Virgin Holidays announces new digital screens at Gatwick

Virgin Holidays will be opening the first of three digitised travellator walkway tunnels at London’s Gatwick Airport.

Virgin Holidays is to open the first of three digitised tunnels at London’s Gatwick Airport.

The new tunnels will feature 10 screens and four light boxes, and are designed to relay live information and messages about travellers’ holiday destinations.

The immersive walkways will also be used to advertise Virgin Holidays’ “rockstar service”.

Virgin Holidays marketing director Andrew Shelton said: “What’s important to us is that customers get in the holiday mood as soon as they enter the airport. We want them to share our excitement about the experience they are about to have, and the rockstar treatment that awaits.”

“These panels include live data feeds which will tell them what kind of weather they can expect, the excursions they can look forward to and hopefully, in the future, welcome them with personalised messages. People expect our brand to go large, and you don’t get much larger than this.”

The hint at personalisation suggests a possible integration of near field communication (NFC) or RFID. This could recognise travellers by the information on their phones or possibly by a small chip embedded in a luggage tag.

Based on annual traffic volumes through the tunnels, Virgin Holidays expects over 11 million people a year to see the panels.