Virtual tourism – the next best thing for ageing travellers

VACATIONING and travelling is a luxury most people love if they can afford it.

For many, the more they can save, the more likely they can afford a vacation.

Unfortunately, ageing can sometimes be debilitating. As the years add on, people find it increasingly hard to move around. But thanks to technology, there is still sunshine for those in their golden years, which gives them the next best thing – Virtual Reality (VR).

Like most new technologies, VR was at first rarely associated with any intent to serve the elderly. Old-timers are often overlooked when new technology enters the market. Whatever new thing comes into human life, it should, by right, be recognised as something that bodes well and the elderly should be included.

An ageing population is one of the fastest-growing demographics, especially with each new generation living longer than their forebears. Where vacationing is concerned, VR can be used to help the elderly enjoy some semblance of this life’s luxury.

Malaysia can bask in pride in the realm of virtual reality and tourism, having won the 2020 Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) Gold Award for branding and marketing efforts as a premier tourist destination. This was announced during an Online Pata Gold Awards Presentation in September as part of the 2020 Virtual Pata Travel Mart.

thesundaypost talked to Dr Rokhshad Tavakoli from the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE), Taylor’s University, who was at the forefront of a pioneering project that eventually saw Malaysia winning the award.

The project was shortlisted from over 121 entries, making Taylor’s University the only organisation in Malaysia to receive the Pata Gold Award this year for its ‘Virtual Tourism for Senior Citizens’ initiative under the Tourism for All category.

Tavakoli said winning the accolade brought new meaning to their project to make accessible tourism a reality in Malaysia, adding that the achievement would further boost the country’s branding and marketing as a major tourism destination for all travellers since the Pata Gold Awards are recognition of excellence, innovation, and the best tourism standards in Asia Pacific’s travel and tourism industry.

“The joy of travelling and experiencing nature, architecture, ways of life and even art should not be limited to just the young, able, and those who can afford it but should also be experienced by all, including the disabled and the senior citizens. Hopefully, our achievement will further inspire the industry to create new responsible and sustainable initiatives for the future of tourism.”

 

Virtual tourism

According to her, the ‘Virtual Tourism for Senior Citizens’ project that she led was assisted by Nicholas Woo, who was doing his Master thesis under her supervision. The project, funded by Taylor’s University, was designed for the tourism service to include senior citizens as well as physically challenged people. Additionally, women would also be given the opportunity to participate in virtual tourism.

She said the project allowed senior citizens to enjoy the experience using the VR headset.

“The participants described the VR experience as very realistic – akin to being teleported to another part of the world. They also said it was unique and memorable. For example, watching the virtual scenes of Japan had piqued the curiosity of some of the participants and they became interested in wanting to visit that country for real. Such a finding from the pilot study indicates the use of VR in tourism can be a powerful tool.”

Tavakoli said she felt encouraged by the positive feedback the project received although initially, they were a bit sceptical about being able to attract the elderly into the world of virtual reality. But now, she revealed, friends had been asking her if they could try the system with their elderly at home.

“It was an outstanding achievement for us at Taylor’s and for Malaysia’s tourism. I received a lot of positive feedback on collaboration in this project from other countries.”

Tavakoli explained virtual tourism is a travel technology allowing people to see places of interests, hotels, and many other features of a destination before deciding to go on a visit.

She said these travel tools were already used by some travel agents before Covid-19 and were predicted to become more popular when normalcy returned.

“Both buyers and sellers can benefit from this new travel technology. For would-be travellers, a virtual tour of the places they intend to go will give them some prior knowledge on what to expect. This will help them choose their hotels, transportation, and destinations. As for the service and product vendors, they can show what they can offer. For example, hotels can use VR technology to give virtual tours of their buildings, amenities, and rooms. This will have the effect of creating more enthusiasm in potential customers.”

 

The future or temporary trend?

Tavakoli said technology is continuously evolving and has proven helpful during this pandemic and is very likely to bring greater benefits in future. However, she noted that as the role technology plays may evolve, it may be replaced by innovations.

Yes, it does offer endless possibilities but for virtual tourism to become a reality, there is a need for strong technology infrastructure. This is tied to the development of smart cities as tourism is one of the integral factors in this paradigm.

“In particular, the Internet-of-Things (IoT) concept will be the key technical point of smart urban environments. Attractions need basic access to the Internet to be part of this revolution.”

New trends

For the tourism industry, Tavakoli predicted a few new trends post-Covid 19, saying one would involve a heavier use of digitalisation to run the tourism economy.

“Many businesses will be transforming the process of marketing and delivering their service products. They will change their ways of communicating or dealing with vacationers. Tourism players will seek new and creative ways to deliver services that will focus heavily on enhancing the visitor experience.

