Vacation resorts are always looking for ways to gain new customers and enhance the customer experience. As travel and tourism regain footing after the pandemic, now is the time for resorts to position themselves as the must-visit destinations. One great way to do this is by using virtual tours. Virtual tours can provide customers with an immersive experience before they even step foot in the resort–giving the feelings of escape and relaxation that they crave. By using virtual tours, vacation resorts can effectively showcase their amenities and attract new customers while enhancing the customer experience.
What is a virtual tour?
Because virtual tours are interactive and provide 360° visuals, they are an excellent way to engage travelers during the decision-making process. A virtual tour is an interactive, 360-degree view of a physical location, used to give customers a realistic and immersive experience. For resorts, virtual tours of the physical spaces of a resort can be enhanced by Google’s Street View function, which offers the same features but of exterior elements like streets, walking paths, and–for resorts–oceanfront amenities. Virtual tours have become increasingly popular in recent years as a marketing tool for businesses looking to grow their customer base and enhance the customer experience. According to Google, more than 150 million people worldwide use Street View each month. This means that resorts that embrace virtual tours and Street View can gain an edge in the highly competitive online marketplace, increasing brand visibility and helping drive growth.
What are the benefits of using virtual tours for resorts?
Virtual tours are becoming increasingly popular for resorts and other travel businesses, as they offer an innovative way to market their services and attract customers. With virtual tours, resorts can show potential guests the full scope of their facilities and create an immersive customer experience from the comfort of their own home.
Statistics have shown that virtual tours in travel applications have seen tremendous growth in recent years. According to research from TIG Global and Omni Hotels, a virtual tour on a hotel website increases bookings and look-to-book conversion rates by as much as 16 to 67%. Additionally, the market size of the global virtual tourism industry was estimated at five billion U.S. dollars in 2021. As forecast, this figure is expected to grow substantially in the following years, totaling over 24 billion U.S. dollars by 2027. This shows that customers are more than willing to explore travel destinations through virtual tours and that it is a powerful tool for marketing and increasing revenue.
Virtual tours also offer guests the ability to become familiar with the resort prior to arrival. They can explore amenities, restaurants, rooms, pools, fitness centers, bars, and family-friendly areas. This enables resorts to gain greater visibility, market their services more effectively, and create a unique customer experience. Additionally, it also provides a competitive advantage over other resorts that are not offering virtual tours. By taking advantage of this technology, resorts can effectively promote their services and gain more customers without adding to staff time and effort–and reducing the potential for cancellations and disappointed guests.
Overall, vacation resorts have huge potential for leveraging virtual tours and Street View on Demand technology to create an exceptional experience for guests from the very beginning. Advanced Online Insights travels across the world to create virtual tours for our customers. Plus, we provide every customer with all of the professional photography we capture to create the tour. These photos are high-quality and can be applied to marketing campaigns, websites, social media, and print marketing materials–everything a resort needs to be successful. Contact us today to get your virtual tour scheduled!
