This is the second part in the series, you might want to check out the first part before diving into this!

The time is ripe for Virtual Tourism startups to emerge not just globally but in India. Such startups can leverage certain unique advantages to tap the ‘travel hungry’ but ‘time-starved travelers’. There are myriad ways available for them to create a compelling pitch. The most obvious one is offering users the convenience to travel around the world but at the comforts of their home helping save time and costs. Another important benefit is being able to avoid the tourist rush which can spoil the fun of the visit itself (recollecting my travel to Vatican city!). Startups can also utilize the lever on sustainable travel to attract users to ‘experience’ rather than ‘visit’. This, in fact, has a shot to help minimize global warming and the associated carbon footprints associated with travel (not a surprise that travel accounts for 8% of the global carbon emissions) As consumers too become ecologically sensitive and acutely aware of the environmental impact of their travel VR travel can get a strong filip.

Further, as countries realize that their most visited places are struggling to cope up with the ensuing tourist rush (Edinburgh recently became the first city in UK to impose a tourist tax) and are being ravaged, VR travel might be a sustainable alternative. There is already an example of the ‘Open Heritage Project’, a collaboration between Google and CyArk, which allows users to roam around some of the world’s most famous under threat heritage sites. VR in travel also offers a refreshing opportunity to people who might be unable to travel due to old age, health reasons or physical inabilities. MyndVR and Littlstar recently partnered to start delivering immersive content specifically designed for a 55+ audience. Another firm called Embrace The Life VR is creating fully immersive experiences for wheelchair users that includes a physical wheelchair as part of the simulation (amazing!). VR travel also offers an opportunity to the millions who might never get the opportunity to travel to their dream destinations but can now actually ‘live’ that experience through VR travel.

Add to the list of advantages is another important one of preserving the monument slowly being destroyed due to climatic effects, tourist rush or general dilapidation. For instance, even after a century since it was erected Gateway of India continues to attract visitors in thousands and its age is slowly beginning to leave a mark. Its proximity to the sea also makes it vulnerable to discoloration and dampness. The 3D scan project currently underway by CyArk will create a digital database of the monument to ensure its protection and formulate comprehensive conservation policies. The next phase will be a virtual tour of the place (to tackle the daily tourist rush) and help slow down its dilapidation while taking steps to conserve it. Some of the monuments preserved by CyArk are already available on the Google Arts and Culture App where users can take a digital tour of the premises using VR headsets. The next in the list for CyArk is Mysore Palace (personal favorite!) and digital archiving certainly has the potential to breathe fresh life into these places seeped with ancient tradition, culture, and history. VR will also unlock destinations which might be off the limits for the general public due to them being private properties or in fragile status. Visitors can poke around archeological ruins, get an up-close view of delicate artifacts, and sit among endangered species without disturbing any of these things in reality.

In the long run, as the technology matures I feel that VR will allow users to recreate the past and ‘live’ the experience of a historical scene or building. They will be able to see an environment pristine enough before any civilization and see its evolution through time-lapsed content. The implications are just fascinating and thrilling to envision. Imagine not just being able to walk through Colosseum in Rome but being able to witness the gladiator era battles as if you are there or even better fight one!

VR is also giving a delightful spin to mythology and folklore. In Denmark, a VR exhibition which explores Viking history and Nordic mythology is being established as a permanent theme park. Visitors can witness the ‘Nordic’ landscape and fight giants and dragons (fret not as GoT gets over :p).

So what do some of the experts closely tracking this space have to say about VR travel? Milena Nikolova, an expert on traveler behavior trends and director of knowledge at the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA). “Why would you take four days and a lot of money and maybe a lot of risks to take a long weekend in Paris when you can walk the streets of Paris or climb the Eiffel Tower through virtual reality without the long wait, without the security threats, without being concerned about the weather?”

Cathyl Hackl an AR and VR producer says, “With prices coming down and specs for running HMDs becoming less constrictive, VR will see a rise in adoption. The critical part of the debate on VR adoption and hitting mass market will also come down to content. The need for high-quality content that is not only visually pleasing and narratively enticing but that also keeps vection to a minimum will be more important than ever. This provides a huge opportunity for content creators. We’re already seeing studios like Chris Milk’s ‘Within’ raise millions of dollars because great VR content is what the market will crave”. Stephanie Zhan, Partner at Sequoia Capital also states, “It’s not enough to create a novel experience that people will consume once and never try again: you need to give people a reason to keep coming back. Giving people ways to build a sense of identity and foster relationships is key to this. Finally, because we are in the early innings of VR, it’s all about learning and iterating quickly.” Kobie Fuller, GP at UpFront Ventures mentions, “Remember that VR should enable experiences that were previously impossible. An example of this is The Wave VR, which enables an immersive social music experience that is unique. VR platforms are and will continue to be a significant investment of resources for people, so they must enable experiences that are impossible to access anywhere else.”