“The predominant and aggressive shift towards digital is primarily due to the impact of Covid-19. This change is also facilitated by the emergence of the Millennials and Generation Z groups, who are digital natives. The entry of these groups into the workforce drives, influences, and changes the pattern of the tourism industry.

“One example of digitalisation in tourism is the use of VR whereby computer technology is used to create simulated environments. Virtual tourism offers prospective holidaymakers the ability to take a virtual tour of tourist attractions.

“The try-before-you-buy capability of virtual tours enables global travellers to enjoy a sort of spoilt-for-choice preliminary shopping, which incidentally allows prospective customers to make better decisions before booking and paying for their vacations.”

Tavakoli said the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and IoT that offer customised travel experiences could also be expected, adding that as digitalisation evolved and went beyond individual businesses, it would lead to the development of a smarter tourism industry that embraced new technologies, encouraged innovation, improved consumer experience, and tourism management upgraded to a more effective level.

“There will be tighter protocols related to safety, security, and hygiene even after the Covid-19 crisis is over. Vacationers will expect airlines, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, or bars to have very clear guidelines or policies on matters of hygiene and safety. Vacationers will demand to know what measures the vendors are taking to keep their customers safe.

“As the situation evolves and businesses implement various standard operating procedures (SOPs) to adhere to established guidelines, we will see governments, organisations, health experts, and other industry peers working together to develop a more enhanced SOP policy that can be used across the board.”

She further explained one other direction of the trend is towards what is known as Touchless Tourism.

“Despite strict health protocols, Covid-19 infection will remain a fear factor for many travellers, who will be apprehensive about touching things and surfaces when travelling.

“Thus, technology will come in to help in this area. Various tools will be used to support a hands-free physical object in the environment so that travellers can limit the amount of time they make bodily contact with surfaces or things.

“This new trend will see the rise in the use of technologies such as e-wallets, touchless document scanning, motion sensors, and the like. The tourism industry players should thus start considering implementing some form of touchless technology elements in their business such as the use of e-wallets to make payments or having motion sensor doors that open automatically.”

 

Reshaping jobs

Digital transformation is reshaping jobs and customer expectations in the tourism industry. As people are looking for a safer way to travel, the key challenge for the tourism industry will be to offer a frictionless, touchless, and automated travel experience. This can be done by leveraging technology innovation in the tourism sector.

For example, robotics technology is one of the most exciting innovations in travel technology today. Within hotels, robots have been used to replace concierge-like roles, including greeting guests on arrival, and providing tourist information.

Tavakoli pointed out that with the help of technology, travelling was made possible not only for senior citizens but also for the physically challenged or even those who couldn’t afford to travel.

She said while there was such a thing as virtual travelling, it was not meant to replace actual travelling, pointing out that rather, it would be used predominantly as a tool to enhance consumers’ travelling experience through the use of technology.

“For instance, VR can provide immersive interactive experiences for users in virtual environments. It makes tourism experiences more accessible to people with political mobility barriers. The virtual evidence showing the wonderful holiday or tourist experience will lure visitors more easily than the traditional brochures and guidebooks.”

On sustainable tourism, she said it should not be considered as a special form of tourism but a global industry standard to ensure tourism engenders the ability to contribute to local economies and the net benefits it provides to destinations.

She cautioned failure to address the negative effects of tourism such as over-tourism and rapid or unplanned growth could lead to major concerns relating to environment, economy, and community like degradation of natural and historical sites and even the impact on liveability and livelihood of local communities.

“Governments, industry players, and businesses must take significant steps to better understand tourism’s effects on the natural environment and host communities and come to a mutually beneficial plan.

“A specific challenge for policymakers will be providing the right incentives throughout the value chain to promote sustainability, and demonstrating clearly that policies promoting sustainable and inclusive growth are both business-friendly and necessary.

“There is a need for the industry to rethink tourism success, and with a greater focus on environmental and socio-cultural pillars, it should contribute to the local and indigenous communities and achieving the Sustainability Development Goals, including combating climate change.”

She pointed out that policy designers needed to ensure efforts to grow tourism were in tandem with the goals of the city, regional and national economic development strategies with close collaboration from industry players and society.

“Adopting a sustainable approach and ensuring that the approach constantly evolves with the times will help industries to understand better and improve.”

 

Top spot

Tavakoli said there were so many and a personal top spot would depend on one’s interest.

She noted there was a very interesting project in Langkawi – a collaboration between Malaysia Airports and a telco company last year, showcasing a piece of Langkawi’s heritage to tourists right from the moment they arrived at Langkawi International Airport through a virtual reality experience, allowing them to enjoy a 360-degree view of Gunung Machinchang.