NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
By the looks of what we saw a few days ago at AWE (Augmented Reality Expo), AR and VR technology is spreading to the whole human experience! 5000 attendees, 220 exhibitors and an absolutely exhilarating 20,000 sq. ft. “VR Experience Center.” It was also a great time for our first webinar with Greenlight Insights entitled “Why Virtual Reality is the New Tool for Travel Marketers. “ We’ll be doing another one soon.
Researching items for this newsletter is fascinating as each month the VR universe for the travel industry to market product is growing at an even faster clip. A tiny 360-degree camera that makes any tour operator a filmmaker. The first “room size” portable VR installation that can travel to special events, trade shows and hotel lobbies. VR travel searches that allow you to book while you are in the experience. VR in the service of: Airports. Retail. Airlines. Shopping. Museums. Meetings. Agencies. Companies are climbing on this train and it’s becoming quite a ride!
P.S. If you’re able, join us in San Francisco this October for the Greenlight Insights’ Virtual Reality Strategy Conference. A conference focused not just “what” VR can do but also “how.” Register Now!
Roll the Dice: Why I'm Doubling Down on Virtual Reality As An Ad Platform Entrepreneur.com
By 2018, estimates say, there will be over 171 million active virtual reality users. With giants like Google, Samsung, HTC and Sony competing for the consumer virtual-reality console market, and many more throwing their lot in through crowdfunding and niche campaigns, the future looks bright for the new, 3D medium. READ MORE
How One Attraction Used Virtual Reality To Increase Their International Business inboundreport.com
Virtual Reality is one of the hot buzz-word expressions for sales and marketing professionals in the tour and travel industry—especially for international markets, where its 360-degree imagery speaks far more effectively than any language—and it will be on full display at IPW, where it first made an appearance two years ago in Orlando. One challenge for those who seek to employ the technique is that, since it has come upon the marketplace, there are few in the industry who understand how it works and, at the same time, how to work it. READ MORE
Gatwick Airport Adopts Augmented Reality For Passenger Navigation
Airport-technology.com
Gatwick Airport has unveiled a new indoor navigation system that is based on augmented reality in two terminals, as part of its £2.5bn transformation programme. The technology, which involved the installation of 2,000 beacons, intends to enable passengers to find their way around the airport and avoid missing flights. According to Gatwick, the new beacon-based positioning system is more reliable than road-based navigation systems, such as Google or Apple maps, that are dependent on satellite signals. READ MORE
Air New Zealand Enters Augmented Reality Techexec.com
Perennial innovators Air New Zealand are now experimenting with Augmented Reality (AR) as they introduce the AR based ‘HoloLens’ (goggles) which will provide key customer information directly to the cabin crew. The technology, currently in beta testing, will tell stewards and stewardesses data about the passenger such as the preferred meal they might have and what loyalty membership bonuses they have gained with the airline. READ MORE
China - Hasbro and DMG Entertainment Announce New Digital Virtual and Augmented Reality Experience Sieberton.com
In collaboration with Hasbro, Dan Mintz’s DMG Entertainment is launching highly-immersive, interactive Transformers digital simulation experience centers. Featuring up-close and personal character interactions, highly immersive virtual and augmented reality technology, interactive environments and activities featuring the latest digital technologies, guests will experience the Transformers universe like never before. Debuting in Shanghai this summer, the centers will expand to other China cities regularly over the next five years and be designed with the global audience in mind. READ MORE
London Topshop Store Features Virtual Reality Waterslide Teenvogue.com
Among Topshop's see-through, detachable, and clear-knee jeans, you may have thought shopping at the store couldn't get any more over-the-top. But one store in London is taking the experience to a whole new level, literally, with an indoor virtual-reality waterslide. In honor of Summer 2017, London's iconic Oxford Street Topshop store is hosting SPLASH!, a fun-in-the-sun-themed event complete with a terrifying waterslide that's part VR part IRL. Here's how it works: READ MORE 
How Travel Brands Are Using Virtual Reality Eyefortravel.com
It may be early days but a new white paper from EyeforTravel shows that there are applications for VR in travel In 2016 as many as 1.5 million units of dedicated Virtual Reality headsets were shipped, with PlayStation coming out tops. It sold 745,000 units, according to the games and interactive media intelligence firm SuperData, followed by HTC Vive (420,000), Oculus Rift (355,000) and 261,000 (Google Daydream). While many of these headsets are being used for gaming, a new white paper from EyeforTravel poses the question ‘Does Virtual Reality Have a Place in Travel?’ It seems the answer is yes. Between 2017 and 2021 shipments of VR devices are expected to grow by over 400% READ MORE
Glenfiddich Reveals Virtual Reality Experience The drinksreport.com
Glenfiddich has worked with UK creative agency Purple Creative to reveal an interactive virtual reality whisky tasting experience. Called Glenfiddich Virtual Infinity, the experience was launched at the TFWA conference in Singapore and will be installed at global travel retail airport outlets from June. The tasting allows visitors to virtually discover the flavours in each of Glenfiddich’s three Cask Collection whiskies and write their own 3D tasting notes in a virtual world. Purple Creative and Glenfiddich saw travel retail as the ideal environment for a virtual reality experience. READ MORE 
Mind-Bending Virtual Reality Exhibit Opens at Tech Museum (San Jose, CA) Eastbaytimes.com
It’s just before dawn in a post-apocalyptic world and a dim bluish hue fills a flat landscape — your canvas in a virtual world. With the flourish of a brush, you paint life-size art in 3-D and then walk right through it. That’s one of the many virtual experiences visitors at The Tech Museum of Innovation can savor at their new exhibit, Reboot Reality. The exhibit boasts a wide range of technologies designed to foster creative confidence. READ MORE
Climb Mount Everest In Virtual Reality Amp1037.cbslocal
It remains one of the most dangerous things to do on earth, and claimed the life of three people over the weekend – including an American. It’s climbing Mt. Everest – now for the first time in Virtual Reality. The whole experience in 360-degrees – from training through the blessings of the monks. This Is Stunning. SEE MORE
Boy, 7, With Congenital Heart Disease Becomes First Person on Saturn, Thanks to Virtual Reality Insideedition.com READ MORE
VR Arcade to open in London this Summer Thenerdstash.com READ MORE
Singapore Underwater: Travel through time and experience rising sea levels with ST's virtual reality project Straitstimes.com READ MORE
