One of the things I love most about what I do is researching and experiencing unique, off the beaten path travel destinations to highlight in my Travel Therapy TV segments and videos. This usually means I’m constantly airport hopping around the globe but not this week.
This week I got to take a mind-blowing journey to breathtaking British Columbia, Canada, without ever leaving where I live in New York City when the Destination BC tourism folks invited me to be one of the first people in the world to take a virtual reality trip to their destination.
Having grown up in the Northwest, in Washington State, I’ve traveled a few times to BC, always enjoying it, so was curious to see just how well any “virtual reality” trip could actually transport me to the destination and I have to say from the moment my high tech journey started I was completely captivated. I quickly forgot I was wearing headsets and felt like I was actually in BC touring on a boat, taking in the sensational scenery in a 360’ authentic experience. I even got to pick where the boat went and my choice was going to see Sea Lions and it was incredible.
Using Oculus Rift technology Destination BC has created The Wild Within VR Experience, that was filmed in BC’s Great Bear Rainforest, as a new unique, interactive, three-dimensional way to showcase the destination to travel influencers and travelers.
The really cool part is as the headsets become more widely available to consumers in 2015, anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer will be able to easily do their own virtual trips to BC by just going to HelloBC.com.
As a tourism marketing plan, I would say it’s pretty brilliant, because trust me once you’ve done a virtual trip to BC and you’ve gotten a taste of what this destination has to offer you’ll be wanting to trade your virtual reality into actual reality and get yourself to BC as fast as possible. I’ll see you there!
*All photos courtesy of Destination BC
