TTE2018: ‘Disruption of booking experience is coming, act now on VR’

Improvements to efficiency, safety and client-facing interactions most cited reasons for adoption, says IDC Continue reading →

Travel firms have been urged to act now to take advantage of augmented and virtual reality technology.

Francisco Jeronimo, research director European mobile devices at IDC, said figures underline the huge multi-billion dollar investment going into hardware by the major global technology giants.

Global research by IDS has found 28% of firms are doing pilots projects, 17% trials or experiments, and 13% have already moved to full deployment.

The study found the three most popular reasons firms are adopting AR and VR are to increase efficiency, increase safety and to improve client-facing interactions.

Jeronimo said digital interfaces are changing and studies have indicated that adoption of VR and AR will be rapid because people have no problem engaging with virtual objects on their devices.

“AR and VR will change the way we interact with digital data. From the trials we have conducted we realise that interactions [with this technology] is very easy.

“It’s very easy to start grabbing digital objects and moving them around with a VR headset. This is about being able to see our real world with additional objects in front of us.

“The consumer in general is a lot more open to trying new devices and new technologies if they understand the value of the proposition behind it. No one will use a VR headset of it’s just to be shown an ad.

“The booking experience will be one of the first disruptions we will see. Customer will book in a much more immersive way.”

Jeronimo added: “The majority of companies are already using this technology across different industries. It’s about how much money they can make by providing different experiences.”

He added a travel company he knows was able to increase conversions by 30% by utilising the technology.

Jeronimo said travel sellers in store can use VR to show their customers the product before they buy and increase the likelihood of closing the sale.

He said they will also be able to secure additional sales of add-on services before the client travels because they are able to show them what they look like.