Invariably there are challenges (and some real ones!) for Virtual Tourism. The first and foremost being that nothing can truly replicate the real-life experience. You obviously cannot go on a food tour, experience the real thrill of skiing in the Alps or go for ice caving in Iceland (pun intended!) through VR. To start off with VR will be an extension, a marketing tool for the users rather than completely supplanting travel itself. The second challenge is of content development for VR which is a classic chicken and egg problem. Hardware makers want killer apps which draw users to their device but software makers require users to justify the costs of building that app. This again is a key reason why VR in travel is still in the doldrums. In fact, low-quality content has the risk of further dissuading the early testers and slowing adoption among the other users. Then there is the challenge of creating a VR video itself. Unlike a traditional video which can be cut and edited, the camera rig rotates in VR which means that in case of any bloopers you need to shoot it all over again. Here again, companies are rapidly working to make it easier to develop high-quality immersive videos in a less complex manner.

The third challenge is shifting the user mindset to prompt its mass adoption and move it beyond early adopters. For instance, 32% of Gen X VR users have engaged with travel experiences- less than half those who have played games. The most crucial pillar for eventual growth will, however, rest on two aspects- making the VR headsets cost effective to eventually moving to a headset free experience (yes that will be possible, I ain’t crazy!) and faster data speeds (5G coming!). The fourth challenge (and a less recognized one) might be the danger of using VR without supervision and in a crowded space. At home it might even be riskier with pets, children or other obstacles such as television or ceiling fan to take care of! The fifth would be the health hazards associated with the use of VR with many users complaining of eye strain, headaches, and in few cases nausea. Experts point out that it might be due to the way VR affects the eye-brain connection. While our eyes naturally converge and focus on a point in space in real life, it makes our brain so used to this that it’s coupled the two responses together. VR separates them, confusing the brain. Even manufacturers such as Oculus suggest a 10–15 min break every 30mins even if you think you don’t require it. ‘VR sicknesses’ will be I feel the most crucial piece to solve to break consumer inertia and apprehension and make its use as ubiquitous as smartphones in the future. Innovation will be the key to tackle this.

For the past few years, each year has been touted to be the ‘VR/AR’ year but it has failed to deliver against its hyped glory. Oculus Rift released in Mar 2016 at $599 promised to change the VR market and spawned a thousand startups but sales were underwhelming due to the high cost. Efforts were made again with Oculus Go launched in 2017 for $199 with no smartphone or computer requirement but here too it failed to move past the early adopters. SuperData predicts that till 2017 the total VR headset sales for the five-most high profile ones (Gear, Sony, Google, HTC & Oculus) was 16 million which are nowhere near the numbers for a mainstream technology. Other data also suggests limited use of those VR systems (where are thou content!). Skeptics invariably abound and cynicism about the powerful future (and the excessive hype built by VR companies) has indeed seeped in. In 2017 Mark Zuckerberg also cautioned investors to be patient about the growth and profitability of VR, suggesting during a quarterly earnings call that the technology could take up to 10 years to hit massive adoption and even mainstream investors in emerging technology echo that. Nicholas Pappageorge, a senior intelligence analyst at CB Insights also mentioned, “It’s just been a drawn-out hype cycle that’s promised to be the next big thing for so long. “The investor’s patience for the industry has worn thin.”

Several VR companies have also shut down and laid off workers as they have struggled to find a viable business model with poor consumer demand. VC’s have also pulled the plug with limited funding in the last 12–18 months. Vrideo which aimed to become the YouTube of VR by creating a distribution platform for 360-degree videos raised $2m and employed 15 people at its peak. But as manufacturers delayed the launch of new headsets and prominent players such as Youtube and Facebook started building their own platforms the company ran out of cash and shut down in 2016. IMAX Corp also ended its pilot which offered content like VR games based on movies and started with 6 locations in 2017. CEO Richard Gelfond said, “While the consumer reaction was positive, the numbers just were not there”. It’s been intriguing to see such conundrum having been repeated multiple times between initial consumer’s fantastic feedback but the slow adoption or uptake in the commercial sense.

Despite the gloom, the next couple of years could be the ‘make or break ones’ to offer a breakthrough to the market as new generation cost-effective HD VR headsets combined with powerful GPUs are developed and made available at a convenient price point to incentivize mass adoption. Obviously better hardware and lower prices will be the pillar but there will be other crucial factors. Development of content, more VC funding (yes please!), ease of use through comfortable gear, disassociating VR with only gaming, countering VR sickness will be few of the other ones to be tackled.

To conclude I think just as smartphones have become synonymous and an extension of our daily life it won’t be long before AR/VR also embeds itself. Because while the future is unpredictable sometimes we realize it only when it walks through the door! Around the World in 80 Days, Heck let’s make it 8 Hours with VR Travel!

If you got curious to explore some great travel tourism videos here are a few links:

P.S. If you are currently building/ keen on building a global startup in the Virtual Tourism space, I will love to know more. Please reach out to me on LinkedIn

P.P.S. If you liked this article, you may want to check out my previous ones at https://medium.com/@keshavbagri10

Virtual Tourism- Reimagining Tourism through VR and its Implication for VC’s: Part 2 was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.