feeling of visiting the destination as it gives a view of all dimensions
as we move.
From these two terms, this paper has introduced a term which is a new approach towards Virtual
tourism – Demo Tour. Demo Tour is very similar to Virtual Tour, it is a visual tour taken prior to the actual
tour. This has many positive impacts of breaking many barricades of tourism like inaccessibility,
seasonality, overexploitation, perishability etc. demo tours can save money and time. Decision making of
tourist become more accurate.
From the impacts determined with this study I could conclude that Demo Tour which is a new
approach on Virtual Tourism has a potential to foster tourism experiences and reduce the limitations of
tourism and wastage of time and money as well as promote accessible tourism for a better tourism
experience for all individuals irrespective of the situation and condition.

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