Published: 11.12.2020
Categories: My story, Travel mode
Virtual Planet presents an idea to rethink tourism. In the future, we will not travel physically far away, but rather enjoy staying in a local “adventure” hotel that specializes in the destination. The hotel works closely with the tourism industry at the destination to offer us a clever interplay of real and virtual holiday experiences.
The idea has been awarded with the first prize in the category Solutions for a sustainable tomorrow of the 2020 competition of Die Junge Akademie.
The starting point for Virtual Planet is the needs that are met with a long-distance journey. On an individual level, among the most important positive aspects are quenching the thirst for adventure, new sensual (e.g. culinary, climatic), as well as ecological and cultural experiences, and, not least, switching off and relaxing. On the negative side we have stress and jet lag, but also communication difficulties, or health aspects (poor hygiene, accidents, diseases, etc.), fear of theft or robberies, rip-offs, and, eventually, a tiredness of the tourist crowds.
On a societal level, the host country benefits from jobs and money flows, and from infrastructure buildings that also serve the local population, while the it suffers from resource consumption and an increasing carbon footprint, a spoiled landscape by hotel complexes at the destination, and mass tourism, which leaves its mark on the cultural and natural resources.
The idea of Virtual Planet is to preserve and strengthen the positive societal and individual aspects of the tourist experience and minimize or, if possible, even eliminate the negative aspects.
The hotel at the starting point offers an authentic ambience of the destination (e.g. winter garden with plants of the destination, original room furnishings, culinary specialties, etc.), but also sophisticated virtual 3D travel rooms, equipped with 4D cinema seats for road trips, riding simulators, etc. which physically support the virtual 3D experience.
For the physical cultural goods such as furniture, art, plant seeds, etc., money flows from the hotel to the nurseries, cabinet makers, hotels or tourist offices at the destination. The ideational cultural assets such as recipes and customs are also compensated for every cooked menu or every film shown from the destination, similar to the royalties for published works by artists.
Virtual live tours in 3D quality can be booked with a guide of the destination, who is paid to simultaneously show the sights, enable a cultural exchange and who take and send photos or films on site. The local guides act as representatives for the tourists. They offer an individual insight into the culture and sights of their place. Guests also pay entrance fees and national park fees for the virtual visit. This enables the maintenance and protection of the sights on site. In the case of live connections that enable interaction, the time difference must also be considered. This means that jet lag cannot be avoided in every case. However, if recorded tours are booked without interaction, the time zone does not have to be changed and the virtual experience can take place in the time zone of the starting point and under optimal weather conditions at the destination.
Souvenirs can either be purchased using direct video streaming from a store in the destination and then sent to the originating destination or can be selected and ordered via an online shop. The hotel at the point of departure can also offer an assortment of handicrafts or culinary specialties for sale, which are regularly supplied by dealers in the destination by post.
As an example, Virtual Planet describes the semi-virtual travel experience to Easter Island from the tourist perspective.
