Exploring Beyond Reality: How Augmented Reality is Transforming Travel

What exactly is Augmented Reality, and how is it different from Virtual Reality?

Augmented Reality integrates digital information with the user’s environment in real-time.

Virtual Reality, on the other hand, creates an entirely artificial environment for its users. 

Users of Augmented Reality get to experience a real-world environment with generated perceptual information.  

Augmented Reality blends digital components as well as third-dimensional components into an individual’s perception of the real world. 

If you are still finding it a little difficult to understand what this Augmented Reality actually is, then take the example of the once-popular game Pokemon Go. This game was the most popular at that time, and almost everyone was playing it. 

It was a product of Augmented Reality, and for those of you for whom the name of Pokemon Go is totally an alien concept, then let me tell you that a few years back, almost everyone was playing this game and it included you to open your camera and locate where the pokemon was hiding. You would be seeing everything as it is, except for an additional component will also be visible on your screen, as if it exists in reality as well. 

So that is what it means to create an element in the original environment, and that is what Augmented Reality is all about.

Augmented Reality In Tourism

1. Hotels

Augmented Reality has been a good way for hotels to provide more information to their customers on demand. One of those examples includes the British Resort Hub Hotel Premium Inn, which has made Augmented Reality compatible with wall maps. Guests can point their phones at the maps and get more information about the hotel, directions, facilities and so on. 

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2. Attractions

There are many companies which are making apps integrated with Augmented Reality to provide their tourists with all the information they need from a physical location or tourist attractions. 

The tourists can take out their phones to point to the selected monument and learn more about the attraction or any landmark. 

They can also point out their phone at a restaurant and get the menu and reviews, or they can point out at a historical monument and learn all about its history. 

3. Beacon Technology

Beacon Technology works on Bluetooth, which sends push notifications as soon as the user enters a particular area. 

It is as advanced as unlocking your hotel room when you are in close proximity to the door and can also be used for sharing discount vouchers and special offers reviews at specific locations, all with the help of Augmented Reality.

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Importance of Augmented Reality In The Tourism Industry

Augmented Reality has gained immense popularity over time as more and more businesses are using it to attract customers, encouraging them to visit the place by enhancing the physical environment, including hotels, restaurants, and local sights. 

When tourists are in a different city or a country, they wish to have as much information as possible. With the help of Augmented Reality, all of this information is available to tourists 24/7, and they can make full use of it. 

Since modern tourists have their phones with them, even when using the bathroom. Observing this fact, Augmented Reality has been introduced to take your travel experience up a notch.