Understanding the Impact of AR on the Travel Industry

AR or Augmented Reality, though created back in 1968, has experienced tremendous advances in the past couple of years. The concept of virtual items materializing in front of a person is indeed fascinating, and it has become one of the biggest selling points in many businesses. Specifically, those who operate in the travel industry can vouch for the unimaginable role that Augmented Reality has played in the growth of their businesses.

Since businesses in the travel sector are tasked with the heavy responsibility of selling physical environments and experiences without showing off the actual product, Augmented Reality has provided them with the opportunity to help their clients experience a demo of something similar. This enabled the customers to alter the way they perceive their surroundings, which did not only boost the sale but also improved the efficacy of the sector.

After observing the current trend and trajectory of growth, Statista report has estimated that by the year 2025 the Augmented Reality market will be worth 198 Billion U.S. dollars, which is almost 20 times more than the current value of 5.91 Billion.

Even though AR is already considered to be at the peak of its existence, its progression has never shown signs of slowing down anytime soon. So, it is expected to make much stronger and more revolutionary impacts on businesses, especially the ones connected with the travel and tourism industry. In the following blog, you will understand the revolutionary impact of AR in the Travel industry, as well as the strong connection it has to the growth of the industry from a technological point of view.

What is AR or Augmented Reality?

The digital technology, that alters the perception of the physical surroundings of an individual when looked through a specifically designed device, is called AR or Augmented Reality.

This technology is somewhat close to VR or Virtual reality with the exception that AR does not have the features to replace the actual environment surrounding the user, but instead, it has the capability to overlay digital components on the real-world environment, thus augmenting or adding to it.

Currently, the most popular example of the application of AR in a widely used platform is Pokémon Go, with the number of users peaking at 133 million worldwide in 2018.

Apart from being a prominent source of attraction in the gaming industry, AR has been gaining popularity in other sectors as well, especially the tourism sector. The travel and tourism sector has enlisted the use of Augmented Reality for various marketing purposes.

AR can be used to add graphics or any important information to an environment which can be viewed through the specifically designed device. This device is designed to be compatible with the technology.

Nowadays even smartphones and tablets are designed in such a way that supports and complements Augmented Reality as it functions in sync with cameras and GPS tracking. . For this reason, using AR has become less expensive and more accessible to people than most VR-compatible headsets.

AR in the Travel and Tourism Industry

Since we have cleared the concept behind AR, let\’s take a look at its specific impacts on the travel and tourism industry. Unlike VR which replaces the user surrounding entirely, AR can add new, engaging and interactive information and experiences to the images, real-time locations, labels, 3D models, etc. captured through AR-compatible apps and devices.

In the travel industry, travel and tourism businesses can use AR to provide an extensive travel experience to the user by simplifying their travel search and building reliability. It can create further scopes to enhance the quality of customer experience (CX). In tourism, the contributions of AR and the experiences it can offer are as follows.

• Apps compatible with AR can direct users to different locations with the help of virtual pointers.
• AR solutions with the help of image processing can translate image-based text written in foreign languages to your preferred languages.
• AR-compatible apps can also act as your personal travel guide.

For these reasons and many more yet to be mentioned, AR became a quintessential part of the travel and tourism industry.

Importance of AR in the Travel Industry

The pandemic hit the world economy hard, as the functions of the travelling sector were hampered. However, due to tremendous advancements and proper incorporation of technology into various practices in the travel business, the field has managed to make a quick comeback in just 2 years.

Similarly, augmented reality has also played a major role in changing the way we search for and prepare a trip, and arrange for accommodation, activities and transport and taking them to a whole new level. Easy access to the internet and geolocation in smartphones were among some of the main factors that boosted AR in the travel sector.

Even specialists in this industry have estimated that Augmented Reality can provide a different, enhanced and immersive experience to its users which can turn out to be a revolutionary step in the right direction for the tourism and travel industry.